China and Korea Shine in League of Legends World's Quarterfinals

Steven Bogos

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Jan 17, 2013
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China and Korea Shine in League of Legends World's Quarterfinals

Things get set up for a China vs. Korea grand final in this year's League of Legends World Championships.

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Fat Hippo

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Yeah, it's been an absolutely brutal wipe, the Europeans didn't even get a team into the quarter finals for crying out loud! As soon as Asians discovered League of Legends, they've pretty much started dominating it, as expected, so far taking every world championship after the first one. But they're just so much better in every way, it's not as if they don't deserve it. I just wish it wasn't so one-sided.
 

RaikuFA

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Maybe if Western players didn't act like the manchildren they are when it comes to online gaming we'd win a few of these.
 

XenoScifi

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Anybody that visits this site surprised? No offense to them at all. They put in the time they turn out the victory.

What I want to know is how dedicated is the rest of the world at winning this? Really? I feel like those countries probably take these tournaments much more serious then the rest do, as far as hours invested in winning.

Grats to them.
 

An Ceannaire

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RaikuFA said:
Maybe if Western players didn't act like the manchildren they are when it comes to online gaming we'd win a few of these.
Generalization much?

Fat_Hippo said:
Yeah, it's been an absolutely brutal wipe, the Europeans didn't even get a team into the quarter finals for crying out loud! As soon as Asians discovered League of Legends, they've pretty much started dominating it, as expected, so far taking every world championship after the first one. But they're just so much better in every way, it's not as if they don't deserve it. I just wish it wasn't so one-sided.
Has there ever been any theory developed as to why Asians are so good at games like LoL?
 

Fat Hippo

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An Ceannaire said:
Has there ever been any theory developed as to why Asians are so good at games like LoL?
These are the theories I've heard:

1. They are more disciplined. They train an absolutely insane number of hours per day, and practice does make perfect.

2. Their organization is superior, and clubs are more tightly managed.

3. Online gaming is less stigmatized than it is in the west and young people are more willing to take the risk of not going to college to instead pursue a full-time career of playing games like Starcraft and LoL.

My take on them:

1. I wouldn't be surprised. I only have anecdotal evidence from interviews, but by all accounts the training regimen is intense. And from what I know of Asian culture, this doesn't sound far-fetched.

2. Korea started with this earlier than anyone when Starcraft became big, so it's hardly surprising that Europa and America are playing catch-up. But this seems like a hurdle that could be overcome.

3. I definitely know that even if I had these kinds of skills, I would never make it a career, and that my family and friends would criticize such a decision strongly if I were to try. And to be honest, I'm not sure they're wrong. Sure, a few of the most successful teams are making it work, but what about the ones we don't hear about, the ones that spend years of their lives chasing this dream? Granted, this goes for traditional sports as well, but with E-sports the instability is far greater. Will people even watch LoL in 5 years, or will they watch something else? Will the skills they built up be transferable at all, or useless? These youngsters are making big decisions, with unclear consequences.
 

scotth266

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Pretty much every region put in a strong showing at worlds. Even Europe (which got booted out in groups) didn't necessarily give a bad show, and Brazil's team (Kabum) managed to improve game after game until they finally won a match - an impressive feat for a wildcard team.

NA didn't get past quarterfinals, but we won some games and it looked like we finally stood a chance of competing on the level of Korean teams with a little more time and practice.
 

RaikuFA

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An Ceannaire said:
RaikuFA said:
Maybe if Western players didn't act like the manchildren they are when it comes to online gaming we'd win a few of these.
Generalization much?

Fat_Hippo said:
Yeah, it's been an absolutely brutal wipe, the Europeans didn't even get a team into the quarter finals for crying out loud! As soon as Asians discovered League of Legends, they've pretty much started dominating it, as expected, so far taking every world championship after the first one. But they're just so much better in every way, it's not as if they don't deserve it. I just wish it wasn't so one-sided.
Has there ever been any theory developed as to why Asians are so good at games like LoL?
I speak from experience. To me, there's never been a MOBA player that wasn't an asshole.
 

