The first edition of the UB Alma Mater tournament has its finalists
The Kypria players represent the UB faculties of Fine Arts and Information and Audiovisual Media, and wear a T-shirt inspired by the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, with a shell as the team’s symbol. The Moonstryke are students from the faculties of Mathematics and Computer Science, Biology and Earth Sciences, and their logo is Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting. On the Economics and Business side, there is the Sea Titans team, inspired by Poseidon, with a trident as their symbol. And finally, the Umbra team is made up of students from the faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences and Pharmacy and Food Sciences, whose symbol is fire and the Greek god of the underworld, Hades, which is printed on their official T-shirts.
The UB Alma Mater is a League of Legends (LoL) tournament, a multiplayer video game. This is the first time it has been organized at the University of Barcelona, and it has been a success in terms of participation, both in terms of registrations to form part of the teams and in terms of public support. Every Thursday afternoon, the Penyafort-Montserrat theatre has been filled with students cheering on their teams, while the UB’s new Twitch channel has had an average of 1,500 views per game.
Semi-finals and finals at SAGA
All the tension now moves to La Farga in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, where the final four will be played on Friday 29 November. SAGA is the most important meeting point for the Catalan-language video game sector and has the support of Plataforma per la Llengua (Platform for Language). The two finalist teams will have the opportunity to take part in the Lan Party, where the UB will set up an exclusive space for the UB Alma Mater, with its own computers and all the necessary resources to compete at the highest level.
All players who have taken part in the UB Alma Mater, whether they are finalists or not, are invited to attend the SAGA show, where they will be able to enjoy various e-sports related activities.
The UB, a pioneer in e-sports
The UB Alma Mater is an initiative of the University of Barcelona and the start-up company Omashu, born in StartUB!, to bring e-sports closer to amateur gamers. As confirmed by the rector, Joan Guàrdia, last Thursday at the end of the regular phase, the experience of the UB Alma Mater has aroused the curiosity of other universities, which have already shown interest in the project.
In addition to the direct involvement and participation of students, the tournament is linked to a research project. Throughout the competition, the participants wear a device that monitors biometric data and will allow them to study their performance and stress levels both inside and outside the video game. The study aims to promote healthy habits among e-sport players and to highlight the importance of physical and mental well-being in this community.
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