Original Author: E-sports ecology_Pijie(电竞生态_皮杰)
Translator: GLH
(This article was originally posted on Blog at 2nd Feb 2019)
On 1st January, 2017, before the start of the WGL Warcraft 3 finals, Guo Zixiang (Newbee.eer0, ID: 120) had a little secret.
Before the finals, 120 went to profess his love to his current girlfriend, and the girl replied:”Let’s talk about this after the games.”
With a score of 3-2, 120 caught a mistake of Lyn and won his first major championship. When he returned to his seat, he was anxious to know the answer. In retrospect, he was somewhat uninterested in that victory.
“I won the championship, doesn’t it mean that she will promise?”
After the final, 120 rushed to find her, but the girl directly rejected him.
“If I reject him directly, it may affect his status, so I said that let’s about it after the finals.”
In the interview during the day, 120’s girlfriend sat silently beside him. She also ordered a drink and said to 120: “I have half the contribution to this championship, right?”
120 nod.
I am playing in a tournament!
120 will get up at 07:15 every day. After washing, he will ride to the company, which is 8 o’clock exactly.
“Ready to work.” 120 laughed.
He majored in computer at university and now he is mainly working as a programmer. During the work, he will do some very basic program work, and after work, 120 has another job to do.
He usually arrives at home at 18:30. After taking a shower, he will start streaming at 19:00 on time and stream until 24:00.
Every day, his life is carried out in such a standardized operation, in an orderly manner, and no link can be deviated.
The work during the day makes him feel tired, so he has to take a bath every time after work to cheer up himself. In order to avoid affecting the state of streaming, 120 never eats dinner.
Since childhood 120 is a very independent person: he is living independently, economic independence, and this led him to develop the habit of making daily plans for himself and strictly enforce it.
When 120 was in middle school, he began to like to play Warcraft III. After that, when he was in the university, he practiced a lot every day, and he often practicing all night long. In order not to affect the rest of the roommates, he can only mute the training.
“At that time, my classmates were playing League of Legends and I was playing.” 120 said, “I don’t want to play.” And his classmates would say, “If you don’t play, please let me use your computer.” So 120 would answer them: “I am playing in a tournament!”
Painstaking practice made 120 having a good result, before that, he thought he had no talent. We must know that, after 120 started to play this game, 120 had been playing the game agaisnt “Computer” for two years, to make him familiar with the basic micro. Until he was in the university, he began to play on various platforms. If he lost one, he would like to add that person as friend, and he would use the same tactic to play with the same person for a whole day.
“The amount of practice I did at that time was definitely much more than the current young players, until finally there was a feeling of realization.”
The diligent and persistent 120 became famous in 2015, WCA. He actually defeated the WFZ, who was in good state at the time, and advanced to the offline tournament as the third place in the China Regional Qualifier. After the game, his strategy became famous as well, fast tech and Crypt Fiend in Undead Mirror.
“At the time, Undead Mirror was popular with DK leveling, but I paid more attention to the collection of items, so I used this tactic. I paid attention to the items and resources on the map, and I used heroes as the core to fight. When I defeated him (WFZ), I play like this in all Undead Mirror.”
This was one of the few offline tournaments that 120 played, compared with his opponent, he was too young. From 2015 to 2017, although his was rising on world ranking, but his state was fluctuating, and he had never really proved himself.
“In those few years, the tournaments were pretty few, and there was almost no offline tournament,” 120 said. “Because I was still in college, so I didn’t think too much. I planned to plan for the future after graduation.”
In fact, between 2015 and 2017, many Korean players retired or served in military service, and European, American players disappeared too. The ranking of Chinese ranking was almost equal to the world ranking. So, when 120 defeated WFZ, who is one of the top in Chinese ranking, 120 definitely had the strength to get the championship, he was just waiting for an opportunity.
Until 2017, after 120 won the WGL championship, people finally removed the label of “Warcraft Newplayer”. In the middle of this, perhaps only he knows how many failures he had experienced in playing Warcraft III for nearly ten years and participating in the tournaments for five to six years.
I am not a Newbie.
Compared with other “young” esports games, War3 players are generally older. Many players have been married and have children, but they are still active in professional competitions and have achieved good results. 120 believes that the characteristics of this game, it does not depend on your age.