Steven Bogos

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Jan 17, 2013
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RaikuFA said:
An Ceannaire said:
RaikuFA said:
Maybe if Western players didn't act like the manchildren they are when it comes to online gaming we'd win a few of these.
Generalization much?

Fat_Hippo said:
Yeah, it's been an absolutely brutal wipe, the Europeans didn't even get a team into the quarter finals for crying out loud! As soon as Asians discovered League of Legends, they've pretty much started dominating it, as expected, so far taking every world championship after the first one. But they're just so much better in every way, it's not as if they don't deserve it. I just wish it wasn't so one-sided.
Has there ever been any theory developed as to why Asians are so good at games like LoL?
I speak from experience. To me, there's never been a MOBA player that wasn't an asshole.
I'm a MOBA player and i'm not an asshole.

But to be fair... he has a point. There have been a couple of instances where professional LoL players have actually been banned from the standard game client due to harassment, and all of them have been NA players.
 

Gizen

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Fat_Hippo said:
3. Online gaming is less stigmatized than it is in the west and young people are more willing to take the risk of not going to college to instead pursue a full-time career of playing games like Starcraft and LoL.


3. I definitely know that even if I had these kinds of skills, I would never make it a career, and that my family and friends would criticize such a decision strongly if I were to try. And to be honest, I'm not sure they're wrong. Sure, a few of the most successful teams are making it work, but what about the ones we don't hear about, the ones that spend years of their lives chasing this dream? Granted, this goes for traditional sports as well, but with E-sports the instability is far greater. Will people even watch LoL in 5 years, or will they watch something else? Will the skills they built up be transferable at all, or useless? These youngsters are making big decisions, with unclear consequences.
Interestingly enough, Riot Games actually posted an article on their own website detailing some things about Korean gaming culture, and if it's to be believed, online gaming and pro gaming in Korea isn't QUITE as big as it appears and is still considered a niche thing even there, but just one that has an EXTREMELY dedicated fanbase. They also detailed how attempting to get into pro-gaming in Korea is an extraordinarily risky proposition, due to the culture's large emphasis on education combined with an attitude that only being the absolute best matters. Which means if you try to be a pro-gamer and don't make it into one of the extremely limited number of available spaces, then you are well and truly fucked.



Regarding the recent quarterfinal matches, the final game between TSM and SSW made me so sad. SSW had a huge lead throughout the whole game, yet TSM kept playing extremely smart and managed to get some really huge hits on them that kept them in it right til the very end. And then at the end, they had an extremely clever ploy that I would've loved to see how it might've shaken up the game, and if it would've given them the edge they needed to win from behind... but then they fucked it up and their jungler gave away their plan by moving on it too quickly and getting ahead of the rest of the team.
 

RaikuFA

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Steven Bogos said:
RaikuFA said:
An Ceannaire said:
RaikuFA said:
Maybe if Western players didn't act like the manchildren they are when it comes to online gaming we'd win a few of these.
Generalization much?

Fat_Hippo said:
Yeah, it's been an absolutely brutal wipe, the Europeans didn't even get a team into the quarter finals for crying out loud! As soon as Asians discovered League of Legends, they've pretty much started dominating it, as expected, so far taking every world championship after the first one. But they're just so much better in every way, it's not as if they don't deserve it. I just wish it wasn't so one-sided.
Has there ever been any theory developed as to why Asians are so good at games like LoL?
I speak from experience. To me, there's never been a MOBA player that wasn't an asshole.
I'm a MOBA player and i'm not an asshole.

But to be fair... he has a point. There have been a couple of instances where professional LoL players have actually been banned from the standard game client due to harassment, and all of them have been NA players.
It's even worse if you ever wanted to start like I wanted to.