The only full-time esports psychological counselor in China: esports players are not internet addicted teenagers, and the Hangzhou Asian Games have given birth to new professional clubs | psychology | esports

At the Hangzhou Esports and Entertainment Town, the reporter met Liu Tongyu, a psychological counselor at the LGD Esports Club. She is a post-95s woman who worked for only three years after graduating with a master's degree. However, she has become the only full-time esports psychological counselor in China who has signed a long-term contract with the club. The opening of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games is approaching, and from early observations, e-sports can be considered one of the most anticipated competition events of this year's Asian Games. The esports industry has gradually become an indispensable force in the economic field. While it promotes new consumption, it has also spawned a number of emerging job positions, among which esports psychological counselors are one.

enter a profession

After returning to China in 2020, by chance, Liu Tongyu was offered a job opportunity by the LGD esports club. For many years, LGD has been promoting the construction of a professional club system, and the general manager of the club, Pan Fei, is confident that psychological counseling can help esports players improve their competitive state. When she joined LGD, it happened to be the playoff stage of Honor of Kings. Liu Tongyu, who was still in the probationary period, helped the team achieve its best results since its establishment, and thus became a full-time esports psychological counselor for the club. Things are far from as simple as they are now. Liu Tongyu still remembers three years ago when he first joined the team as the team leader, it was difficult to have a job exhibition. "These players don't like psychology, nor do they like teachers." Moreover, for these children in their twenties and adolescence, the worse their condition, the less they are willing to talk. For example, if Liu Tongyu talks to a team member, the team members will say "the psychological teacher has come to chat with you", which will undoubtedly make the team members very resistant and say "I'm not sick, you can find someone else". Some team members may also think "it's amazing that you have studied for a master's degree" or "coming to show off your excellence and feeling better". To quickly integrate into the team, Liu Tongyu's strategy is to appear as a supporter rather than a mentor. On the one hand, Liu Tongyu ensures to participate in the daily training and review of team members six days a week, watching for approximately 2.5 hours every day; On the other hand, engage in 30 minutes of communication with each team member every week to dispel everyone's aversion and mutual teasing towards psychological counseling. In addition, unlike temporary psychological counselors who solve problems, Liu Tongyu is also slowly helping team members solve issues related to love, interpersonal relationships, and teamwork. Can esports psychological counselors turn a stone into gold by solving the integration problem? Unlike general psychological counseling, the core goal of Liu Tongyu's work is to help team members perform at their best on the field. At the beginning of this year's King of Glory Spring Tournament, Liu Tongyu, who was watching on site, found it difficult for her team to win the first game of several matches. She analyzed that the lack of arousal from everyone was the reason. At her suggestion, the team members would do some warm-up games such as holding balloons back to back and getting up before the competition to achieve excitement. This small change resulted in the team achieving an 80% win rate in the first game of the following dozen games, laying the foundation for winning in a five game three win format.

Correct name

Before entering the game club, Liu Tongyu did not enjoy playing games. After entering the club, it also gave her a new understanding of the esports industry. "Esports players are not teenagers who are addicted to games," she said, observing the team for a long time. Esports needs to be renamed, and these players are very talented in esports, and have a strong sense of honor and self actualization pursuit. As the conversation turned, Liu Tongyu talked about the daily esports routine she saw. As a professional esports player, in addition to about 10 hours of game training every day, she also had to undergo rounds of review. It was common to practice until 2am. In her view, games are a means for them to self actualize, rather than a tool to escape reality and pursue temporary pleasure, which is also the biggest difference from being addicted to games. Professional esports is cruel. In recent years, as the age limit for participating in esports has been raised to 18 years old, the professional golden period for esports players has become shorter.

industry

In recent years, many cities have also focused on the esports industry. In May 2019, Shanghai proposed to strive to build itself into the "Global Esports Capital" within 3 to 5 years. In 2020, it hosted the annual League of Legends Global Finals, and through global live streaming, the total number of spectators reached 900 million. Nowadays, esports events have become the second largest event in Shanghai after marathon events. Meanwhile, cities such as Nanjing and Suzhou in the Yangtze River Delta are actively building esports brands and vigorously developing the esports industry. In addition to the attention of the local government, the Communication University of China, Shanghai Sport University, Shanghai Theater College and other universities have set up e-sports related majors to train managers of the e-sports industry chain. There are also full-time colleges, Internet giants and e-sports clubs that have derived educational institutions to participate in the training of professional e-sports players. The development prospects of the esports industry are broad, and some shortcomings also need to be addressed. Esports counselor is a new profession that sports counselors have migrated to the esports industry. In Liu Tongyu's view, its importance to esports players is no less than that of physical trainers to traditional sports events. Nowadays, the psychological counselors of domestic esports clubs are mostly part-time by coaches, which undoubtedly makes the work of coaches more complicated. The addition of professional psychological counselors can reduce coach pressure, improve training quality, and more scientifically exercise player psychology, making competition results more guaranteed, and even extending the professional life of players. "After professionalization, it actually saves more money." Liu Tongyu calculated an economic account. If coaches are asked to pay attention to the state of their players in and out of the game, there is no doubt that they have high requirements for coaches. The cost of hiring an excellent all-around coach is higher than that of a coach and a psychological counselor who perform their respective duties.