Esports in the Asia-Pacific: Ecosystem, Communities, and Identities (Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies) 9819937957, 9789819937950

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PALGRAVE SERIES IN ASIA AND PACIFIC STUDIES

Esports in the Asia-Pacific Ecosystem, Communities, and Identities Edited by Filippo Gilardi · Paul Martin

Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies

Honorary Editor May Tan-Mullins, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, China

Series Editor Filippo Gilardi , University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, China

Editorial Board Melissa Shani Brown, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany Adam Knee, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, Singapore Gianluigi Negro, University of Siena, Siena, Italy Andrea Stˇrelcová, MPIWG, Berlin, Germany

The Asia and Pacific regions, with a population of nearly three billion people, are of critical importance to global observers, academics, and citizenry due to their rising influence in the global political economy as well as traditional and nontraditional security issues. Any changes to the domestic and regional political, social, economic, and environmental systems will inevitably have great impacts on global security and governance structures. At the same time, Asia and the Pacific have also emerged as a globally influential, trend-setting force in a range of cultural arenas. The remit of this book series is broadly defined, in terms of topics and academic disciplines. We invite research monographs on a wide range of topics focused on Asia and the Pacific. In addition, the series is also interested in manuscripts pertaining to pedagogies and research methods, for both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Published by Palgrave Macmillan, in collaboration with the Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies, UNNC. NOW INDEXED ON SCOPUS!

Filippo Gilardi · Paul Martin Editors

Esports in the Asia-Pacific Ecosystem, Communities, and Identities

Editors Filippo Gilardi University of Nottingham Ningbo China Ningbo, China

Paul Martin University of Nottingham Ningbo China Ningbo, China

ISSN 2662-7922 ISSN 2662-7930 (electronic) Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies ISBN 978-981-99-3795-0 ISBN 978-981-99-3796-7 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023, corrected publication 2023 Chapters “Introduction to Esports in the Asia-Pacific” and “Conclusions to Esports in the Asia–Pacific” are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). For further details see license information in the chapters. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: Blue Jean Images/Alamy Stock Photo This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Contents

Introduction to Esports in the Asia-Pacific Filippo Gilardi and Paul Martin

1

Ecosystem Bottom-Up and Top-Down Tensions: Comparing the Australian and Singaporean Esports Ecosystems Mark R. Johnson and J. Patrick Williams

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In the Wake of Digital Games: A Glance at the Emergence of Esports in Vietnam Phan Quang Anh

39

Fighting Corruption in Esports. Towards Good Governance in Light of Integrity, Transparency and Neutrality Tsubasa Shinohara

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Communities The Management of Professional Esports Teams on League of Legends in Vietnam Florian Lefebvre and Pham Vu Thang

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CONTENTS

Love in Imagination: A Comparative Analysis Between Chinese K-pop Fans and Esports Fans Regarding Their Parasocial Interaction and Relationship Towards the Virtual Idol Group K/DA Yixiang Que Labor Migration to League of Legends Pro League: Confronting Local Fandom Communities Yelin Zhao and Hao Luo

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Identities “What They Love About Sports Is What I Love About Esports”: How Esports Factors into Australian National Identity David Jian-Jia Cumming Clutch or Gay: Experiences of Gaymers in Valorant Philippines Angelo James Ferrer Esperanzate and Augustus Ceasar Destura Latosa ‘Watching Our Men Playing for the Nation’: Esports LPL’s Hierarchical, Gendered, and Mainstremeist ‘All-Chinese Team’ Fandom in China Lan Ge and Zhen Troy Chen

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Conclusions to Esports in the Asia–Pacific Filippo Gilardi and Paul Martin

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Correction to: Esports in the Asia-Pacific Filippo Gilardi and Paul Martin

C1

Bibliography

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Index

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Notes on Contributors

Filippo Gilardi is an Associate Professor in Creative Industries and Transmedia and currently the Head of the School of International Communications and the Co-Director of the Institute of Asia and Pacific Studies (IAPS) at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. His research interests focus on media convergence, copyright protection, the development of global digital platforms, and audience studies. Paul Martin is an Associate Professor in Digital Media and Communications in the School of International Communications at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. He conducts research on computer games and computer game culture, focusing on three main areas: game cultures, games and meaning; and game studies as an academic field. He is a founder member of the Chinese Digital Games Research Association (CDiGRA) and currently serves as its president. Phan Quang Anh is currently Lecturer in Cultural and Creative Industries at the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU-SIS). Before joining VNU-SIS, he was Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Zurich (UZH), Switzerland. He obtained his Ph.D. in Communications and New Media from the National University of Singapore (NUS), and his Master’s in Cultural and Critical Studies from the University of Westminster (WMIN), United Kingdom. His research interests include Media Studies, Game Studies, and Southeast Asian Studies with a particular focus on Vietnam. His

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publications could be found in Creative Industries Journal, Heliyon, Sage Open, Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences. International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, Asia Pacific Social Science Review, among others. Zhen Troy Chen Ph.D. (Nottingham), FHEA, Senior Lecturer in Media, City, University of London. His research interests include digital media and advertising, cultural and creative industries, and cultural and media policy. He is the author of China’s music industry unplugged: Business models, copyright and social entrepreneurship in the online platform economy. His research appeared in Journal of Consumer Culture, International Journal of Cultural Policy, Ethics and Information Technology, Social Semiotics, Asian Journal of Women’s Studies, Feminist Review, SAGE Research Methods, Journal of Chinese Sociology, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, and Global Media and China. David Jian-Jia Cumming is Senior Lecturer: Media Practice Ethnography at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne’s HumanComputer Interaction group, where he researched how esports fans construct authentic experiences of esports spectatorship. He was also previously Course Director for Esports at Staffordshire University London. His recent esports-related publications can be found in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography and Global Esports: Transformation of Cultural Perceptions of Esports (ed. Dal Yong Jin). His broader research interests revolve around ethnographic methods and the intersections between digital games, media, identity, and cultural practices. Angelo James Ferrer Esperanzate is a registered nurse and a candidate for his Master of Arts degree in Communication from the Far Eastern University in Manila. He has been working in sexual and reproductive health since 2010 and has focused on the advocacies of HIV awareness and LGBTQIA+ rights. A theater actor and a visual artist, his goal is to use his scholastic pursuits to bridge the gap between key populations and holistic health behavioral change through community theater and the arts to ensure that programs and policies embody the spirit of ‘nothing about us without us’. Lan Ge holds a B.A. degree in international communications from the University of Nottingham. She is currently a research student studying communication science at the University of Amsterdam. Her research

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interests include political communication, propaganda and discourse, cultural studies, and game studies. Mark R. Johnson is Lecturer in Digital Cultures in the Department of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on live streaming and Twitch.tv, esports, game consumption and production, and gamification and gamblification. He has published in journals including ‘Information, Communication and Society’, ‘New Media and Society’, ‘Media, Culture and Society’, ‘Convergence’, and ‘Games and Culture’. Outside academia he is also an independent game designer best known for the roguelike game ‘Ultima Ratio Regum’, and a regular games blogger and podcaster. Augustus Ceasar Destura Latosa earned his doctorate degree in Communications and New Media from the National University of Singapore where he worked on his trailblazing dissertation titled “To be poor is to be killed” in the drug war in the Philippines: A culture-centered view of crisis communication from below. He earned both his Master’s degree in Speech Communication and Bachelor’s degree in English Studies from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Currently, Dr. Latosa is a lecturer of Communication at the undergraduate level and graduate school of Far Eastern University-Manila. He is a published book writer, a consistent recipient of excellence awards in teaching both in local universities and at the National University of Singapore, and an academic and researcher interested in crisis communication, social change, rhetoric, and gender studies. Recently, he was awarded the Journal of Gender Studies’ Sheila Cunnison Prize for his co-authored paper titled “Locked down queer love: Intimate queer relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic”. Florian Lefebvre is currently an associate researcher at the University Rouen Normandie and University Paris Saclay as well as visiting Lecturer in esports management at the University of Economics and Business, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU-UEB). He obtained his Ph.D. in sports and esports management at the Faculty of Sports Sciences of the University Paris Saclay. His research interests include the development of esports strategies within sporting organizations such as professional football clubs, Olympic actors, and motorsports with a particular focus on Europe and Asia. His first academic publication could be found in European Sport Management Quarterly.

