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E-sports is Not Such a Fragrant Rice Bowl



Taizhou Business Journal HGT.XTT Interview (translated from 178.com)



Erstwhile rebellious teenager, now a member of a first-rate team with an annual income nearly 200,000 yuan by playing games everyday until 2am. That's Taizhou professional gamer Xu Xuntao.



Although you can play games and collect a paycheck doing professional gaming, this rice bowl is really not as fragrant as you think.



On July 18 in Seattle's Key Arena, former home of the SuperSonics, an international competition will be held - 2014's Dota International invitational. Hailing from four regions and encompassing the world's greatest E-sports teams, players will fight each other here for glory. The victorious team will not only establish themselves as the world's best, but will also win an enormous cash prize.



Starting on May 20 and over the course of three days in Huaxi Village, Jiangsu, ten teams and fifty young players competed for two spots in Seattle. In the tournament, the newly founded team HGT placed sixth, suffering a bitter elimination.



"When losing a competition, every person has responsibility," said team member Xu Xuntao from Mt. Tiantai, his face full of weariness. His teammate and fellow townsman from Wenling, named "genius youth," Chen Tianyu [cty], was traumatized by the loss and left the team to go home and "close off the gates."



To bring the trophy home is a lifelong dream for these two young players. But faced with defeat, they realized their bound fate with E-sports had a hard and long road ahead.



"Feral child's" E-sports childhood.



For the past few days, Xu senior has really wanted to call his son, knowing that that he just suffered a defeat and must be in poor spirits. Once the call connects, however, he forgets all the rehearsed comforting words, and all that comes out is, "sleep early, rest well, eat better."



Mr. Xu is an ordinary government officer in Sanhe town. He wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and collect a government paycheck, but instead his son chose a most nonstandard path: professional gaming.



"What does your son do?" Mr. Xu hates to hear. Usually Mr. Xu will perfunctorily reply, "He works out of town," without elaborating that his son is playing games for a living.



Going back ten years, Mr. Xu frequently fetched his son from PC cafes after school to drag him home by the ear for a lesson with a stick.



"Hooligan, gangster, little rascal" were names yelled at Xuntao. Nevertheless, a few days after a scolding he would wind up back in a PC cafe.



2004 was the first great year for Chinese E-sports. The All-China Sports Federation organized the first Chinese E-sports competition. That year in Mt. Tiantai's PC cafes and all over China, Counter-Strike, Red Alert, Warcraft, etc. started becoming very popular.



While you controlled your own forces, your online opponent could be your classmate or a gosu from anywhere in the country. Crazy worlds, marvelous guns and spells - all of this captivated junior highschooler Xuntao.



In his eyes, gaming and eating were equally important, gaming sometimes even more so. Saving food money to go play in the PC cafe was a normal occurrence.



This was Xuntao's childhood experience. Online he was playing with experts, learning strategies, carefully refining technique, winning many and losing few. Offline he was playing cat-and-mouse with his father. When he was captured he couldn't avoid a beating.



The battle with his father continued until his high school freshman year. In his sophomore year his father finally felt his son was incorrigible and gave up.



I want to be a professional gamer



In June of 2012, Xu Xuntao graduated from College.



The four years studying business administration in college, other than going to classes, were spent cooped up in the dorm playing games or participating in local tournaments. In those school years, Dota accompanied him the most.



In Dota there is a leader-board known as the "heaven ladder." All your results will be translated to points, and the more successful you are the higher your position in the "heaven ladder."



In 2012, Xuntao fought his way to the top 3 on the "heaven ladder" and players gave him the title "god."



After graduation, his classmates began to find jobs. Some went to banks, others passed exams for public office, and some became teachers. As for Xuntao, he made an important life decision.



In front of his father, he voiced his thoughts: "I want to be a pro gamer."



"My son wants to play games to earn a living?" In Mr. Xu's eyes this was completely unreasonable, but he gave his consent faced with Xun Tao Xu's persistence.



A top player's annual salary is 500,000 yuan



July 2012, Taicang, Jiangsu. Xuntao, armed with his top 3 heaven ladder resume, easily joined his first pro team, NA.



Professional players receive income in two ways. The first is from sponsors who typically pay the club who in turn pay wages to players; the second is prize money from competitions. Every month there are roughly ten tournaments, big or small, with prize money varying from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.



These two means, in a way, are mutually correlated. The more you win, the more popular you are and the more sponsors will pay you.



This fact shows E-sports are comparable to traditional sports. Another is the "jungle rule." If a teammate has poor results, the team can collectively vote to kick the player so as not to burden the rest of the team. On the other hand, a player with excellent results might clan-hop to a better team. Factor in that old players will retire with new ones joining and teams end up constantly rotating their players.



Xuntao, in his professional career, also went through many teams. In October of that year, Xuntao and many other players transitioned to Dota 2. Compared to the old Dota generation, Dota 2 was fresher with more prospects and competitive prize pools.



