4 minute read
Michael Uy
WRITTEN BY BELLE GREGORIO
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OVER THE past few years, social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a boom in electronic sports (esports). With organized, multiplayer video game competitions becoming all the rage, Michael Ken “LG Flex” Uy (4 BS MGT) found himself in a virtual arena that would test his tenacity in more ways than one.
TO GROW UP BUT NOT OUTGROW
Before the internet allowed people to order our favorite food, watch movies, and go shopping in just one click within the comforts of our home, malls were the place to be.
Michael’s childhood was colored with memories of going to the mall with his family. The mall was his key to a door that unlocked a different world on the other side of a computer screen. “I’ve been playing [first-person shooter] games since I was seven years old, because of my older brother. While the rest of our family would stroll around the mall or be at the cinema, my brother and I would just stay in the internet cafe,” Michael recalls.
Later on, his friends started to associate him with certain games like Counter-Strike because of his expertise and mastery over them despite not playing from a gaming personal computer (PC). “I couldn’t justify buying a gaming PC to my parents so I kept playing with the laptop I had even if it had poor specs so I could play with my friends,” he remarks.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Michael soon found himself having less and less friends to play with as his peers started playing a newly-released game called Valorant. worse was the void left by his friends who have shifted to another game. Wanting a sense of community back, Michael bought a gaming PC with his own money. Although he admitted that transitioning from his usual FPS games to mastering Valorant was difficult, he deemed investing in a gaming PC worth it because gaming allowed him to be with others again albeit in isolation.
THE NEXT LEVEL
Born with a competitive nature, Michael knew he had to take his command of Valorant up a notch by joining actual competitions. In his third year, the Management major joined Loyola Gaming (LG) despite the team already having an established pool for competitions. As fate would have it, one of the competitions an LG team joined got into the finals, but one of the players couldn’t make it.
Consequently, they wanted Michael to be the next man up.
The first challenge Michael had to overcome was his introversion. Realizing that he had nothing to lose but everything to gain, he accepted the invitation. It didn’t take long before Michael earned his rightful spot in the competitive pool.
Although being an LG member entails hours of team and individual practice, Michael doesn’t take anything against people who look down at esports and say it’s just a waste of time. “The esports scene in the country isn’t that big yet. The players are super limited because it’s hard to pursue it professionally,” he shares. “But for me, it’s more than just a hobby. It’s a hobby with a purpose.”
Michael’s hobby has definitely taken him places. Learning the tricks and trade of Valorant proved to be worthwhile as Michael took on a leadership role in the LG Terra roster, where he competed in tourneys such as Season 3 of the Esports AcadArena University Alliance Cup and the AcadArena Alliance Games Valorant stage. Outside of LG Esports, Michael and his friends would put together a team and register in online tournaments and go up against professional teams just for the sake of it. They would end up beating those belonging to the top five teams in the Philippines and even those from other countries.
Despite initial apprehensions that his shyness would hold him back, Michael has since found that he need not say much to begin with—his game alone speaks for himself.
VALIENCY BEYOND VALORANT
As Michael graduates, he assures the LG community that they are capable of anything. Witnessing how LG started from the bottom to becoming an established name in the collegiate esports scene, Michael has only three words for those who want to make waves as a gamer: “It takes time.”
Michael now finds himself entering a new arena as he plays the game of life. It may be difficult to switch from Valorant to this new game, but as he has shown time and time again, he can easily master any game you ask him to play. This competitive fighter is one you just can’t shoot down.
