Lu, Zhouxiang
(2016)
From E-Heroin to E-Sports: The Development of
Competitive Gaming in China.
International Journal of the History of Sport, 33 (18).
pp. 2186-2206.
ISSN 0952-3367
Abstract
The paper examines the development of competitive gaming in China
in the past three decades. In the early years, gaming enthusiasts in
China organized competitions on a voluntary basis. From the late
1990s, profit-driven gaming companies began to organize and
sponsor video game competitions across the country. The past
15 years have seen the commercialization and professionalization
of competitive gaming, and the development of the new concept
of ‘e-sports’. E-sports draw participants and audiences from China’s
rapidly expanding online gaming community. While gaming
companies, live-streaming services, and online gaming platforms are
making millions of dollars in profits, the booming e-sports culture has
facilitated the growth of the online gaming market and contributed
to the formation of a vast cohort of online gaming addicts in China.
Parents, educationists, and doctors have expressed growing concern
over the social and health costs of the e-sports industry. Academia,
media, and the general public are becoming more cautious about
the development of the e-sports industry, which mostly targets a
vulnerable group made up of the country’s children, teens, and young
adults.
Repository Staff Only(login required)
 |
Item control page |
Downloads per month over past year
Origin of downloads
Altmetric
Altmetric