Home
» City specials
» Hangzhou
Keyboard athletes compete onscreen
By Vanessa Xu |
November 8, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THREE terrorists drop a bomb on a railway and make their getaway, but behind a wall to their right is a counter terrorist stealthily approaching them, who draws his gun and kills two of them with two shots.
This wasn't real life but a scene from the video game CounterStrike being played in the third World E-Sports Masters (WEM) held at Hangzhou Dianzi University last week.
With blue and pink spotlights illuminating them, players from different nations "fought" by computers. Several websites webcast the game complete with live commentaries, while the audience cheered accordingly.
The game last for four days and ended yesterday. Sixteen teams and eight individual players from the Netherlands, Sweden, Ukraine, Finland, South Korea and China participated, and all of them are strong contingents that have won international games before.
The match consisted of three games: CounterStrike, Warcraft III and CrossFire, and the total prize money reached US$125,000.
In many Chinese parents' eyes, playing video games saps their children's spirit, but in the world-class competition, e-sports players are well-organized young athletes striving for team honor, medals, prize money and the pleasure of the sport.
How can "clicking a mouse and moving fingers on a keyboard" be referred to as a sport?
"E-sports are different from playing video games," explained Alex Bian, a member of China's e-sports national team, who attended the game as the team leader of Zhejiang Tyloo E-Sports Club.
"E-sports require skills, strategy and teamwork, which is in accordance with sport spirits and elements," Bian said. "Many people think that video game players are addicted, spending too much time and money on equipment and neglecting study and work."
"The play also features combat, competition and teamwork, which are showcased by mouse, keyboard and computer rather than parallel bars or a race," said Luo Weifeng, secretary general of WEM organizing committee.
Since 2003, e-sports have been designated as a formal sports program by the General Administration of Sports of China.
This annual event, sponsored by Hangzhou government and undertaken by Hangzhou Sports Bureau, has been held in three consecutive years and aims to promote the healthy, correct way of playing games.
According to the latest figures released by Blizzard Entertainment, the company that developed the popular Warcraft series of video games, the number of Warcraft III's users has reached 12 million. While last year's figure has shown that China already boasts more than 7 million players of Warcraft III.
The increasing number of netizens has contributed to the widely discussed social phenomenon, "Internet addiction." According to the Internet Addiction Report of Chinese Youngsters (2009) conducted by the China Youth Internet Association, there are 2.4 million Internet addicts aged from six to 29 in China.
"Using this contest, the main aim is to guide young people to play video games more reasonably," said Luo.
It is known that many Internet addicts spend whole nights online, yet in this contest, one round usually takes around one hour or less, with players showing calmness and friendliness.
"The audience should be able to learn from the contestant's strategy and skills," said Luo, "and I suggest that players should arrange to play a game for a reasonable amount of time, because to gain happiness is the most important thing in playing a game, and it won't be fun if you lose something because of the game."
This wasn't real life but a scene from the video game CounterStrike being played in the third World E-Sports Masters (WEM) held at Hangzhou Dianzi University last week.
With blue and pink spotlights illuminating them, players from different nations "fought" by computers. Several websites webcast the game complete with live commentaries, while the audience cheered accordingly.
The game last for four days and ended yesterday. Sixteen teams and eight individual players from the Netherlands, Sweden, Ukraine, Finland, South Korea and China participated, and all of them are strong contingents that have won international games before.
The match consisted of three games: CounterStrike, Warcraft III and CrossFire, and the total prize money reached US$125,000.
In many Chinese parents' eyes, playing video games saps their children's spirit, but in the world-class competition, e-sports players are well-organized young athletes striving for team honor, medals, prize money and the pleasure of the sport.
How can "clicking a mouse and moving fingers on a keyboard" be referred to as a sport?
"E-sports are different from playing video games," explained Alex Bian, a member of China's e-sports national team, who attended the game as the team leader of Zhejiang Tyloo E-Sports Club.
"E-sports require skills, strategy and teamwork, which is in accordance with sport spirits and elements," Bian said. "Many people think that video game players are addicted, spending too much time and money on equipment and neglecting study and work."
"The play also features combat, competition and teamwork, which are showcased by mouse, keyboard and computer rather than parallel bars or a race," said Luo Weifeng, secretary general of WEM organizing committee.
Since 2003, e-sports have been designated as a formal sports program by the General Administration of Sports of China.
This annual event, sponsored by Hangzhou government and undertaken by Hangzhou Sports Bureau, has been held in three consecutive years and aims to promote the healthy, correct way of playing games.
According to the latest figures released by Blizzard Entertainment, the company that developed the popular Warcraft series of video games, the number of Warcraft III's users has reached 12 million. While last year's figure has shown that China already boasts more than 7 million players of Warcraft III.
The increasing number of netizens has contributed to the widely discussed social phenomenon, "Internet addiction." According to the Internet Addiction Report of Chinese Youngsters (2009) conducted by the China Youth Internet Association, there are 2.4 million Internet addicts aged from six to 29 in China.
"Using this contest, the main aim is to guide young people to play video games more reasonably," said Luo.
It is known that many Internet addicts spend whole nights online, yet in this contest, one round usually takes around one hour or less, with players showing calmness and friendliness.
"The audience should be able to learn from the contestant's strategy and skills," said Luo, "and I suggest that players should arrange to play a game for a reasonable amount of time, because to gain happiness is the most important thing in playing a game, and it won't be fun if you lose something because of the game."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
