So I know I said I was going to watch the Chinese LOL championships unfortunately I didn’t end up getting a chance to watch this, so rather I am going to discuss the League of Legends (LOL) world championship finals that took place on the 18th of October. This world championship is held for the professional players and is presented as a sporting event for them to merit their gaming skills. This recent esports event gained a huge audience of 32 million viewers. LOL has evidently become the most popular esport across an international platform. The LOL world championship winners Samsung White from Korea earned themselves a prize of one million USD. (Pitcher, 2014)

The two teams that versed each other in the world championships final were both from Asia the winners, Samsung White from Korea and the runners-up Star Horn Royal club from China. Even though both finalists were from eastern countries it’s interesting that the world championships were broadcast throughout the USA in different theatres. (Pitcher, 2014) As you can see teams professional LOL teams are sponsored by corporations such as Samsung, like any successful sporting team in society.

One of my classmates Jessica commented on my previous blog post about LOL and connected me with an interesting article on ethnographical research concerning the increase in video gaming culture. The article entitled: ‘Video games in context: An ethnographic study of situated meaning-making practices of Asian immigrant adolescents in New York City’ was an interesting read and I would recommend it if you are interested in this topic, so thanks Jess.

After reading this article in conjunction with my own personal experience of attempting to play LOL I feel as though I have gained an insight into the time, energy and teamwork that is associated with this hobby and sport.

In current society older generations are consistently questioning if social interactions and skills are being lost through the introduction of technology, however I believe this article challeneges this idea through providing first hand evidence into the intricate details of video game culture and its interactions. Video games involve so much more than just playing a game with your friends, they provide a platform of social interaction that not only creates a community and a circle of common interests, while also providing members with a skill and knowledge of how to use different media forms. (Hung, 2007)

I experienced this in my own interactions with LOL online. When you play the game as a member of a team of 5 players you are able to interact with each other through a chat room, through headsets and this is anything but an anti-social or solitude experience. I found it extremely overwhelming and completely daunting, if you make a mistake and let down your team, they will let you know and you feel very much involved with the other members of your team.

References

Hung, Chia-Yuan, 2007, ‘Video games in context: An ethnographic study of situated meaning-making practices of Asian immigrant adolescents in New York City’, Teachers College, Columbia University, Authors and Digital Games Research Association, pp248-253

Pitcher, Jenna, 19/10/2014 ‘Samsung White Wins 1M, League of Legends 2014 World Championship, IGN News, http://au.ign.com/articles/2014/10/20/samsung-white-wins-1m-league-of-legends-2014-world-championship Date Accessed: 20/10/2014