Myeongdong, Seoul, is a district in Jung-gu, a touristy area adjacent to a business district full of shops, restaurants and bars. At night, you can bask in the wafting smells of bunggeoppang, take-away tteokbokki, roasted sweet potatoes, chestnut breads and grilled fish cakes. The streets are filled with vendors and pop-up shops selling a variety of goods, all for under 10,000 Korean won ($8).
On Sept. 28, 2018, across from a large theater in a Times Square-like area of the district, an LED billboard flashed a variety of advertisements visible to passers-by coming out of the underground shopping plaza. This advertisement space, like many in Seoul, seemed reserved for pop idols and businesses.
That is, until a large brush-script font announced the arrival of a Chinese League of Legends player: Edward Gaming AD carry Hu "iBoy" Xian-Zhao. A small young man appeared with the tagline "Confident Win." A list of his 2018 accomplishments over a series of photographs from his League of Legends Pro League season in China came next. It ended with, "iBoy S8 Fighting."
At a generous 5-and-a-half feet tall, likely shorter, iBoy was a slight young man yet to grow into his body, having just turned 18 that July. He was also an idol to fans of the team, a rising star in the bot lane considered to be one of the best players in the world. But the billboard ad boasting of his accomplishments wasn't purchased by EDward Gaming or game developer Riot Games to promote the team's appearance at worlds in South Korea. It was part of a fan-led effort that shows just how far the Chinese League of Legends community will go to promote its teams, players and passion.
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Once EDG qualified for the 2018 League of Legends World Championship, fans of the team sprang into action. Multiple LED ads in prominent places all around Seoul. Multiple subway promos at popular Seoul metro stations. A table of free fan goods at every EDG match. There was so much EDG fan support, fans shared a subway map on the Chinese social media app Weibo with dates and locations of each EDG ad.
This is the story of the most ambitious fan project in League of Legends history: EDG fans' coordinated efforts at the 2018 League of Legends World Championship.
'We don't think it's a big project'
On Sept. 19, 2018, the Nanjing YOG Sport Park Gymnasium was packed for the China regional finals match between EDward Gaming and Rogue Warriors. EDG were a fading franchise, still the LoL Pro League's most-decorated organization but on a general downward trend that had ended disastrously in Wuhan in 2017, with EDG failing to make it out of worlds groups on home soil. Their performance in the 2018 summer season was statistically the worst that EDG had ever had in the LPL. Despite that, fans of the team were anything but a fair-weather group: The gymnasium rafters were filled with massive neon signs, large banners that read "EDG WIN" or "加油 EDG!" offering the team encouragement, designed specifically for this event.
Hours later, EDG became the third and final Chinese team to qualify for the world championship in Seoul.
Despite the team's rough regular season, EDG fans had anticipated their upcoming worlds trip before the playoffs had even begun.
"Before the playoffs our fan station started to plan this outdoor advertising project," a fan captain for EDG support Tian "Meiko" Ye said. She chose not to reveal her name because fandom culture in China can subject those who do so to online harassment and sharing of personal information.
The fan's organization is called Secret Base For Meiko and is one of many EDG fan groups. The fan captain said that Secret Base had prepared for EDG to attend as China's No. 2, which included a bye out of the play-in round that would take the team straight to the group stage held in Busan. That made planning for the event much easier; on Sept. 8, however, EDG lost to JD Gaming in the playoff quarterfinals.
"After losing to JDG we thought they could hardly go to worlds," she said, "so we canceled all the plans."
When EDG managed to qualify, she and other groups of the team's fan organizers quickly raised money and re-contacted companies that create subway and rotating videos for LED billboards. These companies usually work with fans of pop idols and produce anything from simple bus stop ads or billboards to jaw-dropping wraps of entire subway cars celebrating a star's birthday.
