Luo Feichi esports dream: you can't play games every day to become a professional player

Economic Observer reporter Monday Fan As one of the earliest players in the domestic DOTA e-sports circle, the 29-year-old Ferrari_430 has been struggling in this industry for more than ten years, and on July 31 this year, the first batch of Shanghai e-sports registered athletes were officially held, and the veteran's name was also among the 85 players.

From the difficult steps of the past to the official recognition of today, the e-sports industry has experienced rapid development in the past 10 years, and Ferrari_430 is the best witness to this history.

Ferrari_430 real name Luo Feichi," this name is his favorite car when he was in school, and the name of the previous game cannot be changed, in many accounts this is the highest score." Luo Fei Chi explained.

Born in 1990 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, Luo Feichi has shown great interest in games since he was a child, and after being exposed to CS at the age of nine, Luo Feichi's talent began to gradually reveal, and this game became his favorite before meeting DOTA.

In May 2008, the 11th Chengdu Games introduced e-sports as an official competition project, and the State General Administration of Sport integrated and merged China's existing sports projects, and redefined e-sports as China's No. 78 sports project, marking the beginning of the domestic e-sports industry into a period of growth. In November of the same year, the Chinese DOTA team Ehome won the SMM World Championship, and DOTA became one of the most popular competitive games in China. Under the recommendation of his classmates, Luo Feichi first came into contact with this game, and since then he has been out of control.

New to professional circles

In 2009, Luo Feichi entered the Mr team under the introduction of a friend. "Mr is a semi-professional team in Wuhan, only a place to train, no salary, no food and accommodation." Luo Feichi's understated words revealed the dilemma of the e-sports industry at that time. "Ten years ago and now the income may be more than a hundred times different, although everyone's situation is different, but in the early professional environment, in fact, the players are generally difficult."

In the context of the difficult survival of the e-sports circle that year, although Luo Feichi's strength has been recognized by the public, due to the dissolution of his team and other reasons, he still went to TOT, CH, Deity, and CCM.

Since 2010, capital has re-targeted the e-sports industry, Tencent took over the "League of Legends", China's e-sports industry ushered in a turning point, Luo Feichi also officially began his career in this year.

"Officially joining the TOT team in 2010 was the real beginning of my esports career, but I didn't win a championship in a year, and the runners-up were several. He joined CCM in 2011, the predecessor of IG, and won about 10 championships in one year. Talking about the past, Luo Feichi had some feelings, in his heart, becoming a professional e-sports player had always been the biggest dream at that time, and DOTA finally allowed him to realize his dream.

In August 2011, Wang Sicong officially announced his entry into the e-sports circle. After the strong acquisition of CCM and the integration of LGD, Wang Sicong established the IG Club, and Luo Feichi, who was originally in CCM, naturally joined this new family. Under the influence of "President Wang", the e-sports industry has also undergone gratifying changes. "The addition of the DK Club has improved the overall environment of the industry once, and then the creation of the IG Club has significantly improved the entire esports environment, and the salaries and bonuses of all players have doubled." Luo Feichi recalled.

At that time, with the launch of blockbuster e-sports games such as "League of Legends" and "DOTA2" in China, new opportunities also appeared in the e-sports industry, and e-sports games fully shifted to online games. At the same time, game manufacturers began to hold first-party events, the most representative of which is the Dota 2 International Invitational Tournament, which began in 2011, and is now the famous TI.

"The emergence of TI1 can be said to have achieved a major turning point in my career." Luo Fei chi said. Compared to third-party events, the prize money of first-party events is greatly increased. The total prize money for the WCG 2011 competition was $260,000, while the total prize money for TI1 reached $1.6 million, and the high prize money naturally attracted better teams and more spectators.

On the other hand, the DOTA circle is also undergoing a turning point – the transition from DOTA to DOTA2. At that point in time that year, DOTA2 had not yet launched the national service, nor did it have domestic agents, and in Luo Feichi's team, only he kept practicing DOTA2 with a delay of a few seconds.

Nevertheless, in the game of teamwork, Luo Feichi's efforts alone are not enough to turn the tide. In the TI1 arena, CCM's original team of IG only finished fifth. According to a later review, because of the mistakes of his teammates who neglected to practice, Luo Feichi and his teammates even had a big fight. "As an esports player, losing a game is always the most unpleasant." Luo Feichi said calmly.

Winning moments

Time flew by, and soon, it was the summer of 2012. This year, China officially entered the DOTA2 era, and under the invitation letter of game developer Valve, IG came to Seattle as scheduled to participate in TI2. After the defeat of the previous year, the team has undergone many changes, but Luo Feichi is still fighting on the front line.

