BXBX NOVEL Chapter 215 - For the University!
Chapter 215: For the University!
After lunch, they realized that a small stage had been set up in front of the community area of the university. There were ten blue computers set up on the stage. A simple banner displaying the Esurfing logo had been hung up, and there were quite a few workers arranging the layout. There were also some long tables at the side as well as a couple of exhibitors.
It was obvious that the afternoon match between Shanghai University and Zhejiang University was going to be held in this area. As it would be held at the community area, it was easier to attract the student body to come and watch.
The stage was set up by the Esurfing workers, together with the student union and members of Zhejiang. Taking advantage of this inter-university match, Esurfing also blasted out their advertisements, achieving a further audience reach together with Tencent Games.
In the past, e-sports had always been conducted in small rooms, and there were no inter-university matches. Following the development of the internet and e-sports, it had slowly received more attention from the student body.
LOL was very happening nowadays, and you would often hear people discussing the game even if you had never played it.
The match hadn’t started yet and the venue was already crowded with people, coming up to hundreds.
There were thousands of students in the community, and since the stage was placed in front of the community area, it was easy to attract the crowd. Even those who didn’t know what LOL was had gathered to see what the commotion was all about.
“Sh*t, that’s a lot of people.” Jian Feng stated, eyeing the surroundings which were filled with people no matter where he looked, feeling nervous from all the attention.
It was fortunate that Luocheng was the one playing this match, Jian Feng doubted that he could perform as usual on stage with this many spectators.
“So it can be done this way too.” Yang Ying mused as he slapped his thigh in excitement. “Next time if we ever host a competition, we should also play in front of the community area, then we could probably gather more LOL enthusiasts!”
This trip to Hangzhou was worth it, an open match organized by Zhejiang University could easily become a good form of publicity.
The downside of e-sports was that unlike basketball and football, it needed to be indoors. This resulted in an inferior atmosphere as compared to the other sports competitions. For Zhejiang University, they overcame this hurdle by cooperating with Esurfing for advertising and displays, going as far as to set up an outdoor stage and room for the competition.
Yang Ying couldn’t help but admire the creativity of the organizers of Zhejiang University.
“Yeah, if they can build a stage, we can too!” Meiqi said.
“Of course we can, and we’ll do it next time.” Xiao Jia said in agreement.
With the building of the stage, it had easily attracted a few hundred people in an instant. It could reach a thousand people when the match started, resulting in a spectacular scene!
Watching the match live on the computer screen, you wouldn’t show much passion or emotions. However, if there were thousands of people sitting with you, getting excited, and cheering along with you during the match, it would definitely be a completely different feeling!
“No, I mean right now!” Meiqi hurriedly said, gesturing excitedly.
“What do you mean?” Yang Ying asked, not understanding her.
“We can make a call back to our university, isn’t Qin Ting and the others in the e-sports club room? Let them find a way to broadcast our situation here in Zhejiang to our university. We’re fighting for the university, there’s no reason to be hiding it. We should openly present our competition journey, let those who love LOL see the latest happenings, and even if the university doesn’t support us, we still have a large group of supporters!” Meiqi explained.
“It’s hard to find guys in the dormitories that don’t play LOL, and if we were able to set up a stage outside the community area and broadcast the competition live, then the students in Shanghai University could also watch the match. It would be pointless to watch the match alone in their rooms, the point is to bring these LOL enthusiasts and those who follow our club together. Let those basketball and football club members see our influence, and if we win, we can hear their cheers! That way, the e-sports club will be the best club!” Zheng Xia continued excitedly with sparkling eyes, understanding Meiqi immediately.
Zheng Xia and Meiqi’s words lit up everyone present.
That’s right, they were fighting for the university’s honor, they were fighting for the university. There was no reason to hide that fact and huddle in a small room. If the confrontation between these two universities was broadcasted live in the community, it would easily attract the LOL enthusiasts, and even the university’s honor alone could attract a big crowd!
“There’s still two hours before the match, let me give them a call real quick, we can still make it!” Meiqi said.
“I don’t think they’ll be able to build a stage within two hours?” Jinbei said.
“They can. I’ve checked the weather, and it’s cloudy today. They don’t have to worry about the lighting, all they have to do is hang a big screen at the entrance of the community area, and add a commentator for the match.” Zheng Xia said. “Qin Ting and the others are well versed in computer equipment, they would definitely be able to do it!”
Since it was decided, Meiqi and Zheng Xia started to make the necessary calls, informing their club members who had stayed behind the plan. On their own side, they got the facilitators to open a laptop and connect the stage power plug and cables which were built by Esurfing to it.
“I’m confused, apart from the match being recorded, how else is our university supposed to see the screen that we play on?” Jinbei asked.
Jinbei’s question made sense, and everyone went silent at his question.
That was right, how would they stream the match live to the other side?
You can’t expect a person to be holding up a camera and recording the screen of the laptop, right?
“That’s not a problem. Xiao Feng, go over to Zhejiang’s team and ask them for an OB position.” Zheng Xia said.
“And then?”
“Using Xiao Feng’s OB position, we can turn on YY live game function. Xiao Feng’s OB position will then be streamed live on a channel. All Qin Ting needs to do is open another computer on his side, and log into the YY live channel to watch the match. Connect his computer to the screen, and then the students can watch the match with the three-minute delay!” Zheng Xia explained.
