By Jean Aldemer S. Salgados | Editor-in-chief
Vol. XCI No. 11
Dec. 6, 2019
This year’s intramurals showed Sillimanians that the inclusion of esports in the games are able to draw in a great participation from the students, especially those who are physically unable to compete in the traditional sports. The student body have given overwhelmingly passionate responses in our Sillimanians Speak as to what sport will be given a slot in next year’s intramurals. The answers are definite, but in practicality, here are the games that are most likely to be played alongside Dota 2 and Mobile Legends.
League of Legends (LoL) and LoL: Wild Rift
One of the greater rivals to Dota 2, sharing not only the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre, but it also comes on PC and, around this time next year, on mobile as well. The League community in Silliman was dismayed when their favorite game was snubbed from this year’s intramurals. League’s playerbase in Silliman competes with that of Dota’s, making its inclusion a welcome one to the esports events in Silliman.
League’s mechanics are comprehensible to beginners and to people trying to pick up another game. It is free-to-play — arguably the greatest allure of gamers anywhere — so there will always be a constant amount of players. Lastly, it’s publisher, Riot Games, have marketed the game so well and so broadly, that its new-playerbase is significantly bigger than its competitors. One of its newest expansion to mobile; LoL: Wild Rift, aims to bring the brand into the mobile game scene and make League even more accessible.
Tekken 7 and Street Fighter
These titles have shaped a large community of console junkies and casual shopping-mall-arcade players, across countries and age-gaps. Though not as popular as their MOBA competitors, they have a following of passionate and dedicated players who have spent countless hours grinding competitively on their PC emulators, consoles, and arcade cabinets.
The skill ceiling for fighting games such as Tekken and Street Fighter is no laughing matter. The commitment to the memorization of over 50 characters between both games, as well as their individual list of available move combinations, and which moves work well with what, are part of the beautiful complexity of the fighting game series.
Part of this complexity is the set-up of the game itself, the players would learn from others or work things out on their own in order to set-up whenever they want to have a binge or just simply pass the time.
Supercell’s Clash of Clans (CoC)
This is proves to be a closet pick, regardless of how swift its peak relevance came and went in a span of two years. A unique kind of strategy game wherein drawn-out, time-based gameplay, and its massively immersive multiplayer base attacking and defending. But the competitive takeaway from this household name is its “Clan Wars.”
CoC’s clan war system is its effective answer to maintaining its substantial playerbase of mostly professional youtubers, streamers, and players who have made the game their primary way of spending their money. Boasting 24 unique units, and 11 powerful spells to use in the clan games, a whole plethora of youtube content can be found in regards to strategy, which all points to the skill ceiling of CoC, built upon impeccable timing and knowing the individual capabilities of the available characters.
The thing that binds these games together is that they are ever-changing. Their publishers care a great deal about their game, and they continually add content to make them even more interesting. As far as shooting games are concerned, they may take awhile before they are considered, considering that their themes are far removed from the values of the school. Even so, the idea of esports taking a definite spot in the intramurals is a cause for celebration. The diversity of our games makes every coming year a very exciting one.
Ready-up, player.
