Vietnam was a flurry of red, yellow, and gold.

As the final minutes ticked down on the last day of the 31st SEA Games, an event celebrating both traditional and esports events, the entire nation waited with bated breath as the Under-23 football team managed to hold out a one-nil victory over bitter rivals Indonesia to claim the gold medal for Vietnam. This gave the host nation a total of 205 gold medals out of the 446 they have won collectively.

The streets were unhinged as motorists all over would drive around waving their flags whilst tooting their horns along the way. People on the street were also waving flags and lighting road flares in celebration while donning out high fives to anyone and everyone that passes by. It was a night of elation and endearment the people feel towards their nation, being able to not only host the 31st SEA Games but also claim the top spot for most medals won as well.

Just one of the many ways the locals celebrated after Vietnam's Under-23 Football Team won. (Image credit: AFP)

But that's not all where Vietnam stood tall in.

The esports medal event was also happening simultaneously at the Vietnam National Convention Center with 10 gold medals up for grabs. And out of the 10, it was Vietnam once more who came out on top with four gold and three silver medals. These four golds came from games like League of Legends, League of Legends: Wild Rift (Men's Team), CrossFire, and PUBG Mobile (Solo), which goes to show just how dominant the Vietnamese can be in the esports scene.

Especially for a game title like LoL, Vietnam was always the favourite due to the entire starting line-up also representing GAM Esports, one of the country's best. However, it was the mobile esports medal events that had the crowd on their feet, especially Arena of Valor and CrossFire, both of which are some of Vietnam's biggest competitive esports games.

Just part of the live audience for Arena of Valor.

But amidst all the glory of bathing in gold, the 31st SEA Games for esports was without its drama, as experienced firsthand. There were plenty of ups and downs, which were to be expected as this was only the second time esports has been accepted as an official medal event by the International Olympic Committee.

A Proud Nation

Watching the fans enter the arena in droves over the last three days was a real sight. With the pandemic shutting down any form of public and social events, it was an entirely new sensation to witness and be a part of large crowds after over two years. The locals came in full force, decked out in red T-shirts featuring the yellow star of the national flag in the centre.

The unofficial official dress code of the 31st SEA Games.

Limbs were constantly in the air whenever the host nation was playing on the main stage with Arena of Valor and League of Legends drawing huge crowds during the final stage. The pride the people feel for their fellow man is exemplary as you could hear the loud cheers from the other end of the convention centre where the media room was located. If you ever needed to feel any sense of patriotism for another nation, you could learn a thing or two from the proud people of Vietnam.

Pauses Galore for MLBB

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang was one of the more underrated medal events heading into the 31st SEA Games. The likes of Indonesia and the Philippines were predicted to meet in the grand finals given how well these two nations have performed on a regional level. It was nothing short of explosive when they met in the finals as both sets of fans were loud and lively with every kill and every misplay. While the Philippines managed to take the first match, Indonesia came back swinging in the second match to tie up the series.

After much delay in lodging a formal complaint against Team Philippines over their loss in the grand finals, Team Indonesia finally took to the podium.

However, nothing much else happened until the fourth and final game, in which the Philippines won rather easily. Sadly, this is where the drama began with the entire Indonesian contingent lodging a formal complaint about the Philippines and their abuse of pausing the game in multiple instances. It got to a point that the Indonesian squad was unwilling to attend the medal ceremony and even lodged a formal complaint about it. Talk about being a sore loser...

Garena Begone

One of the biggest storylines to come out from the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam is the amount of politics that are involved with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and VIRESA, the Vietnam Recreational and Electronic Sports Association. With VIRESA being the official organiser of the esports medal category for SEA GAMES, they brought in the Garena Vietnam team, which didn't end very well for most of the local and international media who attended and covered the event.

League of Legends was one of the many games that ended up restricting all media from entering the arena. This was taken a few days before the new rule came into implementation.

Even with official media passes that grants access to all the halls that are housing the medal events, most if not all media personnel were denied entry towards the grand final weekend. Garena Vietnam, in particular, were particularly rude and rowdy towards international media representatives. It all came to an impasse on the final day of the SEA Games where the event organisers (both VIRESA and Garena) were adamant that no media personnel, journalist or otherwise, were allowed to enter the halls, conduct interviews, or even grab pictures of the event.

To say that the decision was shocking and uncalled for was an understatement.

An Upward Trajectory

Vietnam as a whole is a highly proud nation; whether it be with its national football team or even GAM Esports, the biggest LoL team in the country. The esports scene in Vietnam itself is constantly growing especially its mobile esports sector, which has garnered plenty of focus and attention over the past few years. Titles like Arena of Valor and Garena Free Fire are just some of the biggest titles in Vietnam with decent prize pools.

Arena of Valor occupied the biggest hall in the Vietnam National Convention Center, which resembled a theatre.

For example, The Arena of Valor International Championship 2021 featured a million dollar collective prize pool while the recent Free Fire World Series 2022 Sentosa had two million dollars up for grabs. Having spoken with some of the local media from Vietnam, many have said that mobile esports comes out on top most of the time. The fact that one can become a professional esports player without needing an expensive setup to play on and just your smartphone is a big incentive for many in Vietnam, where building compatible PCs to game on can get quite pricey.

Conclusion

All in all, the 31st SEA Games was an experience especially when it came to esports. With this being only the second time that the IOC has seen esports as an official medal event, it's a huge leap forward for the industry. After years of pumping so much money into major league tournaments with multi-million dollar prize pools, it's great to see that esports is finally being recognised as an official sport, sort of. The 32nd SEA Games have already been confirmed with Phnom Penh, Cambodia as the host.

The ups and downs of the 31st SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam