A recreational Heroes of the Storm league has been getting some attention through Reddit, and now has over 80 teams signed up to play two nights a week.
Chair League is a recreational Heroes of the Storm league where anyone can sign up, join or create a team and play a season of recreational HotS. Think of it like the YMCA league of Heroes eSports, but with over 600 people. Paul Jovanovic is the mastermind behind Chair League and has been in full gear getting everything ready for the league's debut today.
"As I started adding more and more I could feel the snowball effect as we're going to 600 users now in one month."
"Within the first half hour, one person joined and I was going nuts," Jovanovic said. "This has never happened before, one person joined that wasn't someone I knew, and from there is where things really took off. From there is when I started developing more, we need seasons, we need leagues, we need to be able to message eachother, we need forums. As I started adding more and more I could feel the snowball effect as we're going to 600 users now in one month."
The league was designed as a way to play Heroes of the Storm while meeting people with similar interests and just having fun.
"The point of Chair League is to just meet people and play the game."
"Today you see people playing soccer after work or they're in an after work softball league, but there wasn't something like that for gaming," he said. "I want the ability for you to be able to meet people, enjoy playing with them and just play the game. The point of Chair League is to just meet people and play the game."
In putting the league together, Jovanovic ran into an interesting problem he wasn't expecting - scheduling.
"There are so many time zones in the United States," Jovanovic said, "getting someone from Alaska to play against someone from the eastern time zone is almost impossible."
Every game in the league will be broadcast live, allowing opportunity for new casters to get involved Heroes eSports. On top of this, every member registered is required to have a Twitch account so they can also broadcast the games.
"I think I've been contacted by like 15 streamers interested in the league, like Josheb gaming," he said. "I think it's a great opportunity because not only do you get practice, but when someone goes to watch a game, or if a game were to blow up because something crazy is happening, the caster is going to get that credit."
"Some people might use this league to meet other people who are currently rank one, to sharpen their tools against them, and then move on to more major tournaments."
Chair League has the potential to bring some new teams into the eSports scene.
"Some people might use this league to meet other people who are currently rank one to sharpen their tools against them, and then move on to more major tournaments," Jovanovic said. "Just being more exposed to more people, playing every week against teams, teams might go 'ok cool, I think we got this.' They've got a confidence booster from winning Chair League and might decide to try to get into more tournaments."
It doesn't stop there, Jovanovic plans to take full use of the recently announced Arena Mode.
"The one thing I'm most excited about is the Arena," he said. "I am so excited for arena mode because I want to do a 15v15 Lost Vikings league. Maybe every week will be a different theme, so maybe the first week is 15v15 lost vikings and the second week is 5v5 Illidan. That's something I'm so excited for."
This league is a great opportunity for people to get involved in team eSports, without the high level of competition that might generally scare people off. If you're looking to have fun, meet people with similar interests and play some Heroes of the Storm, Chair League is defnitely for you.
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