E-sports, abbreviated as "e-sports", is a form of sports characterized by the main feature of video game facilities, and is also a widely known leisure and entertainment project. Recently, esports made its debut at the official competition of the Asian Games. The Chinese e-sports team won a total of 4 golds and 1 bronze in seven events, achieving the supreme glory of winning glory for the country. Just like "EDG won the championship" two years ago, the circle of friends has once again "ignited" the "heat" of e-sports. Today's e-sports has gradually been understood and recognized by more people, and has become a typical case of online digital technology helping a better life.
New ways of leisure: from "niche games" to "mass leisure"
When it comes to esports, the first thing that comes to minds of many people is often "video games" or "online games" that teenagers like. In fact, in recent years, esports has completed the transformation from "breaking the circle" to "out of the circle". According to the "2022 Asian Esports Report", Chinese netizens highly recognize the development of e-sports sports, and nearly seventy percent of netizens agree that "e-sports is a sport". Today, the number of e-sports users in China has exceeded 500 million. As the "top-notch" event of the Hangzhou Asian Games, e-sports is not only one of the most expensive sports for the Games, but also the only event that needs to be drawn to buy tickets.
The reason why e-sports is "out of the loop" is that its digital characteristics fit the lifestyle of the Internet era. With the innovation and application of digital technologies such as VR, AR, LBS, etc., e-sports has made substantial leaps in optimizing the immersive experience of game graphics and viewing atmosphere. The beautiful graphics and realistic sound effects of esports games create a strong sense of substitution, which will give people a high-end enjoyment that cannot be touched in real life. E-sports events are also full of Huashan sword-like master duels, beautifully choreographed opening and closing ceremonies and theatrical performances, with symbolic emotional expression and colorful entertainment value. In the face of real-world problems such as accelerated pace of life, time fragmentation, and bad weather, e-sports can "fight" and watch games anytime, anywhere. In addition, e-sports only need computers, mobile phones and other devices and networks to easily reach the entry threshold and enjoy its core services, and also has significant advantages in terms of difficulty of getting started and how to participate, thus gaining wider public participation and attention.
In real life, playing an e-sports game and watching an e-sports event has become a new choice for many people to spend their leisure time. However, it should be pointed out that with the "e-sports fever", it has become an urgent task for people to develop a correct view of leisure and consumption. Due to the increased control of leisure activities by digital technology, it is difficult for many people to control the time spent participating in e-sports, which has a negative impact on life, work, and body and mind. In the face of a wide range of e-sports products and sales mechanisms, people should adhere to the concept of simple and moderate consumption, and avoid the occurrence of impulse consumption and comparative consumption behavior. In addition, be especially wary of online telecom fraud using e-sports.
New career options: from "plaything" to "emerging career"
Once upon a time, playing video games was once regarded as a "plaything", and "what is the success of playing games" has become a typical "generation gap" problem between many teenagers and parents. In the past decade, with the rapid development of e-sports specialization and professionalism, the demand for talents in related fields has gradually changed e-sports from "hobby" to "career". Nowadays, gradually complete events, increasingly mature rules, relatively stable income, scientific training system, etc. have gradually formed the Chinese e-sports professional system. In addition to professional players in esports, esports and its events have developed in parallel with esports commentators, coaches, operations, data analysts and other related professions in front of and behind the scenes.
According to the relevant announcement information of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, "e-sports players" and "e-sports operators" have become officially recognized "serious professions" since 2019. This means that esports practitioners can evaluate their professional titles by taking theoretical knowledge tests and professional ability assessments, just like traditional professions such as teachers and doctors. In terms of talent training, in addition to the two traditional cultivation methods of e-sports clubs and social education institutions, the Ministry of Education published the "Catalogue of Higher Vocational Education (College) Majors in Ordinary Colleges and Universities" in 2016 and included the new major of "e-sports sports and management". The esports industry has a large talent gap and has become a popular option for employment.
It should be pointed out that although the vigorous development of the e-sports industry has given young people new options for career planning, society and families should help young people make correct cognition and rational choices according to the actual situation, and avoid the wrong illusion of "taking shortcuts" and "replacing labor with entertainment" eroding teenagers' belief in life. On the one hand, as a competitive sport where brainpower, physical strength and strategy are indispensable, "esports professionals" need to have extraordinary talent, train hard for many years, and bear the multiple pressures of competition and public opinion. Therefore, esports should not be an excuse for teenagers to escape reality, indulge in games, and waste their studies. On the other hand, the e-sports major is not a major that "teaches you to play games", it is an emerging major that integrates games, sports, art design, computer technology and management. Therefore, if you want to use esports as a profession, you must "understand the game", but not just play games.
New cultural carriers: from "cyberspace" to "real world"
Nowadays, e-sports is moving from "cyberspace" to reality, and has been absorbed by Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu and other cities as the carrier and part of their urban culture. From the perspective of cultural carriers, esports, which has a huge mass base, should play its due value.
The transmission and transmission of any culture depends on the carrier to make it concrete. As a new cultural carrier, e-sports can be used not only to spread e-sports culture, but also to promote mainstream culture. There is a high degree of value convergence between the patriotism, fairness and justice, honesty and trustworthiness, unity and cooperation, hard work and dedication advocated by the "e-sports spirit" and the core values of socialism. The unpredictable process and unpredictable results make "persistence" and "hard work" particularly important in esports matches, such as in the final of the Asian Games esports Dota 2 (Dota) event, the Chinese team achieved a comeback victory when the situation was behind. In recent years, the Chinese team's awards in international e-sports events have aroused strong resonance among the public. The public's support for the players, in addition to the affirmation of their technology, is more out of love and support for the country and the nation. In addition, e-sports can become a new carrier to attract young people to pay attention to the excellent traditional Chinese culture. For example, "Honor of Kings", one of the e-sports events of the Asian Games, has most of the inspiration for the design of its game characters taken from traditional Chinese culture, such as Ying Zheng (historical figures), Nuwa (myths and legends), Yixing (the art of Go), and Li Bai (Tang Dynasty literature). At the same time, the project organically integrates Chinese national arts such as silk and bamboo music, ink painting, and calligraphy into its environmental soundtrack and competition choreography, showing the world the "beauty of China".
It should be noted that e-sports was originally just a fun group carnival in the cyberspace, so it is necessary to be vigilant, resist and eliminate the relevant vulgar culture. The virtuality of cyberspace is easy to make people emotionally flourish and ignore self-discipline, wantonly "export into dirt" to express emotions, and even online language violence. Therefore, although esports is "hot", it is also necessary to think "cold" so that it has a healthy, civilized and positive presentation.
(Author's affiliation: School of Marxism, East China Normal University)
Column editor-in-chief: Wang Zhen Text editor: Wang Zhen Title picture source: Xinhua News Agency Photo editor: Shao Jing Editing email: [email protected]
Source: Author: Zhao Weicheng
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