/r/leagueoflegends DISSECTED! #1 "How long will league as an (e-)sports survive?"

The League of the Legends subreddit, r/leagueoflegends is the most popular League related subreddit and it is extremely active, being the #40 of subreddits in terms of subscribers and #9 for submissions per day. Most people who are active in the League of Legends community, that is, those that participate in League related activity on various social media sites and watch the pro leagues probably have visited the subreddit at some point in time. This popularity means the posts on the front page of reddit varying wildly in content and quality. I often get annoyed at the quality of the posts on the front page and so I have decided to pick a few that I would like to express some of my opinions on this blog.

So introducing the first post for dissection! "How long will league as an (e-)sports survive?"

So this is actually a very good question. League of Legends is a relatively new game and e-sports is a relatively new and widely unknown concept. Not many games have (arguably none in some regions of the world) experienced this type of popularity in terms of the e-sport scene. Riot is putting on events that are on a scale that have not been tried in e-sports scene, viewer numbers are huge and apparently rising. But as always people ask how long will this last? There are a lot of factors that will contribute to this and it's very difficult to know how any one of these factors will play out in the future.
This redditor, however, expresses that they, personally, had realised that watching the games was getting increasingly boring for them. Which is fair enough, not everyone can enjoy every game. However, then they go on to say "Don't get me wrong yesterday's game were really exciting..."

But...you just said they were boring! They can't be both exciting and boring at the same time. I can accept though that perhaps they are allowing for other peoples personal opinions just phrasing it in an awkward way. But then comes the next bit...

"With more and more experience the amount of mistakes and throws will get lower. If this trend stays there will be a point where games are decided with first blood or the first lane losing. Right now games are exciting because the leading team makes mistakes or wrong calls."

Ummm.....what???

The poster is actually suggesting that as pro players get better the game will be less interesting because the only reason why people watch the game is apparently to see if a team will make a mistake and "throw" the game. 

People apparently don't want to see top level plays and strategies being made by top teams and top players. Oh no, they want to see questionable 19 minute Barons (I'm looking at you Vulcan), fail flashes and missed skill shots! I find this really hard to believe, people love players like Uzi and Faker for a reason, people love teams like Fnatic and SKT T1 for a reason. They make the plays and they don't make mistakes. If more people prefer watching sloppy play then I feel there is something wrong with the game of League of Legends itself. 

The redditor points out that the top level teams know how to push objectives and capitalize on a lead. Well of course they do! A pro team should be able to use an advantage properly. This isn't some casual silver solo queue game where the champions run around randomly for 40 minutes.   You don't practice 12+ hours a day and not know when you should take a tower after a good team fight.

One redeeming feature of this post is that they express the concern about how the "snowballing" effect means that games can be decided in the first few minutes depending on what happens, if there's a first blood, who wins lane. This a legitimate concern not just for competitive play but for casual play as well, since if the game becomes too easy to snowball then it's not exactly the most fun to watch or play. However, this post suggests that League is super snowbally, which it isn't (at least at the moment), most of the time teams have a chance to come back - just like a soccer team 3 goals behind (to use the same comparison as in the post) has a chance. But do you think a professional soccer team would let the opposing team get 3 goals to even it out? If they were any good, of course not. Same with League. League is a lot more complicated in terms of format and gameplay then soccer so it's not exactly the same. But that's what I like about it. If I wanted to watch soccer, I'd watch soccer.
I think in terms of pro play, you have to take into account that teams don't just chill out and see what happens. They have a plan. They know what to do if they get first blood or if they don't. They (hopefully) know about the strengths and weaknesses of their team composition as well as the enemies compositions. If both teams are of equal skill level then these strategies will play themselves out which is what is interesting to watch.

MVP Ozone destroyed CJ Entus Blaze in the OGN Champions Spring Final because they were the first to hard counter Blaze's minion push strategy. It was probably the most unexpected victory  in the history of League of Legends. Faker won a 1 v 1 against a 100% health Ryu with less than half health in the Championship Summer final. C9 dominated the NA LCS with an unexpected Ashe/Zyra combo and carry jungler. Fnatic left opponents baffled in S3 Worlds' group stages and EU LCS regionals with their double teleport strategy.  These are plays that should be remembered, not that questionable team fight engage at Baron, that missed flash or level 1 brush face check.

The poster then sums it up saying they think the snowbally nature of League is why people will stop caring about League as an e-Sports very soon. While I think this is a concern and Riot needs to avoid creating a game that can easily snowball, I don't think in any way it is an issue at this time (in terms of people caring about League as an e-Sports, not that changes to the game shouldn't be made as the strategies evolve). Gold leads aren't always snowballed in the first ten minutes of the game, games that have huge gold differences aren't always boring to watch. Mistakes and bad play aren't the only thing that can turn games around. Statistics tell you about win rates and objective securing but do not say ANYTHING about the enjoyment factor. This redditor describes themself as an addict. But I don't think you can assume that others only watch the games to see if one team "throws".

