"Brush a wave of rockets", "666", "there is nothing wrong with the old iron"... For many people, watching live broadcasts has become an indispensable part of life. With the entry of e-sports into the Asian Games and the EDG championship, the game that was originally regarded as not doing business has gradually gained mainstream recognition, and correspondingly, the game live broadcasting industry has also received more attention. Relevant data show that there are more than 10 million game anchors in China, and the scale of China's game live broadcasting market has reached 10 billion, becoming a veritable 10 billion industry.
Poster for the documentary "Rhythm"
But what exactly does a game streamer do? Talking and enthusiastic in front of the screen, what are they like in life? Recently, the documentary "Rhythm" produced by Douyu has focused on game anchors such as "DL, Tomi", "MrGemini" and "Ignorance is not a sister".
Unlike the first two professional e-sports players who turned to game anchors, "Ambiguous is not a sister" (referred to as Obscurantist) from Guannan Town, Jiangsu Province, is a typical "grassroots", with his love for the game and hard work, he has gone from obscurity to have many fans and become the potential rising star anchor of Douyu.
Are game streamers high-paid, easy-working, and stress-free? The 18-year-old narrated his life and work, as well as his troubles.
Game anchor "Obscurity is not a sister"
The live room is humorous and funny
Rarely even talk to parents in life
The 18-year-old is the full-time anchor of the well-known mobile game "Glory of the King", and his daily job is to play games live, and interact with netizens and fans to explain accordingly. In the documentary "Rhythm", two completely different ambiguities are presented: the ambiguity in the live broadcast room is the anchor of the new generation of gods of "Glory of the King", the game is exquisite, the explanation is humorous and funny; the ambiguity in life is the shy and introverted boy, who rarely even talks to his parents at home.
"Glory of the King", which was played in obscurity, is a game launched in 2015, which has been online for nearly 8 years, and is still the world's most profitable mobile game, sitting firmly in the first position of mobile game download in various rankings at home and abroad. According to the latest data, Honor of Kings has more than $2.8 billion in global revenue in 2021, and since its release in 2015, its cumulative revenue has exceeded $10 billion (about 64.4 billion yuan), becoming the first mobile game to achieve this achievement.
In China, there are nearly 14 million game streamers like Ming Ming. According to research data, watching games is one of the most important entertainment activities in the entire gaming industry, with more than 465.1 million people watching esports games throughout 2021. According to iResearch data, the overall game live broadcasting market in China will reach 34.3 billion yuan in 2020, and the market will still maintain a growth rate driven by head platforms such as Douyu, and the overall market size will exceed 43 billion yuan in 2021. According to a report released by the China Internet Network Information Center, as of June 2021, the number of users of live game broadcasting reached 264 million.
What is the life of a game streamer like? Perhaps through the documentary "Rhythm" can understand one or two: unlike most of the lives of people of the same age, I ambiguity is almost at home every day, most of the time I get up at 10:11, and I do one or two live broadcasts in the afternoon or evening. He smiled at the camera and said that he only went out for two or three days a month, and only because of things like cutting his hair would he go out.
It was supposed to be dinner time for a family of four sitting around the dinner table talking and laughing, but they rarely spent time with their families. The mother complained a little: "He doesn't eat with us." The father explained that his son's live broadcast started relatively early, and they could not go together in time, usually he called takeaway, but he would eat together on weekends.
During the day, the family goes to work and makes up for sleep; at night, the family goes home, the family goes home, the family goes live, lives in the same room, and the ignorance and the parents are like two parallel lines. Even if the father reveals the idea of wanting to communicate, he will choose to avoid and hide back in his own small world. So much so that if he wants to understand his son's thoughts, his father, who never watches live broadcasts, will quietly sneak into his son's live broadcast room, "He will not communicate with us, but is willing to communicate with fans." ”
"Now doing live streaming is what I like,
Later in life, I will think about it slowly."
The home of Obscurantist is located in Guannan County, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province. Guannan was called Haixi in ancient times, also known as Huize, because it was located in the Irrigation River Basin and located in the south of Guanyun County. Guannan is a small county with a permanent population of more than 600,000, where people live a leisurely life and live a life that is not hurried. According to the words of lao Qiu, the most ideal job of people here is to enter public institutions or take the civil service examination, and the ignorance of engaging in game anchors is obviously considered by most people in the county to be unprofessional.
