Fans brave the rain as LoL fever ramps up ahead of finals

It was a wet morning in Seoul Thursday as office-goers trudged through puddles on their way to work. But the rain was hardly a deterrent for Esports fans, passing through a transformed Gwanghwamun as LoL fever ramps up ahead of this weekend's finals

A giant inflated ″Teemo″ sits behind the King Sejong statue at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP]

It was a wet and cold morning in central Seoul on Thursday as office-goers trudged through puddles on their way to work. But the rain was hardly a deterrent for fans of online game League of Legends, passing through a transformed Gwanghwamun Square as LoL fever ramps up ahead of this weekend's World Championship finals.

Thursday marked the beginning of a four-day “Worlds Fan Fest” that has turned one of Seoul’s most iconic tourist spots into a “mecca” for LoL fans ahead of the Worlds final on Sunday.

A giant inflated “Teemo,” a gameplay character that resembles a dog-ish chipmunk, looms behind King Sejong, whose bronze statue sits in the center of a plaza now decked out in branding and lined with booths and merch stands.

Fans playing games at stations and queued up to take photos with a cardboard cutout of the members of the virtual LoL boyband stood in stark contrast to workers booking it through the plaza on their regular office commute and tourists reading the Hangul on the side of the King’s marble perch.

“To see League [of Legends] take over this tiny part of the city is pretty cool,” said Tom Cannon, a game producer at Riot Games and the executive producer of the unreleased game Project L.

Cannon said the main event is the highly-anticipated final between Korea’s T1 and Chinese team Weibo Gaming on Sunday at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul, and the Fan Fest is meant to be a celebration of that.

“To be something that the city can experience and not just the people who are lucky enough to be in the arena,” Cannon said. “The event itself, the finals, are so hype and so intense, that this is kind of like the calm before the storm.”

League of Legends fans flock to Gwanghwamun Square for the first day of the Worlds Fan Fest with umbrellas raised on a rainy Thursday in central Seoul. [YONHAP]

Fest staff wearing ponchos and safety personnel carrying umbrellas were stationed around the plaza while crowds — and the rain — picked up as time passed.

A booth at one end of the plaza held a space for visitors to play a game of ddakji, introducing fans to Korea, too.

League of Legends, launched in 2009, has grown into a massively franchised universe with top-tier leagues in four global regions with more than 150 million monthly players and a massive international fanbase.

Achille Gales, an exchange student from France studying at Sejong University for his semester abroad and braving the rain at the Square on Thursday, said League of Legends was what drew him to come to Korea.

“My whole Korea trip was booked around Worlds,” Gales said. “When I learned that it was in Korea and I could go to Korea for my semester, I chose this. And I bought tickets for Worlds.”

Gales had recently returned from a trip to Busan, where he watched Korea’s T1 take down Chinese team JD Gaming in a semifinal match last weekend.

“The feeling was kind of incredible,” said Gales. “Even at the end, it was really beautiful. Lots of people were crying. And even the security guards, they were doing their job, but at the same time, they were hugging each other and really happy that T1 won.”

Gales, carrying a bag of new merch and wearing a black baseball cap with the Worlds 23 logo, has been playing League of Legends since 2016 after a friend introduced him to the game. He remembers watching one Worlds Championship with friends during class one year — and he was hooked.

“You tell me I can feel so much things just watching video games?” Gales said. “I made the promise to myself that I had to see a world championship match. And here I am.”

Gales said his love of the game helped him make friends in Korea over their shared passion, and he said he’s found Korea to be more accepting of it.

“In France, Esports in general, and precisely League of Legends, don’t have a good image,” said Gales. “It’s been really hard for me in France to be proud to like League of Legends.”

Cannon, the Riot Games producer, said the Korean fanbase was one reason behind allowing fans to play an unreleased game, Project L, with characters from the fantastical LoL universe, Runeterra.

“We felt it was important to bring the game to this country because this is where League is really popping off,” Cannon said.

A display at the Worlds Fan Fest features photos from previous world championships. Korea's T1, then called SKT, won in 2013, 2015 and 2016. [YONHAP]

Indeed, players on Korea's T1 have raked in sponsorship deals with huge brands, sporting the blue and white BMW emblem and familiar Nike swoosh, and have amassed huge followings on social media like any celebrity athlete.

This year’s finals will take place in-person at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul. The match, which begins at 5 p.m. local time, will also be streamed online — and on the big screen in the middle of Gwanghwamun Square.

The winners of the final will take home a guaranteed grand prize of $445,000 — 20 percent of the $2,225,000 purse.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]