Participation in the AWS Hospitality Program in South Korea.

Immersion in the world of esports through the partnership between AWS and Riot Games.

On September 25, 2023, I received an email invitation to participate in the AWS Hospitality Program, for which I had applied a few weeks earlier. This program resulted from a partnership between AWS and Riot Games, aiming to bring some members of the AWS community to Seoul, South Korea, providing a unique experience during the League of Legends World Championship final.

The program took place on November 18 and 19, 2023. On the first day, we had the opportunity to participate in the GameDay, a gamified learning event organized by AWS. Later, we engaged in a panel discussion among technical leaders, addressing the partnership between the companies and the challenges faced in the technology sector. On the second day, we explored the Worlds Fan Fest at Gwanghwamun Square, located in the heart of Seoul, and in the late afternoon, we experienced the excitement of watching the championship at the Gocheok Sky Dome stadium.

In this article, I will delve even deeper into the details of this experience and share meaningful information about the AWS creator community.

>> Community Builder

The Community Builders program is dedicated to content creators who are enthusiasts of the technologies offered by AWS. Enrollment takes place twice a year, and you can add your name to the waiting list through the website: AWS Community Builders.

During the program period, you will enjoy a series of benefits, including promotional credits, vouchers for certifications, access to the Slack workspace with other community members and AWS experts, participation in exclusive webinars, and the opportunity to engage in incredible events, such as the one detailed throughout this article.

>> Invitation

Through our announcements group on Slack, I came across a post by Jason Dunn, leader of the Community Builders program, in early September. He addressed the AWS Hospitality Program, announcing that some CBs would be invited to participate in a weekend full of events related to the partnership between AWS and Riot, during the conclusion of the League of Legends World Championship in Seoul, South Korea. The same program had already been offered months earlier for the Valorant championship held in Los Angeles, United States.

When registering, I had to share a bit about my journey with both AWS and the esports world, specifically the game League of Legends, and provide insights into the content I planned to create. For someone who has been involved in this universe since 2013, the email received on September 25, 2023, with the invitation, added an even more special tone.

>> Riot Games x AWS

Riot Games is a company founded in 2006, focused on the support, development, and publishing of online games. Its headquarters are located in Los Angeles, United States, but it has offices in different locations around the world. The first game published by Riot Games was League of Legends, released in 2009. This strategy game gained worldwide prominence, especially through its annual championships, establishing itself as a reference in the esports market. For more details about the game and the company, I recommend visiting the official website: What is League Of Legends?.

With values centered on execution excellence and player experience, Riot Games announced in 2022 that AWS would be its official Cloud provider. For more information about this partnership, you can visit the link: AWS teams up with Riot Games. Below, I will address some successful solutions applied between the two brands:

• Low Latency: With the aim of providing secure access with low latency and global availability for games, Riot migrated hundreds of millions of player accounts to a consolidated and globally replicated database cluster within AWS. Additional details can be found in the re:Invent 2018 presentation: Globalizing Player Accounts at Riot Games While Maintaining Availability.
• Big data: Managing data such as player behavior, game customization, and matchmaking, Riot ingests about 20 TB of data daily. Using Amazon MSK, they were able to reduce data access time from 6 hours to just 5 minutes post-production, along with a significant cost reduction. This entire journey was presented at re:Invent 2022 in the session: How Riot Games processes 20 TB of analytics data daily on AWS.
• Remote Broadcasting: Riot is innovating in remote broadcasting of esports by building the first native cloud-based remote broadcast operations model, using tools like Amazon WorkSpaces and AWS Elemental. This project, named Stryker, is detailed in the re:Invent 2022 presentation: How Riot Games is reinventing remote esports broadcasts.

>> Day 1 — Game day + Tech Talk

After arriving at the Fairmont Ambassador Seoul hotel in the morning, we were welcomed along with the rest of the group, consisting of Community Builders, Community Heroes, and AWS experts from different countries, including Chile, Brazil, Colombia, the United States, Japan, and South Korea.

In the afternoon, we were taken to Lol Park, and right from the start, we participated in the AWS GameDay: LoL Esports Edition. GameDay is an AWS-organized event focused on gamified learning that challenges participants to solve real technical problems using AWS solutions. The event is competitive and can feature teams of up to 4 people.

The one we participated in was held in partnership with Riot, granting us access to the databases of the League of Legends universe. Initially, we answered some analytical questions, such as “Which team played with the most unique champions”, for which we had to study the presented databases and generate answers using Python. In the second part of the challenge, we needed to build a predictive model to determine who would win the championship with the support of Amazon SageMaker.

After the games, we had a reception during which we were introduced to more details about the League of Legends universe. Following that, we were taken to the area where the Tech Talk would take place. This was a panel discussion between technical leaders from AWS and Riot about the partnership between the companies and the challenges faced in the technology industry. In addition to the brilliant event presentation by Emil Mouhanna, Games Vertical Leader at AWS, we had notable figures such as Ashwin Raghurman (Senior Solutions Architect — AWS), Junghun Lee (SA Lead — AWS), Brent Rich (Head of Global Infrastructure & Operations — Riot), David Sirgurdson (Head of Live Operations — Riot), and Eagon Choi (Director of Technology — Riot), addressing different topics and challenges, from focusing on player satisfaction to the journey towards the consistent distribution of a global game.

>> Day 2 — Championship

On the second day, after gathering in the AWS Hospitality Suite, we went to the Worlds Fan Fest taking place at Gwanghwamun Square. There, we found booths from different brands such as Coca-Cola, Red Bull, and Mastercard, where it was possible to interact and participate in some games and challenges.

Later in the evening, we were taken to the League of Legends World Championship final, which took place at the Gocheok Sky Dome stadium. As an enthusiast who had the opportunity to visit the entire structure of an esports event in person, the moment was even more special. An interesting fact is that, during the match, real-time graphical statistics of each team’s chances of winning throughout the game were displayed, creating a parallel to the predictive model we studied in the GameDay the day before.

Many interesting conclusions can be drawn from this experience, including the importance of being part of a community like the Community Builders, where we could exchange real-time experiences with technology enthusiasts from different parts of the world. Being able to connect with AWS experts who work daily with tools that are fundamental in the technological infrastructure of many companies, including the one I currently work for. Having direct contact with a revolutionary market like esports and how they are connected to technology solutions present in our daily lives. Among other discoveries and learnings from an incredible program and technological immersion that, in my case, took me to the other side of the world.

I hope you enjoy this article and feel encouraged to explore more of this universe. If you have suggestions or comments about the content, please feel free to contact me on LinkedIn.

Versão em Português: https://medium.com/@alice_thomaz/80426d5390ad