CRI听力:With esports developing, esports commentary becomes occupation

In recent years, e-sports has become a rapidly growing industry that is driving growth and change in other industries, and creating some new occupations. E-sports commentary is one of them.

Fan Yibin has done what many of us dream of doing – turning a hobby into a career. The e-sports enthusiast has become an e-sports commentator.

"Many people now play mobile games. Playing games is part of people's entertainment in daily life. The work of e-sports commentary has many parts, and you need to accumulate your knowledge little by little. You can improve yourself through the job."

Professional commentary helps to make the games more engaging for the watching audiences. Li Weiran is a college student in Beijing. He hopes to become an e-sports commentator, because for him, it's not just a hobby, but also a job that's at the frontier of technology."

"E-sports are based on technology such as Virtual Reality. What's more, it can combine well with games, and with technological progress. The commentator can share their experiences of playing the games, and they can make more friends this way. And it is possible for you to develop your interest into a job that can make you a living."

Playing e-sports was once considered nothing but much of a "game addiction" by the general public. But now, e-sports management is developing in several countries, and the industry is increasingly developing the same sort of strict requirement as you'd expect from a regular sporting code.

For example, in 2003, e-sports was officially recognized by China as a sport. In August this year, China's e-sports team took part in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and won the world's attention with its outstanding performance.

The number of e-sports players in China will reach an estimated 430 million this year. The e-sports market has been valued at around 12.5 billion U.S. dollars this year, which marks an increase of 41 percent over last year.

However, some e-sports industry insiders think that China's e-sports talent development system is still underdeveloped, due to the industry's infancy.

Dong Can is a senior e-sports commentator.

"The history of the e-sports industry in China is only about ten years. Where should we go to find coaches when we do training? Who is qualified to train us? And on the other hand, many parents can accept their 7 or 8 year-old child training as a gymnast, but it seems like no parents can accept that their children start e-sports training when they're 7 or 8 years old."

Some universities in China have launched majors related to e-sports as they start to explore e-sports education. For example, Sichuan University of Media and Communications has set up a college of international games and e-sports, and offers majors such as "game creativity and production," and "e-sports management." And it has e-sports commentary courses for students majoring in broadcasting.