The captain shouts commands to his teammates; the stress to win is high amongst each player. Move by move, the team progresses as a cohesive unit until the finish. It’s a victory for the Aragon Dons, but they’re not playing football, they’re playing Defense of the Ancients II (DOTA), one of the many video games played in high stakes e-sports leagues.
According to junior Jason Yang, member of the Aragon High School DOTA team “Needs More Rice, “[the drive and determination for e-sports comes out of a passion for the game.] E-sports are like videogames with a purpose — you play for fun, and you play to win.”
Players enjoy e-sports because they allow gaming to become more than merely recreation. Yang says, “I first transitioned from casual gaming to e-sports after [casual gaming] started feeling empty. [E-sports] makes me feel like I’m doing something more than just playing. There’s a purpose to this besides just messing around by yourself or with friends.”
E-sports players like junior Darren Ma argue that, contrary to popular belief, e-sports demand the same finesse and expertise as do soccer or baseball. Junior Darren Ma says, “In sports, you’re competing, and in e-sports, you’re competing too, but in a different setting.”
The similarities between e-sports and normal sports don’t end at the psychological demand. Sophomore Ryota Nozawa says, “Just like [fans of regular] sports teams, e-sports fans have their favorite teams they like to support and wear their shirts to show it, just like a jersey. At the tournaments, these teams get placed in brackets, like in basketball, and they win money.”
Junior Daniel Song, the captain of “Needs More Rice,” adds, “You need good team coordination and sometimes you have to yell and shout to get people to get organized, but it’s all so that we do well in the end. We may not be that good, but we do have fun, [just like] sports teams .”
However, certain differences distinguish e-sports from traditional sports. Says Nozawa, “It’s different because you don’t need physical strength or [skill] to play e-sports. It comes down to how good you can aim with your mouse, how you can outsmart other players, or win the game with strategic thinking. As long as you keep these skills, you can be a pro player for years, even when you’re old or young. In any other sport, you need to keep up physically and stay in shape.”
Forming the DOTA team was more personal in comparison to the normal tryout process of normal sports. Yang says, “[It began with me and our captain Daniel]. We found two other people through PC Gaming Club, and the other members were friends of friends, or I met them in my classes.”
As with any sport, preparing for matches is a process of constant practice. Yang says, “It’s competition, but on a basic level, you compete together with friends, so when you actually play, you’re ready. [We] have practices every weekend and during practices we band together as a team and play games online.”
“Needs More Rice” and many other high school teams compete in the DOTA II section of a tournament known as “HSL” or “High School Star League.” The league has other games that are played competitively, such as Starcraft II, League of Legends, and Hearthstone. Prizes are featured in these tournaments, such as scholarship money, shirts, and gear.
While gaming is usually seen as a recreational pastime, Aragon’s DOTA team “Needs More Rice” proves that e-sports can be just as engaging as a normal sport while removing the physical exertion usually associated with sports.
