League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Unknowingly, the LOL culture had slowly crept into society.

Upon seeing a gorgeous musical instrument was displayed inside a glass cabinet, a random passerby said, “Look, it’s a Sax!”

The person beside him was baffled. “I thought Sax is a car brand?”

“Idiot, that’s Lexus!”

“Lexus? Isn’t that one of the regions in LOL?”

“For God’s sake, that’s Noxus!”

A game needs to foster its own culture and an established culture needs its followers. Take the NBA for example. The NBA system has successfully promoted the game to every corner of the world and spawned many basketball enthusiasts who were crazy about the sport.

The number of people who play E-games is definitely comparable to that of basketball. Yet, why is E-sports unable to replicate the success of other world-class sports?

It could be attributed to multiple reasons—the improper organization of E-sports, common pre-judgment of elders against video games, convoluted match-making, and lack of interest to turn pro.

The founding of the LPL, the World S Competition, and the International WCG E-Sports Competition aimed to boost the allure of E-sports. These rewarding competitions provide a golden platform for those who are passionate about and excel in video games to freely express themselves.

Domestically, the LPL is a multi-million dollar event sponsored by Tencent. Its prize alone had reached three million this term, which was music to any professional player’s ears.

Over the past several years, none of the previous E-sports tournaments (such as CS, WAR3, or StarCraft) had ever offered such a lucrative reward. Players that had been involved with E-sports since the early days like Yu Luocheng were baffled by the scale in which the games and tournaments had evolved under Tencent’s watch.

Putting aside the honor of winning the championship, the RMB50,000 subsidy alone was enough to motivate teams from all over the country to fight for a spot in the final eight. This created healthy competition among the domestic teams and encouraged them to always strive to be better.

***

The eight strongest teams would gather at Shanghai Technological Center on 15th March and officially kickstart the LPL Spring Tournament.

The tournament’s promotional campaign began right after the Chinese New Year. One could easily see the impact LOL had on the popularity of E-sports. Various types of media, including online platforms, TV channels, traditional press, and even podcasts had been utilized by Tencent to publicize the LPL as widely as possible.

To garner more attention, Tencent had even invited FAN, a well-known LPL team from Europe, to play an exhibition match with Team Daemons at the opening ceremony.

FAN was a quarter-finalist at last year’s International S Tournament. Their game play and lineup were highly unpredictable, making them a difficult team to beat.

Team Daemons had not met with Team FAN at last year’s international games. Tencent’s intention of making LPL the biggest E-sports event in the country was clear. They hoped that the arrival of a popular foreign team would further hype up the highly-anticipated tournament.

***

The members of Team Skycrown were pumped when the day finally arrived.

Most of them had experience at professional tournaments, but none of those were comparable to a LOL event. They had never seen any E-sports event with an audience of five thousand people. Ten thousand attendees was considered huge for a concert. So five thousand bodies inside a conference hall was nothing short of magnificent.

Their heartbeats raced wildly when they arrived at the hall’s entrance. They were dazed by the humongous concrete building in front of them.

‘Have we been mistakenly sent to a concert venue instead?’

Even when they reached the finals of the international DOTA competition, it was held at a small venue occupied by a maximum of two to three thousand people!

How generous of Tencent to book a stadium-esque venue just to announce to the world that the LPL had now officially begun! While admiring Tencent’s wealth, they also figured that the prejudice against E-sports was a thing of the past. People’s attitude towards E-sports had completely changed after the release of LOL.

“So? Are you excited now?” asked Lin Dong, playfully shoving Da Luo who was standing beside him.

“Of course I am! If I only knew earlier that LOL competitions have reached such a large scale, I would already be a veteran player by now. I often envy those celebrities. To see them on the big stage waving to their fans. F*cking show-offs!” exclaimed Da Luo.

“Haha! You can do the same when we win the tournament. Say hi to those on your left and right!” Lin Dong shook Da Luo’s shoulder and laughed.

Da Luo couldn’t hold back his smile and put his arm around Zhou Yan. “Zhou Yan, isn’t that going to be fun?”

Xiao Bei was equally thrilled. He smiled along as if they were really going to be celebrities soon.

“Three nut-heads,” deadpanned Zhou Yan.

“Let’s go in. There are lots of people around. It’ll be bad if anyone recognizes us,” said Xiao Bei, blushing.

Wu Sen forcefully patted his back and scowled. “Who the hell would know us?”

“Wu Sen, stop being so serious. Just pretend that we are famous. I wonder whether we need to wear a cap and sunglasses when going out in the future,” said Da Luo, laughing.

