{"id":195587,"date":"2024-04-15T15:45:17","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T01:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=195587"},"modified":"2024-04-18T10:38:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T20:38:39","slug":"mlbb-tournament-mobile-esports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/04\/15\/mlbb-tournament-mobile-esports\/","title":{"rendered":"Mobile Legends<\/em> tournament marks UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s pioneering shift to mobile esports"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"person<\/p>\n

Eight collegiate teams from Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and the Pacific will battle it out in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s first ever Mobile Legends: Bang Bang<\/em> tournament to become the winner of the Aloha Collegiate Cup.<\/p>\n

Hosted by the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa esports program, the event is April 21, from noon–4 p.m., at the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa iLab. Participating institutions include UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa, the University of Guam, Northern Marianas College and another Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> university.<\/p>\n

Traditionally thought of as PC<\/abbr> games, esports has recently shifted to be played on mobile phones, which has been critical to closing the gap around the accessibility and affordability of technologies for students. UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa esports Program Director Nyle Sky Kauweloa said mobile esports is the future of collegiate esports, and UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s location in the Pacific and Asia-Pacific ties have allowed the program to pivot to mobile games that not all programs in the U.S. are able to.<\/p>\n

More stories on UH<\/abbr>\u2019s esports program<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa esports program launched the first varsity Mobile Legends: Bang Bang<\/em> team for North America in fall 2023, giving students who have been brought up in a mobile-first environment more opportunities to join the team. This tournament is one of the ways Kauweloa is expanding participation across Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and the Pacific.<\/p>\n

“I’m cognizant of how important this game is to our own players in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>,” Kauweloa said. “This is a game that is deeply embedded into the local Filipino community as a means of fostering relationships and connections. In our recent local Mobile Legends: Bang Bang<\/em> meet-up<\/a>, we had players who ranged in backgrounds from middle school to medical professionals. This is extremely unusual to find in most esports environments, and thus why I want UH<\/abbr> Esports to be supportive of what is taking place with mobile esports.”<\/p>\n

In Mobile Legends: Bang Bang<\/em>, players compete in teams of five to defeat the opposing team\u2019s base while controlling their own hero character. Each hero has unique abilities and characteristics, and players can choose from a wide variety of heroes to suit their play style. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang<\/em> was the second and third most watched esports tournament in 2023 with a peak viewership count of more than five million.<\/p>\n

If you are planning to watch the matches in person, you are asked to RSVP<\/abbr> using this form<\/a>. If you are unable to make it out to the iLab for the tournament, you can watch the livestream on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UH<\/abbr> Esports receives funding from the Academy for Creative Media System<\/a>. Visit the UH<\/abbr> Esports team\u2019s X<\/a> and Discord<\/a> pages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Aloha Collegiate Cup is on April 21 at UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa’s iLab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1405,1466,9],"class_list":["post-195587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-esports","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195587"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195872,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195587\/revisions\/195872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}