Sixteen teams were divided into two groups for a bo2 wheel war, with IG in Group B. The first match was against defending champions NaVi, an easy 2-0, with IG winning the opening goal for himself. After the group stage, IG finished first in Group B with an impressive record of 13 wins and 1 loss.

The team then defeated the North American Hope EG in the first round of the knockout round, but lost in the second round against group player NaVi. The IG of the losers group did not give up, and three teams in the loser group returned to the final, and finally in the finals, they defeated the defending champion NaVi 3:1 to win the TI2 championship.

Behind IG's victory, Luo Feichi is undoubtedly the biggest contributor, and his excellent performance not only made Chinese fans feel excited, but also made many foreign fans shocked by the rapid rise of China's DOTA2 level again. At the moment of the award, the tall Puppetey of the runner-up NaVi team lifted Luo Feichi and even reversed the rhythm of those fans who originally supported NaVi to cheer for IG.

"Find what you're good at and go and achieve him." At that moment, the thin Luo Feichi held the five-star red flag in his arms, enjoying the honor at the commanding heights and realizing himself.

Subsequently, the State General Administration of Sport successively established the E-sports Project Department and the E-sports National Team around 2013, which further promoted the development of the emerging industry of e-sports.

But on the contrary, the IG team that won the highest honor began to go downhill, the team was frequently conflicted, the results were sluggish, and finally, of course, the personnel began to lose. After the original team almost all left,

Luo Feichi remained at IG for four years. "First of all, because the team didn't kick me, I was always able to stay in the team. Although I was also approached by a team when I was at IG, after being in the club for so long, I was not embarrassed to say that I would just leave. Luo Feichi said.

After the TI6 in 2016, Luo Feichi announced his retirement from the professional arena, to which he admitted, "Because of the key TI preliminaries, he lost, and he was a little tired, and he also played for 6 or 7 years at that time, and wanted to take a break." ”

Veteran comeback

Subsequently, Luo Feichi tried to be an anchor in Panda TV, and also did commentary at some event sites, and also tried to participate in some competitions in the middle. But for a former esports world champion, none of these lives seem to be what he really wants. In 2018, Luo Feichi officially announced his comeback.

Although Luo Feichi also knows that as a veteran, his strength is not as good as that year, but under the tempering of time, his mentality has also changed. "I also know that I can't always win, there will definitely be a lot of failures in life, this is inevitable, before playing professional games can not accept failure, now the requirements for themselves is to do their best." 」 Luo Feichi said bluntly.

In the past few years of Luo Feichi's recuperation, the domestic e-sports industry is also experiencing a rebirth and development. In April 2017, the Ministry of Culture issued the "Cultural Industry Development Plan for the 13th Five-Year Plan Period of the Ministry of Culture", proposing to promote the upgrading of the game industry structure, promote the coordinated development of online games, electronic games and other game categories, and promote the development of new formats such as mobile games, e-sports, game live broadcasting, and virtual reality games.

In recent years, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hainan, Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu and other cities have begun to boost the e-sports industry to varying degrees, and in April this year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the State Administration of Market Regulation, and the Bureau of Statistics jointly released 13 new career information, including e-sports operators and e-sports players from emerging industries. Then, in July, the first batch of registered athletes in Shanghai was announced.

"Although e-sports players are indeed playing games, they are not able to become professional players by playing games every day, and after so many years, they have actually eliminated a lot of people." In an environment where policy and society's attitude towards esports is beginning to shift, ten-year veterans have given their opinions to countless juniors who aspire to become esports players. "First of all, you need to work more than 12 hours a day, and secondly, it is not just hard work that pays off, but more, it also requires some talent and luck, especially luck."

Today, looking back at Luo Feichi's career, we can find that the road he has traveled is exactly the ten years from the beginning of e-sports to the fluffy hair, which has both glory and frustration. For the future development of the industry, Luo Feichi expressed his views. "Because of the short and low cost of the mobile game development cycle, game manufacturers are now focusing on mobile games, resulting in fewer and fewer good end games in recent years." In the future, as this field continues to rise, mobile game players are likely to gradually become the mainstream of the industry. ”

"But no matter what, the future of the esports industry will definitely be on the right track and getting better and better." Luo Feichi was full of confidence in this.

Interjection: it is impossible to win forever, there will definitely be many failures in life, this is inevitable, and now the requirement for yourself is to do your best

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