By Daniel Holmberg (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: October 29, 2014
League of Legends (LoL), popular multiplayer online battle arena game, recently held its world championship in Seoul, Korea. How popular is LoL? The people attending the world finals filled a soccer stadium, 40,000 strong. And those were just the live attendees. People all over the world streamed the finals match to watch at home. Some even threw viewing parties, like the one hosted by eSports Valley at AfterMath on Saturday, October 18.
eSports may be a relatively new phenomenon for some, but there is no denying its popularity. Some may still doubt the legitimacy of eSports, but I will tell you this: we have our own commentators, and they are an absolute riot to listen to. A solid crowd of nearly 70 people, myself included, that stayed up all night in AfterMath, watching Samsung White (SSW) and Star Horn Royal Gaming Club (SHRC) battle it out 8200 km away. Before the match, we were treated with a live performance of “Warriors,” a new song written by Imagine Dragons just for Worlds.
It was a raucous event, with louder spectators than any football fans I’ve ever seen. Every close call, every kill, every inch closer to victory had the house in an uproar. AfterMath provided a free buffet, as well as never-ending soda all night long. The buffet was cleared out in no time, as the crowd was twice as large as anticipated. To make things a little more interesting, they even had a free competition where we were all invited to predict the winners of each match.I (along with six others) were lucky enough to guess that the series would go Samsung White, SSW, SHRC, SSW. There was a draw, and of the seven of us who guessed correctly, I managed to win a signed picture of Dignitas, a popular team based in Great Britain.
The event surely would have been a little confusing for an outsider. But fear not — if you want to come to an event such as this, there will be no shortage of people who are more than happy to explain the basics of the game. All you need to know are the basics to be able to enjoy watching any sport. So come and join us next time; it’s sure to be even bigger and better next year.
