網遊競技:韓國人的全民盛事

SEOUL, South Korea — Top video game players in South Korea are household names. Millions of people tune in to watch game competitions on television. The largest Internet portal, Naver, has its own section covering the results.

韓國首爾——最棒的電子遊戲玩家，在韓國是家喻戶曉的人物。數百萬人會在電視上觀看遊戲比賽。最大的門戶網站Naver還會專門開闢欄目報道比賽結果。

Competitive video gaming is now taking off in places like the United States, attracting thousands of people to major events. But in South Korea, more than anywhere else, it has already oozed into mainstream culture. Couples going to game clubs is about as common as couples going to the movies.

競技電子遊戲目前在美國等地區剛剛流行起來，可以吸引數以千計的玩家參加大型比賽。然而韓國比其他國家更甚，它已經滲透進了主流文化。情侶一起去遊戲俱樂部，與一起去電影院一樣常見。

Time and again, South Korea has provided glimpses of technology-related transformations before they expand globally, including widespread broadband availability and smartphone adoption. The country has also led in professional video game competitions, often called e-sports, creating organized leagues, training well-financed professional teams and filling giant stadiums with frenzied fans to cheer on their favorite players.

與科技相關的轉變先在韓國出現，之後再擴散到全球的現象發生了一次又一次，包括寬帶網絡的廣泛普及和智能手機的應用。在時常被稱爲“電子體育”(e-sports)的電子遊戲職業競技領域，韓國也處於領先地位，有組織的競技聯盟應運而生，還訓練了資金充裕的職業隊伍，狂熱的遊戲迷擠滿巨大的體育場，爲他們喜愛的選手喝彩。

Such excitement was on display in Seoul on Sunday, when more than 40,000 fans filled the outdoor soccer stadium used for the 2002 World Cup semifinal to watch the world championship for League of Legends, one of the world's most popular games. On stage, two teams of five players sat in front of computers wielding mouse and keyboard to control fantastical characters in a campaign to destroy the opposing team's base. Three huge screens displayed the action.

週日，這種激動人心的場面在首爾得到了展現。超過四萬名遊戲迷坐滿了曾經舉辦過2002年世界盃半決賽的露天足球場，觀看《英雄聯盟》(League of Legends)世界錦標賽，這是世界上最受歡迎的遊戲之一。臺上的兩隊玩家坐在電腦前，通過鼠標和鍵盤操控虛擬人物作戰，摧毀對方的大本營。每一隊都有五名隊員。現場有三個巨型的屏幕顯示比賽的戰況。

The clear favorite of the raucous crowd was Samsung White, a team of Koreans that tore through the playoffs. The throng of fans erupted early on, when a Samsung White player wielded a spear to kill a player from the Star Horn Royal Club, a team of three Chinese players and two Koreans. Samsung White went on to win the championship and $1 million in prize money.

喧鬧的觀衆最喜歡的顯然是三星White隊，這支韓國戰隊在季後賽中一路過關斬將。三星White隊的一名選手揮舞長矛要殺死皇族電子競技俱樂部(Star Horn Royal Club)的一名玩家時，一大羣遊戲迷早早地就歡呼了起來。皇族戰隊由三名中國選手和兩名韓國選手組成。三星White隊最終贏得比賽的冠軍，並獲得了100萬美元（約合612萬元人民幣）的獎金。

"Pro gaming exists in its current form and size in large part thanks to the people who made it possible in South Korea," said Manuel Schenkhuizen, a Dutch pro gamer. "Other countries took years to catch up and are to this date trying to mimic some of their successes."

“職業遊戲競技能夠達到現有的形式和規模，在很大程度上歸功於韓國人，他們讓這成爲可能，”荷蘭職業玩家曼紐爾·斯亨克黑曾(Manuel Schenkhuizen)說。“其他國家花了數年時間追趕，到現在，也一直在努力模仿他們的一些成功模式。”

The prowess of the country's e-sports players is a point of national pride. Recently there has even been hand-wringing about Samsung White's not winning dominantly enough in an earlier round of the championship tournament, when it lost one of four games to Team SoloMid, a North American team.

韓國電子體育選手技藝高超，舉國爲之驕傲。最近，三星White隊沒能以壓倒性的優勢在較早的一輪比賽中取勝，而是輸掉了四場比賽中的一場，令韓國玩家扼腕嘆息。那一場比賽中取勝的是來自北美的Team SoloMid隊。

Last week, people at one of the many Internet cafes here, known as a PC bang, debated how the League of Legends tournament would conclude. One ninth grader, Han Song-wook, said he had followed the rise of Samsung White for two years, in part because of the team's aggressive play and creative, bold moves.

首爾有很多網吧，上週在其中一家網吧裏，玩家都在討論英雄聯盟錦標賽會出現什麼結果。初三學生韓頌旭（Han Song-wook，音譯）表示，他過去兩年一直追隨三星White隊，看着他們慢慢崛起，部分原因是該隊打法積極強硬，行動大膽，有創造力。

"Even back then I saw they had potential," he said. "Their moves were great."

“當時我就覺得他們有潛力，”他說。“他們的行動太棒了。”

Though gamers and industry insiders have different theories about how e-sports became so popular in South Korea, nearly all versions start in the late 1990s.