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Hao Luo is an independent researcher with a specialty in esports in East Asia. He has a strong interest in League of Legends and is committed to reviewing emerging gaming technologies. Yixiang Que is a Ph.D. candidate at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He finished his master’s degree in Media and Creative Industries and a research master’s degree in Sociology of Culture, Media, and the Arts. His research interests were inspired by his love for digital games, including console games, mobile games, and esports games. He is particularly passionate about ideologies and values implemented in games, and how these elements are internalized by gamers. Moreover, his research interests also lie in traditional and modern cultural elements hybridized in games, and how gamers’ cultural proximity and distance to such cultures play a role in their cultural appreciation of game content. Tsubasa Shinohara obtained a Ph.D. in Law and a Master of Law from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) and a Master of Law and Bachelor of Law from the Meiji University (Japan). His main research interest is international human rights law, especially ‘sports/esports and human rights’. He currently works at the Swiss Esports Federation (SESF) as Human Rights Officer with his project on human rights protection in the Swiss esports community, which is the first initiative for human rights protection in a whole esports society. Pham Vu Thang is Associate Dean of the School of Business Administration, the University of Economics and Business, Vietnam National University Hanoi. He obtained a Ph.D.from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, the UK in 2007. His research interest is on sports business and management including the esports area. J. Patrick Williams is Associate Professor of Sociology at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His primary areas of research are culture and identity, wherein he splits his time between the study of subcultural identity and authenticity on the one hand, and digital-related experiences and identities on the other. He has authored and edited several books about culture, identity, and/or games, including Gaming as Culture: Essays in Social Reality, Identity and Experience in Fantasy Games (2006), Subcultural Theory: Traditions and Concepts (2011), and Studies on the Social Construction of Identity and Authenticity (2020). His current research focuses on digital literacies and expertise, DIY cultures, and identity.

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Yelin Zhao is an art historian specializing in the European art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her work contemplates the conditions of creative practices through the lens of Marxist and feminist theories. Having taught art history and creative art students at the University of Leeds and the University of Central Lancashire, she has developed an extensive interest in contemporary visual cultures and creative industries, with a focus on critical theorizations of less visible and peripheral labor.

List of Figures

In the Wake of Digital Games: A Glance at the Emergence of Esports in Vietnam Fig. 1

The esports value chain in Vietnam

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The Management of Professional Esports Teams on League of Legends in Vietnam Fig. 1

Teams classified according to earnings and lifetime as a team

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Labor Migration to League of Legends Pro League: Confronting Local Fandom Communities Fig. 1

Evolution of LoL leagues in Southeast Asia

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‘Watching Our Men Playing for the Nation’: Esports LPL’s Hierarchical, Gendered, and Mainstremeist ‘All-Chinese Team’ Fandom in China Fig. 1

The pyramid structure of LPL fan-circle

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List of Tables

The Management of Professional Esports Teams on League of Legends in Vietnam Table 1 Table 2 Table 3

Breakdown of interviewees Nvivo coding—sporting duties of Vietnamese LOL esports team managers Exploratory model of the management of esports teams on LOL in Vietnam

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Love in Imagination: A Comparative Analysis Between Chinese K-pop Fans and Esports Fans Regarding Their Parasocial Interaction and Relationship Towards the Virtual Idol Group K/DA Table 1

Coding table for thematic analysis

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Clutch or Gay: Experiences of Gaymers in Valorant Philippines Table 1

Communication strategies identified in Co-Cultural Theory

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Introduction to Esports in the Asia-Pacific Filippo Gilardi

and Paul Martin

Over the last two decades, the Asia-Pacific region1 has been central to the growth and development of esports. Much has already been written about the importance of Korea in the formalization of esports in the late 1990s, from the foundation of the first Korean esports league in 1998, to the establishment of the Korean Esports Association in 2000 and the first World Cyber Games in Seoul a year later (Jin and Chee 2008; Jin 2010). 1 There is significant variation in how the Asia-Pacific is defined (Dent and Dosch 2012). In some contexts, it refers to the entire Pacific rim, including East Asia, Oceania, and the Pacific coast of North and South America. In other contexts, it is confined to East Asia. Sometimes, the region includes the Indian subcontinent, sometimes not. Given

The original version of this chapter was revised: The chapter has been changed from non-open access to open access and the copyright holder has been updated. The correction to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_12 F. Gilardi (B) · P. Martin University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, China e-mail: [email protected] P. Martin e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2023, corrected publication 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_1

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Such initiatives gave esports a national platform and government recognition in Korea at a time when it was still a niche hobby in the rest of the world. In 2002, the Chinese government also recognized esports, making it the country’s 99th official sport, and broadcast esports documentaries and tournaments on state-owned television stations (Lu 2016). Today, the region remains a major esports site, with Jakarta hosting an exhibition esports tournament as part of the 2018 Asian games (Etchells 2018), and Hangzhou set to host the first medalling esports Olympic event as part of the 2022 (then postponed to 2023) Asian games (The 19th Asian Games 2021). The Asia-Pacific is also a huge esports market. According to several commercial data analysts, Asia is the fastest-growing esports sector in the world and in 2021 it “generated a combined revenue of $634.3 million […], growing 16.6% over the previous year” (Niko Partners 2022). The size of the Asian population plays a key role in both the number of spectators and the number of esports athletes from the region: “According to Juniper, 50% of the over 1 billion esports and games viewers in 2025 will be from the Asia Pacific region” (Campe 2021). These dizzying numbers must be taken with a note of caution. As K. T. Wong (2023) points out, such hyping of the future potential of the Asia-Pacific (and, for Wong, Southeast Asia in particular) as an everexpanding gaming market is as much about myth-building as it is about rigorous market research. But the myth of the Asia-Pacific as both the progenitor of modern esports and the site of its future expansion is a powerful one that has implications for how both esports and the region are conceived in the public imagination. According to this discourse, the region not only contains the already-established esports havens of Korea and China, but also contains places “destined to become a powerhouse of esports […], comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan” (cnn.com 2019). Whether we take such prognostications at face-value or treat them as myths that construct the Asia-Pacific as a particular sort of gaming region, it behoves scholars interested in esports’ past, present and future to reckon with how esports is developing in this part of the world.

the nature of esports and the sorts of international cooperation it involves in the form of leagues, labour movements, server technology and regulatory associations, our call for papers requested work focusing on East Asia, Oceania and India. The current volume contains chapters that touch on the aspects of esports across this region, reporting research on and across North-East Asia (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan), South-East Asia (Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines), and Oceania (Australia).