"Currently there are five top-tier teams in China, with players in these teams earning around 500,000 yuan annually, a couple even twice that." Xuntao currently belongs to a top-eight team, HGT. Having played pro for two years, Xuntao reveals his salary is now about 200,000 yuan.



Professional gamer's defeat



Near Songjiang's university city in Shanghai, Xuntao and his four partners hole up in a little apartment. As for daily life, the players eat and do everything together like brothers. This practical arrangement also builds unity and tacit chemistry.



When not out of town competing, the players typically wake up at 11, wash their faces, log-in to Dota, and begin the daily training.



After lunch around 2pm, they go online and look for scrims with teams of the same level. This continues until 11pm or later.



This schedule is typical for professional teams. Ten-plus hours of hard training, tactical training, team building, and scrims. Do this until 2am before going to bed, get up in the morning, rinse and repeat.



This is the natural consequence of turning your hobby into a profession. You will have monotonous training and inevitably develop "side effects." No set schedule for eating and sleeping, spending most of the time crouched in front of the computer, lacking social interaction and exercise - these are typical "occupational hazards."



"Poor health, and spending every day with the game at home makes it so that even ordinary interaction with people sometimes becomes difficult," Xuntao admits. When talking with someone, you may forget how to speak, but chatting online there is no difficulty.



What can you do after retiring?



At this point, Mr. Xu's early opposition and confusion towards his son's choice has turned into concern and support. He still worries that gaming is only for the young. You can only maintain your peak for five years, and many players choose to retire at 27.



For Xuntao who was born in 1989, he perhaps only has a few years left. The question of what to do afterwards cannot be ignored.



The first Chinese player to win a world championship, "Emperor Sky" Li Xiaofeng became a famous club manager after retirement. Female player "Xiaocang" became a commentator and opened a Taobao shop. Of course there are those who did not get along well and simply vanished.



"Perhaps I can do business, perhaps I can make game videos, perhaps I can become a commentator." Xuntao doesn't really have a clear plan for retirement. As for the short term, he has only one goal - to win the world championship and win honor for the country.



Despite being described in the media as a "cultural creative occupation," professional gaming's popular acceptance is still not high. The business environment is not clear and the future of the industry uncertain, but this does not stop young people from chasing their "pro-gaming dreams."



In Taizhou's primary schools, there are thousands of students who want to become professional players. Almost all have two qualities in common: either they do not excel academically or have no interest to begin with, but they love games and wish thereby to receive fame and fortune. Of course there are some success stories. For example Wenling's Chentian Yu, at the age of 18, won China's fierce solo competition and received a spot in top team VG.



But these cases are few.



"If you want to be a professional gamer, if you are not truly passionate but only want to use it as an excuse to slack off on studies or life, then you should best think it through," Xuntao told this reporter.







Credits:

Translator: aboxcar

Editors: TheEmulator, Firebolt145

Article via: Translator: aboxcarEditors: TheEmulator, Firebolt145Article via: 178.com

