TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A year ago, Chiang Yi-Shu, 65, knew nothing about computers. Now he has just played his first League of Legends tournament.
Chiang is one of the players in the Hungkuang Evergreen Gaming team which was founded in the middle of the year. The team, whose members range in age from 62 to 69, was created by Huang Jianji, director of games and multimedia applications development department at Hungkuang University.
“Honestly, I knew very little about computers. I never thought I knew him, because I prefer interactions with people,” said Chiang. “But when I started playing, I realized that it was good for the brain. And especially the use of hands, it takes dexterity.”
Chiang has practiced at home and at the university when he has time. He plays about five hours a week, according to his coach Ego Hsu. Even though he lives in New Taipei City, he commuted to Taichung University, an hour away by bullet train, once a week to prepare for Saturday’s tournament.
There is a difference in how they view the game. Older gamers, Hsu said, don’t focus as much on killing the enemy, which is the main focus of games like League of Legends.
“So when they play, I keep them entertained instead of killing their characters all the time. I think killing the character all the time would make them depressed. If they kill their character quickly, it’s my fault for not teaching them well,” she added.
Though the team lost in Saturday’s tournament, simply participating for Chiang and his teammates was an opportunity to learn something new and overcome their initial ignorance of the technology.
“It’s not difficult, but you have to have the determination to do it, to think, ‘I don’t want to lose, I’ve lived long enough and I mustn’t let this beat me,'” she said. And I passed it.
