Young players point to a ‘generational shift’
Two of the world’s best “League of Legends” teams — the Immortals and Team SoloMid — will do battle today in front of a roaring TD Garden crowd in the hopes of being crowned North American champions and earning a spot in the world championships in China.
And members of both teams told the Herald yesterday that preparing for the showdown requires around-the-clock commitment.
“We practice for two to three sets of three hours every day and on top of that we have individual practice and we have reviews where we talk about strategy afterward,” Immortals member Eugene Park said. “We’ve been prepping like that five to six days a week for the past few weeks. It’s close to 12 hours a day.”
Kevin Yarnell of Team SoloMid stressed the importance of communicating with his teammates and compared the strategy to that of chess.
“The most important skill is having a lot of game knowledge,” he said. “If you look at a master chess player, they know the game in and out.”
And as he prepared for today’s high-octane showdown with the Immortals, Yarnell said yesterday’s enthusiastic crowd was evidence that esports are here to stay.
“Technology has advanced a long way in the past 20 years,” Yarnell said. “Twenty to 30 years ago, you didn’t really have games at all. Now you have this new platform for people to express themselves and compete. I think that’s why it is getting really popular. You don’t really have to have the best genetics. NBA players have to be tall. But in ‘League of Legends’ you can be whatever — tall or short.”
Park agreed, pointing out that while past generations spent their down time out playing sports, his was playing video games.
“Even from a young age, kids are playing a lot of games on their phones,” Park said. “Naturally, back then people were always playing outside, playing soccer, football or whatever with their friends. But when I was growing up we just played games all the time. I think it’s a generational shift.”