Yes.People do play but not at the explosive rate of others like FIFA and Candy Crush
Competitive games have always been a staple source of entertainment among the Ghanaian gaming community. it’s hard to imagine a gathering of gamers in Ghana that did not have at least one competitive gaming title as the main focus of that event.
FIFA, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter and sometimes even Call of Duty are some of the popular titles that one is likely to encounter at such events.
This may be due to the unique experience these games offer that single player and multiplayer PVE games cannot. Competitive games pit players against each other and add a level of unpredictability that cannot quite be matched by a game limited by its Artificial Intelligence (AI) programming.
It is no wonder that most of the popular games in the world right now are competitive games and sitting at the very top of that list is one such game, a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), named League of Legends.
League of Legends like most other MOBAs features elements of role playing, real time strategy and action game mechanics, to bring players a challenging and competitive gaming experience. Boasting a large and active community with over 100 million registered players one would think Ghanaian gamers, with their obvious enjoyment of competitive games, will get in on the hype, right? Well that is not the case.
In fact, in the almost six years I have been playing LOL it is very apparent to me that its community in Ghana seems to be almost minuscule compared to other competitive gaming communities in the country right now. Why is this the case?
There are more than a couple of reasons why and they include accessibility, appeal or lack thereof and also the fact that a vast majority of the gaming community here simply haven’t heard of the game at all. The generation of gamers that popularized gaming in Ghana grew up playing titles like Fifa, Mortal Kombat, and other popular games we know today and have become fans of these franchises. Their interest pretty much only lies with these games and they rarely look outside these particular genre for competitive games thus are less likely to come across LOL .As for those who have heard of League, a vast majority would rather stay faithful to the games they have mastered over the years than choose to learn the slightly more complex mechanics of LoL altogether.
Then there is the issue of accessibility for those who might be interested in the game. League of legends is free to play and thankfully not pay to win but to enjoy the game one requires access to a PC and internet connection. In Ghana internet connectivity comes at a relatively high cost for quite a lot of gamers. Aside the internet problem console gaming has been around a lot longer than PC gaming in this country. This is due to how expensive gaming laptops and PCs can be. However, League of Legends is not exactly a demanding game and one does not need a high-end gaming PC to be able to play. With an average to mid-range performing laptop or PC and the right graphics settings anyone can play league with ease.
And as for the internet connectivity problem, there is a solution. Enter the Ghana Pro League Series (GHPLS) an organization dedicated to creating a professional competitive League of legends League in Ghana and expanding the league of legends community.
This organization has begun to set up a state of the art gaming centres with high-speed internet connectivity with the aim of promoting Esports in Ghana and introducing League of Legends to a broader audience among other services. The first of these gaming centres, The Esports Prime arena can be found in Tema, Community 5. So, if the only thing holding you back from trying league if you are interested is not having access to a PC or an Internet connection then you need not worry. Just walk into the E-Prime Arena and get started. With affordable their affordable rates you can now get into League of Legends without having to spend a small fortune getting a gaming PC or worry about internet connection and expensive data packages.
In conclusion, League of Legends is an interesting experience and anyone who has a thing for competitive games ought to give it a try. Sure, it has several layers of mechanics to master that make it slightly more complex than the other popular games many have played over the years and have come to love. But that should not deter anyone from giving this amazing experience a shot. I believe that the League of Legend community in our Country will see growth if more and more of the competitive gamers out there get to know how much fun it can be to hone and master new skills in a new game with a highly competitive ranked system and who knows maybe in future a professional Ghanaian Esports League.