Gaming galaxy truly out of this world

Professional pride

Nowadays, e-sports is a thoroughly professional industry, with an increasing focus on delivering the best experience for fans.

China's League of Legends Pro League (LPL), for example, has been using cutting-edge technology, such as augmented reality (AR), to enhance its live broadcasts.

The figures speak for themselves, with LPL games viewed over seven billion times during the first half of this year.

And, borrowing an idea from the traditional sporting world, the LPL is in the process of introducing a home-and-away system.

So far, five of the 14 clubs have been assigned a home city, with stadiums often full to capacity and local authorities welcoming the squads with open arms.

The arrival of Team WE to Xi'an, Shaanxi province, was marked by an elaborate ceremony staged by the local government, which offers numerous preferential policies to e-sports clubs and companies.

"We gained the full support of many cities," said Joses Zhu, a senior manager at Interactive Entertainment Group of Tencent, which owns the LPL.

"Now, if there are matches in those home cities, the seat-occupancy rate can easily reach 90 percent.

"The number is usually 100 percent in Chengdu, Sichuan province, which is home to the OMG club.

"Just like the NBA, when you speak of Los Angeles, people think of the Lakers. We want the same. We want e-sports to be the calling card of a city."

Winning hearts

As clubs rise, so do the players, whose popularity can fluctuate wildly based on their performances.

World champion Royal Never Give Up (RNG) is arguably China's most star-studded squad, spearheaded by hotshot Jian Zihao, aka Uzi.

After being revered for helping Team China to gold at the Asian Games and RNG to a breakthrough victory at the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational in Paris in May, Jian is now being panned on social media because of RNG's quarterfinal exit at the worlds in South Korea.

Meanwhile, RNG is endeavoring to win more hearts through its charity work, with the latest beneficiaries poverty-stricken kids in an impoverished mountain region in Guizhou province thanks to an innovative initiative promoting healthy living.

The club challenged fans to run and use a smartphone app to map a route that looks like the letter 'R'.

In turn, RNG donated books to disadvantaged students, with 20,000 texts and 50 bookshelves sent to schools in the area.

The next plan is to establish permanent donation centers in universities, with several already earmarked for Beijing.

"In some of our charity activities we only had limited staff, but many fans volunteered to help us finish all the work," said Li Jieming, the club's chief marketing officer.

"The players cannot attend every charity event because of their busy schedules, so we were so touched that so many fans supported us."

Anecdotal evidence like that goes some way to debunking the stereotype of gamers as being withdrawn and antisocial.

Whatever the world thinks, however, it's certain that e-sports is here to stay.