By Stan Ho When I was a child, my parents often scolded me if I played too many computer games. They believed computer games would affect my academic studies and make me nearsighted. They also associated computer games with street gangs since there were plenty of them playing computer games in every internet café. In general, they viewed computer games as a hindrance to impede me from being a successful man. However, there is a group of people in the world who have succeeded from playing computer games. They play computer games not only for fun, but also for a living. Some of them even made a great deal of money, attained fame and popularity just by moving their fingers swiftly on less than ten keyboard buttons. Let me introduce you to e-sport players and the e-sport industry. According to Wikipedia, e-sports can be defined as a form of sports facilitated by electronic systems. Players and teams are mediated by human-computer interfaces. Most commonly, e-sports take the form of organized multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players. Nowadays, the most common video game is the League of Legends, which enchants players and spectators on five continents. Just like NBA or MLB, e-sport is called LMS in Taiwan, LPL in China, LCK in Korea, and LCS in Europe, all of which provide live broadcasts as well as prize money and salaries to competitors. Labeling video games as sports is somewhat controversial, since the only moving body part is the fingers. However it shares some characteristics with a typical sport. Careful planning and organizing, precise timing, agile reactions, and skillful execution ought to be the reason that it is classified as a kind of sport. In addition, professional e-sport players are trained like any other athlete. Usually the boss of a team will hire a coach to regulate players, ranging from their diet and sleeping hours to what they say on the internet or how they react with the media and fans. Players are forced to play more than 12 hours a day to maintain their reaction and nimbleness. They must keep practicing new characters because the game company keeps releasing them, or make adjustments to other characters in order to balance the game. Mastering a single character is already hard, but a professional player needs to master at least five to ten characters, since if a player only plays one character, his opponents may easily fight against him. Being a professional e-sport player is not as easy as it seems. The League of Legends Season 5 world championship just ended last month. Most of the players are very young. In the e-sport industry, many professional players are under 20; 25 years old is about the age to retire. Players need to learn to withstand such tough pressure at a very young age. Pressure from the intense competitions, their fans, their companies, and their sponsors has overwhelmed their lives, and only the best players can keep up their motivation.
In the past, video games were considered leisure activities, but today they are also commercial. Just like basketball, baseball, or football, e-sport is making money from spectators from all kinds of advertisement and souvenirs. E-sport stars can endorse computer equipment, keyboards, mice, hard disks, and so on. Some even make their team into a brand. Taiwan famous e-sport club, AHQ, sells clothes, jackets, and key rings with an AHQ logo. AHQ also runs a bubble tea shop. In China, e-commerce is linked with e-sport. Many online stores will pay top players to promote their products online. Donations from spectators are also a considerable portion of their incomes. With the development of gaming, video games has evolved into a huge industry. E-sport is more than just a game. It represents money, fame, and a chance for success. a
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May 2024
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