Erstwhile rebellious teenager, now a member of a first-rate team with an annual income nearly 200,000 yuan by playing games everyday until 2am. That's Taizhou professional gamer Xu Xuntao.On July 18 in Seattle's Key Arena, former home of the SuperSonics, an international competition will be held - 2014's Dota International invitational. Hailing from four regions and encompassing the world's greatest E-sports teams, players will fight each other here for glory. The victorious team will not only establish themselves as the world's best, but will also win an enormous cash prize.Starting on May 20 and over the course of three days in Huaxi Village, Jiangsu, ten teams and fifty young players competed for two spots in Seattle. In the tournament, the newly founded team HGT placed sixth, suffering a bitter elimination."When losing a competition, every person has responsibility," said team member Xu Xuntao from Mt. Tiantai, his face full of weariness. His teammate and fellow townsman from Wenling, named "genius youth," Chen Tianyu [cty], was traumatized by the loss and left the team to go home and "close off the gates."To bring the trophy home is a lifelong dream for these two young players. But faced with defeat, they realized their bound fate with E-sports had a hard and long road ahead.For the past few days, Xu senior has really wanted to call his son, knowing that that he just suffered a defeat and must be in poor spirits. Once the call connects, however, he forgets all the rehearsed comforting words, and all that comes out is, "sleep early, rest well, eat better."Mr. Xu is an ordinary government officer in Sanhe town. He wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and collect a government paycheck, but instead his son chose a most nonstandard path: professional gaming."What does your son do?" Mr. Xu hates to hear. Usually Mr. Xu will perfunctorily reply, "He works out of town," without elaborating that his son is playing games for a living.Going back ten years, Mr. Xu frequently fetched his son from PC cafes after school to drag him home by the ear for a lesson with a stick."Hooligan, gangster, little rascal" were names yelled at Xuntao. Nevertheless, a few days after a scolding he would wind up back in a PC cafe.2004 was the first great year for Chinese E-sports. The All-China Sports Federation organized the first Chinese E-sports competition. That year in Mt. Tiantai's PC cafes and all over China, Counter-Strike, Red Alert, Warcraft, etc. started becoming very popular.While you controlled your own forces, your online opponent could be your classmate or a gosu from anywhere in the country. Crazy worlds, marvelous guns and spells - all of this captivated junior highschooler Xuntao.In his eyes, gaming and eating were equally important, gaming sometimes even more so. Saving food money to go play in the PC cafe was a normal occurrence.This was Xuntao's childhood experience. Online he was playing with experts, learning strategies, carefully refining technique, winning many and losing few. Offline he was playing cat-and-mouse with his father. When he was captured he couldn't avoid a beating.The battle with his father continued until his high school freshman year. In his sophomore year his father finally felt his son was incorrigible and gave up.In June of 2012, Xu Xuntao graduated from College.The four years studying business administration in college, other than going to classes, were spent cooped up in the dorm playing games or participating in local tournaments. In those school years, Dota accompanied him the most.In Dota there is a leader-board known as the "heaven ladder." All your results will be translated to points, and the more successful you are the higher your position in the "heaven ladder."In 2012, Xuntao fought his way to the top 3 on the "heaven ladder" and players gave him the title "god."After graduation, his classmates began to find jobs. Some went to banks, others passed exams for public office, and some became teachers. As for Xuntao, he made an important life decision.In front of his father, he voiced his thoughts: "I want to be a pro gamer.""My son wants to play games to earn a living?" In Mr. Xu's eyes this was completely unreasonable, but he gave his consent faced with Xun Tao Xu's persistence.July 2012, Taicang, Jiangsu. Xuntao, armed with his top 3 heaven ladder resume, easily joined his first pro team, NA.Professional players receive income in two ways. The first is from sponsors who typically pay the club who in turn pay wages to players; the second is prize money from competitions. Every month there are roughly ten tournaments, big or small, with prize money varying from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.These two means, in a way, are mutually correlated. The more you win, the more popular you are and the more sponsors will pay you.This fact shows E-sports are comparable to traditional sports. Another is the "jungle rule." If a teammate has poor results, the team can collectively vote to kick the player so as not to burden the rest of the team. On the other hand, a player with excellent results might clan-hop to a better team. Factor in that old players will retire with new ones joining and teams end up constantly rotating their players.Xuntao, in his professional career, also went through many teams. In October of that year, Xuntao and many other players transitioned to Dota 2. Compared to the old Dota generation, Dota 2 was fresher with more prospects and competitive prize pools."Currently there are five top-tier teams in China, with players in these teams earning around 500,000 yuan annually, a couple even twice that." Xuntao currently belongs to a top-eight team, HGT. Having played pro for two years, Xuntao reveals his salary is now about 200,000 yuan.Near Songjiang's university city in Shanghai, Xuntao and his four partners hole up in a little apartment. As for daily life, the players eat and do everything together like brothers. This practical arrangement also builds unity and tacit chemistry.When not out of town competing, the players typically wake up at 11, wash their faces, log-in to Dota, and begin the daily training.After lunch around 2pm, they go online and look for scrims with teams of the same level. This continues until 11pm or later.This schedule is typical for professional teams. Ten-plus hours of hard training, tactical training, team building, and scrims. Do this until 2am before going to bed, get up in the morning, rinse and repeat.This is the natural consequence of turning your hobby into a profession. You will have monotonous training and inevitably develop "side effects." No set schedule for eating and sleeping, spending most of the time crouched in front of the computer, lacking social interaction and exercise - these are typical "occupational hazards.""Poor health, and spending every day with the game at home makes it so that even ordinary interaction with people sometimes becomes difficult," Xuntao admits. When talking with someone, you may forget how to speak, but chatting online there is no difficulty.At this point, Mr. Xu's early opposition and confusion towards his son's choice has turned into concern and support. He still worries that gaming is only for the young. You can only maintain your peak for five years, and many players choose to retire at 27.For Xuntao who was born in 1989, he perhaps only has a few years left. The question of what to do afterwards cannot be ignored.The first Chinese player to win a world championship, "Emperor Sky" Li Xiaofeng became a famous club manager after retirement. Female player "Xiaocang" became a commentator and opened a Taobao shop. Of course there are those who did not get along well and simply vanished."Perhaps I can do business, perhaps I can make game videos, perhaps I can become a commentator." Xuntao doesn't really have a clear plan for retirement. As for the short term, he has only one goal - to win the world championship and win honor for the country.Despite being described in the media as a "cultural creative occupation," professional gaming's popular acceptance is still not high. The business environment is not clear and the future of the industry uncertain, but this does not stop young people from chasing their "pro-gaming dreams."In Taizhou's primary schools, there are thousands of students who want to become professional players. Almost all have two qualities in common: either they do not excel academically or have no interest to begin with, but they love games and wish thereby to receive fame and fortune. Of course there are some success stories. For example Wenling's Chentian Yu, at the age of 18, won China's fierce solo competition and received a spot in top team VG.But these cases are few."If you want to be a professional gamer, if you are not truly passionate but only want to use it as an excuse to slack off on studies or life, then you should best think it through," Xuntao told this reporter. everything that rises must converge