The world of so-called esports may be full of fantasy, but the competition and money are extremely real.

Nearly 50 years after the first video game was introduced, many people now consider video game competition a sport.  Some have even made careers of it.

Esports generated more than $700 million in revenue last year, and is projected to hit the $1 billion mark this year.

More colleges are also handing out significant esports scholarships. Some of them are also providing free rides to students.

More than 75 colleges currently offer esport scholarships. There are currently eight high school teams on Long Island that do - with more to come.

Ryan Champlin helped create New York state's first high school esports team for Bay Shore High School, which has more than 100 members.

“We have a lot of students who now are on the esports team who had never talked to each other before, never met each other and never would have interacted with each other in school. And now they find out that they both play the same game and now they are playing together as teammates, and they're best friends,” he says.

Game on!