Buzz
Finding joy in being accompanied and supported by fans is key for players on their competitive journey.
Audiences and fans are pivotal in determining the strength of the gaming community. Their support significantly impacts players' psyche during competitions. We've seen many sweet victory celebrations of players with their fans, but let's not forget the pressures inadvertently created by fans for their idols.
Recently, Liên Quân fans have been continuously dazzling the community and players by expressing their love through 'pure as water' gifts. A female fan boldly spent a fortune to gift the V Gaming mid-laner a double star in the sky, engraved with 'V Gaming Maris'.
Not backing down, Saigon Phantom's fans immediately grabbed attention by gifting their beloved team a piece of land on the Moon. The area where fans bought land for Saigon Phantom is named 'Lake Of Happiness', with hopes for the best happiness to come to the young players of Liên Quân Vietnam.
Moreover, to boost the spirits of players, Liên Quân fangirls continuously booked LED screens at central locations to cheer, such as: MBK Shopping Center in Bangkok, Thailand, and even Times Square, the bustling and most modern commercial avenue in the United States. These are invaluable spiritual gifts for Liên Quân teams.
In August last year, the League of Legends community vividly recalls the series of attacks on T1 by zealous fans. This includes the viral open letter circulating on social media and two trucks sent to the LoL Park venue during matches featuring Faker and his teammates. These actions were seen as protests from a faction of T1 fans demanding urgent personnel changes in the coaching staff.
During that time, Joe Marsh (CEO of T1) had to respond to the demands from a segment of fervent fans. He emphasized: 'Fervent fans do not represent the 1 million T1 fans worldwide.'
Furthermore, he expressed his frustration regarding his players being targeted by fervent fans after a series of disastrous matches: 'I believe in Korea, protesting fans have become a cultural norm and I'm not concerned about that. What concerns me is that many fans intentionally stalked my players, tried to get my players to take photos with them or follow them all the way back, or lurked outside our headquarters. And this is completely unacceptable.'
In these situations, players feel anxious, afraid to go out, constantly feeling incapable of meeting the expectations of the fans. It's evident that such extreme idol culture will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the players' psyche.
