On December 1, the 2023 Esports Shanghai Masters was unveiled, and in the first event "Street Fighter 6", the legendary player "Child" Zeng Zhuojun lived up to expectations and won the championship.
After the match, the "god" of the martial arts esports world was interviewed by The Paper reporter to talk about his own esports life.
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Zeng Zhuojun in the esports Shanghai Masters. (01:59)
It is a great honor to participate
Although the ID is called "child", Zeng Zhuojun's age is not young at all.
At the age of 34, he won his first championship at the age of 12, and has been galloping in the fighting e-sports circle for more than 20 years, winning almost all the championships he can win, and is unanimously regarded as "the first person in Chinese fighting e-sports" by industry insiders and fans.
Winning the championship is a bit of a homely feeling for Zeng Zhuojun, but this time when he came to the Shanghai Masters, his excitement was still overflowing, "In the past, I participated in the competitions held by the manufacturer as an individual, but this time the event (organized by a third party) is different, the competition is led by the government, and I feel honored to be able to stand on such a stage." ”
Zeng Zhuojun.
This is not Zeng Zhuojun's polite words, in order to better appear in this event, Zeng Zhuojun deliberately wore a customized T-shirt as a "battle robe", which was printed with the words of the 2023 E-sports Shanghai Masters, and there were several game characters in the same frame.
Zeng Zhuojun pointed to his T-shirt and said, "This is the first character I used to fight Street Fighter, and this is the character I used when I won the championship just now." I've been to Shanghai hundreds of times, it's kind of my second home, but it's the first time I've played the Masters, and I'm really happy. ”
Regarding the specifications of the Shanghai Masters, Zeng Zhuojun, as a player, also admitted that the gold content is extremely high, "The players invited to participate this time are all champions, like those who participate in the Street Fighter World Championship in our China region, and everyone is very strong." ”
"One of those opponents we fought just last month was for a place to go to the United States for a world event, which had a $2 million prize money, but I lost. It's not easy to win against him today. ”
Zeng Zhuojun won the championship.
Reason to keep sticking
Zeng Zhuojun is significantly more talkative than most of the esports players the surging news reporters have met – this is due to his rich life experience, and on the other hand, Zeng's career of more than 20 years has also covered the entire history of esports in China.
"The fact that Chinese e-sports can stand on the international stage is not only my hard work, but also the struggle of the players in each sport. I'm proud that the audience for esports is very large compared to the most popular football and basketball. ”
Zeng Zhuojun took his own feelings as an example, he remembered the past few world events of League of Legends, at three or four o'clock in the morning, he also saw several female friends in the circle of friends posting "Congratulations EDG" and "Congratulations RNG", and he was greatly shocked at that moment.
"This proves that esports has received more and more attention, and that esports in China has risen, and I believe that there will be better development in the future. ”
In the world of esports, it's a well-established fact that a player's career is short, but Zeng Zhuojun accidentally hit the age of 34, why did he last so long?
"I don't think the 'flowering period' of fighting esports will be longer, many events are 30 minutes a hit, and we have to win or lose in 3 minutes, which requires higher reactions..."
"I don't understand that some athletes retire in their 20s at every turn, maybe their lives are too good, they can't win, they can't play, they can go live broadcast. ”
"But like us in martial arts, if you can't win, you don't make money – so whether you want to make money or you have a passion for the sport, you need to stick with it. ”
Esports and academics do not conflict
During the conversation, Zeng Zhuojun believes that the most important factor that has supported him to fight until now is to have a heart that does not admit defeat.
In Zeng Zhuojun's description, he was exposed to fighting e-sports at a very young age, and when he was 9 years old, he had already beaten his hometown of Guangzhou, and he won the first championship at the age of 12 because there was just a competition at that time.
"I just want to win everybody. For example, if you win in Xuhui District and you want to challenge the masters of Jing'an District and Jiading District, I actually conquered the whole of Guangzhou before I participated in the competition for the first time when I was 12 years old. ”
Today, Zeng Zhuojun has long since gone from Guangzhou to the whole country and even the world, he continues to leave the Chinese imprint on the trophies of the World Series, and he has also made the ID of "child" the most deterrent name in combat esports.
To this day, Tsang Cheuk-jun is very grateful to his father for his guidance on his own growth path.
"My father always told me that young people have to have a skill, some people like to play football and basketball, you like to play e-sports, it doesn't matter, you either don't play, if you want to play, you have to play well, you have to win. ”
Of course, Zeng Zhuojun does not think that playing e-sports and studying are contradictory, but he also uses his own story to tell young people that they cannot easily abandon their studies at the age of study.
"My father's request to me was that playing esports should not interfere with my studies. When I was studying, I was very good in my elementary and junior high school culture classes, and I often got perfect marks in math and English exams. ”
I hope that fighting esports will take to a bigger stage
Zeng Zhuojun's esports journey has been longer than anyone else's, and although he still wants to keep winning, the 34-year-old will also feel tired and sometimes a little overwhelmed.
It is worth mentioning that Zeng Zhuojun has just had a child, and as a new father, he admits that there are more distractions now.
"My child is 8 months old, my wife and I have to change coaxes, and having a family will distract a lot of attention. For example, in the past, I practiced from afternoon to night, but after I had children, I could only use the time of the evening live broadcast to practice, and I had to take my children and accompany my family during the day. ”
Zeng Zhuojun's description is very graphic, and after understanding all this, it is even more commendable that "daddy" Zeng Zhuojun can continue to maintain a good competitive state on the field.
Regarding how long he has to fight, this "living fossil" responded: "As long as I have the heart that does not admit defeat, I will continue to persevere." To be honest, I also wonder how long I can play. ”
Zeng Zhuojun is still pushing his limits, according to his own words, although he has won almost all the honors he can strive for in his career, there is still one wish that has not been achieved.
"To a certain extent, our combat esports is still too niche compared to those big events, it is a small fish pond, and the attention of a single event is not so high. I wondered when our projects would be on the same stage as those big events, such as participating in large-scale multi-sport events, would be able to get a relatively equal level of attention. ”
"When the time comes, I can still win a championship for our country, which is what I want to do most now, and I hope that more people can love and get in touch with fighting esports because of this. ”