Hello Mr . Mallant , right off the bat , how did you get into eSports in the first place ?
It all started when Fabian ( Former Jungler of UOL , now team coach ) started to come late for dinner . When a discussion broke out about what he was doing , he told us about League of Legends and that he got really good at it . That ’ s when we took our first steps into eSports . I had read about it before , and I used to play video games myself , but we had no idea how big this whole ordeal had gotten .
What was your first real-life eSport experience like ?
My first eSports experience ... That must ’ ve been the LCS Qualification game against Ninjas in Pyjamas . My wife and I were really impressed by how professional everything was , the stage , the equipment , the reporting . Even the audience was completely different from what we expected : Instead of stereotypical nerds we met very kind , very intelligent people . Obviously my wife and I were the oldest ones there , but we were too nervous to care . After all , we were the underdog , everyone expected NiP to win . Luckily for us , it didn ’ t go that way .
In comparison to more common sports like football , what do you think of the crowds at LCS events ?
They ’ re completely different than in a football stadium , which is one of the things we ’ re trying to change actually . We ’ re trying to establish a bit of fan culture . Everything ’ s a bit silent and slow in eSports , we ’ re missing the massive atmosphere of other sporting events . The Love Hurts Crew in particular is a bit polarizing in that aspect , everyone who ’ s not on the side of the Unicorns is viewed as an opponent . They ’ re hyping the people , and sometimes there ’ s even a bit of friendly banter .
What is the relationship like to the Love Hurts Crew ?
Well , it can be a balancing act at times . The players and crew want their privacy , especially when they just lost a match they ’ d prefer staying inside . But as a organisation , we believe that fans and fan culture are a huge part of our business and more importantly of our motivation . It ’ s pretty bad if you don ’ t get any feedback due to a lack of fan support .
How does your age play into your eSports role ?
You obviously try to work as much as you can to change certain things . eSports as a whole has already massively changed , it used to be like the wild wild West if you will . Especially in terms of behaviour . Additionally , I think my philosophy is a bit different than usual : As an organisation , we ’ re always trying to be fair . We ’ re giving players a lot of room for mistakes , and as long as we see that they ’ re working hard on fixing them , we won ’ t bench them . As a father , I can ’ t stand it when you cut off young players because they made a mistake . You should always give them the opportunity to get themselves out of their own misery and grow as a person and as a player .
How has your life changed after you got into eSports ?
Well I still have my old job , being a management consultant . I don ’ t make a penny off of Unicorns of Love , all the money we make goes to players , the gaming house and salaries of staff members . I ’ m basically a supporting act . The only think I get out of this is two more days of work during the week ( laughs ). But to be fair , it ’ s amazing to be able to help out your son . Sheepey has a huge workload , so I ’ m always happy when I can help him .
My wife and I actually watch more League of Legends these days than movies . We ’ ve actually become pretty good in analysing the games as well !