What League as an eSport needs

Disclaimer: this blog represents the opinion of the author but not necessarily that of Team Dignitas.

I think that League of Legends as an eSport needs a couple of things to help it grow as an eSport not only in America, but across the globe. These aspects include like greater geographical bonds between regions, more reliable regions, and stable rosters.

When it comes to the professional scene, North America, Europe, China, Korea and Southeast Asia spring to mind first. Although they don't usually show up at large scale events, regions like Latin America and Oceania both have professional teams who compete in local tournaments. While teams like GamingGear.eu (from Lithuania) have shown that unknown regions and their teams can make it big, I think they need some support in getting here.

What we need is for there to be more standalone large scale tournaments for people to attend in person. While piggybacking on major gaming conventions like Pax, IEM and Gamescom has been great for the game, it could use more independent events. If there were to be a greater connection between regions like NA and LAN, not only would we get to know them and their players more, but it would introduce new talent and meta to the world's melting pot.

For this to be possible, Riot will have to turn some extra attention to the newer regions, so that they can get a strong enough infrastructure to easily keep up with the competitive scene. Battle of the Atlantic is a great step forward to helping establish relationships across borders and bodies of water. Hopefully we'll see more events like that in the future.

When it comes to NA, I think it would be interesting if Riot were to open up a studio somewhere on the east coast and create an East vs West rivalry. I'll admit it would be tricky to handle, as it could make the NA LCS cluttered and overly busy, but if the nation can handle three different monday night football games at a time, surely someone can have two different streams up if they really wanted to.

To help the regions become more stable, I think that the teams could use some extra stability. Of course sports teams change up their rosters to what they think will help them win the most games, but this preseason has been ridiculous. Luckily the challenger scene is becoming something more reputable and established, as job security for the LCS players is entirely dependent on their success. As time goes on, high skilled players and teams will be able to get themselves noticed. For the other veteran pro players, this provides them with a slight safety net.

So far, Riot has been doing a great job of thinking ahead and vamping up their activity in eSports. If they continue in the same rate they have been this past couple years, the next five years will see a totally changed and established eSport. 

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