Women in Esports - interview with Alice Qian

-Written by Tara Edwards

Alice Qian (who also goes by Lynne) is an undergraduate economics student in her fourth year and a member of the USC League of Legends Varsity team. She is also a board member of the SC Esports Club.

Here are some highlights from our interview with Alice, edited for brevity.

How did you first become interested in esports?

I started playing games when I was 12 and I was just super into it. I was also inspired by Riot games because I really liked their company, so I just wanted to work towards working in esports with Riot and trying to get into the industry early on.

What has your experience been playing on the USC LOL Varsity team?

It's been really fun to talk to new people and play with them and make new friends. I get along really well with the teammates. It’s just a nice experience to play on a team competitively and it’s been helpful for me in improving as a player as well. We are currently in two tournaments: One of them is UML, an amateur tournament, and the other is an official Riot tournament called CLOL. In CLOL, we almost made it to the playoffs, but we fell one win short. We’re still waiting on the results to see if we made it to the UML playoffs. We’ve made a lot of improvements in the past two semesters.

What changes would you like to see in esports?

I do want to see esports be advertised more in the mainstream. I feel like there’s still not a lot of people that know about esports or recognize it, so it would be nice if it was recognized and accepted as a real sport. For esports at USC, I think my main goal is to see all the esports groups reunite again as one club.

Do you have any advice for someone trying to join an esports team?

First, you have to make sure that you're committed because being on an esports team does take a lot of time, practice, dedication, and work. You’re also doing it for your teammates. If you don't put in all your effort, you’re not really respecting your team. Second, you should be on good terms with your coach and your teammates because playing on a collegiate team is not just about the game you’re playing, but also about the teamwork and the friendships you make.

What has been your favorite memory from being involved with Trojan Esports?

My favorite memory was the time we were participating in a one-day, random, small tournament on smash.gg. We played like 10 games that day and actually won most of them, though unfortunately, we didn’t win the tournament. But we all played pretty well, and it really helped us bond a lot.

What do you imagine the future of esports will look like?

I think esports has a lot of potential. I can see it being something really huge, especially because the digital age is rising, and I think gaming as a competitive sport will be a lot more accepted in the future. I have high hopes.

Follow USC Trojan Esports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for news and updates about the USC Esports teams and communities. View the whole interview with Alice on USC Games’ YouTube channel here.