League of Legends is a competitive, online multiplayer game in which two teams of five play as champions who fight for control of a battlefield populated by various computer-controlled minions, monsters, and towers. Killing other players, monsters, and towers gives your hero experience and your team gold that you can use to purchase power-ups. The winning team is that which kills the other team's Nexus.
I have never played League of Legends and I really don't have any desire to, but this game is one of the most popular in the world and is extremely popular in Korea (I've had a huge number of students ask me if I play). The game is so popular that there's an entire league of professional players who make a decent living off of dedicating their lives to be the very best in the world at this game.
While professional gamers (or e-sports players as they're sometimes called) are something of a niche thing in the US, in Korea these guys (some of which are really young teenagers and such) are treated like rock stars. I had heard a lot about professional gaming and gaming culture in Korea but my exposure to it had thus far been limited to students asking me about it, seeing lots of "PC Bangs" everywhere (they're sort of like internet cafes but have high-end gaming rigs for people to play online games on) and seeing displays of actual physical PC games at big stores, which is sadly something that has largely disappeared from American retail shelf space.
That all changed today, when I attended the League of Legends World Championship Finals in Seoul. My friend/coworker had five tickets, four of which were for friends of friends back in America who weren't able to come to Korea for the Championships. To give you an idea of how huge an event this is, it was held in the World Cup soccer stadium, and there were cups given away as souvenirs to the first thirty-five
thousand people who showed up today. It's probably the single largest event I've ever attended and I've gotta say I had a blast even though I was surrounded by a nerd culture that I essentially have no knowledge of. Years of being a video game nerd myself certainly helped, as I was able to take my minimal knowledge of the game and sort of pick up what was going on without too much trouble (though of course without the experience to understand exactly what how certain plays were really fantastic, or how badly certain plays had played out, and whatnot).
 |
| We caught part of the cosplay contest. Tons of people had ridiculously elaborate costumes that they had clearly put countless hours of effort into. Unfortunately we got there too late to really see the whole thing because we were busy standing in a pair of relentlessly long lines to get merchandise and to get into the stadium itself. |
 |
| The entrance to the stadium. On the left are Samsung White, a Korean team who were heavily favored to win the entire tournament from the beginning. Apparently these guys are sequestered away from society and do nothing but practice this game all day. They aren't allowed to have girlfriends unless they win the world championships. On the right are Star Horn Royal Club, who were definitely the underdogs. They're a Chinese team but two of them are Korean, so the team communicates with one another via simple words in English, Korean and Chinese along with in-game map pinging. Despite their skill this was seen as a major handicap to their chances at winning. |
 |
| There was loads of fanart and fanart signings and stuff like that everywhere. This is some crazy animatronic sculpture of one of the monsters in the game (if your team kills it, it gives you a team-wide buff that's super powerful). People were standing in massive lines just to get photos/signings just with people who had created fanart for this game. |
 |
| Inside the stadium, Samsung White goes for a quick game one victory. Single games last from roughly 20 to 40 minutes (the game continues until one team wins, not for a set amount of time). The Finals were a best-of-five tournament rather than a single game. At the start of every game, the teams pick the heroes they will use and those they have chosen to "ban" from that game, preventing both their team and the other team from using them (usually this is done to prevent the other team from using a champion they are strong with but which your team is not). |
 |
| Apologies for the blurry picture. Samsung White picked up a second victory almost as decisively, setting the stage for a quick and brutal three-game sweep of the Finals, but game three saw Royal Club use a late-game slow burn strategy that allowed them to pull off a surprising victory, Samsung White's second only loss in the entire tournament and forcing a fourth game. |
 |
| Though we (and by we I mean my friend) were rooting for a Royal Club upset, Samsung White got their act together for game four and took the victory, winning the Summoner's Cup and the $1 million USD grand prize. There were interviews, fireworks and some awkward speeches by teenagers who essentially do nothing but eat, sleep and play League of Legends. |
 |
| Mini-concert by Imagine Dragons, who are apparently huge fans of the game and got in touch with the game developers to record a song for the game and to play at this event. They're not exactly my thing but they were super into their performance and the crowd loved them. Plus there were lots of huge Korean drums and fireworks, which was cool. |
 |
| I am a level 23 League of Legends Wizard, casting magic missiles at all who oppose me. Fear my awesome LoL cloak, awkward inflatable clapping devices (with internal lights that flash when you clap them!), color-changing wristband to show your support for whatever team, and my I <3/I hate Teemo wristband. Apparently Teemo is some champion who isn't actually very good in competitive play but is really annoying to the other team. |
If you ever find yourself in Korea or someplace else that has massive e-sports events (this tournament had games in Singapore, Taipei and Busan before coming to Seoul) I definitely recommend going. Pretty weird but fun experience, plus tickets were apparently only like $25 and they had beers for $2.60.
