League of Legends: Inside the hype with a pro commentator

[MUSIC] Launching in 2009, League of Legends is now the world's most played and most watched game through online streaming services. Two teams of five players battle it out in an arena with the ultimate goal of destroying the opposing team's base. While defending their own. Like a basketball team each player performs different but equally important roles. Players choose from over one hundred champions, each with their own unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. What makes it so fun to watch is how the combinations of Player skill, character abilities, teamwork, and timing, make every match play out differently. Individual brilliance as well as excellent teamwork are all on show in matches lasting 40 to 60 minutes. We spoke to one of the full time League of Legends commentators, known as shout casters, about what takes to become an elite player of League. Well I think that most of it comes down to your ability to strategize on the fly knowing in micro seconds what the best decision to make is, decision making is everything in League of Legends, it's where you're going to move, it's where you want your champion to be at x seconds from now in order to avoid this particular ability. They were playing, but I don't even understand how they do the things that they do. The timings that they have on their abilities. The way that they hold certain moves so that they're gonna be utilized later on in a team fight. Because they just know that this enemy team is gonna be grouping up later and they can get the maximum amount out of their abilities. So how does someone go from being a fan of a video game to becoming a professional commentator? I played it avidly. I had so many games. I was much too scared to go into ranked because you know that's intimidating. There's a ranking system. I don't want to put myself out there. I just wasn't all that good. So I had a whole lot of passion I needed to direct it somewhere. I had to put it in, yeah, where ever I possibly could so I found Shaco, he was actually with a partner of mine at the time she was thinking, awe I would really like to get into some Shaco casting role, found someone that was doing it sort of very, very low key, it was part of something on the internet we were just commentating some silly little games of a Wednesday night but I sort of thought wow, that sounds like a really cool idea. I hopped on board. Both of us were doing it for a little while. And I just fell in love with it. I couldn't see any better thing to do in the world than [UNKNOWN]. So I was working in IT at the time and I'd sort of secretly be there writing guides and trying to work out everything. Learning champion names and then overnight, I'd come home and commentate legal The company behind League of Legends, Riot Games, has been investing heavily in developing the players and the growing community around the world. Seeing the game professionalized as commentary teams, even in its smallest markets like Australia, is a prime. Prime example. With such polish around it's events and it's broadcasting, for a wildly passionate fan base of millions, League of Legends shows that these Esports are definitely here to stay.