Your Vote Matters
On the 4th of February this year, I decided that my vote mattered. Rather than continue the age old tradition of every TV in america being turned to the superbowl, I turned mine to watch the spring split of the NA LCS. The NA LCS is League of Legends’ competitive league. Like the NFL for nerds. I cast my vote to esports.
When I looked up the numbers later the Superbowl got its lowest viewership since 2009. This year the world championships for League of Legends spiked at 106 million viewers. That is 3 more million than the Superbowl. What does this tell us?
The idea here is that people are started to move into the digital age. Esports is finally about to take the world by storm. The things that we were made fun of as kids 20 years ago are starting to become the norm. Some people are seeing this. Western Michigan University is putting in a new facility for esports competitions and programs. We are progressing into the future.
Since the dawn of modern civilization we have had some form of Gladiator arena.
From The colosseum to The Superdome we’ve had some sort of bloodsport. For the first time we have an arena that doesn’t crave blood. A sport that doesn’t inflict injury. This is something that I believe in. It’s why I cast my vote on esports this year. I wanted to watch The Superbowl. I would have loved the narrative around The Philadelphia Eagles beating the uncontested dynasty of our era. It’s something that I wanted to participate in. I felt my vote was needed though.
Football has gotten some pretty negative exposure this year. With all of the injury reporting coming through it’s been a rough time to be a fan. I love football, but every time I watch it I have to be cognizant of the fact that I am promoting teenagers to jeopardize their bodies with long term effects so that I can be entertained. It’s a choice that I have been thinking a lot about lately. Is it really worth it? Especially when we have such readily available alternatives at our fingertips. It’s getting harder and harder for me to justify promoting these atrocities. We are offering these kids as tributes to the gods of entertainment. I know that sounds a bit exaggerated, but it’s not as far off as one might think. We are trading the future of these young men so that we have a reason to drink with the boys on Sunday.
Your voice is needed in the industry
The thing is this will continue to happen if we don’t do something. In order for the rest of the world to take us seriously, in order to bring in a new age of competition, it takes voice. Not from everyone, from you. Your voice is needed in the industry. In order to move us into the future we need to support what we have now.
I have plenty of friends that play the same games that people are competing in esports on. I have friends that play League of Legends, but they don’t watch it. That saddens me a little bit. The same friends had superbowl parties this year. They celebrated every touchdown. While I believe that they should be able to vote with their eyeballs however they want, I wish to see this for esports. I want to have Worlds parties. I would love to have everyone over on Sundays to watch the regular season games (in League of Legends they are call splits).
I think the esports wave needs to start in the living room.
Part of the thing that draws me into the esports realm is the story. It’s just starting to get it’s villains and heroes. The story that you tell your kids on why you are a Lion’s fan for life is literally getting written as we speak. Just a few months ago Team Solo-mid (TSM) got rid of one of my favorite players of all time, Doublelift, and his Support, Biofrost. These two players have taken them to championships and worlds. The brought in new stars to try to take their place. This has been a very controversial call from TSM and a very polarizing issue. Now Doublelift, who is now on another team, is creating the second rivalry in the business. They are gunning for eachother. The media, press outlets, heck even Reddit is covering every bit of it. It’s a great time to be an esports fan.
This is also something that I would like to share with others. I would love to be able to post about it on my personal social media and have my friends have the same engagement that they do in football. We are moving in a good direction, but it needs to keep moving. Part of it is my fault. I should be making those social media posts anyways. I know this, it’s part of the reason I am writing this article. It is going to be hard for me to write this and not follow up. It’s public accountability. The same way that it’s hard for you to share this and not be accountable. It’s how it starts though. It’s how we start bringing esports to the living room.
If you want to start making something happen, throw your own Mid-Season Invitational party. Start a fantasy draft, yes that’s right, League of Legends has fantasy drafting. Tune the TV into regular season games on Saturdays and Sundays. We have the power to really bring esports to the world, but we have to start putting our eyeballs and voice where it counts. If you think your’s doesn’t matter, think again. You have immense power just by turning on your TV. I am asking you to use it to help take us into the digital age.
Here are some channels you can follow to show your support
Riot Games -League of Legends official
Esports Arena -PUB G competitions
HiRez -Paladins, Smite, Hand of God official
Blizzard -Overwatch, Starcraft official
