The esports team will play in the semifinals bracket of the national League of Legends tournament tomorrow, April 24. Below, Esports Team Captain Alex Chen and member Kyle Dong discuss the club’s background and their favorite memories from the season so far.
Karen Wei: The esports team is new to Clements this year – what is it? What do you do?
Kyle Dong: After school, we’ll just play practice games with each other. We’ll just prepare for a tournament, like a national tournament online.
KW: What do you think is the overall perception of video games like the ones you play?
KD: League of Legends, I think has a sort of social stigma upon it. Sometimes [people are] right to assume that League of Legends players are just, like my team captain Alexander Chen said, stinky fat people. We’re trying to offset that perception.
Alexander Chen: I believe that League of Legends does not have a good rep due to the fact that many players, I believe, don’t have a social life outside of school, outside of playing the game. So, I would like to change the stigma surrounding League of Legends players. I would like to encourage more League of Legends players to have better social lives and experience things other than The Rift.
KW: How are you doing in terms of membership and interest from the student body?
AC: I think the esports thing in general is pretty popular. For our other games like Valorant, there’s quite a few people who are interested. I think we have enough to fill probably two or three teams for Valorant.
But in terms of League of Legends, we were only able to field one team this year. Actually, I believe why we were only able to field one team this year is also related to the stigma of League of Legends players [having] a bad rep. As you can maybe tell, I’m a little embarrassed to call myself the team captain of the esports League of Legends team, even though I enjoy the game and I love playing it with my friends. It’s a little embarrassing due to the stigma surrounding it. There’s maybe a lot of players in this school that also feel the same way, but aren’t as willing to come forward and still be confident about it and play the games themselves and join the team.
KW: Have you found any positives to participating in this, especially now that it’s a formal organization? Have there been any benefits developed in these skills?
AC: In-game, all of our individual skill levels have increased a lot, whether it be mechanically or knowledge-wise. The way we play, our knowledge of the game and our communication is all a lot better. Outside of the game, I guess we’re closer friends with our coach, Mr. [Nguyen] Tran and we’re closer friends with each other. I kind of roped Kyle, Andy [Zhou], and Justin [Zhuang] into it, but I think it was a really good decision. One, it gave me good players. And two, it gave me pretty cool friends that I’m really cool with.
KD: You mean it?
AC: I mean it, man.
KD: I’m a good player?
AC: You’re a good player.
KD: Thank you, bro.
KW: What are your best memories from the competition season so far?
AC: Definitely the match yesterday [April 21] because it was our hardest match of the season by far. All of our matches previous[ly], we were kind of just outscaling everyone else. It was pretty easy. But yesterday, we were basically on equal footing, so in game 3, when we realized we were going to win, it was pretty hype. That was probably the best memory so far. I stood up and gave a standing ovation to my team.
KW: What challenges have you overcome?
AC: I think the initial challenges were communication. We were a little awkward at first, I would say. I think overcoming that communication barrier was an initial step that we took in order to improve as a team.
KW: To you, in what way are games more than just a game?
KD: Beyond just being games, it’s pretty good at stress relief. If you’re kind of bored, it’s a good way to pass time. Beyond that, there is definitely a certain point where if you’re spending too much time, it’s negatively affecting your life, whether it be schoolwork, social interaction, relationships, or even getting a job or whatever.
AC: In my opinion, I think games become more than games whenever you can truly socialize and enjoy the time with your friends. I think those are very precious memories that you won’t ever lose, especially with my top laner, Kyle Dong. In my opinion, my usage of video games is not to stave off boredom. For me, it’s more of a way to socialize with my friends and enjoy my time together with them.