A Brutal TL;DR: Don't complain when you think that "throws" are the most interesting parts of the game and they aren't happening as often because increased skill levels. That's just nuts. You might be watching the game but...you're doing it wrong.

Or at least forgetting there is a whole host of other reasons to watch a pro match. Perhaps you should spend some time on r/bestofbronze.

Thanks for reading =)  You can find me on twitter @gerarda, leave comments! Tweet feedback at me! Also sorry for the length, I am not very good at making short posts it seems but I shall try to shorten future posts. 

The Hot 6ix OGN Champions Summer Finals - Highlights from the Ground

Recently I went to Seoul, South Korea to watch the final matches of the Hot 6ix OGN Champions Summer season. The first match I saw was the 3rd place match between MVP Ozone (now Samsung Galaxy Ozone) and CJ Entus Frost. The second match I saw was the final match of the tournament between SKT T1 and KT Bullets, with SKT taking out the victory. The whole experience of being in Seoul by myself was amazing and I could probably write about it for days but instead I am going to summarise it by some highlights of the events:

1. Lining up for tickets but not for the bathroom:

The two matches I went to were best of five matches all going to the fifth match. This is means there usually is three hours or so between start and finish. This a standard time for a sports event (although unlike in other sports there's no more than 10 minutes between each game - there is not half time or anything like that). What took up most of the time was waiting in line to get tickets. Both events were free but you needed a tickets for both. These tickets were given out on the day of each match and it was a first come first serve basis. There are pros and cons for this system but it mainly means a lot of waiting in line. And not only do you have to wait in line but you have to be sufficiently placed in the line to get a ticket for a good seat. I spent FIVE HOURS in line for the third place match. And I got the last seated seat in the TV studio. But being in line was surprisingly interesting in itself. It's always exciting to observe completely new things and the fact that hardly anyone spoke English makes it more like a puzzle since there's no way of knowing what is actually going on. I wrote a blog about my line experience. For the final tickets were scheduled to be given out at 10am on the day and I arrived at 7am anticipating a large line...I was not disappointed. There was at least 300 people in front of me. The final was not in the usual TV studio which holds about 200 people but at a stadium holding close to 10,000.  I was mostly chilling in line with middle school aged boys which was kind of funny really because I stuck out because of gender, my ethnicity and my age (although I look like I could be anywhere between 16-24). Not that there weren't older people around but the teenagers just happened to make up the majority near me. All this waiting was completely worth it though, 10/10 would line up again.

In the line at 7am for finals tickets.

The male toilet line during the finals. The ladies' toilets had no line so no waiting for me!

2. Rain and being #wetforeSports

The finals were held at the Jamsil Sports Complex Subsidiary Stadium which apart from being host to many concert and events including the Olympics, is notable for being an outdoor stadium. So when it started to rain during the first game everyone and everything got fairly wet. The rain triggered a max exodus to the undercover areas at the back of the stadium although many people stayed in their seats embracing being #wetforeSports. I feel most sorry for the casters, since they could hardly slip into a raincoat, put up an umbrella or rush undercover while casting. I would have been thoroughly distracted but the OGN have excellent English and Korean casters and they managed to turn the rain into a positive. After all the number of people who were still there watching in the rain just proves how dedicated and excited the fans were to be watching the finals.

Dedicated fans with raincoats and umbrellas and they eventually erected tents over the casters 

3. Vision Wars! But not for the fans - mini maps and different POV galore

This blog is named after the constant battle for in-game vision that teams these days find themselves, and just so fans didn't miss out of any of this struggle the screen set up consisted of; a main screen with the usual spectator mode with both teams visions on one map, two square screens showing mini maps of each teams vision separately and; two smaller screens showing one teams vision at any given time. I am a big fan of how in the OGN the observer is always switching between full vision and the separate team visions to give the viewers an idea of what each team sees. This screen set up took that to the next level and really gave those spectating at the venue a new perspective on the game. It really can show how great some of the plays pros make when they have limited vision or leads to better understanding of how important vision is at any given time. I hope other eSport event organisers can utilise this idea for future events because it really adds another dimension to viewing eSports live at the venue. 

All of the screens for exciting viewing! The side screens often showed other parts of the game not on the main screen.

