In an era where social media reigns supreme, the gap between esports players is increasingly blurred. Teams are also enhancing their content to help fans better understand the team, player transfers, and memorable moments of victory or defeat…
Fans can no longer just cheer from afar, occasionally catching a glimpse of their idols at special events; now they can engage more, gaining insights into the lives of gamers, the behind-the-scenes stories… of the teams and players they love.
Recently, T1 – one of the top names in the LCK and League of Legends, as well as in esports in general – launched a new platform called T1Live Beta specifically for fans. This platform currently has exciting features such as betting on the outcomes of LCK matches to earn points. In the near future, it will also include other games besides League of Legends, such as Overwatch, Teamfight Tactics, DOTA 2… Fans can also follow T1’s streaming schedule or watch past streams directly on this platform.
However, these betting activities will not involve money; players will receive T1 points and can exchange these points for items. Notably, players who reach 1 million points will have the chance to dine at T1’s canteen, meaning they could meet their idols there, even have a meal with Faker. However, since this is the initial version, T1 has currently prioritized the Korean language and stated that English will be updated in the future. Thus, the international fan community, which is also quite large for T1 in general and for legendary players like Faker in particular, still cannot easily use this platform.
Increasing interaction between gamers and fans is something that all teams are focusing on, especially during this sensitive pandemic period that makes it difficult for fans to attend stadiums to cheer in person. However, another factor is that this will make players’ schedules busier as, in addition to training time, they will sometimes have to “run shows” to meet fans.