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Overview of Existing Literature And scholars are indeed increasingly focusing on esports in the AsiaPacific. In their systematic review of esports literature up to 2018, Reitman et al. (2020, 32) claimed that esports research was still “in its nascency”, though had already produced scholarship in multiple fields. They identified several key issues that this scholarship has focused on. Business researchers have been mainly interested in why people engage with esports and how it is marketed to audiences. Sports scientists have discussed whether esports is indeed a sport, by what criteria such a question could be answered, and how esports players behave in competition. Cognitive science and informatics have both been interested in questions of player performance, with the former focusing on cognitive and behavioural differences between high-level esports competitors and “ordinary” players and the latter often focusing on team dynamics. Legal scholars have identified copyright and intellectual property as key to examining the range of legal and governance issues facing the development of esports. Media studies have been particularly interested in how audiences engage with esports through various forms of media, most recently livestreaming. And lastly, sociologists have primarily focused on identity, with a particular interest in issues around gender. Some of these research streams bracket regional context. For example, much work in cognitive science, while acknowledging the potential impact of cultural context on its results, does not explicitly address how cognitive or behavioural characteristics might vary across cultures (e.g. Huang et al. 2017). However, Reitman et al. (2020) do identify some region-specific esports studies. They report Szablewicz’s (2011) study, for example, which discusses how esports figures in the discourse around game addiction in China, and Stein and Scholz’s (2016) examination of the establishment of a European esports league. And there are other regional discussions of esports not captured in this review. Of specific interest to this volume are Jin’s (2010) discussion of the development of esports in South Korea as part of his monograph on Korean gaming, and some of the essays in Hjorth and Chan’s (2009) collection on gaming in the Asia-Pacific that make reference to the importance of esports in the region. However, Reitman et al.’s (2020) survey does not detect a research stream focusing specifically on the global nature of esports or regional differences. Perhaps had it been written today, it would. Since 2018,

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regional studies of esports have proliferated in several of the fields identified by Reitman et al., and many of these focus on the Asia-Pacific at macro-, meso- and micro-levels.

The Macro-level: Esports Ecosystems in the Asia-Pacific Recent work on how esports has developed in Asia-Pacific contexts has taken in aspects of governance, law and the role of game developers. For example, Abubakar et al. (2021) detail the development of esports in Indonesia, providing results that argue for the importance of local and national government support, game developer involvement and mass media coverage in the development of a healthy esports ecosystem. Achmad and Kusumastuti (2020) also analyze the development of the Indonesian esports industry. They describe it as a nascent and turbulent environment and discuss the strategic requirements of businesses in this industry. Sung and Umar (2020) discuss esports in Indonesia in terms of governance and law, arguing that the current tax system is inadequate to the esports industry. They advance several recommendations for revising the tax code to enable taxation of esports activities, including streaming. Noor and Abd Aziz (2020) also focus on legal issues, but in Malaysia, discussing how existing copyright and broadcasting frameworks impact the development of Malaysian esports. Zhao and Lin (2021) focus on the more mature Chinese esports industry, analyzing the interaction between Tencent and the Chinese state in developing the esports industry in mainland China. Yu (2018) takes a similar approach, seeing a somewhat stable alliance between government and major commercial ventures such as Tencent and Alibaba as key to the success of esports in China. Ismangil and Fung (2021) similarly focus on China, arguing for the potential for China to become the dominant country for esports in the near future, but also identifying significant challenges—the isolation of its community, lack of game exports and government regulation—to achieving this. Another important element of the big picture development of esports involves how esports is represented in society more broadly. The media plays an important role here. Cumming (2021) examines how esports is reported in the mainstream Australian media, arguing that the mainstream media is one key way in which esports is discursively constructed at a national level. Martin and Song (2021) similarly investigate how

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esports is discursively constructed, with their focus being on how game companies such as Tencent, Perfect World and NetEase frame Chinese college esports in terms that attract participants while avoiding state censure. Similarly, Hou et al. (2020) discuss how Chinese media represents esports, identifying a general trend towards more positive coverage in the 17-year period between 2000 and 2017. Zhou and Wang (2019) detect the same pattern of increasingly positive representations of esports on the Chinese social media platform, Weibo. The normalization of esports is also the topic for McCauley et al. (2020). They see the promotion of esports in Vietnamese cyber cafés as instrumental in publicizing and normalizing esports and computer games more generally in that country.

The Meso-Level: Communities of Players and Audiences At the meso-level, research has investigated specific esports communities within the Asia-Pacific. This has frequently focused on esports players as labour. Zhao and Zhu (2020) argue that labour conditions for Chinese esports players are precarious, and discuss the specific regulation, socioeconomic and cultural conditions in China that exacerbate or alleviate this condition. Lin and Zhao (2020) expand on the cultural aspect of this, identifying a neoliberal discourse among Chinese esports players that emphasizes meritocracy. They argue that this mindset undermines players’ ability to argue for better regulation and labour rights. Importantly, they place this in the Chinese context, where neoliberalism happens in relation to an authoritarian state and official discourses of national rejuvenation. Discussions of player practices in the Asia-Pacific have also been used to examine existing concepts and theories within the literature. Nuangjumnong (2015), for example, tests the universality of theories of leadership by examining leadership orientation among Thai esports players, and Johnson (2016) uses the Japanese genre of danmaku to discuss communities of competitive play that don’t quite fit with existing understanding of esports. In this way, Johnson makes use of a local (Japanese) play practice to expand or complicate our understanding of competitive play communities.

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The Micro-level: Gender in Asia-Pacific Esports At the micro-level, there has been much recent work on identity, particularly on gender, in Asia-Pacific esports. Yusoff and Basri (2021) and Hussain et al. (2021), for example, examine the experiences of female esports players in Malaysia and Pakistan respectively. Both of these studies contribute to our understanding of the role of socialization in opening up (or closing down) esports as a hobby or profession for girls and women in two different Muslim countries in the Asia-Pacific. Their results point both to female experiences outside of the Western context, but also to variability across the Muslim world. Both Cullen (2018) and Choi et al. (2020) discuss gender in relation to the Korean female pro-gamer Geguri. Both articles discuss Geguri’s ambivalent status as a feminist icon who must disavow this status to navigate a misogynistic esports space. The above brief review is necessarily partial, and only catalogues work produced in English. But it serves to demonstrate that recent research on esports in the Asia-Pacific has touched on a variety of important topics. However, there are also clearly gaps in our understanding of this region. Korea and China—due to their size and relative maturity as esports markets—loom large in the research. There is some work coming through on esports in Southeast Asia, but large questions to do with the history and current state of esports in these areas remain unasked, and there is much work to be done on recent development such as the growth of esports in Japan. This special collection extends research beyond the most common Asia-Pacific sites of Korea and China, tracing intra-regional flows across the Asia-Pacific, and reporting research on new topics relevant to the past, present and future of esports in the region. The book provides a view of esports from countries that are currently underrepresented in the literature such as Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam while still integrating chapters looking at more well-researched countries such as China and Korea.

Overview of Chapters The volume is organized into 3 parts: the direct or indirect role that government and official organizations play in the development of esports and its ecosystem; economic, social, cultural and political analysis of

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some of the communities of this ecosystem; and issues faced by particular identities in these communities. We label these sections: Ecosystem, Communities and Identities. The first part outlines the implications of a strong top-down approach, as well as bottom-up practice and shortcomings in official regulations. The second part provides an analysis of the contribution to the industry of professional players and fans and the relationship between them. The final part focuses on nationalism and discrimination based on gender and sexuality, and their correlation in the esports environment. Part I: Ecosystem This part includes three chapters that focus at the macro-level, discussing the development of esports in Australia, Singapore, Vietnam and Japan. All three chapters highlight the importance of considering both top-down and bottom-up factors in the establishment and growth of an esports ecosystem and show how relatively stable factors such as geographical location and national cultural norms can impact the development of esports. Mark Johnson and James Patrick Williams’s chapter Bottom-Up and Top-Down Tensions: Comparing the Australian and Singaporean Esports Ecosystems provides a comparison of two case-studies from Australia and Singapore, sketching out the factors that impact the development of esports in these two countries. They discuss both top-down factors, including regulatory associations, technological capacities and government intervention as well as how a lack of governmental support influences the development of a “bottom-up” approach from player communities and audiences. A lack of support from the government is also the focus of Quang Anh Phan’s chapter In the Wake of Digital Games: A Glance at the Emergence of Esports in Vietnam. Through a review of a series of market analyses, the chapter provides an overview of Vietnam’s esports ecosystem and identifies the need for close collaboration between different stakeholders to develop business opportunities within the industry. The chapter also identifies clear shortcomings in current regulations that fail to prevent cases of corruption involving government officials and industry managers. Tsubasa Shinohara’s chapter, Fighting Corruption in Esports. Towards Good Governance in Light of Integrity, Transparency and Neutrality, is a comparative analysis of different governing bodies and their approach

