2014 Worlds

Photo by Cole Zellner
Photo by Cole Zellner

2014 League of Legends World Championships is currently near the end of competitive season 4. This year, Worlds will be hosted in a stadium located in Korea. It has turned into the most watched Esport in the last 4 years.

The first season was disappointing compared to now. It used to just be a small event with fold out chairs and a $50,000 prize. Now, they fill soccer stadiums and have famous bands make songs for them. This years prize pool is over $2,000,000.

But the gamer’s don’t play for the money. They play because they love gaming. One pro said he gave up everything for the game, because life gave him a chance to be the best in the world at something, and he wanted to take it.

There are so many teams. TSM will be representing America in this years season. There are a few others but they don’t stand a chance.

As you can see, gaming is turning into something much more than just something you do for fun. It is becoming a career.

You Will Never Be a Team Captain

So I finally got into League of Legends.

I pretty much suck, but of course, nearly everyone sucks at their first few times playing a new game. I got it Tuesday, March 4th.

My roommate’s an early sleeper, and so last night I sat in the hallway to play one last game before sleeping. It was near midnight or so, and I was playing alone, randomly matched with other players.

I suppose I shouldn’t say their usernames, but they were obviously acquaintances. It was 3v3, so I was the outsider.

I usually die 2-6 times within the first 10-15 minutes depending, and this time I wasn’t doing so hot, as I was quite tired.

And these two users began to comment on me.

“First time playing as Volibear?”

I said no, I was just tired and in a funk because I had SATs the next day.

“I hope you don’t test like you play.”

“The world always needs more janitors.”

“Volibear: How not to play.”

I ignored them pretty easily, as I was thinking these guys either didn’t know that they were being total butts or they were trying to make me mad in some way.

In the last stretch of the game, when all the opponents were gathered around our Nexus and were trying to destroy it, I realized that two players were nowhere to be seen on the map. Yet they were still commenting on how horribly I was playing. I asked them to come back and help me defend home base.

And then, more comments on how badly I play.

Their comments really didn’t get to me too much. I reported them, closed the game, then tried to focus on something else as I tried to sleep.

Yet today I felt reluctant to open up the game.