Do you follow eSports?

[EmilieT]

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

[sheepdog]

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

[jonsie]

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.....

[Anonymous]

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.