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to integrity, transparency and neutrality in esports. It is a testament to the importance of esports in Asia-Pacific that several global esports associations are located in this region, and the chapter examines associations located in Japan, Singapore and Korea, as well as one European association. The other chapters in this section identify challenges around the co-ordination of different agencies involved in esports in the region, and this chapter makes recommendations as to how esports can develop frameworks for coordinating responses to corruption and unethical practices. Part II: Communities This part moves the focus of the book into the meso-level of specific communities of actors within the esports ecosystem, reporting research on communities of esports players and fans in Vietnam, Hong Kong and China. Florian Lefebvre and Pham Vu Thang’s chapter The Management of Professional Esports Teams on League of Legends in Vietnam looks at professional esports teams’ managers and their sporting and/or commercial duties. This allows Lefebvre and Vu Thang to identify a series of issues related to esports in Vietnam that go from a lack of recognition by the government and society to an overreliance of teams on sponsorship and a consequent need for teams to diversify their incomes by growing their player’s value for potential transfer. The next chapter switches focus to fan communities. Yixiang Que’s Love in Imagination takes as its case study the Kpop group K/DA, a transmedia musical group composed of characters from the game League of Legends. Que’s focus is on how different constituencies form different sorts of parasocial relationships with the members of this group. Through interviews with fans of the group who are primarily esports fans and those who are primarily Kpop fans, Que demonstrates how people’s membership of distinct fan communities structures how they engage with and respond to the same media texts. The final chapter in this section demonstrates the important connection between esports workers (the focus of Lefebvre and Vu Thang’s chapter), and fans (the focus of Que’s chapter). In this chapter, Labor Migration to League of Legends Pro League: Confronting Local Fandom Communities, Yelin Zhao, and Hao Luo discuss the relationship between player migration and local fan communities. The chapter traces the journey of four League of Legends players from the relatively

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minor leagues of South East Asia to the more successful Chinese League of Legends Pro League. Zhao and Luo demonstrate the challenges facing these players, including language barriers, league and visa regulations and political sensitivities related to nationality. The chapter identifies the importance of streaming to the income of esports players and franchises, and argues that engagement with fans in this context presents a significant challenge for foreign players. This creates a situation where players engage in strategies of individual “resilience” rather than attempting to change the system. Part III: Identities This last part focuses on how esports in the Asia-Pacific relates to issues around identity, particularly nationality, gender and sexuality. Several chapters in previous parts have touched on these topics, but the chapters in this part have an identity as a central focus. Identity is at the centre of David Cumming’s chapter “What They Love About Sports Is What I Love About Esports”: How Esports Factors into Australian National Identity, an exploration of how esports audiences in Australia draw on and adapt existing aspects of Australian sports fandom in the nascent esports culture. Based on ethnographic work in different Australian esports venues, Cumming shows how elements of post-coloniality, race and gender that have become embedded in Australia’s relationship with traditional sport return with a difference in Australian esports consumption. The chapter characterizes esports as a cultural context in which new forms of national identity may be developed, but one in which old forms may also be re-inscribed. Angelo James F. Esperanzate and Augustus Ceasar Destura Latosa’s chapter, Clutch or Gay: Experiences of Gaymers in Valorant Philippines? discusses homophobia in Philippines esports. Focusing on Valorant, the chapter explores how members of the LGBTQIA+ community adopt different communication approaches and strategies when confronted with homophobic abuse during play. Based on a series of interviews with Valorant players, Esperanzate and Latosa find a number of such strategies, including ignoring, confronting the abusers, reporting incidents and sharing experiences on social media. In the final chapter, ‘Watching Our Men Playing for the Nation’: Esports LPL’s Hierarchical, Gendered, and Mainstremeist ‘All-Chinese Team’ Fandom in China, Lan Ge and Troy Chen discuss the highly gendered and hierarchical fandom around Chinese

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League of Legends esports. The chapter takes a multi-methods approach, drawing on autoethnography, interviews and analysis of social media posts to explicate several different levels in this hierarchy and explore the link between game literacy, gender and nationalism that is evident in this fandom. By moving from an analysis of the esports ecosystem to the study of specific communities and identities in the Asia-Pacific region, this edited collection highlights traits of esports that confirm it as a global phenomenon and also allows us to see the diversity of how esports is structured, supported, discussed and experienced in different areas of the region. This move from a macro to a micro-level finally builds a representation of esports with specific characteristics that differentiate the Asia-Pacific region from other parts of the world.

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Etchells, Daniel. 2018. “Schedule for Asian Games Esports Demonstration Event Released.” Inside the Games. https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/106 8577/schedule-for-asian-games-esports-demonstration-eventreleased. Hjorth, Larissa, and Dean Chan, eds. 2009. Gaming Cultures and Place in AsiaPacific. New York: Routledge. Hou, Jue, Xiaoxu Yang, and Elliot Panek. 2020. “How About Playing Games as a Career? The Evolution of e-Sports in the Eyes of Mainstream Media and Public Relations.” International Journal of Sport Communication 13 (1). https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2019-0060. Huang, Jeff, Eddie Yan, Gifford Cheung, Nachiappan Nagappan, and Thomas Zimmermann. 2017. “Master Maker: Understanding Gaming Skill Through Practice and Habit from Gameplay Behavior.” Topics in Cognitive Science 9 (2): 437–66. Hussain, Umer, Bo Yu, George B. Cunningham, and Gregg Bennett. 2021. “‘I Can Be Who I Am When I Play Tekken 7’: E-Sports Women Participants from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.” Games and Culture (March) 15554120211005360. https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211005360. Ismangil, Milan, and Anthony Fung. 2021. “Esports. A Chinese Sport?” In Global Esports: Transformation of Cultural Perceptions of Competitive Gaming, edited by Dal Yong Jin, 60–76. London: Bloomsbury. Jin, Dal Yong. 2010. Korea’s Online Gaming Empire. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Jin, Dal Yong. 2020. “Historiography of Korean Esports: Perspectives on Spectatorship.” International Journal of Communication 14. Jin, Dal Yong, and Florence Chee. 2008. “Age of New Media Empires: A Critical Interpretation of the Korean Online Game Industry.” Games and Culture 3 (1): 38–58. Johnson, Mark. 2016. “Bullet Hell: The Globalized Growth of Danmaku Games and the Digital Culture of High Scores and World Records.” In Transnational Contexts of Culture, Gender, Class, and Colonialism in Play: Video Games in East Asia, edited by Alexis Pulos and S. Austin Lee, 17–42. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Lin, Zhongxuan, and Yupei Zhao. 2020. “Self-Enterprising ESports: Meritocracy, Precarity, and Disposability of ESports Players in China.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 24 (4). https://doi.org/10.1177/136787792 0903437. Lu, Zhouxiang. 2016. “From E-Heroin to E-Sports: The Development of Competitive Gaming in China.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 33 (18): 2186–2206. Martin, Paul, and Wei Song. 2021. “Gaming on Campus: The Promotion of Esports in Chinese Universities.” In Global Esports: Transformation of

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Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

Ecosystem

Bottom-Up and Top-Down Tensions: Comparing the Australian and Singaporean Esports Ecosystems Mark R. Johnson

and J. Patrick Williams

Introduction Scholarship on Asia-Pacific esports has focused almost exclusively on China (e.g. Yu 2018; Lin and Zhao 2020; Zhao and Zhu 2021) and South Korea to date (e.g. McCrea 2009; Jin 2010; Cullen 2018; Jin 2020). Within this context we note that particular attention has been paid to both “top-down” and “bottom-up” pressures and influences on esports practices. In scholarship on China, for example, we see China’s desire for global digital and sporting prominence (Zhao and Lin 2021)

