By Theo Vuong, Staff Writer
In today’s world, technology exists as an integral component in the lives of many high school students. Sites like Canvas and Turnitin.com allow for the easy submission of assignments and provide helpful reminders about upcoming due dates. Social media allows for quick and instant communication between individuals (for better or for worse). Technology used by high school students, however, serves largely as a source of entertainment today.
Online video games have surged in popularity in the past decade. They have started to receive the same treatment as sports as well. “Dota 2” players anticipate a rather large tournament called “The International,” in which teams from around the world compete for glory and a prize pool that ranges in the hundreds of millions. In other games, players have taken to a gaming live-streaming site, twitch.tv, to showcase their skills in hopes of being recruited. In some instances, “eSports” organizations have scouted individuals and signed contracts to have individuals play on a national or international level, expanding their brand. In countries like South Korea, professional and highly talented players receive the same treatment as celebrities.
This phenomenon typically has been typically reserved for the elite players, but recent events suggest a change in this activity. La Quinta High School (LQHS) held the finals match for their “League of Legends” tournament on Oct. 27, 2017. The event was sanctioned by the student government and advertised as greatly as a “real” sporting event. The official LQHS Facebook page went as far as to livestream it for students at home, who showed great interest in the comments section. In the end, the winners of the tournament received the honor of representing the school at a larger “League of Legends” tournament located at the University of California: Irvine eSports arena.
Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) senior Alex Huynh said, “I saw the livestream for the tournament on Facebook. I didn’t watch, but I remember seeing that a lot of people were tuned in. I never thought that the school would heavily support a video game competition like that.”
On the FVHS campus, students have not yet had the chance that the LQHS students did. Sure, tournaments like the Virtual Enterprises’ “Super Smash Bros.” tournament occur annually, but it does not receive the same level of attention that was seen at LQHS. As the culture and stigma surrounding video games shift, there still remains a possibility of a large-scale event in the future.
