Team Counter Logic Gaming Getting Ready To Play Photo : Samuel Chu
East Coast All Star Introductions Photo : NBA
Lebron James and Eli Manning are common names thrown around a dining table. But how often does your brother bring up professional video game players Justin Wong or Dan Dinh? Most college students are aware of their school’s basketball or football team, but how about their school’s League of Legends team? For some people, competition and video games do not go hand in hand. A video game is played for fun. You might be by yourself or with some friends, but a video game can be a source of hours of entertainment for relatively little cost. For some people, a video game that anyone can play can mean a lot more than just a hobby. For some people, a video game is worth practicing for, worth dropping out of school and worth pursuing a career in.
Similar to how anyone can play a pick up game of basketball, anyone can play a game of Street Fighter. However, after a while, some people start to get really, really good. They start to get so good that their gameplay can in fact be quite a spectacle. Good enough that they can have enough people watching so that they can attract advertisement agencies. So why aren’t more people watching? Why don’t these gamers have the same level of popularity and financial success as a star athlete?
Professional Gamers?
Team Solo Mid Holding MLG Providence Tournament Winnings. Photo by : Major League Gaming
Counter-Logic Gaming and Team Solo Mid are just two of the many upstart teams attempting to make League of Legends, a video game, more spectator friendly. They have started up websites where anyone can watch them play. Whether it’s a casual match or a tournament match, these gamers are trying to dispel many of the misconceptions that go along with being a gamer.
Part of the reason why the gaming culture has yet to fully reach out to the mainstream audience in America (in Korea, competitive gaming is already a large part of their culture) is the unfortunate stigma that gamers are “nerds,” that gamers are socially awkward, degenerate, and embarrassing individuals. While this may be the case for some gamers, it is not true for every gamer out there. In fact, many gaming teams (especially in Korea) have specialized training facilities and require their players to utilize these facilities to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Many of the players from Team Solo Mid and other established gaming teams are very approachable. Their chat rooms that go along with their streams are part of the reason why many fans feel such a connection with these players. And while I would take my bets on the basketball player being in better shape than the video game player, that does not necessarily mean that mister six foot tall could hold up a dinner conversation better than your competitive video game player.
So next time you feel like kicking back with a beer and catching the Knick game, flip the Team Solo Mid game on instead.