This research was supported in part by a grant from the Singapore Ministry of Education’s Academic Research Fund (grant #RG50/20). M. R. Johnson (B) Department of Media and Communications, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia e-mail: [email protected] J. P. Williams School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_2

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and the state’s fear of the spectre of so-called gaming “addiction” (Lu 2016) both shaping top-down approaches to the subject. At the same time, however, massive communities of committed players desire esports careers (Lin and Zhao 2020) and China-based competitive games are among some of the most well-played in the world in terms of player numbers. South Korea also has its own tensions between top-down and bottom-up factors, such as heavily promoted national sporting practices from the top (Jin 2010) fighting against the numerous and sometimes high-profile cases of burnout, extreme competition and even suicide, among players themselves (Ashcraft 2014). From the existing research, it appears that fruitful understandings of esports dynamics within specific national contexts can be found by considering both top-down and bottom-up perspectives. Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region have however seen relatively little scholarship on their esports contexts. By studying both the top-down and the bottom-up elements of esports practices at the national level in the context of a given country, we may be able to offer a baseline understanding of esports scenes and situations— and the nationally distinct factors that shape them and form them—from which future esports research may proceed. In this chapter we therefore present two Asia-Pacific countries for esports analysis via such a perspective: Australia and Singapore. Each is distinctive and substantially less “mature” in the professionalisation and uptake of esports than either China or Korea (and also far less studied than esports in these two nations), allowing us to examine national esports practices at an early stage of development when actors and cultures are growing in relatively open and dynamic contexts. In particular, we pay attention to these two nations’ histories of technology and gaming, governmental interests or lack thereof, as well as more grassroots organisations and processes, which together constitute the emerging esports “fields” in each nation. In the case of Australia, we consider the relationship between the nation’s parochial attitude to digital game ratings, its sometimes lacklustre internet access, and its reduced games industry after the 2000s financial crisis, as its top-down factors. From the bottom-up perspective, however, we note significant cultures of competitive digital gaming—both play and spectatorship—and the emergence of substantial tournaments in the country. These are situated within the nation’s geographical isolation and its inevitable impacts on internet speed, connectivity, and its appeal as a travel destination, while also noting the emergence of distinctive elements as a result of these very limiting

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factors. In the case of Singapore, we explore various developmental and professionalisation initiatives for the esports industry and esport athletes, noting in particular how different actors seeking to shape the industry may provide strong structural support on the one hand, but problems associated with “too many cooks in the kitchen” on the other. Alongside these macro-level processes, there is also a similarly rich esports scene and culture that supports the development of esports, including informal to formal tournament leagues across a host of platforms (including PC, arcade, and mobile) and titles, as well as grassroots organisations made up of esports enthusiasts and (former) competitive players who are trying to influence the industry in ways that emphasise benefits to both individual and institutional actors. We begin with a short overview of relevant esports literature, particularly bottom-up esports practice—such as player communities, esports cultures, the creation of tacit knowledge and shared references and the like—and top-down esports practice—such as state support, financial investments, esports “associations”, and so forth. We also note esports scholarship on the Asia-Pacific outside of China and Korea and position the chapter within the context. This will give us a good sense of both the important ongoing trends and developments in these areas, and also the direction(s) of scholarship that have been brought to bear on understanding esports. In doing so we hope to present two case studies of esports developments in the Asia-Pacific region that are distinct from the Korean or Chinese cases, exhibit both similarities and differences, and highlight the diversity of competitive and professional gaming practices in this diverse area of the world.

Esports A number of studies have been conducted that shed significant light on what we are calling the “bottom-up” dimensions of esports—those aspects that are generated and maintained through players, cultures, communities, and what has sometimes been termed the “grassroots” (Law and Jarrett 2019). Esports has become an important part of youth culture in many countries (Wagner 2006) with esports players often deriving significant social support from the communities and cultures surrounding their competitive gaming (Freeman and Wohn 2017). These communities can form entirely online but can also be taken offline into in-person

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events and range from the play of esports games to their discussion, analysis, spectatorship and even the creation of fan-made works such as art and fiction. In looking specifically to the social dimensions of esports Seo and Jung (2016, 643) propose a threefold understanding defined by the playing of games, the spectating of games, and governing of what esports “is”. The first and second are certainly essential to understanding the bottom-up elements of esports, but in the third case we would note that as well as the more “formal” aspects of esports governance and infrastructure, there are also informal and bottom-up dimensions whereby players and spectators mutually shape what esports is, what is considered acceptable within esports, and what things are and are not noteworthy in the wider esports context. Through such events and community work esports players and fans have also been instrumental in developing the culture and norms of esports (Johnson and Woodcock 2017). Esports can consequently become an important part of identity formation and management, particularly for young people, and can involve “socialis[ing] about the games, events and communities with which they associate” (Xue et al. 2019, 848). It is often the players and spectators rather than significant bodies or governmental interest that keep games being played and even spectated at a competitive level (Koch et al. 2020), often through volunteering and unpaid labour on the part of a game’s fans. Such spaces are not without their problems when it comes to harassment and toxicity especially of women and minorities (Law 2021), but the overall grassroots interest in esports and the labour put in by its fans is highly significant; has historically been the primary driving force of competitive gaming; and remains highly important in the current era. Research has also explored what we are calling the “top-down” aspects of esports—the parts of esports that are concerned with institutions, governments, states, sponsors, and so forth. As Flegr and Schmidt (2022) suggest research on the “economic, political, legal, and environmental aspects” of esports management are relatively new, but this does not mean that no research has been done in these areas—and certainly does not signify that important movements and contests in these areas are not already well underway. Scholz (2021), for example, draws attention to the significant number of relevant stakeholders that now exist in esports— ranging from professional players, game developers and tournament organisers to hardware providers, investors, and sports organisations— and shows how complex this space has become, but also how many of the actors now relevant do not originate from esports’ grassroots origins.

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There are also questions around broadcasting rights for esports competitions coupled with suggestions that regulatory bodies are required (Chao 2017) to promote esports in the future. In some countries, concerns instead focus around the apparently looming spectre of so-called “gaming addiction”, with China, for example, attempting to walk a line between the economic development and global impact of an esports culture, with the fear of “unproductive” young people at a time of economic slowdown (e.g. Szablewicz 2020). From the top-down there are also significant concerns at present around the possibility of corruption in esports competitions, especially as these competitions become increasingly large in scope and increasingly flush with money (cf. Johnson and Abarbanel 2022). This is not to say such concerns do not exist at the grassroots level, but it is very much from the top that these worries—often couched in terms of rights and responsibilities, or safety for young people—are coming. We should also note the creation of esports organisations or “associations” that have emerged in many countries as a result of “more powerful media and media sport concerns enter[ing] this space and v[ying] for authority” (Witkowski 2022, 3). These are often met with mixed responses from esports fans but have become sometimes powerful actors in the esports ecosystem. The other point worth addressing in this literature review is the observation we made at the start of this chapter that esports research on Asia-Pacific countries has tended to focus on China and Korea. Given the massive numbers of participants (both players and fans) in these countries and the often highly developed degree of governmental or institutional support they also display—especially in the case of the latter—this is not surprising. However, Chinese and Korean esports are not the only esports contexts in the Asia-Pacific region to have been studied. Vietnam has been explored by McCauley et al. (2020a) who describe the country’s cyber-cafes and note the importance of these venues for the construction of esports teams, while Mangeloja (2019) describes how as many as one-third of Vietnamese internet users might be watching gaming tournaments. Ohno (2022) has studied the experiences of Japanese players of battle royale styled esports and competitive games, while Scholz (2019) notes that in the near future the Japanese market seems ideally suited to esports development. Beyond these countries we also note that a doctoral thesis (Ching et al. 2019) has examined esports in Malaysia with a focus on the factors that encourage players to participate in competitive gaming; Seo (2016) discusses New Zealand esports clubs at universities;

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while Dubolazova et al. (2019) consider esports in Russia (rarely thought of as an Asia-Pacific country yet clearly fitting the bill) from a digital economy perspective. There is also some initial scholarship on Australian and Singaporean esports—as we note in their respective sections—but the point here is to emphasise that scholarship on other Asia-Pacific nations, although certainly nascent, is starting to come together. We therefore perceive here a wider acknowledgement and tacit suggestion that such national studies have significant value, and it is from this perspective that we now proceed to our two case studies: Australia, and Singapore.

