On December 12, 2018, a popular show which does a “behind the scenes” style of various people and industries called “A Date with Luyu” showcased an episode centered around Invictus Gaming. The host, Luyu, spends time with players at their gaming house, learns about Esports, something that has soared in popularity in both China and internationally, and sits down with the players to get an inside look at their individual perspectives on Esports.
Being a spectator sport, Esports, much like traditional sports has a competitive nature where many participants engage in competition until one team stands above all. This is what fans see on stage, however, the work that goes behind every victory as well as defeat are stories that are rarely told. Baolan equates winning to happiness, "constantly winning equals constant happiness". This is a consistent theme of the Invictus Gaming members as JackeyLove resonates that notion, claiming all of the hard work, endless hours, days, weeks of practice all go toward the single goal of achieving victory. When asked if he valued winning the same as Baolan, it was as if he had been presented with an elementary level math question, “there’s only one goal in the end, and that is to win”, said JackeyLove.
Victory is the core drive for these players, and staff involved in every single team. So many different individuals, personalities, preferences interconnected relationships of multiple teams across the globe all strive toward the single glory, to stand on the center stage holding up the trophy in front of tens of thousands of live audiences and many magnitudes more at home as the hero of the story that is Esports.
JackeyLove is the youngest participant of the League of Legends World Championship to have won the title, at the age of 17, in its short 8-year history. He has talked about being a professional player at length in the past, attributing it to skill and talent. He reveals some new information on the show, stating the 3 main factors of being a professional player into: Being able to take criticism from fans, having a strong mentality and having the skills and abilities to perform in the game.
Esports being exposed to so many viewers through a multitude of medium is a double-edged sword. JackeyLove sums it up as “if you win they praise you, if you lose they flame you" adding "I think it's normal”. With the advances of social media, every spectator fundamentally gets a direct line to the players themselves. When certain performance or results are not met, it is natural for those lines to turn sour and for players to generate unfiltered criticisms toward them. To have someone as long as young as JackeyLove to show such mentality is exactly why he was crowned a World Champion.
Written by: Benson Cheng @1337sn1per
