Sports Information Center of State Sports General Administration
people.cnChengduNovember 12th (Reporter Cui Can) Since the state approved e-sports as the 78th officially launched sport in China in 2003, e-sports has gone through six years in China. In the WCG2009 World Finals, Ms. Yang Ying, deputy director of the Information Center of the State Sports General Administration, accepted an exclusive interview with People’s Daily reporter in Chengdu.
E-sports: the product of the information age
As a new project originated from society, what exactly is e-sports, what kind of environment and present situation is the development of e-sports in China, what are the problems and the way out? As the management department of e-sports, how should we develop e-sports and support it? With the concerns of these netizens, the reporter started an exclusive interview with Director Yang.
"Every sport is the product of the development of social productive forces and social change." Director Yang told reporters with a smile, "track and field came into being in the farming age, racing came into being in the industrial age, and e-sports came into being in the information age". Director Yang believes that e-sports is a sport based on video games and sublimated.
She explained to reporters that e-sports is an intellectual confrontation movement between people using high-tech software and hardware equipment as sports equipment; E-sports uses competition equipment and equipment based on electronic information technology to carry out quantitative and repeatable confrontation competitions; After long-term training, sports skills and rules can be formed; On the premise of advocating the principle of "openness, fairness and justice" and strictly observing the unified rules of the game, it embodies the essence of intellectual movement and technical confrontation.
Then, Director Yang explained three differences between e-sports and traditional online games:
First, there are different ways to participate: e-sports mainly use local area network as networking means, while online games use the Internet as networking means;
Second, e-sports has clear and unified competition rules, and its biggest feature is strict time and round restrictions. However, online games have no unified and clear rules of the game, no time and round restrictions, which are easy to make people addicted;
Third, e-sports competition is a competition between athletes with a fair and equitable sportsmanship. Through intellectual confrontation between people, the outcome is decided. And video games are mainly man-machine confrontation, not judging the results through the confrontation between people.
The development status of e-sports in China: more than 26 million e-sports enthusiasts
selfSince 2003, there have been 64 e-sports clubs in China, including 5 professional clubs and more than 1,200 registered athletes, including nearly 60 professional athletes. Moreover, China has more than 26 million e-sports fans.
The main self-owned brand events include the National E-sports Games sponsored by the All-China Sports Federation and the IEST sponsored by Lenovo Group, which began to form the global e-sports event center market.
In 2008, the output value of China’s e-sports industry reached about $80 million, and self-developed national e-sports products gradually came out, such as "Anti-terrorism Action" developed by Jinshan Company.
"China’s e-sports projects are still in their infancy. There are still irregularities in the management of e-sports, and there are also relatively imperfect weaknesses in policies and systems. " Director Yang said frankly, "There is still a certain gap between China’s e-sports level and South Korea, Europe and America." She said, but it is gratifying that China’s e-sports has a wide audience and huge market development space. Government organizations at all levels have begun to attach importance to the development of e-sports and the enthusiasm of all sectors of society has been continuously improved, which has formed the conditions for the rapid development of e-sports
Interview with the State Sports General Administration: The future of e-sports in China (2)
China e-sports athletes: national honor is above everything else.
As e-sports is a high-tech competition, China’s e-sports players not only have high IQ, but also have excellent comprehensive quality. In the interview, Director Yang cited an example: He Xuebing, a China player who won the title of "Need for Speed" in the 3rd Asian Games, gave up the interview opportunity of China Bank and resolutely went to Vietnam on behalf of China. He Xuebing said, "I can find another job, but I want to represent the country and win honor for the country!"
Like He Xuebing, many e-sports athletes in China need to choose between national honor and personal interests, but most of them resolutely choose the former. Director Yang was very moved to tell the reporter, "The main body of sports is athletes. These athletes with excellent quality let us see the hope of e-sports in China. We just want to vigorously cultivate such sports talents!"
E-sports management: government guidance and media guidance
China needs not only mass sports and national fitness, but also e-sports, a high-tech competition. As a government affair, "e-sports" is guided by the relevant departments of the national government, which is unique in the world.
In June, 2009, the Information Center of the State Sports General Administration just accepted the management of e-sports projects. However, as the third Asian Indoor Games in Vietnam will be held in November, the Information Center is deeply aware of the great responsibility and arduous task. From team preparation to successful completion of the competition tasks, the Information Center has received the care and support of many departments and people. The relevant departments of the State Sports General Administration actively cooperated with the information center to prepare for the competition, creating many convenient conditions and solving many difficulties. Thanks to the excellent coordination work of the Information Center and the active cooperation of various departments of the State Sports General Administration, the competition ended smoothly, and the China team won high praise and respect from the Vietnamese Organizing Committee.
The State General Administration of Sport has regarded the vigorous development of e-sports as the top priority, and established the e-sports department to be fully responsible for the daily management of e-sports. A number of matters have been included in the plan, such as organizing domestic experts to conduct theoretical research on e-sports, establishing a theoretical system of e-sports, determining the development direction, and clarifying the development priorities, so as to formulate specific development plans for e-sports; Improve the organization as soon as possible, establish a lean and efficient e-sports management team, set up China e-sports association and branches at all levels in the country, and form a sound management network system as soon as possible; Establish a national e-sports base; Attach importance to the cultivation and support of e-sports market and vigorously support national enterprises and products; Establish an e-sports project evaluation Committee to standardize the e-sports industry system and crack down on the mixed e-sports products in the current society.
At the same time, the State Sports General Administration is also very active in building China’s own brand of international events. By actively establishing domestic and international e-sports events and promoting the brand of China national e-sports events, China’s position and influence in the world e-sports industry will be improved; Organize athletes to participate in all kinds of domestic competitions, such as the National E-sports Super League, University Games, Enterprise Games, etc., to improve the technical and tactical level of athletes; At the same time, organize and hold more international competitions, such as intercontinental competitions, invitational competitions between countries, adversarial competitions, friendly competitions, international open competitions, grand prix, etc., in order to strengthen exchanges with foreign athletes, increase the experience of participating in international competitions and improve the comprehensive level of e-sports in China; Vigorously promote e-sports projects to enter comprehensive sports games at home and abroad, such as actively striving to enter the national sports conference; With the help of the media, we should correctly guide e-sports events; Strengthen the construction of e-sports management team and the construction and management of e-sports national team.
The Future of E-sports Industry in China
E-sports industry is a composite industry that integrates high-tech, animation, traditional sports, media and other elements. E-sports industry together with upstream and downstream industrial chains can create huge output value. Director Yang cited an example. The State General Administration of Sport envisaged that traditional sports events would be transformed into e-sports events through high-tech processing, and China players could also find long-lost victories in weak traditional sports events.
In the related field of national software product development, many internationally renowned software companies such as Kingsoft have expressed their willingness to actively participate in the e-sports industry. In addition, the holding of the games will also bring huge benefits. For example, the WCG2009 World Finals will be held in Chengdu, which will greatly boost the development of Chengdu’s tourism industry and bring more business opportunities to the development of Chengdu’s communications, games, IT, media, exhibitions and related industries.
Director Yang said: "There is still a long way to go for e-sports industrialization in China, but we are glad that China is widely recognized in the international e-sports industry, and the e-sports competition without China athletes lacks international significance. Therefore, there is a young force composed of the e-sports department of the Information Center of the State Sports General Administration and many outstanding e-sports talents to develop and innovate this project, which makes us full of confidence in e-sports in China! "