Australia As Gibbs et al. (2018, 1) note Australia is not often mentioned as a topic in digital gaming communities, but important trends and research directions can be identified. For example, on one level the country and its attitudes or practices of gaming have (unfortunately) become globally noteworthy as a result of its “differential treatment of computer games as compared to other media” (Flew et al. 2020, 9) when it comes to depictions of violence, sexuality, drug use, and so forth. Numerous games available in other countries are banned or more generally hard to access in Australian stores because of paternalistic measures and double standards (Apperley and Golding 2015, 57). This has led to significant backlash from game players in the country and a significant amount of derision online from gamers scornful of such measures, but few changes in this area have recently taken place. Yet gaming is nevertheless ubiquitous in Australia as in any other wealthy industrialised nation, with over 80% of young Australians (15–34) being gamers (Gibbs et al. 2018, 15) and Australians supposedly spending more on games than on music or video (Hinton 2009, 39). The country also has a small but noteworthy history of home-grown titles—most recently perhaps Untitled Goose Game (2019) and Cult of the Lamb (2022)—and a once-significant role in the blockbuster games industry, although this has shrunk significantly in recent years (McCrea 2013). Outdated governmental attitudes towards games in general, combined with a reduced domestic Australian games industry, are important top-down factors to consider in the Australian context. Where other governments have seen the potentials of esports—which are generally though not exclusively framed in economic terms—the Australian state has done little to date

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to strongly encourage and support the practice. This is perhaps particularly interesting given the strong identification of Australia as a sporting nation (Cumming 2021), suggesting that it is the “e” that the Australian state takes issue with. Researchers have however already noted that esports has seen some success in Australia, but has remained limited due to both the country’s “geographical isolation” and its “traditionally lacklustre network infrastructure” (Gibbs et al. 2018, 3). While the majority of Australia’s citizens have easy access to high-speed broadband, the “latency” for online games—which is to say the speed of the connection between a player and the server—can be slightly worse in Australia than many other countries (Gibbs et al. 2018, 5). China and Korea are much closer but there is relatively little overlap in the games enjoyed by the citizens of these countries. Australian internet can also be sometimes unreliable to a slightly greater extent than comparably wealthy or first-world countries, and this contributes further to isolating the country when it comes to competitive gaming. Another geographical factor is the difficulty and expense of getting to esports matches on “LAN”, which is to say a “Local Area Network”. This kind of competition—in person, rather than over the internet—is often considered to be the gold standard for esports and competitive gaming more broadly (cf. McCauley 2020b), but Australia’s geography makes it harder and pricier for aspiring Australian esports players to reach LAN competitions. Kinsley (2014, 370) notes that while it can seem “dull” to “discuss cables, circuits and sensors”, they are nevertheless important elements of infrastructure that offer up (or fail to offer up) a user’s desired online experiences. These interwoven top-down elements—internet infrastructure and geographical location—are obviously things which are hard for esports players to change, yet the former might well be addressed with more targeted and directed investment at the governmental level. These various disadvantages have not completely frustrated aspiring Australian competitive gamers, however. A number of large esports competitions have taken place in Australia which have drawn extra attention to the practice and likely generated additional interest. In this regard it is worth noting Australia’s significant appeal as a travel destination and this cannot be overlooked in understanding Australia’s prospects in the esports domain. Australia already houses a major global gaming convention known as “PAX” (Hardwick 2020; Keogh

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2020), and this and other events—such as large esports tournaments— contribute to bringing non-Australians into Australia for gaming events, as well as supporting domestic interest. There are consequently also a number of emerging esports organisations in Australia—such as the “Australian Esports League”, the “Australian Esports Association”, “XP Esports Australia”, “Oceania eSports” and others—which demonstrate an emerging support for esports stemming from interested parties, although the extent to which this will be welcomed by the grassroots is complex and debatable (Witkowski 2022). Although at present it is hard to say which—if any—of these will emerge as a dominant force in the country, their presence nevertheless shows a degree of activity and productivity taking place. Equally, as Gibbs et al. note (2018, 13), there is a “significant array of esports clubs and societies on university campuses across Australia”. Most higher educational institutions in Australia (as in other countries) have gaming clubs or gaming societies or some equivalent, and some percentage of these have either an explicit “esports society” or something similar. In this regard Gibbs et al. discuss a general acknowledgement that the Australian scene is “small in comparison to the rest of the world” (ibid., 16)—or at least, other wealthy industrialised countries—but that esports fans and competitive gamers in Australia do not see this as something fundamentally preventing the growth of esports in the country. We also note that—despite a lack of top-down interest, but in part thanks to a significant base of bottom-up interest—Australia has produced its fair share of high-level esports players. Website esports earnings which purports to track the relative incomes and tournament earnings of esports players presents a picture of Australian esports players that (at this high level) is surprisingly robust, especially when compared to countries such as the United Kingdom with far larger populations and a greater geographical proximity to the gaming hub of mainland Europe. One interesting dynamic to note, however, is the standard career trajectory of the most successful Australian players. For example, Anathan Pham (Barton 2021)—a Dota 2 player who appears to be by some margin the highest earning Australian esports player to date—had to move to Shanghai in order to pursue an esports career (Gilroy 2017). As a Chinese city Shanghai exists within a local culture of much more intense esports interest; is geographically closer to a major hub of esports (the rest of China) which helps to offset concerns such as latency in online play; and of course, Shanghai itself, as a very outward-facing city that has hosted

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numerous esports events (Yue et al. 2020), has a role to play here as well. Similarly another high-earning esports player from Australia, Damien Saujing, also found success first when moving into a South Korean team, as well as having spent time in a Chinese team (Apduhan 2020). Once again in this case we see a top Australian player cutting their teeth in the Australian and more broadly Oceania scene, but then moving elsewhere into the Chinese or Korean gaming scenes in order to further develop their career. Here we can therefore suggest that Australian esports is at present suffering from something of a brain drain, with many of the most talented players feeling—whether rightly or wrongly—a need to move abroad in order to play in more competitive and more strongly-supported esports scenes. This may obviously have significant repercussions if it continues in Australia, both taking local talent abroad and having knockon effects on the viability of other Australian esports aspirants to play the best players, to exist in a culture that also includes the best players, and so forth. This dynamic is one to pay close attention to in the coming years and is likely to play a significant part in shaping the extent to which Australia does or does not develop a “critical mass” of esports interest and esports talent. Ultimately “Australia”, as Hinton (2009, 54) puts it, “is a nation of gamers”. Despite the challenges of sometimes middling internet infrastructure, geographical distance from the hubs of multiplayer gaming, and parochial ratings systems for game content, the country appears every bit as keen on digital gaming and esports as any other wealthy and industrialised nation. The country certainly faces a number of challenges from the top-down, yet appears to be overcoming a number of these from the bottom-up. From the top-down sometimes middling internet infrastructure across the country, coupled with a general lack of state or local government interest in games (let alone in esports), and the simple fact of the country’s geographical location, all present significant challenges. In turn there is also a self-reinforcing factor to all of this—the fewer esports players there are in a country the harder it is for other esports players to emerge, because top-level players need to be able to play other toplevel players to hone and refine their skills. This is easy in Korea, China, the US or Europe—but much harder in Australia. An Australian esports player—no matter their skill level—will find it hard to play against other top players as readily as those from other geographical regions, and this also contributes to the stagnation of esports play in the country. Just as Australian game developers operate with a set of “economic, policy and

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geographic” (Hinton, 2009, 40) disadvantages, Australian esports players also face an up-hill battle, although not one that is by any means insurmountable. From the bottom-up we do see a push for esports among players and smaller grassroots organisations that is certainly as significant as in other comparable nations. A number of Australian esports players have found significant successes, in some cases to a level that is particularly noteworthy when compared to countries of larger size and more favourable esports conditions, and the widespread interest in esports and competitive gaming from the country’s game players is significant. Australia thus combines a relative lack of interest and an unpromising set of issues from the top, with significant interest and (given the conditions) significant achievement from the bottom—it will therefore be interesting to see where the country’s esports future lies in the coming years.

