My Venture Into the League of Legends eSport

I've been actively playing videogames for over 22 years, but I've been actively watching them for just two. Think on that. 

I never thought that it would come to this, to find myself skipping football to watch a videogame, and yet here I am. The controller is resting by my side, the HDMI is connected to my laptop instead of my PlayStation, and there is nobody I know beyond the internet who understands what I watch and why I watch it. In truth, sometimes even I don't understand why I watch it--but I do, and I enjoy it.

For the better part of two years now, I've been watching videogamers play the computer game League of Legends on a professional level week-in and week-out. Much like you would a normal sport, I've been following the LoL e-sport scene for the past four seasons--yes, the videogame-turned-sport has seasons, teams and schedules, a fully committed production staff, and a much larger fanbase than many know. But I'm not here to defend LoL as a type of sport; I'm here to explain my experience of it.

As I've come to realise through a generation of games embedded within the Internet, there are many other gamers out in the world, and what’s more, there are many other gamers out in the world who are better than me at the games I enjoy. In 2012 I decided to try my hand at the popular game League of Legends, and just as quickly did I realise how simplistically complicated of a game it was. I played LoL, and I tried to master LoL, and despite my futile attempts at greatness, I can say I walked away from the game with a greater sense of appreciation for what it took to be worth your salt.

If you've never played League of Legends, know this: the game inspires competition, and through that competition comes a plethora of petty frustrations entwined with glorious accomplishments on a minute-to-minute basis. From working with your team to outfoxing your opponents, there are small victories to be had in every corner of each match. And if you're good enough, those small victories can one day earn you a lot of money on a big stage somewhere in South Korea.

Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. There are a few reasons I watch people play LoL on a professional level, and what I've just outlined above is one of the most prominent of them. I watch LoL because I have an appreciation for the little things that exist within it: the starting positions, the lane matchups, the CS'ing, the jungle invades, the item builds, and other random terminology nobody will understand. But I do understand them. I understand that there is a unique strategy involved with every aspect, and that much like a regular sport there is a lot of planning and practice and execution that goes into playing the game at an elite, world-class level. It's a level of gaming that even I, someone who loves videogames (and loves to think he is good at them), am humbled by. There is so much detail to a game like LoL (and other such similar games) that I'm truly amazed at how well it translates into a viewing experience.

While I can't sit down and easily explain the intricacies of the game to anyone in passing, I can say that the game, at its core level, is very much the same as any other sport. And its viewing experience, its production value as a sport, is getting vamped with each new season, transforming it into something beyond anything that videogames has seen before. The commentators rival that of any major sporting event, the interviews are more hands-on, the level of personal commitment the professional gamers and their families put on the line is focused on, and the amount of money to be had at each finish line is unprecedented (I’m talking millions of pounds).

I won't challenge you to watch a professional match or try your hand at the game itself, nor will I attempt to convince you to appreciate the finer things the game has to offer, but as someone who has been playing videogames for over two decades, and has now been watching them for the past two years, I believe that what is happening right now with League of Legends is game-changing for an entertainment medium and is bewildering when put into an economic growth perspective. Videogames are the fastest growing entertainment industry in history, and soon enough there will be a mainstream competitive scene as well. What I'm watching in my spare time is the metamorphosis into that gaming future. Looking outward, what I’m watching is the evolution of sporting competition around the world, one videogame at a time.

This weekend (October 3rd-6th) is the quarterfinal round of the League of Legends World Championship set in Busan, South Korea. Eight teams from three regions--North America, China, and South Korea are set to compete for their spot in the semifinals in Sangam Stadium in Seoul, one of the same venues as the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The prize pool money is over 1.3 million pounds, and the stakes are at the highest they have ever been for the e-sport. There is a lot to be said for these gentlemen who have made gaming a professional career, but even more to be seen as the tournament unfolds over the next several weeks, the industry evolves over the next several years, and the public adapts as the times change. For now, though, I’ll be here in my living room, controller resting by my side, TV turned to YouTube, watching every moment along the way.