While Da Luo was immersed in his own daydream, three ladies in winter coats and boots walked straight towards them.

“Excuse me,” said one of them.

Stunned, Da Luo stopped his boasting and suddenly turned shy.

“You guys are in a team uniform and I noticed the word Skycrown on your back. Let me guess, you guys are the newly promoted dark horse, Team Skycrown?” asked the fair girl with center parting, smiling.

The two girls beside her were also curiously eyeing the boys. Someone actually recognized them! No matter how hard Da Luo tried to keep a straight face, he could hardly conceal the bursting joy within.

They had their own fans now! Moreover, they were all pretty girls!

The girl with the center parting was gorgeous, with a smooth forehead, prominent nose, small and sexy lips, seductive eyes, and long eyelashes.

Da Luo suppressed his inner ecstasy and introduced himself. “Yes, yes! We are Team Skycrown! I am Lone Gull. You can call me Da Luo!”

Yu Luocheng stood by and looked at Da Luo in disgust.

‘What kind of celebrity gets more excited than the fans when he’s recognized? Please pull yourself together. Pathetic!’

Then again, in the past, only the big names in the E-sports community would have their own fans. The possibility of an E-sports player being recognized on the street is close to nil. The feeling of being approached and picked up by girls is not bad after all. It would be perfect if they were willing to exchange numbers!

‘It seems that working as a professional player nowadays is pretty enjoyable!’

“I know you! You are the team’s Solo Top player. Beer from Fudan University was no match for you at all,” said the small girl with short hair who was standing at the back of the group.

“That’s me!” Da Luo’s face was distorted by his wide smile.

Their chatting slowly drew more people in until they were eventually surrounded by a small crowd.

Team Skycrown was a newly promoted team. Many people would definitely be curious about how this unknown team had managed to stand out from so many LOL teams across the country.

“There they are!”

“Woah, it’s really them! Let’s go and get their signatures. I even brought my mouse pad along!”

“Idiot, I will get him to sign my hand. I’m going to get ten straight wins with his blessing!”

“I’m curious. How does it feel to masturbate with a hand that has a man’s signature on it?”

“F*ck off!”

The crowd on the other side suddenly turned hysterical. Numerous people suddenly flocked toward them.

The members of Team Skycrown raised their heads and were astonished to see close to two hundred people hurrying in their direction. It felt like a famous celebrity had just arrived and the supporters were rushing in to get his/her signature.

There were several entrances leading into the conference hall. One of those was reserved specifically for players and staff. Security guards and fences were seen around it. The audience was supposed to enter through the main entrance with their ticket. But suddenly, they were all squeezing against each other to reach the players’ entrance.

Da Luo, Lin Dong, and Xiao Bei’s eyes widened.

‘This can’t be real! We’re this popular?’

They never thought that winning the pre-season tournament would gain them such fame!

Just a while ago, Wu Sen was complaining that nobody would recognize them. But look at the crowd now! Being a professional player really is as admirable as being a superstar!

Da Luo walked up to meet with the large group of fans. “Stop squeezing. We don’t have a pen with us so we are not going to sign…”

A group of three men swiftly went past Da Luo, giving him strange looks along the way. Then, several girls quickly walked past him too. They seemed to have heard Da Luo’s words and tried to stifle their laughter.

The two hundred people reached Team Skycrown and did not halt their footsteps, running quickly past them instead. Da Luo finally realized that they were not the target and turned around.

A brand new car with a ‘Club Revelation’ logo on it had just arrived and parked behind them. The first one to emerge from the car was none other than Team Revelation’s captain, Bai Feng. His handsome face had a smirk plastered across it as he greeted the crowd graciously. He took out a pen and gave signatures to the fans closest to him.

Da Luo, Zhou Yan, Wu Sen, Lin Dong, Xiao Bei, and Yu Luocheng were standing right in front of the players’ entrance. They were also wearing team uniforms but no one was paying attention to them anymore.

“Gosh, it’s Bai Feng!”

“Excuse me.” A part-time photographer pushed Xiao Bei away. He then ran quickly towards the car and began to rapidly click on the shutter button. Having lost his footing, Xiao Bei tripped on a ladder lying against the wall and fell to the ground.

Yu Luocheng quickly helped him up and realized that he had scratches on his palm. Dust and soil were seen embedded in the wound.

“Terrible!” The normally quiet Zhou Yan was angry. He marched over to the photographer and pulled on his sleeve.