E-sports is recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Emerging "e-sports" are moving closer to traditional sports

"this is League of Legends's largest annual international event with the highest specification and the highest gold content. It is the first time that he has landed in China, and it is also a recognition to the project itself that it can be held in the Bird's Nest." Jin Yibo, head of League of Legends's Chinese brand and e-sports, said.

original title: emerging "e-sports" moves closer to traditional sports

on the evening of November 4, "Faker cried" strongly climbed onto Weibo, with netizens commenting that it was "equivalent to Phelps being tortured and crying in the pool, Ronaldo crying in the green court."

in the 2017 League of Legends World Finals (S7) championship battle that ended at the Bird's Nest at the National Stadium in Beijing, Faker's SKT team was also from South Korea's SSG team to end their dream of three consecutive championships with a score of 3:0, which reminded veteran fans of Lionel Messi, who won the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but failed to lead Argentina to win the championship. "one god with four legs, can't move." In the words of the e-sports circle, "this is our World Cup."

"this is League of Legends's largest annual international event with the highest specification and the highest gold content. It is the first time that he has landed in China. It is also a kind of recognition to the project itself that it can be held in the Bird's Nest." Jin Yibo, head of League of Legends's Chinese brand and e-sports, said that from the overall effect of the event, it has already exceeded expectations, whether it is the enthusiasm of the audience at the scene or the attention of the public and people in related industries are very high, "especially the Chinese audience. Everyone's enthusiasm and literacy are praised by the global media and players."

on October 21, after the FNC team of the European Division was defeated by the Chinese RNG team, which fought at home in the knockout stage of the semi-finals, Rekkles of Sweden of FNC sat on the court and refused to leave. seeing this scene, the audience did not leave, but shouted his Chinese nickname "Oucheng" and applauded. "I cried when I saw him get up and bow to the audience." Ding Ding recalled that there was countless applause for the opponent or the losing team, and the Vietnamese team, which "brought a lot of surprises on the field with a keyboard and mouse of dozens of yuan," also reaped the goodwill of the audience after it was eliminated.

"We are home." In addition to reflecting the atmosphere and friendliness of the host, fans' support for the Chinese team was so exaggerated that players sitting in the war room wearing soundproof headphones could hear cheers. " Has become e-sports from the industry's Ding Ding scene to feel a lot of games, "but did not expect our big game home is so touching."

the flames of war in S7 spread from Wuhan, Guangzhou and Shanghai to Beijing, and the four landmarks of the Yellow Crane Tower, Liide Bridge, the Bund and Juyongguan Great Wall were also gradually "dyed" into League of Legends's classic red and blue colors during the display. The Wechat avatar of people in the e-sports circle, with four big red characters "No ticket" in a square and white box, surprised more people at the appeal of e-sports behind the difficulty of getting one vote.

there has been a frequent interruption in the ticket purchasing process of some users due to the large number of ticket buyers in Guangzhou and Shanghai semi-finals. As WE joined hands with RNG to advance to the final four, LPL (League of Legends Professional Competition at the highest level of Chinese mainland) created the best record in the history of two teams reaching the top four at the same time. Therefore, less than a few minutes after tickets for the S7 Beijing Finals went on sale on the morning of Oct. 25, the ticketing platform quickly crashed. According to media reports, a ticket with an official price of 480 yuan was sold to the S7 Beijing finals, and the online transfer price was hyped to 13000 yuan.

it is a pity that more than 40, 000 spectators can only witness the decisive battle between the two South Korean teams at the Bird's Nest because the two Chinese teams, RNG and WE, which have made it to the top four, failed to reach the finals. However, the reporter noticed that many spectators still held up the sign of "LPL does not give up" and shouted the name of RNG when cheering for the South Korean team. "RNG is the only 'Quanhua class' team among the three LPL Chinese teams."

sense of honor and ceremony are the reporter's biggest gains after four races in S7. In her view, users aged between 16 and 25 have "tied up" youth with League of Legends. "now this group of people have grown up one after another, and no longer have the time and energy to turn on the computer to gang up." It is mostly replaced by mobile games represented by "Arena of Valor". Therefore, in the eyes of some people in the industry, S7 is also a "continuation" in choosing to hold it in China.

in the view of Ding Dong, director of the Sports Information Center of the State Administration of Sports, what inspires the emotional value of Chinese users is precisely e-sports 's charm as a sport. offline watching games, home and away games, alliances and other ways to move closer to traditional sports are making more and more people understand e-sports and "accept e-sports as the symbolic significance of sports." In this regard, the reporter has a deep experience, "LPL has traditional sports spring competitions, summer competitions, large-scale international competitions, and year-end all-star competitions, much like NBA, which allows fans to keep their attention like traditional sports events." She expects that the home-and-away system, which will be implemented by some LPL teams next year, will maintain the home heat highlighted by S7, "building venues in landing cities, attracting sponsors, etc., so that fans can support their favorite teams on their doorstep."

in Jin Yibo's view, e-sports 's sports spirit and atmosphere, as well as the general direction are getting closer to traditional sports, but e-sports will also have its own unique content. For example, the electronic sports testing hall or the development of emerging technologies, "these are some Internet characteristics of e-sports industry. E-sports still has a lot of room for development, and there is also the reality of e-sports 's lack of talents, which not only includes the production of the event itself. E-sports is lacking in all fields of ecology. Now e-sports 's industry is developing rapidly and its scale is growing very fast, so the talent gap will still increase. "

in this regard, Zhu Bo, co-founder of Xinpan Capital, who is familiar with the operation of e-sports Club, said that although some colleges and universities have set up e-sports majors, however, as can be seen from some courses at the present stage, "there is still a gap with the talents needed by e-sports 's market." he believes that some talents from the traditional sports field can be introduced into e-sports 's market. Learning from the experience of some traditional sports in standardizing management and teamwork may speed up the solution of the talent gap.

the remaining temperature of S7 makes Ding Dong both excited and awake. He believes that as far as e-sports is concerned, China is already a force that cannot be ignored in the development of international e-sports. In the future, more e-sports events with international influence will be held in China. "I hope S7 is not an one-off, short-lived display." But this requires China's e-sports market to be more standardized and professional, and at the same time, it also requires the public to gradually reach a consensus on e-sports. "now the polarization is prominent, and this cognitive difference sometimes makes us afraid to take action on administrative measures. We need to seriously consider the social response and response, therefore, the development of the industry needs to be more robust."

when S7 was in full swing in China, delegates discussed the current rapid development of the e-sports industry at the sixth IOC Summit held in Lobsang, Switzerland, on October 28th local time. Finally agreed to regard it as a "sport." In a statement, IOC representatives agreed: "competitive video games can be regarded as a sport." At present, e-sports 's preparation for the competition, the intensity of daily training, and so on, are comparable to those of traditional athletes. "

Edit: mary