4. Quadruple Ninjas!

The blind pick games for both the 3rd place match and the final were explosive. If a match goes to a blind pick game in the finals, you just KNOW it's  probably going to be the most exciting and amazing League of Legends you have ever seen. I am so glad that I got to see two blind pick matches when I was there, especially considering there were absolutely none in the spring season. The 3rd place match had MVP Ozone and CJ Frost both pulling out Zeds for their midlaners, and also double Thresh in the botlane. But it was the finals match between SKT T1 and KT Bullets that gave birth to the Quadruple Ninjas, both top laners Impact and InSec both pulling out the Shen (wtf 2 shens?!), and Faker and Ryu with Zed v Zed in the mid lane. I suggest you watch that game to see how that turned out (hint: see next point).

4. Faker, the play maker and mid lane terror

SKT T1 is known for a play making style of play and this finals was no exception. Faker picked up the MVP of the whole season, and his Ahri and Zed plays destroyed the KT Bullets. Special mention goes to that Zed play in the blind pick game, where he won a duel against Ryu's full health Zed when he was less than a quarter health. The plays. Only a video can really do it justice. 

SKT T1 player banners in all their glory!

These are just a few of the reasons why going to Seoul was worth the 13 hour flight and not insignificant financial loss. I really enjoyed Seoul as a city and a place to be, and I will definitely be going there again (Season 4 Worlds? Riot pls).

You can read more on my trip and League of Legends in this post.

Thanks for reading, don't forget to leave comments below and you can find me @gerarda on Twitter! 

Spectating in Seoul: Watching the 3rd place Match of OGN Champions Summer 2013

Coming out of nearly 17 consecutive years of education leaves a person feeling a bit dazed and confused, and as I found myself in a situation with limitless free time I have been able to watch considerable amounts of professional League of Legends from Korea and other regions. Anyone who has talked to me enough probably knows that I am a big fan of the Korean League of Legends scene, whether or not they know what that means. So, naturally, I decided to use some of the money I had saved up through all of high school and university to go to Seoul, South Korea and watch some pro games live.  It fit nicely into my idea of going on a holiday without having to use up all my spare cash. At the time the OGN Champions Summer 2013 was wrapping up with their final on 31st of August and the 3rd place match between MVP Ozone and CJ Entus Frost being on the Wednesday just before, so being the dedicated eSports fan I am, I planned to go to both events as part of my trip.

The League of Legend matches are held at the I'Park Mall e-Sports Stadium in Yongsan

I arrived in Seoul, South Korea, late Tuesday afternoon after a 13 hour journey from my hometown Perth, in Western Australia and the next day, my first point of business was to check out the third place match. I knew there would be a line that would need to be waited in for tickets, as it is frequently mentioned by MonteCristo and DoA, the shoutcasters of the English OGN stream, that fans line up hours in advanced on the day of the match to grab a free ticket to watch the games in the OGN studio. The line is particularly long, apparently, when big teams like the CJ Entus teams and MVP Ozone are playing. Seeing as this was a CJ Frost and MVP Ozone (now Samsung Galaxy Ozone) match and for third place - the last match held in the studio for the summer season, I anticipated a large line. However I had no idea how large so I went extra early just in case. I also was expecting to get lost because I assumed the I'Park Mall in Yongsan was going to be huge, far beyond my native city of less than 2 million people experience. After travelling up what seemed like endless escalators and then being surprised to find myself on the 8th floor, I found myself taking the escalators up to the 9th floor to the my target destination with no idea what to expect.  I arrived at 10:30am and already there was about 20 people sitting in front of the doors. As twenty was not a huge number and people weren't flooding into the line (although 20 to come so early does well to indicate how dedicated the Korean fans can be) so I decided to come back later and in the meantime do some further exploring of the mall.

Line at about 11am, tickets were handed out at 5:30pm

At 12:30pm I went back up to the 9th floor, where the e-Sports stadium is (note: less of an eSports "stadium" more of a TV studio space - still impressive nonetheless). There was only a spattering of new people but I decided I couldn't be bothered wandering around anymore and sat down to wait with my Kindle and phone to read and work out my international roaming data package. People slowly trickled up the escalators to sit down in the ever growing line. To set the scene a little bit, the eSports Stadium is one of the only things on the ninth floor of the I'Park Mall. The other things that exist there are what I can only assume were some offices and then an outside area complete with some exercise equipment and a smoking area for people during their office breaks. The escalators were the only way to get to the ninth floor apart from some obscurely placed elevators and this resulted in all these Korean office workers walking back and forth past everyone sitting in line. I wondered if the people who walked past were perplexed by the bunch of mostly Korean teenage/twenty-somethings sitting around the ninth floor on Wednesdays but having absolutely no Korean I didn't ask. The line eventually went out the door into the outside area, with people having to wait outside at least two hours before they handed out the tickets. The long and short of this experience was yes, I did wait about 5 hours to get in but it was completely worth it.