雖然遊戲玩家和業內人士對電子體育在韓國如此受歡迎的發展歷程有不同的看法，但是幾乎所有人都表示，電子體育始於上世紀90年代末期。

At the time, in response to the Asian financial crisis, the South Korean government focused on telecommunications and Internet infrastructure. By 2000, a vibrant community of gamers emerged, largely thanks to PC bangs that used the new connections. The clubs acted as a sort of neighborhood basketball court where gamers could test their skills.

當時，爲了應對亞洲金融危機，韓國政府開始注重發展電信及互聯網基礎設施。到2000年的時候，出現了一個活躍的遊戲玩家羣體，這在很大程度上歸功於依靠新的網絡連接產生的網吧。網吧就像是社區中的籃球場，每個玩家可以在那裏一試身手。

The government also became involved, creating the Korean E-Sports Association to manage e-sports. Cheap television stations took off as well, a result of the new infrastructure, and it was only natural that one, then more, would focus on e-sports.

政府也參與其中，成立了韓國電子競技協會（Korean E-Sports Association，簡稱KeSPA），負責電子競技體育的管理工作。隨着新基礎設施的建成，運營成本低廉的電視臺也開始流行起來。自然而然地，越來越的電視臺開始關注電子體育。

About a decade ago, companies began to see the promise in sponsoring e-sports stars. Before long the companies, like Samsung, the giant technology company, and CJ Games, one of Korea's most successful game developers, were sponsoring teams that lived in communal houses and trained 12 hours a day.

大約十年前，企業看到了資助電子體育明星的前景。不久之後，技術巨頭三星，以及韓國最成功的遊戲開發商CJ Games等公司，開始爲一些戰隊提供資助，他們過着集體生活，每天訓練12個小時。

That professionalism has spread outside Korea, with sponsors putting together training houses for gamers in recent years in the West. Still, few players take the games as seriously as those in South Korea.

這種專業化的趨勢擴大到了韓國之外，最近幾年，西方國家也有贊助商開始出資建立遊戲玩家培訓機構。不過，幾乎沒人像韓國玩家那樣，把電子遊戲看得那麼認真。

In part that may be because of the perks of stardom that surround top players here. One of the players on CJ Entus, a team sponsored by CJ Games that came in second in the League of Legends world championship in 2012, recalled how a female fan followed him to competitions for two years taking photos. She ultimately sent him an album of all the shots she had taken.

其中的一個原因，可能是頂級玩家在韓國擁有的明星光環。CJ Entus是由CJ Games贊助的戰隊，在2012年的英雄聯盟世錦賽上取得了第二名。CJ Entus的一名玩家回憶說，一名女粉絲曾連續兩年追隨他的比賽，爲他拍照。她最後送了他一本相冊，裏面是她拍攝的所有照片。

"That was nice," said the blushing player, who goes by the on-screen handle Shy.

“那感覺很好，”這名玩家紅着臉說道。他的網名叫做“Shy”（“害羞”）。

Still, the life of an e-sports star is not all glamour. Players must practice relentlessly, spending their days in front of a screen. While the coach of CJ Entus, Kang Hyun-jong, said he tried to encourage players to enjoy themselves, the real goal was clear.

不過，“電子體育”明星的生活也不總是那麼刺激。玩家們必須日復一日地坐在屏幕前，堅持不懈地練習。CJ Entus的教練康鉉中（Kang Hyun-jong，音譯）說，他試圖鼓勵玩家去享受自己，但真正的目標非常清楚。

"The best way for players to enjoy themselves is to know how to win," he said.

“玩家樂在其中的最好辦法，就是知道如何獲勝，”他說。

But the monomania of gamers here has also led to concerns about addiction and the potential harm caused by spending too much time playing games. Occasionally, news articles report on a gamer's dying of exhaustion in a PC bang after playing for days without rest. A law requires the clubs to force children under 18 to leave after 10 p.m.

但韓國遊戲玩家的狂熱也引發了關於網癮以及長期玩遊戲的潛在危害的擔憂。遊戲玩家爲了玩遊戲數日不休導致猝死的報道不時會出現在媒體上。韓國的法律規定，晚上10點後，俱樂部必須要求18歲以下的青少年離開。

Jun Byung-hun, a South Korean National Assembly member and the head of the country's e-sports governance body, KeSPA, said there was still a lot of ignorance from older generations about video gaming. He had pushed for moderation in the drive to regulate gaming.

韓國國會議員、KeSPA會長田炳憲(Jun Byung-hun)說，年齡較大的人仍然對電子遊戲極其缺乏瞭解。在對遊戲行業進行監管的過程中，他強調幹預要適度。

"In Korea, games are the barometer of the generation gap," he said in an interview. Parents view games as distractions from studying, he said, while children see them as an important part of their social existence. Mr. Jun is promoting new educational guidelines that encourage schools to warn students about addiction, while also helping parents better understand gaming.

“在韓國，遊戲是代溝的縮影，”他接受採訪時說。家長們認爲遊戲分散了孩子學習的精力，他說，而孩子們則將遊戲看做社交存在的重要部分。田炳憲正在推廣新的教育指導方針，讓學校提醒學生不要癡迷於遊戲，同時幫助家長們更好地瞭解遊戲。

"The best way to avoid addiction is for families to play games together," he said.

“避免遊戲成癮的最好方法，就是全家一起玩，”他說。