Move Over Liu Xiang, Online Cyber-Athletes Begin to Take Center Stage

Brand new enoVate superstar team member, Jermaine Chen, contributes the following post about cyber-athletes in China.

The WCG2009 (World Cyber Games) held in Chengdu China last month displayed that cyber-athlete gamers have reached superstar popularity in China. At the WCG2009, some top cyber-athlete gamers are like Olympic superstars and gain huge support from their fans because they fight not only for themselves, but also for their countries. For example, in China, the famous Warcraft3 gamer, Li Xiaofeng (Sky), is considered as the hero of the nation in the cyber-athlete field. When he lost the game this time, Zhou Ning, the famous cyber-athlete games commentator, relates him to the famous Chinese 110m-hurdle athlete, Liu Xiang:

“Sky is the hope and he is the hero of China. He had  [so much] burden [and] too much pressure, which led to his loss.”

However, Chinese cyber-athlete game fans still cheered wildly in the final ceremony because another Chinese gamer, Wang Yuweng (Infi) won the Warcraft3 championship.

The atmosphere there was high because both the winners and their supporters know how incredible the honor is. The gold medals handed out represent the cyber-athletes’ hard-work and also extraordinary talents which ordinary people admire.

Although it is difficult for ordinary ordinary Chinese youth gamers to gain honor and wealth from gaming as Sky and Infi do, they can still enjoy themselves when practicing, discussing their gaming, and appreciating the matches between the top players. Unconsciously, the cyber-athlete gamers understand and behave strictly according to the Olympic Motto: Faster, Higher, Stronger. If applying what they learn from cyber-athlete culture—sportsmanship, to their real life, young gamers in China will certainly benefit and achieve future success.

Companies and brands in China are also beginning to take notice. Brands such as Samsung, AMD, Phillips, and Microsoft sponsored the recent WCG games in Chengdu and other brands such as Lenovo are beginning to place their logos directly into virtual online RPG games like WoW. Who knows, maybe in the future, super brands like Coke or McDonalds may use cyber-athlete superstars like Sky or Infi in their future ad campaigns.