<p>Starcraft II is a video game and e-sport. As of July, League of Legends is recognized by
the federal government of the US as a sport. The sole reason for the disparity in qualification lies within the magnitude of the audience and player base of either game; League of Legends has more viewers and thus more money and thus is more capable of lobbying the US government for such recognition. Starcraft II is not yet officially recognized as a sport but the time shall soon come at least for the purpose of competition visas. </p>
<p>I have committed more time and more effort into Starcraft II than most any high school athletes I have ever met. I competed at an extreme level, nearing qualification for the classification of semi-pro having beaten a multitude of pros and community figure heads. In total, across the 3 years I have played I have 7,200 games played each averaging 10 minutes in ranked matches alone, having hundreds more in unranked/custom/tournament matches that would average ~15 minutes each. This does not account for the hundreds of hours spent watching and studying pros and researching builds and techniques. I was a member of Atlas Gaming for 6 months but I was unaffiliated for the majority of my time with the game. I was within the top .01% of players for a year and a half. Based on my match making rating, I was en par with 'grandmasters', the top 200 individuals per server according to the ladder (match making system). I was a quarter-finalist once on the Playhem Daily and I have won a list of minor tournaments with a prize total of ~$50 and a pizza.</p>
<p>Would this activity be useful when applying to schools or are schools unwilling to view competitive gaming as an extracurricular activity?</p>
<p>Professional gamers play their games upwards of 70 hours a week in order to maintain international competitive capabilities. The pros have sponsors and salaries and can win sizable sums of money from even more minor tournaments, though major tournaments can have first place prizes of upwards of over $100k. DotA 2 recently had the largest prizepool in the history of gaming. If society continues to reject ceding the classification of a sport to video games, then it is simply contradictory to support bowling or golfing as sports, seeing as how the physical demands of competitive gaming exceed them.</p>
<p>In July, the US recognized LoL as a sport in order to allow competition visa’s into the US for tournaments, allowing players from around the world to collect at the major LAN tournaments without the trouble of getting a visa, which has severely impeded many players for a very long time.</p>
<p>It might be a quirky hobby to put in your essays or something, but I doubt it’d hold the same weight as if you’d spent that time doing a more ‘traditional’ activity in the eyes of college adcoms.</p>
<p>Well, obviously you’re at a huge disadvantage here compared to someone who excels in a “traditional” sport like football or basketball. I mean, the average person isn’t impressed by someone who plays video games all day, admissions included.</p>
<p>I can see you bending it to your favor. You’ll have to write an essay that demonstrates just how intricately Starcraft is linked to your development as a human being and your personality. You’ll have to wipe aside those preconceived notions of gaming.</p>
<p>All that is theoretical though. Unless you have a top 10 international placing or some other high level award to show your gaming ability, I don’t think colleges will view it as a very productive EC.</p>
<p>I have been moderately heavily involved with competitive SC2 for around the past three years. Though I don’t put in enough time to be a good player (bad mechanics) and am not a community figure, I do know quite a bit about the professional scene.</p>
<p>I think your accomplishments are impressive, but not a big wow factor. I don’t know if Atlas Gaming was salaried, just gave you equipment, or was just semi-casual, but I don’t know anything about it. A quick search on teamliquid led me to believe that it was more of a clan than a team. You also have very little actual tournament results to speak of, and from your description I assume you were never GM (though you had good MMR). </p>
<p>I don’t think it will be view in a particularly good light. Let’s say the readers aren’t familiar with SC2. They probably will have preconceived notions of gaming, and will wonder if you are trying to make an EC out of a bad habit (I’m not saying it is one, just that others might think this way). The only thing that might catch their eyes is your winnings, which are very little. If you have few ECs other than SC or have a relatively low GPA, they will think you are just some lazy computer gamer.</p>
<p>If the readers are familiar with SC2, or are at least open-minded, it could be viewed well, but not super well. I mean, I’m very familiar with SC2 and I had never heard of your clan before. You strike me as a good player, but not one that has shown results, nor one that will win the next big tournament. </p>
<p>It also depends on the school, too. I have a feeling that schools with an older, more conservative faculty would tend to frown upon gaming.</p>