The Official SMITE Magazine eSports Edition | Page 39

accommodation
“The LAN environment is so much and beyond.
nightmares LAN
more intense because you actually
their biggest
tournaments
hear the crowd which is normally offer something
worry would be
the main point. To be able to play
a cat jumping
refreshing: a
on their
sitting next to you team mates and uniquely tangible
keyboard. Online play a tournament is also really
experience
tournaments are
for teams and
great. The whole effect of playing
easily accessible
spectators
at a LAN event is not something
and come around
alike. It pulls
frequently, giving every team can cope with but its
the game away
the teams ample something we thrive from.”
from the screen
opportunities to
- Realzx, SK Gaming and into the real
hone their skills
world, turning
and face off against one another. There the digital into the physical. What is
are a lot of unique advantages and
it about LANs, though, that makes
experiences that online tournaments
the experience so vivid and visceral?
simply cannot deliver, however How does it achieve this unique
experiences that push Local Area
experience for players and spectators?
Network (LAN) tournaments above
First, and perhaps foremost, is

the fact that the game is played on
stage. The players are there in all their
glory, just a short distance from the
crowd of hundreds, if not thousands,
cheering them on. In place of the
familiar walls surrounding their
monitors there is a sea of hundreds
of indistinct faces and bright stage
lights on every corner. The heat of
the lamps and the roar of the crowd
reinforce the notion that they are there
to fight and to entertain like modern
gladiators in a high-tech arena.
There is a unique atmosphere at
LAN events, something the players
can feel when they’re not competing
or prepping for games. The hustle and
bustle of people moving around, the
hype and excitement for the matches
and the voices of the shoutcasters
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