“There’s actually a function like this in YY!” Jinbei said in surprise.
Zhejiang University had set up a stage, and they would have hundreds and thousands of audiences and even supporters. At someone else’s home ground, you would definitely be affected by the cheering for an enemy, but with the live broadcast, they would also have a group of people cheering for them. Even if they couldn’t hear them, they would be filled with confidence just knowing that they were cheering for them!
More importantly, the e-sports club had always been looked upon unfavorably. This was the time to show the whole university that they were fighting for Shanghai University, and use their voices to tell the entire university that the e-sports club was the most popular club!
***
An hour seemed to pass quickly, and Meiqi had yet to put down the phone in her hand. With only two hours to prepare, this was clearly too hasty. The biggest problem was how they would find a screen big enough to display the match for the entire student body to watch.
With growing anxiousness and nervousness, the Shanghai University students sat in the resting area, watching as the stage filled with more Zhejiang students.
The entrance of the university was big, and it was already crowded with people. Even in the chilly autumn, it gave off a heated feeling.
Inside and outside, the best place to view the stage had already been taken up, including the balcony of the dormitories. These were considered to be the best viewing place, and you could see rows of people already there.
Zhejiang University’s support for e-sports was beyond the Shanghai University members’ expectation. The match had yet to begin and already there were thousands of students gathered, it was hard to imagine, what inter-university competition could attract the sea of people they were looking at now?
One of the reasons was due to the placement of the stage, the other illustrated the popularity of LOL! With only half an hour to the match, the Shanghai University members prepared to enter the venue.
Meiqi had yet to receive the call from Qin Ting informing her that all was ready, and her heart started to tense up.
“They will make it, you just concentrate on the match!” Zheng Xia said encouragingly to everyone.
Yang Ying, Xiao Jia, Jinbei, Luocheng, and Wang Jun started going up the stage once the host called them. When they were on stage, there were mutterings and chattering from the audience.
You were in someone else’s university after all, it was impossible that there would be supporters there for you. You could see some faces which were arrogant, as though they were saying you were just waiting to be beaten!
The fact that Zhejiang University was strong was an indisputable fact, even if Shanghai University ranked in the top ten teams in e-sports, there was a big gap between the two universities.
Zhejiang University team followed closely behind after they went on stage. They ascended the steps in an orderly manner, and the one leading them was none other than the chairman of their E-sports Club—Ceng Feilong!
Feilong was a well known skilled professional player in the Ionia server, and it was said that he played live broadcasts online that were spectated by tens of thousands of people at the same time.
Whilst in Zhejiang University, this president was a well sought after figure by all e-sports enthusiasts!
His position had been established when he obtained second place in the whole country in the last e-sports University League, and he had been acknowledged by the university for claiming such a high honor!
Zhejiang University placed great importance on e-sports, as it could be seen by the crowd which had gathered there. When the Zhejiang team appeared, the whole student body gathered started to cheer, and the volume was loud, as though thunder had sounded!
The Zhejiang team maintained their smiles as they received the enthusiasm and passion that came from the crowd, continuing to walk up the stage calmly. How did it feel to receive such thunderous support from thousands of people in the university?
As the Shanghai team watched them walk over, their emotions were slightly overwhelmed, and they admired and were envious of the Zhejiang team.
They were favored in their university, whereas Shanghai’s team received scorn from the other clubs, needing their teacher to use his position to protect them, needing to use their own money to attend this match which they would surely lose…
“Zhejiang win! Zhejiang win! Zhejiang win!”
“Zhejiang win! Zhejiang win! Zhejiang win!”
The cheers and shouts came wave after wave, echoing throughout the campus. The thundering cheers were like majestic drums of the enemies, hitting hard into the hearts of the Shanghai University members.
You could understand how insignificant a few people’s cheers were as compared to the cheers of a thousand people at this moment!
***
Settling into their seats, opening the client, and entering the game.
Luocheng glanced at the corner of the audience, seeing Meiqi still on the phone. It seemed that Shanghai University had yet to prepare the big screen needed to broadcast the match.
Yang Ying, Xiao Jia, Jinbei, and Wang Jun were also looking at the same corner.
Their line of vision was full of Zhejiang University students, the name they were shouting in excitement was also Zhejiang University’s team members’ names, and the focus was also on the other side of the stage where the Zhejiang team was seated. In that kind of atmosphere, you wouldn’t know where to look at, because no matter where you looked, it would only make you feel helpless and bitter.
“Alright, our game will start at two o’clock, this quarterfinals for the National E-sports University League has definitely attracted the attention of our students. Both teams were ranked in the top ten during the last competition, and I trust this will be an exciting match to watch. While cheering for our Zhejiang team, don’t forget to also encourage Shanghai University team who has traveled a long way to come here!” The host was also considerate of Shanghai University team’s feelings, and had said some fairly acceptable words.
However, looking at the reactions of the Zhejiang students, there were not many who really wanted to cheer for the Shanghai team.
This was human nature, there was no need to inspire morale for the opponent, there was no mercy on the battlefield!
***
“Now, the match will officially begin! After the two computers with OB position have been adjusted, we will soon be able to see the banning phase…let us cheer for our players!” The host said, excitement in his voice.