COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State University's new esports arena is ready for play.
With 80 high-end computer gaming stations, the arena can be used for recreation and competition.
“The more we start to see esports, there's going to be more benefit for colleges to start getting involved," said Ohio State student Kenneth Kresina.
But what this new lab is really doing is preparing gamers for the future.
"We're looking at what makes a good gamer right now, and then can we translate that out to what makes a good drone operator in the military, what make a good decision-making person on the athletic field," said Jimmy Onate, Faculty Director of the Human Performance Collaborative.
The campus-wide collaboration brings together academics, collegiate competition and research to give students as many opportunities as possible to be a part of the booming industry.
"Giving students a place to start here on a college campus where they can start to explore some of those passions, some of those interests," Kresina said.
Specific areas of study may include esports management, game art and production, game design, programming, the business of games and health and rehabilitation.
The audience for competitive gaming is expected to rival the NFL by 2022 with as many as 300 million people.