During the EU LCS Finals in Paris, we had the chance to ask Romain Bigeard about the importance of a mascot in Esports events.

Only a few days after the extraordinary Parisian weekend, it is undeniable that the LCS finals in Paris should be a reference for the organization of the tournaments to come in the west (or at least in Europe). The number of viewers is probably a record for a final on the Old Continent and, players and casters agree to say that the French atmosphere is unique in the eSports landscape.

Apart from a perfectly oiled organization, this event in France also had another element, which can partially explain the support of the public: the presence of Romain Bigeard as mascot of the event and warm-up guy (of choice).

Romain acting with the crowd before the start of the event

Unicorns of Love’s manager played a hybrid role between mascot and animator during the weekend, wearing the French colors and interacting with the crowd before, during and after the games. Even though the French crowd was considered as one of the best (or even THE best) eSports audience, this extra element allowed the viewers’ excitement level to remain high during the pauses.

“For me, there are only advantages to have someone that will introduce your team on stage. Whereas your players are rather still, he can interact with the crowd, create the hype around your players” answered Romain Bigeard during our interview.

In the past, Riot Games let some liberty to the casters in order to create excitement, as it was the case on the analyst desk of international championships (and mostly Worlds) through Phreak’s jokes and Montecristo’s shenanigans. However this new method brings more options including the possibility to make the audience react during a game. This point is important as eSports often lacks in mobility and visibility of the players comparing to traditional sports. The players are generally located in the center of the stage but hidden behind their screens, their reactions cannot be directly transmitted to the viewers that is why an intermediary can be relevant.

It is important to note that Romain Bigeard has made his character evolve throughout time. Manager of Unicorns of Love at first, he progressively added mascot of the European team to his resume. But it was really in Hamburg that this function really took an all other meaning: “in Hamburg I did not think about what I did at all, I did not prepare anything. I proposed to the organization members to interact with the crowd which they agreed to” he precised.

After this first experience, BMW, official partner of the EU LCS Finals in Paris, offered a role of brand ambassador to the manager of Unicorns of Love, allowing him to take part in the event even though his team had been eliminated in the first round of the Summer Playoffs. Even though he is convinced that his role in Paris has a future in LCS, he remains careful about the direction that Riot Games is going to take because he has, through his manager activity, an advantage on the others: “what allows me to do this is that I have 75% of myself in Unicorns of Love and the remaining 25% on stage. I know my players, their limits and the crowds with whom I work. Therefore it is a difficult job that needs to be built piece by piece.”

Romain was bodypainted on Sunday for the Finals

However, he thinks that Riot used such an event as the finals in Paris to test the interest and the limits of the mascots for the teams. “I think that I am a kind of a test, as much for Riot as for the other teams” he commented when we tackled the subject of a generalization of his activity on the long term.

Whereas Riot Games must be evaluating the pros and cons of mascots for the teams, Unicorns of Love’s manager hopes that the other organizations will try to take advantage of his experience in order to improve the passion around European tournaments.”I dare hope that the other teams will manage to establish something similar by taking the best out of what I do” he commented.

Even though it is certain that the Parisian audience enjoyed Romain Bigeard’s performance during the weekend, it is unlikely that the mascot role becomes a thing among the western organizations any time soon. However, the specificity of eSports and of the rhythm of the games of League of Legends are an ideal situation to develop new solutions (at least in the videogame landscape) in order to interact with the audience during big events. Last year during the World Championship(s), Riot had used the concept of putting elements of the game on stage (such as the Baron Nashor), it now seems certain that the creators of League of Legends will try to combine these different solutions in order to bring to the fans a unique experience.

A special thanks to Romain Bigeard who accepted to take part in our interview despite a very busy schedule during the week-end. Photo credits: lolesports Flickr.