Data map: The international version of "Arena of Valor" Jakarta Asian Games performance team.
Photo by Zhai Lu from China News Service
Chinanews client, Beijing, December 17th (Wang Hao) On the evening of the 16th Beijing time, the 38th Asian Olympic Council General Assembly was held. This meeting approved e-sports as an official event for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. And like chess items, it is classified as an intelligence item.
Last year, the Hangzhou Asian Games announced the major events that have been determined, but the much-watched e-sports was not included in it. Therefore, this reversal took many people's expectations.
In recent years, e-sports, which has been continuously developing amidst the controversy, finally appeared on the Daya Hall as an official name. What kind of twists and turns has it experienced?
Twists and turns
This is not the first time that e-sports has been linked to the Asian Games. As early as 2017, the Asian Olympic Council announced that e-sports would become a competition event for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
The Chinese League of Legends team stood on the podium of the Asian Games.
Image source: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
And at the Jakarta Asian Games a year later, e-sports even stepped onto the Asian Games stage as a performance item.
In the past, e-sports, which could only develop rapidly in the circle, was the first to join hands with a traditional comprehensive sports competition. The teenagers sitting around the computer finally got the opportunity to win glory for the country.
Among the three competitions, the game and event with the highest overall popularity is undoubtedly "League of Legends".
In the professional arena of the League of Legends, South Korea has been in a leading position for many years, once dominating the global finals champion for many years.
Therefore, although the Asian Games are not the same as the professional e-sports arena, the weight of this champion is quite high in the hearts of many viewers.
In the final, the Chinese team defeated the South Korean team 3-1 to win the championship. The scene of six teenagers raising the national flag to celebrate is also considered to be another milestone in the development of China's e-sports.
In that Asian Games, the participating Chinese e-sports team also gained a lot, gaining two golds and one silver in three events.
As far as the e-sports exhibition held in Palembang, Jakarta, many people seem to see a bright future in which e-sports is affirmed by mainstream public opinion with a positive image.
Data map: The 2019 NEST National E-sports Competition (League of Legends) Summer Finals was held in Guiyang, Guizhou. In the first match, the BLG team defeated the WE team 2:0.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Qu Honglun
Especially in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, e-sports was further included in the official competition.
From a trend point of view, the "combination" of e-sports and traditional comprehensive games is making great strides.
However, in April 2019, the Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee announced 37 projects that had been identified, which did not include e-sports.
It seems to the outside world to be a certain thing, but suddenly there are variables.
In the next year or so, the world’s e-sports events and industries have withstood the impact of the epidemic and continued to move forward, but few people have connected it with the Hangzhou Asian Games two years later until this point. The convening of the OCA General Assembly.
Problems to be solved
There are many reasons why it is so difficult for e-sports to move closer to traditional comprehensive sports. The most important thing is the lack of "uniform standards" like traditional events.
Data map: 2019WUCG Sanya E-sports Festival opened at the Banshan Peninsula Sailing Port in Sanya, Hainan. The picture shows the scene of the competition.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Luo Yunfei
Wei Jizhong, the life honorary vice chairman of the OCA once introduced that to become a sport recognized by the International Olympic Committee, there must be a unique international federation that recognizes and abides by the Olympic Charter and has an agreement with the World Anti-Doping Organization. organization.
He introduced that this organization requires a considerable number of members from countries and regions to participate in the five continents, and regularly organizes worldwide competitions.
At present, the behavior of the e-sports industry mainly follows business logic, and game manufacturers occupy an absolute dominant position.
A minor revision of a game may have a huge impact on the game.
In extreme cases, the bankruptcy of a game manufacturer may make a project completely aborted.
Unlike football, basketball and other projects that require long-term discussions by relevant international organizations, manufacturers can modify the game at will, without being responsible for the e-sports itself or the practitioners.
GEF meeting scene.
This status quo has undoubtedly increased the uncertainty of e-sports projects, which is one of the reasons why the process of e-sports becoming an official project of the Asian Games is quite tortuous.
In December 2019, the International Electronic Sports Federation (GEF) was formally established.
This is an international e-sports organization that will work to promote greater recognition of e-sports in international sports official organizations, and contribute to the formulation of more standardized, rigorous and healthy international standards.
The establishment of GEF is a big step for e-sports to “enter Asia” and even “to the Olympics”.
However, so far the organization has not introduced effective policies to change the status quo of the e-sports industry. It is still a long way to go for the International E-sports Federation if it wants to integrate the e-sports from scratch.
The heat that cannot be rejected
As early as when the Hangzhou Asian Games announced that e-sports was not included in the major items that had been determined, some disappointed e-sports audiences once made such a voice: Isn't it okay to "play" e-sports?
Must I enter the Asian Games and the Olympics?
On the evening of October 31, the 2020 League of Legends Global Finals championship battle ended in Shanghai.
In the end, the DWG team from the South Korean LCK division defeated the SN team from the Chinese LPL division with a score of 3-1 and won the championship.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yin Liqin
Of course, there is no regulation, saying that e-sports must enter a large-scale comprehensive sports meeting, but from the current trend, such a "combination" is a win-win result.
The Glory of the Kings World Champions Cup final held in Beijing in August of this year received 31.51 million live views and created a peak of 580 million views on Weibo topics.
The League of Legends Global Finals held in Shanghai two months later also sparked an upsurge of discussion on the Internet.
Obviously, the e-sports event has become one of the currently highly concerned sports events, and most of these enthusiasm comes from young people.
In recent years, many large-scale comprehensive sports games have faced the problem of declining attention.
A few days ago, break dancing, skateboarding, rock climbing and surfing became the official events of the Paris Olympic Games. It seems that these events are very "youth" and meet the tastes of young people.
E-sports has officially "entered into Asia" and this factor cannot be ignored.
Data map: WCG2019 World Finals kicked off in Xi'an.
The picture shows the fierce competition between the participating teams.
Zhang Yuanshe
Facing young people is one of the reform directions of the International Olympic Committee under Bach.
For the entire e-sports industry, being able to board the Asian Games stage and complete a successful debut is indeed a rare opportunity to showcase this new project.
From the perspective of e-sports culture, this is also an excellent opportunity to "justify" e-sports.
Perhaps in 2022, young people can sit in front of the TV with their parents and watch the Asian Games games while telling them: You see, playing games is not always unsuccessful!
(Finish)