His parents were teachers at the local elementary school, with his father teaching Chinese and his mother teaching mathematics. Originally, the life of obscurity was arranged - to go to a good university and then find a job with a staff or a civil servant, get married and have children step by step, and live an ordinary and stable life. But this expectation of his parents was frustrated because he was exposed to the game in junior high school, "He used to have good grades, and then he liked to play games, there was no way, only respect his meaning." Lao Qiu was a little helpless.
Although the child embarked on the road of game anchor, Lao Qiu is still worried all the time, his son's upside-down work and rest day and night, the decline in vision, and the reduction of communication with the outside world... More importantly, he is afraid that this job is just a youth meal, and he is worried that there is no guarantee for the future life of ignorance. But I feel that "I am doing live broadcasting now, which is something I like and can stick to doing." In the future, I will also think about it slowly. ”
How did obscurity get into the game streamer industry? What is the life of a game streamer like? With a series of questions, the Red Star News reporter interviewed Ming Ming and his father exclusively.
I remembered that my grades in elementary school were actually good, and I could rank in the top ten in the class. After entering junior high school, because the school was far from home, he chose to live in the school, that is, during the residence period, under the influence of his classmates, he came into contact with games such as "League of Legends" and "Glory of kings".
"After the junior high school was in school, we spent less time supervising him, and I don't know when he became obsessed with games." Lao Qiu recalled that at that time, the child even skipped class to play games, and he caught his son playing games in the Internet café several times. After going to high school, although he did not live on campus, all his interests were in games. "We also thought of many ways to ask his class teacher to educate, communicate with him, and force him to study, but it was useless, and to see him go to class during the day was no spirit." At that time, I more than once proposed that I wanted to go the path of a professional e-sports player, and I also proposed that playing games could earn money to support myself. But all this is obviously incomprehensible to Lao Qiu, who has been teaching for more than twenty years.
Watching his son "degenerate" day by day, in desperation, Lao Qiu and his son made an agreement to give him two or three years to concentrate on the route of e-sports, and if the time is up and there are no achievements, then accept his arrangement and return to school to study with peace of mind.
Young people want to go the way of game streamers
"Think about it after you go to university"
After leaving school, I went to an e-sports club in Suzhou to train, but only trained for a month or two before leaving, "I think there is a problem with club management, and I am not very free." "Freedom by nature, he returned home, because he usually watched other people's game live broadcasts, he bought sound cards, microphones and other equipment and began to broadcast games live. According to the obscure words, he was quite talented in playing "Glory of the King", and soon gained a lot of fan attention, gradually broke into fame in the circle, and then signed a contract with Douyu and became a professional game anchor.
"Objectively speaking, his income is still good now, but I am still worried, what will happen in the future?" When it comes to the current situation of his son, Lao Qiu is still a little embarrassed. It is reasonable to say that the son has completed the requirements within the agreed time, and even heard that he is quite famous in the circle. But these reputations, for Lao Qiu, who never plays games and does not understand live broadcasting, seems a bit distant. What he saw was that his son's irregular daily schedule and increasingly introverted personality, "Life is still a long way, the anchor is eating youth after all, to the age of twenty-five or six, thirty years old ... Maybe your career will come to an end. ”
Worried about worrying, but seeing his son's love and investment in the game, he told himself that it is not easy for people to do what they like in this life, "I am trying to ensure his life now, such as his network broadband, to solve some small problems." Lao Qiu said with a bitter smile.
For his future, I didn't think too much about it, "I still like the job of live broadcasting, I am very free, and my income is not bad." ”
In the documentary "Rhythm", in the face of the host's choice of "starting over again", I chose to return to school. He also told the Red Star News reporter that if he could start again, he would like to experience another life. For many young people who hope to take the road of game anchors, I ambiguity admits that an excellent game anchor needs to insist a little, work harder, and have a better mentality, but it is best to finish high school and consider this matter after taking the college entrance examination. In addition, game streamers also need more solid technology, if you play for a while and find that you do not have the talent in this area, or can not become the best of them, then do not take this as a career.
Hearing this statement of his son, Lao Qiu said that the child still matured a lot, "I think he will definitely change careers in the future, I don't know what time, watch his development." Old Qiu said firmly, now he often tells his son that he usually saves more money, in case he does not engage in this profession in the future, and has the capital to do some business.
For many young people who want to enter the live broadcast circle like ignorance, Lao Qiu suggested, "The game is still based on talent, not everyone can succeed, and the probability of success is still small." It is recommended that young people mainly study, if you really want to take this road, wait until you go to college to consider these things, etc. There is a certain accumulation of knowledge, and if you choose a similar major in college, it is actually better. ”
Red Star News reporter Qiu Junfeng
Edited by Li Jie
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