Highlights from IPL 3: my experience at an eSports tournament as a girl

tl;dr: I'm a girl. I went to IPL 3. I took a picture with MMA. eSports is cool.

The following is a shameless recap of my weekend trip to Atlantic City.  I wasn’t there to play blackjack or go clubbing, though.  Actually, I was attending IPL 3: Origins, an eSports tournament (no, not extreme sports, though some might call it that…actually, eSports refers to electronic sports). Are you sensing a wave of immeasurable nerdiness coming your way? Yeah, just brace yourself.

Here I am sporting my Press Pass (great perk of working for Her Campus)!

Why, you ask, was the sundress, heels, and mani/pedi-loving co-founder of a women’s magazine attending such an event? Believe it or not, I’m actually a huge fan of Starcraft 2 (read: huge nerd), one of the most popular video games around and the main competitive event at IPL. Dear collegiette, you probably haven’t heard of Starcraft before, so here’s a very pared down explanation: it’s like chess, but you can’t see what your opponent is doing until he attacks you. It can be played 1v1 or in teams. You train and lead units and use special abilities to destroy your opponent’s base while protecting your own. And here’s what it looks like:

Look familiar now? Yeah, this is that game you see your guy friends playing, prompting you to roll your eyes, pivot, and exit the room.

IT’S ACTUALLY A GREAT GAME.

(Trust me.)

IPL, hosted by IGN Entertainment, is one of several annual eSports competition extravaganzas to which professional gamers and amateur gaming enthusiasts flock to compete against one another for prize money (at IPL 3, the pot was $100,000), or just to spectate. Players go by aliases, so I'll be mentioning usernames alongside usernames throughout the post. And that’s pretty much all the background info you need to know. So without further ado, here are my top three impressions/takeaways from my weekend at IPL 3!

Takeaway 1. Bring a camera. Bring a sharpie. Keep them eyes open. You might share an elevator with gaming royalty.

Within five minutes of arriving at Caesar’s, the IPL venue, my friends and I got in an elevator with one of the most notorious professional Starcraft players around, Greg "Idra" Fields (pictured at right). This guy is known as much for being a formidable opponent as for his “bad manners” (swearing, quitting in a fit of rage) in-game. Of course I was too busy fiddling with my snazzy VIP badge and TOTALLY missed the moment. I quickly learned from this encounter, however.

The next day, we were tickled to see that Gordon Hayward (an amateur Starcraft player better known as an NBA player with the Utah Jazz) was offering to play Starcraft against anyone who wanted in. Of course my guy friends jumped on the opportunity and signed up (Video games + NBA?! No brainer for the dudes). And that’s how I scored an autographed photo of Gordon Hayward.

Of course, there was also MMA…