MVP Ozone's booth from where I was sitting in the audience

The fans dedication to their favourite teams and the game is clearly evident in how many people were lining up from 10:30am but it can also be seen from what the fans themselves did in the line. Five or more hours sitting in a line, is a long time for anyone to do nothing so my fellow fans amused themselves with making signs for their favourite players. A few girls made an excellent Cloud Templar (jungler of CJ Frost) poster with the cutest purple elephant on it (Cloud Templar's nickname is elephant) and then also went on to make a really awesome Blitzcrank sign for none other than Madlife (CJ Frost's support player). A bunch of people behind me in line were watching a LoL Summer Lesson and  the girl in front of me had a picture of Shy as her phone background.

The highlight of the lining up had to be when the teams themselves went up the escalators and past everyone in the line to go into the studio. This was made even more exciting by the fans reaction to the teams walking past - the girl who had Shy as her phone background let out a little shriek and exclaimed excitedly to her friends, while everyone stood up and started talking excitedly. It was pretty adorable really. I am not really a typical "fangirly" person about anything, at least outwardly, but it's impossible not to get excited about CJ Frost walking past a mere metre from you especially when the people around you are so genuinely and outwardly excited about it. The players themselves look fairly ordinary, most of them are quite young looking and with their team polo shirts and matching pants at first glance look more like a well disciplined school group then highly focused and trained athletes. There was even the part of the late, dawdling students played by RapidStar and Ganked By Mom (Frost's midlaners), RapidStar appearing to drag the bowtied hipster GBM past all his adoring fans into the studio a few minutes after the rest of Frost had entered. I have always wondered whether the fact that eSports professionals just don't look like traditional athletes will make eSports harder to accept as a mainstream sport/activity that can attract crowds with numbers competitive to that of football or basketball (progamers tend to look rather young and "nerdy" whereas a traditional sports professional may be the same age but due to the need to be at their physical peak look a lot older and more obvious in their role).

A few other foreign fans in the line spoke to me because being one of the only Caucasian people there they assumed I could speak English and probably looked like I knew what was going on because I was sitting among all the Koreans (in reality I was just copying what everyone else was doing and hoping no one would give any important/complicated instructions in Korean because otherwise I would have been completely lost). In trying to work out what exact time they gave out tickets the girl with the Shy phone background helped us out with what time it started which then led to a conversation about our favourite players/teams. Her favourite player was Shy (hence the phone wallpaper) and she asked me if I was a fan of Frost. I am more of a fan of MVP Ozone but seeing as she had a limited English I just mentioned Frost and that my favourite player was Madlife (Madlife is my favourite player on Frost). To which she exclaimed "God!" and I think part of me died inside of happiness (Madlife is known as "God" due to his godlike plays in game).

It was like a crazy collision between my experience of watching endless OGN Champion matches on the English stream at home in Australia and then being in Seoul waiting to see the actual game, in the flesh, far away from what I am used too. Already I knew that Koreans call Madlife God because MonteCristo and DoA mention it and there are always fans signs at the events. But to hear it from an ordinary Korean fan just affirmed that what I've heard sitting at home was all true and it was amazing.

The Korean casters on the left and the English casters on the right. Korean casters are heard in the studio & on Korean stream/TV channel. English casters can be heard on the live OGN global internet stream.

That is probably a little bit of an exaggeration but I've always felt that the language barrier always created a separation between the Korean scene and the foreign/non-Korean fans (despite the English commentators being live on set). It's very difficult to completely understand a scene in which you don't speak the language or understand much of the culture. South Korea was a place I scarcely even thought of before getting interested in eSports. It doesn't feature much in the mainstream news for any reason other than the on-going tensions between it and North Korea and from a tourist's point of view it's not really a popular destination for Australians compared to places like Indonesia or Japan. For this summer's OGN season more translations of players interviews have been available thanks mainly to Chobra's efforts for OGN's global audience and the English commentators do their best to translate the general feeling of the scene on to the stream. However, as a foreign fan, the language barrier only allows you to view the scene through limited avenues (no matter how talented and brilliant these avenues are), rarely hearing things from the Korean players or fans themselves. The Korean fans dedication and excitement for the game, teams and players is always mentioned and you can hear about it endlessly.  But knowing what it's like is almost impossible until you are actually there. And I was there, at the live event, and it made me so happy and excited to be able to experience it, despite the language difference, because I too, love the game, teams and players.

Thanks for reading! You can find me on twitter @gerarda or leave a comment below! =)