As esports have continued to rise in popularity, especially in China, where League of Legends is just as popular as any traditional sport, so have similar fan projects celebrating individual esports players' birthdays or in-game successes. An ad can cost anywhere from 10,600 Chinese yuan ($1,500) to 35,500 Chinese yuan ($5,000) depending on size, location and how long it will be displayed
The most impressive thing about EDG's various fan projects in 2018 was that multiple fan groups for players in the organization had all decided to do individual fan ads for the world championship. This quickly turned into a multilevel project, although the Secret Base for Meiko organizer described the loose collaboration between fan groups as more of a logistical necessity than a true coordinated effort.
The scramble to rearrange preparations following EDward Gaming's qualification might seem like a logistical nightmare from the outside, but for groups like Secret Base, there's no task too large. Within two days, a pair of members, including the group leader, had compared various advertising agencies' quotes, gathered photos and video clips for use on the billboards and acquired permission to use the content from the original sources.
"We don't think it's a big project," Secret Base's captain said. "It was two of us doing all the preparations. One was in charge of all external contacts, including the communication with the advertising agency and the authorization of elements for the video. Another took the design work after our discussion on the selection of photos and video clips."
Their video clips were submitted by Sept. 21, five days after EDG earned their place at worlds, all while the duo were working their own jobs. Secret Base for Meiko also had additional fan presence at the EDG fan table at LoL Park in Seoul, where the tournament's play-in matches were held, and later at the BEXCO Auditorium in Busan. Fans handed out a variety of Meiko signs, small posters and fan gift bags that included tissues and stickers. All of these were available for free every day that EDG played a match.
'There's no "boss" at the top of the fan base'
With the amount of effort put into organizing fan signs and advertisements, it would be easy to perceive Secret Base for Meiko or other EDG fan groups as more official clubs with stratified positions. However, although certain members help bring the group together and build out projects like the 2018 advertising campaign, there's no true hierarchy.
"There's no 'boss' at the top of the fan base," Linda, an EDG fan since 2016, said. "At the end of the day, it's people taking time out of their days to do something nice for their favorite player, often with the help of others."
There is no oversight from the team or the league. With almost all of this support solely under the direction of fans, their fervor and dedication is even more impressive. From late September through early October, images from EDG fans making individual pilgrimages through the Seoul Metro flooded Weibo and Twitter. These in turn were shared with the team on those same social media platforms.
"It's not just videos documenting their lifestyle, behind the scenes or mic checks, but also fan meets and fan support," Linda said. "It's about letting fans be fans and organize, for example, a birthday celebration for a player, and trying to integrate these fans as a part of the team, rather than an outlier of it.
"It's silly, but I feel closer to the team when I'm part of some form of fan support or fan activity. It feels like I'm with them in spirit. I may not be there physically, but the knowledge that they're receiving support from me in some physical form makes me happy."
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EDG's fans organized the largest collaborative effort in Seoul, but EDG weren't the only team to have large-scale fan activities at worlds. Royal Never Give Up's AD carry, Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao, received a coffee truck and a food truck in his name during the quarterfinals that were parked outside of the BEXCO Auditorium. Fans of KT Rolster AD carry Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu celebrated his birthday with coffee sleeves at a small café in Gwangju, where the worlds semifinals were held.
The passion of these fans is frequently lost in translation, especially when word reaches a Western audience that is less familiar with these traditions. Esports fandom is significantly larger and more organized in East Asian countries than it is in North America and Europe. Fan clubs -- similar to those of pop music idols, actors or actresses -- can occasionally require membership, like the now-defunct KongDoo Company's Eyes program.
"I think being an EDG fan and supporting them is the same as being a fan of a traditional football [soccer] club or NBA club," the Secret Base for Meiko organizer said. "I'm a 20-year football fan. When I'm into esports games, I feel the same enthusiasm, and I think most young esports fans share similar views."
