Illustration by Ellie Reeves (Multimedia Editor)
It is difficult to think of an activity more severely impacted by COVID-19 than sports. They tend to rely on all of the practices that the pandemic prohibits: large gatherings, physical contact and/or proximity with strangers, and touching public surfaces. However, an increasingly prominent sphere of the sporting world has been somewhat spared by, and is in fact thriving during this pandemic: Esports (or electronic sports).
According to Tham Yi Rei, a second-year Actuarial Science student and Esports Officer of the LSESU Gaming Society, the society fields Esports teams for the video games Counter-strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), Defense of the Ancients (DotA), Rocket League, and League of Legends, the last of which has the most competitive players at LSE.
Unfortunately, even Esports have not been left unscathed by the pandemic. Two players on the League of Legends main team during the 2019-20 academic year have been unable to return to compete this academic year because they are studying from their home countries. This includes Ting Yi Ong, a second-year Accounting and Finance student, whom several of his peers say is the best League of Legends player at LSE.
Cedric Tan, a third-year Politics and Economics student, is the President of the Gaming Society and played competitively until this year. He highlighted the aspects of competitive gaming at LSE impacted by COVID-19: “Last year, we were fortunate enough to partner with a cyber café. We would go in once a week for our tournaments. There is a larger sense of camaraderie and hype when playing (with friends in person). We play off of each other’s reactions.”
Despite the negatives associated with the ‘new normal’ for competitive gaming at the moment, Tan stressed that the pandemic has actually strengthened the ability of players to be more competitive, as they can allocate more time to gaming.
Eric Mathew, a third-year Actuarial Science student, also plays on the main League of Legends team. As a new player to the team, he described his experience trying to build chemistry with his teammates.
“I haven’t had a chance to meet any of my teammates in real life yet,” Mathew said. “In terms of chemistry, though, it is actually quite easy to build it on Discord [an online social platform used by many gaming communities]. I’d call them my friends even though I’ve only played with them through Discord.”
Mathew reflected on how his experience with Esports compares to that with traditional sports: “One of the biggest differences I see between Esports and traditional sports is that Esports allow for more diversity. You can be tall or short, fast or slow, whatever it is, people can be built differently. In terms of the competition, it’s high stress and competitive, but can also be relaxing and joking. It’s like any other sport… You have to sacrifice a lot of time for it.”
COVID-19 caused the Gaming Society to be much more active than in past years. This includes interest in both casual and competitive gaming among female students. According to Tan, while the ratio of men to women in the Gaming Society is typically nine to one, it has shifted closer to five to three during the current academic year.
Angel Chen is a first-year Mathematics and Economics student, and she plays with a competitive League of Legends team. Since LSE does not have enough players to field an all-girls League of Legends team, Chen plays on a team with players from other universities. She emphasised the social aspects to competitive online gaming.
“Covid has made gaming a bigger part of my life. I really enjoy meeting new people,” said Chen. “There’s something great about meeting people online from all over the world. Online, you can also escape lots of the ways people try to box you in when in-person, like based on looks and body image. In gaming, I don’t need to sexualise myself.”
Chen also spoke on the experience of being immersed in the stereotypically male-dominated sphere of competitive gaming: “I think that girls can do just as well and be competitive,” Chen said. “But girls can be less confident sometimes in competitive gaming.”
The Gaming Society has worked to continue the honourable tradition of directing audience attention to worthy causes. It has done this both by hosting and participating in livestreams to raise money for charities. Tan explained the motivation for involving the Gaming Society in charity events, and spoke about some of the charities that the Gaming Society has raised funds for in the past.
“We’re always looking to raise money for good causes because gaming and streaming provide such a good platform to do that,” Tan said. “One of our main charities is SpecialEffect, which aims to help physically disabled people play video games. It really pulls at our heartstrings to be able to give something back, especially to those with disabilities in the gaming community.”
From July 11-12, The Gaming Society participated in a 24-hour livestream in collaboration with Central London University Esports (CLUE) to raise money for Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Charity to help combat COVID-19. The livestream raised more than 2,000 pounds.
On Wednesday, November 25, the Gaming Society held a livestream to raise money for the Movember Foundation, in collaboration with the Athletic’s Union (AU). The Movember Foundation is an international charity that dedicates its resources to raising awareness of and improving conditions for men’s health. The livestream raised £270 over three hours.
The livestream was held on the Gaming Society’s Twitch account, LSESU_Gaming. It featured live gameplay of the popular party game Among Us from Tan’s perspective and his live commentary as he read out incoming donations.
According to Yi Rei, though it has not yet been announced, the Gaming Society is making plans for another charity stream in January. This one will be in collaboration with CLUE, though the charity partner has not yet been decided. The Society’s charity streams and select competitive play can be seen on the Gaming Society’s Twitch account, LSESU_Gaming.
