By Jourdan Kerl
Medill Newsmakers
Professional video gaming, formally known as esports, is transforming ordinary people who play games into professional paid athletes through leagues like the NBA 2K League and Madden Championship Series. In this edition of Medill Newsmakers, we take an in-depth look at one of the fastest growing sports that is sweeping across the world.
By Jourdan Kerl
Medill Reports
The live streaming video platform Twitch improved online security this March to protect professional and amateur streamers from harassment and hate speech that have plagued some users.
Twitch, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, updated the Community Guidelines to reflect how important community of streamers is to the platform to combat the issues surrounding hateful conduct. A statement released in February gave users a better idea of what would take effect in March.
“Conduct we deem to be hateful will result in an immediate indefinite suspension. Hate simply has no place in the Twitch community,” the statement stated. “Our goal is to ensure Twitch is a place where everyone feels welcome and we will continue to listen to you as we grow and adapt these policies as needed.”
By Jourdan Kerl
Medill Reports
Carlos, Ricardo, Francisco and Ozzie Flores raced home after school as children to compete against one another in their favorite video games.
Now adults, their love for gaming transformed into bigger dreams for the brothers from Puerto Rico.
Four brothers. Three veterans. One vision: To establish a premier destination where any video gamer in Chicago, young or old, could enjoy social interaction with others.
This dream manifested into the family-owned Raid Gaming Lounge that opened in late 2017 at 3044 N. Central Ave. on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Their initial inspiration came from their mother.
By Jourdan Kerl
Medill Reports
Los Angeles – Cloud 9 outperformed Team SoloMid for a clean victory and nearly spotless record on Saturday evening to conclude the first half of Spring Split action in the North American League of Legends Championship Series.
With the first half of the season behind them, Cloud 9 looked ahead to competing against team Echo Fox, which shared the same record of 7-1 heading into Sunday afternoon’s match. Echo Fox won placing then in first, though four more weeks of competition until the playoffs can change their lead.
Under the new 10-team format, each league partner will face every other team in Riot Games NA LCS studio twice during the regular season, which started in January. The top six teams will enter the playoffs in April, where they will compete in a single-elimination tournament in Miami.
The stakes were high this week with many teams battling in must-win games. While the focus for most teams had already begun to shift toward the next half of the season, some players reflected on the first half of the Spring Split.
By Jourdan Kerl, Daniel Comer, Jonathan Skinner and Connor Yahn
Medill Reports
The NBA has placed an emphasis on Twitter involvement since the social media boom of the mid-to-late 2000s. The league – which has more than 27 million Twitter followers (three million more than the NFL) – is known as the paragon of social media consciousness in professional sports, a distinction aided by its star power and international prominence.
In this interactive timeline, we’ve drawn from the Twitter profiles of athletes, teams and fans from around the world to document some of the “Twitterverse” highlights and reactions to NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.
By Jourdan Kerl and Brianna Williams
Medill Reports
LOS ANGELES – The 2018 NBA Celebrity Game pit some of the most recognizable names against one another for bragging rights and a possible MVP selection by fan vote. Late additions Justin Bieber and Quavo of the rap group Migos would play for Team Lakers and Team Clippers, respectively, and they proved to be the main attractions for the event.
“If we was on the same team, we would’ve been the greatest 1-2 punch ever,” Quavo said.
While the two would not play together in this All-Star event, other individual moments throughout the competitive game became equally as memorable for attendees as their guest appearances. In the end for many of the players, the goal was to raise money for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which received $20,000 from Ruffles at the event.
By Jourdan Kerl
Medill Reports
The price of Sunday night’s NBA All-Star game tickets rose to an average of $1,900 per seat but it did not stop thousands of fans from traveling across the globe to see the league’s top talent, even if they would not be seated in Staples Center.
Instead, they were in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, enjoying a budget All-Star experience.
Attendees could see the NBA on TNT Road Show and the NBA Crossover, both of which headlined the fan experiences at All-Star weekend. Diehard basketball fans and tourists will find similar activities to enjoy at future All-Star weekend sites, like Charlotte in 2019 and Chicago in 2020.
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By Jourdan Kerl
Medill Reports
Each ancient portraits’ piercing gaze leaps from the shadows of the gray walls, lending an ambience of an abyss at the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University.
The exhibit “Paint the Eyes Softer: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt.” features portraits painted to be placed over the faces of wrapped mummies.
The soft music playing through the space adds to the meditative mood. “Respectful,” yet “minimalist” could describe the melody surrounding these expressions.
Thomas Molash drew inspiration from these two words to compose the ambient soundtrack “Abyss” for the portrait exhibit.
By Jourdan Kerl
Medill Reports
The first bell sounded, launching furious fighters into battle. “Round one. Fight!” Mission: to defeat the opponent, to climb through the brackets and win a new championship title in Chicago-area esports.
