College clubs bring Worlds spirit to SoCal
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For the last two years, Southern California fans have had Worlds in their backyard. Whether across the street from USC at the Galen Center, or in Los Angeles' world-famous Staples Center, SoCal fans like myself didn't have to travel far to experience the action first-hand. But this year, the games were an ocean away.
It was going to take something special to recreate the excitement we’d come to take for granted over the past two seasons. According to Ernest Chao, the Vision Director of UCI's Association of Gamers, we needed more than just a viewing party: we needed a festival.
With the experience of running an 850 person Season 3 party under their belt, the team at UC Irvine began planning for this year's Worlds Final back in May. Though initially caught off guard by the midnight West Coast start time, they took it as an opportunity to frame the entire event around that idea: Midnight Finals.
Featuring over 20 special guests, cosplay contests, a Tech Expo, a viewing of the Road to Worlds documentary, and more, UC Irvine's Midnight Finals filled the OC Fairgrounds Hangar and then some with a sold-out attendance of over 1,800.
But why stop there? Caleb “Cable” Finn, founder of SoCal eSports, an organization dedicated to bringing together local communities to better “enjoy gaming at a community level,” had bigger plans. Viewing parties are ‘his thing,’ he told me. “I love doing viewing parties. It's hype and fun, and you have food and friends.”
A major partner in UC Irvine's party last year, Finn brought UC San Diego and the University of Southern California into the fold and worked with their local eSports clubs to host two additional viewing parties in San Diego and Los Angeles. Ultimately, UCSD's “Seoul to San Diego” attracted over 600 attendees and USC's “Why am I Awake Right Now?!” brought in over 800, bringing the total attendance of the “SoCal 3 Shows” to more than 3,200 League players. A success which Finn described as “beyond our wildest dreams.”
Speaking as a volunteer at USC's party, the energy was palpable: once the games started, it was easy to forget this wasn’t Seoul. The event was held at the Hollywood Post 43 American Legion, and offered a main viewing hall packed with hundreds of seats, a gaming lounge to enjoy in the off time, and a stream-enabled bar on the bottom floor.
Swag flew from the stage in between games. Cosplayers from Battle Bunny Riven to Panda Annie showed off their hard work, and the over-capacity venue bristled with the spirit that only hundreds of passionate Summoners could provide.
It's actually hard to say which viewing experience was more fun: the traditional excitement of the crowd seating, cheers and applause erupting for each big play, or the casual bustle of the packed bar, where the guy buying a drink to your left might turn out to be your favorite LCS pro.
There were certainly some hiccups – the line to get in seemed to go on forever and the stream crashed a few times – but for their first event of that size, event organizer Sam Brown and the rest of the team put on a memorable show. At least for one night, Worlds was back in California.
It's only been a few weeks since Worlds, but SoCal's best are already hard at work planning for 2015. UCI's Chao is already neck-deep in plans for their next upcoming event, unsatisfied with resting on the success of Midnight Finals. “We're already planning two big events of that caliber: one per quarter,” he announced proudly. “I always feel like a lot of people let that momentum fall, and our club has the capability of building big events on a much quicker basis."
Those next big events will come early next year, and Chao and his team have already been planning them for about two months. Describing the upcoming event as an “all around fun time,” UCI will be bringing in LCS pros to play games with fans in a casual setting to provide a more intimate experience than a signing event or meet-and-greet, which Chao feels create a ‘distance’ between you and the pros. Whatever he and his team put together, it's sure to attract fans from all over the area.
As the year pushes onward, Finn aims to continue facilitating communication between the various collegiate organizations in Southern California to ensure continued growth as a region, hoping it can be a model for the rest of North America. “I very firmly believe that SoCal is the strongest division,” he explains. “And we need to present ourselves as such. Having events, having a strong scene, working together: that's all part of that.”
And if you aren't located in SoCal, or another local esports hotspot like British Columbia or Texas? “If there's nothing around you, start it! Join the club that's near by you, or get some friends together to watch the events, and eventually it'll grow, and you'll build a community. You meet amazing people, you build friendships and working relationships that you never would have thought about, so grow your community! Get out of your house, play with people who are around you, and have fun.”
But why stop there? Caleb “Cable” Finn, founder of SoCal eSports, an organization dedicated to bringing together local communities to better “enjoy gaming at a community level,” had bigger plans. Viewing parties are ‘his thing,’ he told me. “I love doing viewing parties. It's hype and fun, and you have food and friends.”
A major partner in UC Irvine's party last year, Finn brought UC San Diego and the University of Southern California into the fold and worked with their local eSports clubs to host two additional viewing parties in San Diego and Los Angeles. Ultimately, UCSD's “Seoul to San Diego” attracted over 600 attendees and USC's “Why am I Awake Right Now?!” brought in over 800, bringing the total attendance of the “SoCal 3 Shows” to more than 3,200 League players. A success which Finn described as “beyond our wildest dreams.”
Speaking as a volunteer at USC's party, the energy was palpable: once the games started, it was easy to forget this wasn’t Seoul. The event was held at the Hollywood Post 43 American Legion, and offered a main viewing hall packed with hundreds of seats, a gaming lounge to enjoy in the off time, and a stream-enabled bar on the bottom floor.
Swag flew from the stage in between games. Cosplayers from Battle Bunny Riven to Panda Annie showed off their hard work, and the over-capacity venue bristled with the spirit that only hundreds of passionate Summoners could provide.
It's actually hard to say which viewing experience was more fun: the traditional excitement of the crowd seating, cheers and applause erupting for each big play, or the casual bustle of the packed bar, where the guy buying a drink to your left might turn out to be your favorite LCS pro.
There were certainly some hiccups – the line to get in seemed to go on forever and the stream crashed a few times – but for their first event of that size, event organizer Sam Brown and the rest of the team put on a memorable show. At least for one night, Worlds was back in California.
A Promising Year to Come
It's only been a few weeks since Worlds, but SoCal's best are already hard at work planning for 2015. UCI's Chao is already neck-deep in plans for their next upcoming event, unsatisfied with resting on the success of Midnight Finals. “We're already planning two big events of that caliber: one per quarter,” he announced proudly. “I always feel like a lot of people let that momentum fall, and our club has the capability of building big events on a much quicker basis."
Those next big events will come early next year, and Chao and his team have already been planning them for about two months. Describing the upcoming event as an “all around fun time,” UCI will be bringing in LCS pros to play games with fans in a casual setting to provide a more intimate experience than a signing event or meet-and-greet, which Chao feels create a ‘distance’ between you and the pros. Whatever he and his team put together, it's sure to attract fans from all over the area.
As the year pushes onward, Finn aims to continue facilitating communication between the various collegiate organizations in Southern California to ensure continued growth as a region, hoping it can be a model for the rest of North America. “I very firmly believe that SoCal is the strongest division,” he explains. “And we need to present ourselves as such. Having events, having a strong scene, working together: that's all part of that.”
And if you aren't located in SoCal, or another local esports hotspot like British Columbia or Texas? “If there's nothing around you, start it! Join the club that's near by you, or get some friends together to watch the events, and eventually it'll grow, and you'll build a community. You meet amazing people, you build friendships and working relationships that you never would have thought about, so grow your community! Get out of your house, play with people who are around you, and have fun.”