“Warcraft III also has players born after 2000, but they have not made a name for themselves. Even players born in 1997 and 1998 have basically no great achievements. Old players can choose not to play, but it is difficult for new players to play without opponents. Come out, do you understand?” Eer0 is eager to express, with his hands on the strokes. “The old players are active and the new players are too few. The main reason is that there are too few people playing this game. And Warcraft III doesn’t matter with age, it is not a game that depends on reaction only, this game requires more from your strategy.”
120 is already 24 years old, he may have no advantage in many e-sports games that rely on reaction and speed. However, in Warcraft, it is a golden age, he is recognized as “the player with the best state maintaining” in China. Unfortunately, there are very few Warcraft players in China who having same age with him.
In the past ten years, the game had stopped updating once, and the lack of events, the difficulty of getting started with the game, has become the reason for blocking young people from contacting Warcraft III. During 2014 to 2017, there was a big gap in Warcraft, the new players were not appearing when the “middle-aged” players such as 120, Colourful, and Life are about to play.
In 2018, Warcraft once again got the update. After that, Blizzard announced that the Warcraft III: Reforged will be launched in 2019, which has brought a new turn to the entire Warcraft III industry.
“Maybe Blizzard’s staff woke up…” 120 stared with his small eyes.
This update has excited many Warcraft III players, and many people even think: “The patches update is good, I can accept it regardless of whether it is relatively balanced.
In 2018, Warcraft’s event has increased again, this making 120 again have a desire to fight. His stream followers are gradually increasing, and the prize money from the tournaments plus the income from streaming has already exceeded his salary during the daytime. For many e-sports new players, especially 120, who just graduated from college and faced pressure from their lives, they have more choices.
“When a new player has a fixed income and can ensure that there is no worry in life, the result will gradually increase. Maybe the old players are still winning games, but in the next six months, everyone may have a chance.”
Shortly before accepting our interview, 120 just joined the Team Newbee, and when we asked about the new plan for 2019, 120 said he was preparing for the team league and he might resign the programmer’s work.
120 was excited when he was talking about the 2019 Warcraft’s multiple contests and the offline team leagues that had been closed for many years. Unlike the players who have fought in many e-sports tournaments such as WCG and ESWC in the past, 120 has not caught up with that era since his debut. The games he participated in are more play with online.
He said that he is looking forward to live with other players, even the days of training together in the team. “I think Colorful is the same.” 120 knows very well about his friends. “Because this is not just a game, it is the first time we can experience the life of an e-sports professional.”
For the team league, 120 is very confident in the lineup of his team, Newbee (120, Lyn, Lawliet): “We have won the championship, how do other teams fight against us?!”
He laughed and was beaten by his girlfriend next to him.
My dream is too big, Do you still want me to say?
When 120 was streaming, he found that although Warcraft III has become less famous in recent years, this game still has a group of loyal fans. “Not only people who used to play, who don’t play now, but also some other players. A lot of them started their e- sport career with Warcraft III. Although they have transformed Dota or StarCraft 2, they are all concerned about Warcraft.”
After winning the 2017 WGL Championship, 120 received a blessing message from a friend who hasn’t seen it for a long time, and he has been away from War3 for many years.
During these years, too many friends around 120 have stopped playing Warcraft III. At that time, those dream-seeking people who had been passionate and ambitions have now become process directors, civil servants, some of others have gone to stocks and earned a lot of money. There is only 120 continues his Warcraft career, of course, he will become a programmer during the day and continue his work.
Although it was hard, when he recalled the time of playing War3, 120 never regretted, he said, “Because it made me know a lot of friends, including my current girlfriend, I have a great harvest and it is worth.”
In 2019, he wants to play more Warcraft III’s games, win more games, be a pure professional player.
Every time we interview an e-sports player, we will finally ask: “What is your dream?”
“My dream is too big, Do you still want me to say?”
120 is a little embarrassed. He turned his head and looked at his girlfriend, and his girlfriend’s face looks red.
He said that he wants to buy a house in Beijing, he can at least pay a down payment, he wants to live there with his girlfriend in the future.
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