Singapore When assessing the field of esports in Singapore, we must first acknowledge that “the popularity of video games follows economic growth” (Ng 2001, 152). When the Southeast Asian country was founded in 1965 Singapore was a small and relatively undeveloped island without natural resources, adequate infrastructure or modern employment opportunities. Political leaders set themselves the task of building up the nation and developed a “pragmatic and non-ideological” government in which economic outcomes have taken primacy above other considerations (Tan 2012). This economic focus has had two effects on the growth of esports. Firstly the government has put significant effort into making the nation an attractive site for international investment, including the development of robust information and communication technologies. As a result Singapore now boasts one of the densest and fastest internet and mobile infrastructures in the world (Leong and Lee 2021). The government has also courted digital media and games companies as it seeks to establish itself as a world-class media hub (Infocomm Media Development Authority 2008). This openness towards foreign investment has also ensured that foreign media products, including games from Japan, China, the US and elsewhere, have always been available for local consumption. Secondly and due to the city-state’s small size, the government instilled in its citizens beliefs that hard work and sacrifice on behalf of the nation were instrumental to national survival, becoming ideas that have been fostered through educational policies (Han 2000). As a result many Singaporeans

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accept or embrace the competitive notion of meritocracy not only in education and work but in their leisure practices as well, including gameplay (Williams and Suhaimi 2014). Most recently the government has encouraged citizens of all ages to actively engage with digital technologies in their everyday lives through the SmartNation initiative (SmartNation 2022). Singapore is thus a country with a highly developed digital infrastructure and culture, and a population socialised for hard work and a competitive spirit. Esports, however, has not developed in Singapore as quickly as in other Asian countries such as China or Korea (Jin 2020; Yu 2018). While video games are touted by the Singapore media as boons for the local economy (Tan 2020; Huang 2022) they have also been represented as a risk for individuals—especially young people—because they take time away from supposedly ‘productive’ endeavours. Even today discourses on so-called gaming addiction continue to be highly visible (Wong 2019; Chia and Ang 2022), leading many Singaporeans to be either unknowledgeable or unsupportive of esports-related careers (Jiow et al. 2018). Despite such issues, the esports ecosystem has experienced growth, if slow and unsteady, since early arcade game tournaments in the 1990s (Ng 2001). Part of this slowness and unsteadiness, as suggested by recently interviewed long-time participants in the local esports industry, may be due to “too many cooks in the kitchen”. As esports’ value is increasingly recognised many public and private entities have sought to leverage opportunities within the esports ecosystem for their own reasons. These reasons often do not align, resulting in institutions and organisations sometimes working at cross-purposes to others’. On the economic front, several governmental agencies have become involved in esports. The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) aims to promote the economy by growing jobs, securing investment, and nurturing local enterprises. The government’s economic actors have recognised esports as both a job sector and market and worked to attract international producers and consumers. The Infocomm Media Development Authority has worked with the Economic Development Board to attract top-level international studios, in part to provide opportunities for Singaporean entrepreneurs to gain valuable tutelage and experience before starting their own studios. In 2021 there were more than 220 game development and publishing companies in the country including Riot, Ubisoft and Gerena (Tan 2021), thus building a critical mass of industry resources. MTI initiatives have provided local companies a range

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of financial and non-financial support such as start-up capital and mentorship support through the Startup SG Founder programme (Chan 2019). There has also been economic support for international esports events, including the M2 World Championship (Mobile Legends) and the ONE Esports Singapore Major (DOTA 2) in 2021, both of which succeeded despite major restrictions on movement and travel. This is particularly valuable because Singapore already functions as a major tourist hub in the region. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has increasingly supported and collaborated with various esports players, companies, and events to grow this market, and early collaborations included using professional esports players to promote Singapore as a travel destination (Visit Singapore 2018; n.d.). In 2021, STB supported Garena to organise and host the Free Fire World Series (FFWS) at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre. This tournament had a peak viewership of 5.4 million, making it the highest viewed esports tournament in history (Daniels 2021). Being a fully closed tournament because of Covid-19, the FFWS 2021 provided an opportunity to showcase Singapore’s capabilities and expertise in technology and event management. The STB has subsequently continued to support various major esports events such as the FFWS 2022, ICONS Global Championship 2022, and the 11th Dota 2 International Championship Tournament. These major events will likely be key (along with English being the country’s official language) to Singapore’s emergence as an international esports hub in the coming years (Kwek 2021). There are a number of associations that signpost the trail from a top-down to a bottom-up perspective on the local esports ecosystem. The most macro in scope is the Global Esports Federation (GEF), a non-governmental organisation established in 2019 and headquartered in Singapore. Much like the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) for football/soccer or the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the Olympic games, the GEF seeks to be a global governing body that will “cultivate competition along with developing communities and the connection between sport, esports and technology” (Global Esports Federation 2021). Its national counterpart, the Singapore Esports Association (SGEA) is a member of the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) and the GEF, and the national governing body for esports that manages Singapore’s participation in international competitions. The GEF and SGEA are playing strategic roles in raising the global profile of esports generally and Singapore specifically, for example

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by organising esports qualifying rounds for the biannual Southeast Asian Games, managing athlete selection for the Asian Games, and working with the IOC to host the inaugural Olympic Virtual Sports Festival in 2023 in Singapore (International Olympic Committee 2022). These associations do however focus primarily on cultivating sports excellence to achieve national honours and financial profits. They may be as much if not more focused on opportunity and profitability for a few key stakeholders than on the growth of esports as an ecosystem, but only time will tell. On the grassroots end of the spectrum are individual and collective videogame and esports innovators who are working to build esports from the bottom-up. As space prevents us from looking in-depth at these currently small enterprises such as the Singapore Games Association (SGGA) and Esports Entertainment Asia (EEA), we will focus on one example: the Singapore Cybersports & Online Gaming Association (SCOGA). SCOGA was founded in 2008 and is currently headed by a local gamer whose esports journey started as a teenager when he chanced upon a local gaming tournament, signed up on a whim, and won 1st place. In his telling of it the story highlights the possibilities for (competitive) games to motivate and excite people in everyday life and to lead to passion-filled career opportunities. Now with close to 15 years’ experience in the esports industry SCOGA serves as a fulcrum between the financial and sports excellence orientations mentioned above, and the desire to see young people learn and succeed in life generally through the medium of esports participation. Over the years SCOGA has piloted, developed and managed a number of events and programmes within the esports ecosystem that share a strong emphasis on education and development. Two examples are worth highlighting. The first is Campus Legends, a tournament series established in 2019 that brings together students from local Institutes of Higher Learning to compete across titles that in 2022 included Valorant, Mobile Legends: Bang, and Zwift. More than a tournament, Campus Legends is built off SCOGA’s earlier Campus Game Fest programme to give students the opportunity to learn about careers in esports through workshops on topics such as sports science, events management, shoutcasting, broadcast and production. Campus Legends is predicated on the belief that “esports can have a profound and positive impact on our youths, especially when it comes to shaping identities, building communities and a sense of belonging, [and] develop competencies that…allow them to build viable careers (Singapore Cybersports & Online Gaming Association, n.d.). This belief can also be seen

