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| The KT Rollers take on The Koo Tigers. |
Although e-sports have been around for many years, the niche market has had an explosive expansion in the last few years – especially in Europe.
Games such as Starcraft and Counterstrike have always had followings in Korea and America respectively, Korea even having dedicated channels on TV showing the tournaments, but now Europe has jumped on the bandwagon, and it's oh so sweet.
This Sunday I had the pleasure of going to the LCS, or the League of Legends Championship Series, for the quarter finals between KT Roller and The Koo Tigers. It was held in the Wembley Arena, which has a capacity of 18,000 people, a figure not to be sniffed at.
It had everything a live sport should have; from overpriced beer, to chants and songs (of a type), with ultra-fans showing up in cosplaying outfits and regular Joe's like me wearing slightly nerdy gaming related clothing.
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| The Cosplayers in all their glory! Taken from the official LoL website. |
So what we are really here to do is compare the two, sports and E-sports, to try and get to the bottom of what causes the disparity between the two and if we really can call a video game a sport at all.
The Similarities:
Obviously sports require teams, dedicated staff and to some degree a level of monetary sponsorship. League of legends is the prime example of this.
The teams that play on the professional scale League of Legends live together, play together, and in some circumstances even come across the globe to join other teams. Although there isn't a transfer market, these players still have to uproot their lives to find their fit – to find a team that they can work with. It's no mean feat, especially when there is a language barrier often in place for many of the players.
To really push home the idea of a team the higher teams not only live with each other but also have their own managers who, similar to traditional sports, analyse the opposition and have often been on professional teams themselves in the past, most certainly living and breathing the game itself.
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| One of the first big plays of the showdown. |
This level of intensity most definitely illustrates how serious this business is taken. Five, albeit young, men living with each other, practicing for 8 hours a day in the run up to tournaments in essentially 'friendlies' with other teams, watching their opposition and discussing tactics with their managers and pushing themselves to the limit to get better at an ever evolving game.
One thing that definitely makes an E-sport like League of Legends particularly difficult to follow is the evolution of the game itself. The game is patched frequently with changes to champions and items. The huge impact that these changes cause means a constant evolution is taking place which creates a game that is constantly challenging. Unlike any other sport, this causes a shifting for team play and style moreover a very dedicated fan base. -- THIS SENTENCE DOESN"T MAKE SENSE
In regards to the actual live event itself, we had everything thrown at us that a normal sport would. From T shirts to plushies, overprices drinks to free crap no one really wanted, the event had it all. One of the things that stood out to me the most was the pre-game videos and content such as fan made YouTube videos that were played before the main event, which everyone laughed, cheered and screamed along to.
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| Free crap! |
Although this is a very American style of having an event play out, all appreciated it and I think shows how e-sports can cross boundaries in a way traditional sports cannot. Our 'stiff upper lip' British attitude disappeared as thousands of fans jovially demonstrated their appreciation of the pre-game videos. This was astounding to witness in Wembley Arena which is perhaps one of the most renowned British venues.
The call and response of the chanting and singing in the stadium also supports the evidence that e-sport fans are not dissimilar to their 'traditional' counterparts. Furthermore, the light up wristbands became the team colours for the event – blue and red LED’s worn on the wrist representing which team you were supporting. Although I’m not entirely sure if any teams can simply change their strip on the fly, they were a really nice touch.
All in all, the intensity of the team play, the analytical approach of the managers, and the live game itself resembling that of an ordinary sport, suggests that we are in fact watching these video games become sports.
Differences:
Obviously it seems ridiculous to consider an event with no physical interaction as a sport and it is this which seems to me to be the biggest definitive attribute that causes e-sports to be shunned and perhaps even considered joke-worthy by those who do not grasp fully how much effort goes into the events themselves – but it is totally valid.
Without the pre-requisites of physical stamina and a better than average level of fitness, it essentially like calling Chess a sport. Check mate.
Just because an event has similarities to a sport, doesn’t make it one. Yes, we are sad to say that just because a stadium gives you a free torch on the way in, and the event management gives you blow-up-clappy-things, it doesn’t make it a sport either.
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| The crowd going wild. |
Normal sports also have a tendency to not evolve. Generally speaking a decision in a sport that alters the state of play is a huge decision and arguably makes a sport what it is: physical entertainment that has set rules which are controlled by a referee or multiple referees; rules which are static. Instead, League of Legends in particular, shows the opposite end of this with its ever-changing rules and team that is constantly tweaking factors that have a knock on effect on the players.
A live event, or venue does not make an event any more official or sport-like. It would be unfair to suggest that a live venue makes a sport a sport when anyone with enough capital can rent a space and slap an event together with an audience. Boo!
The Result:
Clearly we have a slight issue at hand. There are strong pros and cons on either side of the argument but we are faced with an even more pressing issue: Can we even compare Traditional sports and E-Sports?
It sounds an article-redundant-making-statement, but it is a valid point without a doubt.
We have a separation of E-sports with the electronic aspect of its nature. Without the ‘E’ it would have to be considered a traditional sport, without the 'sport' it would just be guys at home playing online and wondering why they have not made thousands of pounds by just eviscerating noobs in teams.
Without structured team play, endorsement, huge amounts of financial backing from various sources and teams with playing ability beyond the majority, I would have to agree that we could never consider the likes of League of Legends, or Starcraft, or DOTA a sport.
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| Star Guardian Lux, taken from the official LoL website. |
However, they all have this – but let us not forget our most relevant point – that little ‘E’ that separates these definitively as an electronic form of sport which comes with its own subcategory.
The best way to personally decide is always going to the event itself. I'd be lying if I said that my face did not light up like a child’s multiple times throughout due to the wonder and mysticism that surrounds live sporting events.
Get yourself to a show, soak it all up and then tell me that E-sports do not have their own little place in the sporting community.
Tune in tonight to http://www.twitch.tv/riotgames to watch semi-finals live from the comfort of your own home.
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| The Koo Tigers accepting their win. |
