A year ago, 65-year-old Chiang Yi-Shu knew nothing about computers. Now, she is a League of Legends player who has just battled in her first-ever e-sports tournament.
Chiang is one of the players on Hungkuang Evergreen Gaming’s team, established this summer. The team, whose members range in age from 62 to 69, was founded by Huang Jianji, director of Hungkuang University’s Department of Multimedia Game Development and Application.
“Frankly speaking, I knew very little about computers. I never thought of learning about it, because I prefer interactions with people,” Chiang said. “But when I started to play, I figured out that it was good for the brain, and especially the use of hands, you need to have dexterity.”
Photo: Cheng I-Hwa, AP
Chiang has been practicing at home and at the university when she has time. She plays about five hours per week, her coach Ego Hsu said.
Although she lives in New Taipei City, she traveled every week to the university in Taichung — an hour away by high-speed rail — for the training class, in preparation for the competition that was held on Saturday.
There is one difference in the approach to the game. With older team members, Hsu said the focus is less on killing, which is the main objective in battle-tournament games such as League of Legends.
“So, when they play a game, I would make them enjoy it instead of killing their characters all the time. I think that having the character killed all the time would cause them depression. If they have their character killed quickly, I will blame myself because it would be my fault not to have taught them well,” she said.
Although the team lost in Saturday’s tournament, for Chiang and her teammates, just playing the game has been a chance to learn something new.
“It’s not painstaking, but one must have the determination to do it, such as: ‘I don’t want to lose. I have lived for some time now, and I should not let this beat me,’” she said. “And I overcame.”
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