Gaming for Gold at the League of Legends World Championships

The exuberance of the e–sports spectators easily rivals that on display at any Olympics event. While some fans wear their home team’s jerseys, others have opted to appear in one of the “skins” adopted by their favourite League of Legends characters. One young woman, dressed as Akali in her K/DA skin, complete with a gold–cuffed navy–blue puffy jacket, oversize gold–buckled belt and asymmetrical leather tights, looks like she just stepped out of the game.

For some, the thought of e–sports as an actual sport seems like a punchline, though to the athletes who have devoted months of training to qualify for the World Championship, it’s no joke at all. The 2018 Worlds in Incheon, South Korea, attracted more viewers than the Super Bowl. Even governments recognize its importance on the global stage: When travelling to compete, pro gamers are granted the same internationally recognized athlete visas given to hockey players and soccer stars. The Raptors actually have their own e–sports team (Raptors Uprising, which plays in the NBA 2K League, a professional competitive gaming league).

“I think a lot of people get hung up on the argument about whether e–sports is a sport or not,” says Eric “Licorice” Ritchie. “But it’s a competition involving highly skilled people playing at the highest level. And it’s hard to get here.”

For as long as Ritchie can remember, gaming has been a part of his life. When he was growing up in Calgary with a brother four years his senior, the two competed over Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart. In 2013, a friend introduced Ritchie to League of Legends, then already in its third season. Adopting the username “Licorice,” Ritchie quickly became the highest–ranked player among his friends. Then he discovered the pro scene and began imagining life as an e–sports athlete.

“It was kind of a dream at that point, like a kid who plays basketball and wants to be in the NBA,” Ritchie says. “But as I played more, I figured out that I may actually be good enough to make it as a pro. I was like, ‘Okay, I want to pursue this because it’s a dream job.’” Now 22, Ritchie is on Cloud9, one of the top e–sports organizations in the world, with competitive teams in over a dozen games.

The popularity of pro gaming hasn’t been lost on major sports franchises. Clutch Gaming, a California–based team featuring “Cody” Li–Yu and “Vulcan” Laflamme, is owned primarily by Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, the same ownership group behind the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia 76ers. E–sports teams spend millions recruiting and training players, and top League of Legends athletes command salaries of well into seven figures, not including tournament winnings. (Lee “Faker” Sang Hyeok, considered to be the best player in the world, has a reported annual salary of US$2.5 million.)

The hope of winning big is part of the allure. It wasn’t until a team offered to fly Li–Yu out to Los Angeles from his home in Toronto and pay him a regular salary that his family, who wanted him to go to university, realized playing video games all day long wasn’t just a childish dream, it was an opportunity to find fame and fortune. Now, he is often stopped on the street by fans. “People are really nice about it, and it’s not too weird,” he says. “I’ll usually take pictures with them.”

Back in Berlin, the players, each sporting their team’s soccer–kit–style jersey and wearing noise–cancelling headphones to block out the din of the crowd, take the stage. They sit at high–powered gaming PCs facing the spectators while giant screens behind them broadcast the gameplay. Commentators and analysts break down the upcoming match in a nearby broadcast booth.

In each League of Legends roughly 45–minute match, two teams of five players attempt to destroy their opponent’s base. It’s a feat that requires communication, teamwork and hours of dedication. (Teams often practise for 12 hours a day in the weeks leading up to a tournament, scrimmaging against other teams and watching game tape while their coaches highlight strategies.)

Fans punch the air and white lights wash over the Verti Music Hall as a four–on–four battle in the jungle results in the first kill of the game. When one team slays a dragon, lights flash red and a roaring dragon lands on the screens behind the players. In this World Cup–style group stage, only eight of the 16 teams will advance to the semifinals in Madrid ahead of the finals in Paris. All three North American teams were eliminated early on. (Ritchie was disappointed – Cloud9 had reached the semifinals the year before and been dubbed “North America’s last hope” in this tournament.)

Two weeks later in Paris, China’s FunPlus Phoenix would sweep Europe’s G2 Esports 3–0 and be crowned League of Legends World Champion in front of a sold–out crowd of 20,000 at the AccorHotels Arena. The outcome of Worlds, as with most sports, determines what a team does in the off–season. After early exits for both Cloud9 and Clutch, each team cleaned out their roster. Clutch rebranded as Dignitas and sold both Li–Yu’s and Laflamme’s contracts to other teams.