The LCK scene is always busy and hectic. Needless to say, the coaching staff and players who go to the game. Game team staff, broadcasters, referees, broadcasting and on-site staff are all the same on game days. After the game is over, you can stretch and go home with your tired body to rest.
Journalists are a little different. In general, field work begins in earnest after the game is over, rather than when the game is in full swing. Talking with the coach or players of the winning team about the content of the game, and even sharing more non-game stories to include their answers in an article. Interviews are one of the most important tasks for reporters visiting the scene.
For this 2023 LCK Spring Split, an important task for reporters has been added. It’s a loser interview. Previously, only the winners were interviewed, but now the losers also visit the press room for interviews. I remember being very excited when I first heard the news because I always wanted to hear the position of the losers as much as the winners.
As the opening approached, I was worried. It was such a worry that the losing interview would be conducted properly, reflecting the LoL esports culture, which is sensitive to wins and losses. In Korea, there is a particularly harsh atmosphere for losers. Maybe that’s why those who lost the game often bow their heads and keep their mouths shut like criminals, or just repeat the words “I’m sorry” over and over again. I have often seen fan meetings of defeated teams on the field, and I used to feel sorry for everyone standing in front of the fans like sinners.
Fortunately, the coaches and players who interviewed losers after the opening of the LCK gave many answers despite the heavy atmosphere. Although there is a cold atmosphere because they could not shake off the bitterness of the defeat they suffered right before the interview, the coaches and players filled half of the interview with fruitful information in response to reporters’ questions.
They told in detail about their own analysis of why they lost in the game, the regretful feelings buried there, their own shortcomings that they diagnosed, and how to overcome and improve them in the future. There were quite a few times when I was more satisfied with the answers from the loser interview than the winner interview. ‘Deft’ Kim Hyuk-gyu’s ‘The most important thing is an unbreakable heart’, which even developed into a social meme, also came out in an interview with the loser of the 2022 World Championship. 온라인카지노
This isn’t just for reporters. Even fans who are not familiar with the internal circumstances of the game team and the players will be relieved by the fruitful answers in the interview with the loser. Sometimes there are groundless slander against the losing team or finding the culprit, but as the detailed answers are revealed through interviews with the losers, the above atmosphere is somewhat reduced. The loser himself says it is, but it is difficult for others to pass it up as ‘maybe this is it or not’.
Of course, in the future, teams that only lose consecutively may not be able to participate in interviews with losers as they are now because of that feeling of depression and helplessness. However, if there is a culture where interviews with losers attract more attention than interviews with winners, and comments are often sent to comfort and cheer them up, then this might not be the case.
It’s true that defeat hurts, but defeat is just defeat. All you have to do is use that as a stepping stone and put your energy into the effort to move forward and show an improved side of yourself. He said that if you write down the problem you face or explain it to others in words, that alone can heal you to some extent and increase your ability to see the problem objectively. Loser interviews definitely have positive elements in that sense.
We carefully deliver a message of support for a bright future as well as consolation in advance to the numerous coaches and players who will visit the press room after suffering a disappointing loss during the LCK schedule.