“One day our event broadcast can be on CCTV5, I think we have officially become the sports industry.” On the fifth day after EDG won the S11 championship of League of heroes, pan Yibin, general manager of the club, spoke of a wish in his heart to China Newsweek.
Many new generation E-sports fans may not think at all. As early as 2003, CCTV5 founded a weekly program “E-sports world”. The program not only includes the introduction of the latest games, software and hardware products, game companies and the latest developments in the industry, comments on the focus of the industry, interviews with E-sports stars, but also reports and broadcasts international and domestic events.
That year, China’s e-sports, which was still in its infancy, seemed to have seen the dawn of hope not far away: in July, seven players participated in the first ESWC (E-sports World Cup) on behalf of China; In September, Esai, which is committed to becoming China’s first E-sports portal, was launched; In October, CQ2000 won the second place in Warcraft in WCG (World E-sports competition), setting a new record for Chinese E-sports players in singles; Subsequently, the Swedish SK team visited Shanghai and Beijing to convey China’s enthusiasm for E-sports to the world for the first time; In November, GTV game competition channel was launched and broadcast 24 hours a day; In the same month, E-sports was listed as the 99th sports event officially launched by the State Administration of sports.
However, as Duan Xuan, the host of E-sports world, wrote in a blog post many years later: “we didn’t realize that the crisis had come down. A year later, the situation suddenly became tense that summer.” The faint light suddenly darkened before it could dazzle some.
E-sports is not equal to games
It is said that Ma Guoli, director of the CCTV Sports Center at that time, argued after the suspension of the program on April 22, insisting that “E-sports world” was a “sports competition program” rather than a “computer online game program”, which was finally replayed on April 30. But a short breath is like the last struggle of a drowning person, which can’t change the final result of being swallowed.
In many people’s understanding, E-sports and video games are the same, but they have changed their name or added a little gimmick. Even Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, firmly stated that the Olympic Games should not be allowed to join the killing game of violence and discrimination when the Olympic Committee has recognized the legitimacy of E-sports.
But in fact, with the continuous upgrading of technology and ideas, games have already developed a wide range of different categories. In terms of media, there are arcade games with large game consoles as equipment, host games with home game consoles as equipment, PC games with computers as equipment, and mobile games with mobile phones and tablets as equipment; According to the nature, there are differences between stand-alone games and online games. Online games include end games and page games; In terms of content, it can be roughly divided into six categories: action, adventure, simulation, role-playing, leisure and others. There are dozens of branches under each category.
Not every game can become E-sports. Any competitive event must first meet the requirements of confrontation, fairness and skill. It is particularly important to eliminate the interference of non operational factors such as equipment, network, system setting and so on. Therefore, like most people are very familiar with puzzle games (such as “Tetris” and “Lianliankan”), because of its high contingency and setting, it can not ensure the fairness of both parties involved, but also greatly reduce the decisive role of skills in the process of winning, and does not have the conditions to become E-sports. Competitive events also need a certain degree of viewing, so simulation games such as “Sims” and “beautiful girl dream factory” can not become E-sports. In addition, competition is a contest under strict time and round restrictions. The excessive length of time not only creates trouble for the event setting, but also poses a great test for the players’ energy and the audience’s patience. Therefore, the 3A masterpiece with large volume and complex plot cannot appear as a competitive event.
For this reason, the current international E-sports events are basically composed of FPS (first person shooting game), RTs (real-time strategy game), MoBa (multiplayer online tactical competitive game), SPG (sports competitive game), RCG (racing game) and FTG (fighting game). Among them, FTG has created the most basic E-sports model, RTs can be regarded as the starting point of contemporary e-sports, and MoBa has occupied the main stage for nearly a decade and become the cornerstone of E-sports development.
If we use the analogy of traditional events, the relationship between E-sports and games is like ball game and football. Football is the carrier of ball game, its playing method and culture are the basis of ball game, and ball game is a competitive way of football. E-sports is just a competition through electronic equipment and video games. As pan Yibin, general manager of EDG club, said to China Newsweek: “games are only a carrier of e-sports, not all of E-sports.” In English, eSports, the proper noun of e-sports, is more intuitively defined as a kind of sports.
However, there has always been controversy about whether E-sports can be attributed to sports, mainly focusing on its violence and non physical nature. But as Coubertin once said in the publication of sports review, sports is war in peacetime, a parody and substitution of war. Although the settings and rules of some games are in the form of violence and killing, not all games are like this (such as SPG sports competitive games and RCG speed games). And this kind of violence only occurs in the virtual world. Compared with the boxing and Sanda fighting in the real space, it may seem more civilized and will not cause actual harm to people. As for non physical, traditional chess has set a precedent - intellectual competition is also part of sports. Besides, the body has to bear the necessary or even excessive consumption while intellectual exercise.
Professional player Huang Mingyue told China Newsweek that in her professional E-sports career, she spent more than 14 hours training every day