Beyond big prizes, harsh reality

Nascent e-sports are already the rage as contests produce millionaire world champs, but experts strike a note of caution

Years ago, at schools in China, teenage video game players were seen as a bad influence on others. Both parents and teachers believed the games were addictive and dangerous and may imperil the future of the next generation.

That's what Li Peng's parents thought. But the other day, they became converts to video-gaming, and stayed up all night to watch and cheer their 20-year-old son as he emerged as a world gaming champion - and an instant millionaire.

Li triumphed at the world's richest e-sports tournament (total prize money: a whopping $20 million-plus).

His five-member team, Wings Gaming, secured a record-breaking $9.12 million prize after winning the final of the 2016 International DOTA 2 Championships, held in Seattle, Washington, in mid-August.

DOTA 2, short for Defense of the Ancients 2, is a game in which two five-member teams battle to conquer each other's base.

"I've been playing online games since junior high school. But becoming the champion is still beyond my imagination. After all, the five of us formed a professional e-sports team less than two years ago," says Li of Chongqing-based Wings Gaming.

Apart from becoming millionaires overnight, the team, whose average age is less than 20, received adulation fit for Olympic champions. Thousands of fans waved Chinese national flags at the venue, lustily cheered them to keep up their morale during the contest and followed it all up with a resounding standing ovation to celebrate their victory.

The glory on the world stage marks the coming of age of competitive or professional e-sports in China.

The gaming boom has been fueled by rapidly increasing prize money at local tournaments, backed by heavy investments by software developers and gaming publishers. On top of that is the support of the Chinese government. Not surprisingly, e-sports have seen strong growth momentum over the past several years, industry insiders say.

Kenneth Chang, deputy secretary of the organizing committee of the China Universities E-sports League, says: "The increasing prize money at e-sports events has attracted many players, even middle school students, some of whom are seriously considering professional gaming as a career option."

According to a report from sohu.com, a major online news portal, total prize money at e-sports competitions worldwide reached $9.91 million in 2011. By the end of 2015, it had ballooned to $64.54 million, or up 551 percent over four years.

Chinese e-sports players have been quick off the blocks in the race for all that prize money. As many as 117 professional gamers won about 7 percent of the total prize pool in 2011. In 2015, the corresponding figures were 393 Chinese professional players who won 22 percent, the highest in the world, country-wise.

Clearly, handsome rewards are attracting more players. But there's something more happening here. Even the number of spectators and viewers has been rising steadily. Folks in the millions, it seems, simply love to watch Chinese champs in e-sports action - a fact that brings joy to broadcasters, live streaming apps and advertisers alike.

Fittingly perhaps, China's General Administration of Sport recognized e-sports as the 99th sports discipline in 2003. It even set up a national e-sports team in 2013, in tune with the fact that the country's e-sports universe hit 127 million participants in 2015, the world's largest. Together, they created a market whose 2015 revenue reached 27 billion yuan ($4.1 billion; 3.6 billion euros).

That's not to suggest the market has peaked. Far from it.

Zhang Yunfan, president of Perfect World Games, an online gaming company in Beijing that operates DOTA 2 in China, says e-sports in China are still nascent. "Just like basketball or football, the success of e-sports lies in the huge number of participants."

Given the large player base in China, e-sports are set for much bigger growth, he says.

Again, like in many other sports, e-sports require talent and dedication. "It isn't like traditional sports, but gaming, too, requires players to produce swift muscle response. A good player may need to click the mouse more than 1,000 times a minute. They need to train seven to eight hours a day," says Shen Rongjie, a professional e-sports player in Shanghai.

Comparisons with other sports and sportspeople do not end there. "Very few players win big money from e-sports. A golden career of an e-sports player could last less than 10 years. After the age of 25, many of the gamers tend to lose their touch because they can't respond that fast anymore," Shen says.

That's not all. Most of the professional players drop out of school early. After their gaming career, they are likely to face challenges in finding suitable alternative careers and jobs.

Most of the 100-odd professional e-sports clubs in China lack a sustainable business model, he says. "Well-known clubs can make money from advertisers and commissions if their famous players win big games.

"Other clubs depend on the financial support of silver-spoon kids of China's rich entrepreneurs."

mengjing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/26/2016 page26)