Taiwanese online gamers made the nation proud with a recent slew of outstanding achievements.
Among them is the Flash Wolves’ Chen Wei-lin (陳威霖), who on Monday last week won this year’s Hearthstone World Championship in Amsterdam, as well as Tseng Chia-chen (曾家鎮), who, following Lin Chia-hung’s (林家弘) success last year in Las Vegas, on Saturday won The King of Fighters XIV competition at the Evolution Championship Series in Tokyo.
In November last year, Taiwanese professional e-sports team SMG took first place in the Arena of Valor International Championships for the multiplayer online battle arena game.
Chen’s win also prompted a tweet from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who wrote: “The world championship is the best reward for his painstaking efforts. Congrats, Wei-lin, congrats also to my friends the Flash Wolves e-sports team.”
However, Tsai was criticized by netizens for latching on to Chen’s achievement, posting comments such as “[only] winners are her [Tsai’s] friends.”
Such reactions are understandable, as the nation’s officials and politicians — who did little to help the gamers succeed — often only associate their names with players after they win international competitions.
To be fair, the government deserves acknowledgment for passing amendments to the Sports Industry Development Act (運動產業發展條例) on Nov. 7 last year that formally recognized digital gaming as a sport and qualified it for subsidies. Taiwanese e-sports players also approved of the government’s efforts in improving the professional gaming environment by relaxing military service requirements for affected players.
However, if politicians and officials genuinely care for players who compete for the nation’s glory, there is more they can do to support them before they succeed.
The e-sports industry is a global trend and many have expressed hope that with the passage of the sports act amendment, the industry could become more globally competitive.
For example, promoting the culture of e-sports from the grassroots level is crucial in building a better environment to nourish potential talent, as the nation’s e-sports teams are at a disadvantage due to the comparatively small pool of players, as industry expert Chang Yu (張宇) has said.
Instead of leaving players to struggle financially, the government should offer more subsidies as a show of support and to incentivize the pursuit of excellence. It should also invest resources in training programs, software development, event promotion and peripheral hardware, such as building e-sports arenas that conform to international competition standards. Lastly, it should draw up blueprints to create a friendly environment for players after retirement.
Instead of only offering congratulatory words after players’ hard-earned victories, the government should do more to foster the growth of the domestic e-sports industry, so that the next time a Taiwanese player shines at a world tournament, the government will not be taunted for trying to gain credit for others’ fame.
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