Re-Emerging Popularity of Chinese Esports, Experts Advise Reasonable Guidance

Wuhan will be hosting the University Esports League, and has gained the approval of the Hubei Province Department of Sports.  This news has Zhao Dawei of Harbin excited.

Zhao has been involved in organizing gaming competitions for five years, and was previously a very experienced player. In addition to undertaking responsibilities for the games of Nationwide E-Competition, Harbin division, he also presently operates the Harbin Universities E-Sports League, which includes Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin Polytechnic University, six more local colleges and universities, with inter-school communication and competitions.

Zhao contacted other college students. He believes that esports is not unlike ordinary sports, young people are interested in these kinds of group events, and their educational levels and thinking abilities are advantages to their participation.

However, in China, esports and online games are too tangled to unravel, and parents of young students often connect online game addiction and other social problems with e-sports. Recently, the news that the Chinese State General Administration of Sports formed an e-sports national team to participate in the Asian Indoor Games (which includes games like archery, BMX, boxing, hockey, aerobic gymnastics, along with esports; and participants include Thailand, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Japan, Iran, Laos, North Korea, and Myanmar) caused an uproar. Many people are worried that the country’s support for e-sports may have the effect of misleading young people, especially students.

Harbin Institute of Technology Lilac Cyber Club president Liu Daokun has also been questioned by school authorities about the formation of e-sport clubs. Liu explained that the position of gaming communities in the lives of students includes encouraging them to play reasonably and to avoid video game addiction. Furthermore, she explained, esports has been recognized by the Chinese State General Administration of Sports as a sporting event, and online games are something completely different.

The difference between esports and online gaming is also something that Zhao wanted to clarify: he said, “The purpose of esports is competition– the game is only a means. It’s a fair, public, and impartial competition; competitive events focus on evenness, relying on players’ thinking, reflexes, and response capabilities. Online games rely instead on the money players invest.”

The Harbin Institute of Technology director of the Communist Youth League Committee, who has been in office for 60 years, expressed his hope that school-approved gaming community activities will carry out their “rational guidance”, and that the gaming community will not get distinctive treatment.

The Lilac Cyber Club is very popular, with gaming competitions every month with a common attendance rate of more than 600 spectators. According to Liu Daokun, participants can be divided into amateur and professional players, and that college student participation is the foundation of the development of a gaming movement. By gradually increasing the number of different on-campus game community competitions, you will be able to increase awareness.

Liu says, “It’s the same as soccer, basketball, and other sports. Society should be more tolerant of esports.” However, Zhao frankly states that one must be cautious of treating e-sports like a career, because it may no longer just be a hobby, and that subsequent career development should be paid attention to apart from competition.

Ren Hai, a professor at the prestigious Beijing Sport University, believes that college student groups carries out reasonable guidance among e-sport players. “There’s no need for countries to throw in a nationwide system for the participation of esports, but the development of their health standards is still essential.  Using people-oriented principles for guidance is very important—this is a necessity considering the characteristics of the information age and contemporary student population.” (Via QQ Gaming News)