topic Re: Do you follow eSports? in Off-Topic

Do you follow eSports?

EmilieT — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 08:45:13 GMT

Hi everyone,

This weekend I did something a little unsual (for me at least), and thought it would be interesting to share it with you and get your thoughts on the wider subject

On Sunday, I attended the Summer Finals of the UKLC, the UK League Championship, in an arena within Twickenham stadium. This is an eSports championship, for the game League of Legends. I do not play the game myself, but I've been enjoying watching the World Championships for the past couple of years, and thought it would be fun to go and attend one of the games in person!

As you can see below, it was a beautiful day in Twickenham. They had inflated some giant version of in-game characters outside, which set the tone nicely as we made our way to the doors.

Everyone received a goodie bag, containing some little bits and pieces, including a wristband and temporary tattoo that I put on right away to show support to the team I was rooting for. We also each had two inflatable sticks with ends that could lit up when hit them against each other. Those were used to cheer during the games, and proved very entertaining. Below you can see the trophy at well, that was going to be awarded to the winning team!

Then the games started! It was a best of 5 Finals, and both team played incredibly well. It was really fun, the crowd was chanting and following the player's every move on the big screen, and the 3 commentators were both funny and insightful which added to the experience.

Unfortunately, the team I was supporting didn't win, but it was all great fun and the victory was well deserved!

Apologies for the length of this post, but I hope you found it interesting, and feel free to ask me anything you're curious about on the event! Do any of you guys follow eSports?

League of legends is one of the many games that has professional players and championships now, so there are a lot of different eSports to get involved in. It's a growing industry as well, and I find it very exciting to see it evolve and reach more and more people of all ages and backgrounds

Re: Do you follow eSports?

gmarkj — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 09:19:15 GMT

Sounds like a good day out @EmilieT.
Wasn't there something recently about a tournament for on-line gaming, and I think someone from the UK was part of a team that won?

Re: Do you follow eSports?

EmilieT — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 10:16:39 GMT

I'm not sure @gmarkj, but I know the games Overwatch and Fortnite both have tournaments so maybe you're referring to one of those? I'll do a bit of digging later today to see if I can find out more on that

The team that I was supporting in those finals was actually based in Twickenham. They have players form different places, including the UK, but train mainly in Twickenham which meant a huge chunk of the crowd was cheering for them as the home team

Re: Do you follow eSports?

viridis — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 10:29:00 GMT

An unpopular opinion but let's go...
Now I'm a gamer, I enjoy a bit of battle royale, driving, fighting and even partial to a bit of swinging between skyscrapers dressed in red and blue lycra....
But... I've always, always , ALWAYS hated the term ESports.
It's not sport, they are not "athletes'
And I firmly believe, as a father, that they send out the wrong message to kids that by sitting on your backside playing Fortnite, you can earn a living..
Yes, for 0.00001% that is true, but for the other 99.99999% not so much.
Rant over, hope you had a great time.

Re: Do you follow eSports?

EmilieT — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 10:38:02 GMT

@viridis I'm not sure it's an unpopular opinion at all actually If it were up to me, I would probably have called it competitive gaming rather than eSports. It's more about strategy and skills than physical prowess, and I don't believe all games require the same level of skill and would be worth playing competitively or professionally.

It was however a really fun day, and I'll keep following the European and World championships for this game. I don't think I'd follow professional Fortnite games though, I don't find Fortnite as impressive and skillful of a game, which doesn't take anything away from it being fun of course -just using this one as an example since you mentioned it as well.

Re: Do you follow eSports?

viridis — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 10:39:49 GMT

Can't stand Fortnite.
It's like call of duty had a bstard love child with Minecraft and thus Fortnite was born.

Re: Do you follow eSports?

gmarkj — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 10:52:24 GMT

Agree that the name is rather misleading (as in, it's not a sport).
It is rather like "normal" sports though in that it is only the top fraction that will ever get paid (or at least, make a living from) this version of it.
And I am horribly bad at all versions of online games, so I don't bother!!

Re: Do you follow eSports?

viridis — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 11:03:35 GMT

Difference is of course, while attempting to become a real athlete in real sports, the unlucky many still have the self knowledge of being fit and active.

Re: Do you follow eSports?

viridis — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 11:05:44 GMT

I just think
"4 years training of competitive marathon running"
Looks better on a CV than
"4 years dorito munching playing Fortnite and trolling other players about their nan"

Re: Do you follow eSports?

Cleoriff — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 12:12:19 GMT

Must admit I'm a tad confused about this term esport. I'm not a gamer at all but my grandson is.

Now he plays Call of duty, Football games and F1.

So does this mean he will play football better (he is good anyway) or be able to get in an F1 car and drive it? The answer to the last one is no...They drivers use simulators and have to go through F3, F2 as racers whilst gaining points to get a superlicence to be able to drive an F1 car.

All I know is, he plays all of these games with teams...but from the comfort of home whilst chatting to me. Not Nan @viridis ...but Grandma...

Re: Do you follow eSports?

sheepdog — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 21:42:10 GMT

So let me get this right about e-sports: kids are getting paid to go around killing characters with scary weapons whilst verbally abusing everyone for real money?

Sheepdog in "my 10p is next on the Space Invaders" mode

Re: Do you follow eSports?

jonsie — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 21:54:11 GMT

I can honestly say I had never heard of e-sport before. Sport is where you change into the proper kit, any sport where you don't isn't sport.....

Re: Do you follow eSports?

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Sep 2019 16:19:33 GMT

Definitely not a sport and from some of the stuff I've watched about this, it looks as though it goes from being a fun activity to a corporate driven labour camp.

These ladies and gents end up playing for 12 hour days all stuck in the same house and while it can be lucrative, you can be kicked out in the blink of an eye.

I'm a casual gamer but wouldn't want to end up in a situation where my performance at a leisure activity dictated whether I could eat and pay my bills or not.