Due to streaming and social media creating a direct and more intimate connection between esports players and fans, the perceived barrier between fans and players is also paper-thin when compared to traditional sports. One result of this is inappropriate boundary-crossing from both sides. This can also lead to members of the esports community incorrectly conflating genuine fan passion, or so-called "stan culture," with obsession and harmful behavior for players and other fans. The man who poisoned the oak trees at Auburn University's Toomer's Corner shouldn't be made the default example of the University of Alabama college football fandom. Similarly, these few obsessives in esports are not representative of the whole.
There's more good that comes from that increased connectivity than bad, after all. That same absence of a barrier between player and fan, and the general openness of the League of Legends esports community, has led to some of the most passionate, kind and devoted fans in any sport -- traditional or electronic.
Becoming an EDG fan inspired Gift, another member of Secret Base for Meiko, in other aspects of her life. She found herself reaching out to people more than ever, cultivating strong friendships due to the ties formed by fandom. Gift, who is from Thailand, transcended language, location and cultural barriers through her support of EDG and has experienced some of the best of what sports fandom has to offer as a result.
"I have many good friends from this fan base," Gift said. "I started to do new things that I never done in my life like recording streams, making gifs, subbing [and] translation, and learning a new language, and it made me [be] brave to get out of my comfort zone, like [going] abroad alone."
League of Legends isn't a big esport in Thailand, but the game has a dedicated community that includes Gift. She began to watch League after she heard that Bangkok Titans, a Thai team, had qualified for the world championship in 2015.
Placed in Group C with top teams EDG and SK Telecom T1, the Bangkok Titans lost every game. While supporting the Titans, Gift discovered a new team to follow in EDG. She was drawn to their aggressive bot lane of Deft and Meiko. Due to his playstyle, Deft quickly became Gift's favorite player, inspiring her to seek out other members of the EDG fandom for team updates.
"Being a foreign EDG fan was so tough for me at that time because I don't know Chinese," she said.
Gift learned how to use WeChat and Weibo without knowing the language, all in order to follow EDG and be a part of the team's fan base.
"I remember my very first time on Weibo," Gift said. "I started to follow many EDG fans. Before I realized, I talked with them and [made] many friends there. They are always so kind to me even though we never met in reality."
Something they created themselves
On Oct. 2, 2018, EDG had the first promotional table set up at LoL Park thanks to early-rising fans. With each passing day, the team's contingent grew. The women running the table began to recognize individual fans as they streamed in for game after game. They equipped everyone, from curious Western journalists to the mother of EDward Gaming mid laner Lee "Scout" Ye-chan, with EDG fan signs, light-up headbands and buttons, banners and flags.
Linda, who is from Sweden, watched EDG's worlds run from start to finish. Sometimes she cheered loudly from home. At other times, she struggled to hold back enthusiastic yells or sighs while slyly watching the games in class. Like any sports fan, her dedication has become a part of everyday life.
"Fans do this out of their own free will, their own spare time and with their own money to show support for their favorite team," Linda said. "It's as simple as that, and it's very beautiful to see so many people come together to organize something that, at the end of the day, is a kind-hearted gesture towards people they look up to."
EDward Gaming made it to the quarterfinals in 2018, where they lost to European team and eventual runner-up Fnatic 3-1 in a best-of-five series. However, during the 19-day stretch from the opening of play-ins to their elimination, EDG fans came out in force.
People began posting photographs of the fan groups' Seoul project on social media shortly after the ads went up. Soon, groups of fans in Seoul for the world championship were going on their own pilgrimages from City Hall to Jonggak to Jongno to Myeongdong and across the Han River to Gangnam to see just what EDG fans were capable of when they banded together and put their passion on display.
And along with the die-hards who made the trip to South Korea were many more casual passersby whose curiosity might have been piqued by the larger-than-life image of a skinny 18-year-old they'd never heard of on a billboard in a square in Myeongdong. Perhaps, like Linda, Gift and others who were inspired by a chance encounter with an EDG game, some of those curious visitors went home, did some searching and became fans that day.
"The end product isn't merely for the pro players themselves," Linda said, "but it's also a way for fans to look at something they've created themselves and feel proud over it."