This weekend I had the opportunity to attend the League of Legends 2018 World Championship Final in Incheon as part of my research for my portfolio project on esports in South Korea. League of Legends is regarded as the most popular video game in South Korea and the World Championship is one of the most-watched events in international e-sports (as a disclaimer, I do not play many video games and had never played League of Legends before this event, but still found the experience interesting and exciting).
I found my way into a group of people from the U.S. and Europe who flew into Seoul to attend the event through a friend of mine who has been a fan of the game for a few years. We all woke up early on Saturday morning to catch an early subway ride to Incheon, which took us about one and a half hours. To my surprise, the subway was full of people from all over who had come to watch the world championship. I knew it was a big deal here in South Korea, but I had no idea that it would attract so many foreigners, too. We left early because several of the people in the group wanted to be among the first to get in the fan merchandise stores when they opened and, evidently, hundreds of others had the same idea.
After finally arriving at Munhak Stadium in Incheon, we walked out of the subway station and were greeted by thousands of people waiting in line for tickets, player meet-ups, merchandise, costume contests, a chance at free gear, and food trucks. As someone who has never attended or watched an event like this, I had no idea what to expect and was slightly overwhelmed.
After spending a few hours waiting in lines and talking to various people (locals and foreigners alike), we made our way to our seats inside the stadium to watch the opening ceremony. Once again, I was completely caught off guard as music started and several famous international pop stars made their way out on stage to perform. Among these was the headliner, a Korean rapper called “Bobby.” Following Bobby, the teams competing for the world title came on stage. One of them was the European team called “Fnatic,” and the other was a Chinese team called “Invictus Gaming.” The latter was clearly the fan favorite, as many people wanted the Asian team to win and continue to the streak of domination. The crowd was full of energy and I could really tell how excited everyone was to be there. It felt like any normal sporting event when the players come onto the field or skate out onto the ice.
In the end, the crowd favorite, Invictus Gaming, won the best-of-five series with three straight wins. Of the eight seasons that this competition has existed, an Asian team has won the last seven. This is the first year since 2011 that a Korean team has not played for the world title, so many Korean fans defaulted to rooting for the Chinese team. Though far outnumbered, there were still many Europeans in attendance cheering for their team. The reactions to the outcome of the final game were priceless on both sides.
One does not need to understand or even play video games to have an appreciation for this event. As one of the premier esports competitions in the world each year, it seemed to me to be the perfect showcase of the spirit of esports culture and popularity on both a local and international scale.