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in the second example: the Esports Academy Incubator programme. Not only limited to tertiary students, the Incubator offers unique training programmes to anyone interested in an esports-related career in three different areas: high-level performance for athletes and coaches; media and operations for esports event organisers, and social services for social workers and others seeking to use esports to engage young people positively. Two premises behind the Incubator appear evident. The first has to do with esports directly, which is to train young people today to be active workers and leaders in the esports industry of the future. The second is less about esports and more about gamification, that is, to attempt to leverage the fun of games and gameplay to teach a variety of 21st-century and digital literacy skills. SCOGA’s efforts to catalyse learning and industry growth through esports participation appears, therefore, to be a necessary bottom-up strategy in a country where video games are still viewed with suspicion (Williams and Chua 2021). While Singapore’s Ministry of Education (MOE) has made some recent attempts to understand more about esports, the impact that esports have on young people, and how to engage with this demographic via esports (Esports Entertainment Asia 2022), Education Minister Ong Ye Kung commented that Singaporean young people would still benefit more from a broader set of competencies and skills which could then be applied within the esports industry, rather than integrating esports into educational curricula (Ong 2020). However, a group of lecturers at Republic Polytechnic recently managed to instate a specialist diploma in Esports Business and Production. This is a small but important step towards the legitimation of esports-specific teaching and learning (Scott et al. 2021). Further, most tertiary institutions and a small but slowly growing number of secondary schools have formal games and esports clubs or informal interest groups. At the two big residential universities—National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University—students who live on campus regularly create informal tournaments for recreational purposes. Finally, we note that community centres and clubs (CCs) are providing space for community engagement with esports. Singapore is organised into Community Development Council Districts, which are essentially the grassroots political arms of the ruling People’s Action Party. Within these districts CCs each serve an average of 15,000 households and are important venues for local events and activities. Esports competitions and tournaments have been organised by various CCs. They are often

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small-scale events, featuring up to two games held over a one- or twoday period. While these tournaments can be organised as standalone events, they are sometimes held in conjunction with bigger events or celebrations. For example, Heartbeat@Bedok’s 2022 esports tournament (featuring FIFA ‘22 and Formula 1 Grand Prix) was organised in support of the Digital for Life Festival in conjunction with East Coast Digital Festival 2022, while Taman Jurong CC’s Mobile Legends esports tournament in 2022 was held in conjunction with their Youth Day celebrations. Collaborations between different CCs have also occurred, for example in the 2022 Mobile Legends and Valorant competitions held jointly by the Bedok, Changi Simei, and Fengshan CCs. In many instances, the youth network branches of the CCs are tapped to help in tournament organisation. SCOGA and SGGA have visible presences at CC and other community events as they continually seek to popularise and educate families about esports. We therefore see in Singapore a country with a very different esports landscape than Australia, yet one whose esports development remains a complex space—though one where both the top-down actors, and the bottom-up actors, appear to have similar interests.

Conclusion Games scholars in the past decade have paid close attention to esports, producing a diverse and rich set of analyses of its players, communities, practices, histories and dynamics. When it comes to understanding different developments and processes of esports across different countries, however, we noted at the start of this chapter that such analyses tend to either address top-down or bottom-up factors. Examples of top-down factors in the Asia-Pacific context would include the strong governmental and institutional buy-in we see in South Korean esports (particularly the StarCraft games), or the Chinese government’s keenness to promote domestic esports players on the global stage as a form of soft power. Examples of bottom-up factors in the Asia-Pacific context would include the dedication we see in esports players and competitive gamers in countries without a significant pre-existing culture in this area, and the promotional and organisational efforts of these gamers to organise local tournaments in countries like both Australia and Singapore. Both present interesting examples of esports development in Asia-Pacific nations outside of South Korea and China. What we note is that any nation’s esports activities must be understood within particular legal,

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economic, cultural, geographical and social frames, and that far from the sweeping generalisations about esports that tend to dominate popular commentary on the topic, it is these in-depth, empirical specificities that provide useful data for understanding esports. To conclude, we want to draw attention to what is perhaps the most important distinction we see between the Australian and the Singaporean cases: the distinct natures of top-down interests in the two countries. Both are wealthy and industrialised countries with widespread high-speed internet access and extensive gaming cultures and communities, both within the country and—via the internet—spreading regionally and globally. Yet these two countries display very different degrees of top-down interest in esports, and very different constellations of factors, actors, and elements that shape that interest. In Australia, we see relatively little topdown interest and a number of top-down problems, such as a country with historically little governmental support of gaming, outdated rating systems, and internet access which (by the standards of global northern countries) is far from ideal. Despite some standout Australian players, a strong gaming culture within the country and a growing independent games sector, we see a relative absence of interest from major actors in the country. In Singapore, on the other hand, we see how the government’s historically strong focus on economic pragmatism, combined with the widespread culture of kiasu-ism (惊 输, which refers to selfish attitudes that arise from people’s fear of missing out on opportunities), has resulted in a plethora of high-level institutions and institutional actors jockeying into positions that will (supposedly) provide rewards once esports begins to reach its full potential as a spectator sport. As a Singaporean esports insider lamented to us, “there’s no concerted effort… like a particular whole-government conversation [about esports]. It’s not always the most conducive environment to try and figure out solutions, especially if you put twenty different people representing different [interests] at the table [and] everyone’s got a different agenda…. These things don’t usually turn out very well” [interview, June 2022]. While Australia’s esports industry may suffer from a lack of topdown interest, Singapore’s example suggests that too much top-down interest without a shared vision or framework may not be all that much better. What is therefore apparent is that the Asia-Pacific is a region rife with esports interest among fans and common trends of bottom-up interest and gamer labour and commitment, but widely differing topdown approaches to how esports might be fostered (and to whether

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esports even should be fostered). This is an important dynamic to keep in mind for assessing the present state of the region in regard to esports, but also highlights what we might expect to see in the future as well: different nations developing very different esports scenes and the esports experiences across nations remaining highly diverse and distinctive, despite the global reach of competitive gaming. What is clear though is that in Australia and Singapore, perhaps like in other peripheral esports scenes in the Asia-Pacific region, there are plenty of esports players, fans, amateurs and professionals. The interest and the talent are there, but the potential futures of competitive gaming in these nations remains far from decided.

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In the Wake of Digital Games: A Glance at the Emergence of Esports in Vietnam Phan Quang Anh

Introduction The Southeast Asian Games 31 (SEA Games 31) took place in Vietnam from May 12 to May 23, 2022, finishing with Vietnam as the top-ranked team. The SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving the participation of all eleven Southeast Asian nations. The initial rationale to host such a major sports event was that a series of regional sports tournaments would act as a medium for soft power and would thus help promote cooperation, create mutual understanding, and tighten diplomatic relations between nations in Southeast Asia. The original intention resonates in the theme of the SEA Games 31. The theme “Let’s Shine” hoped to convey a message of solidarity, resilience, and sustainability, perhaps particularly necessary during a global pandemic. After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the in-person event dazzled Vietnamese audiences, who had endured almost two years of restrictions

P. Q. Anh (B) Department of Cultural and Creative Industries, School of Interdisciplinary Studies (VNU-SIS), Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_3

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on live events and travel. Although this was the second time that Vietnam had hosted the SEA Games, the excitement was intensified by the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in early 2022. While the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in 2021 showed empty stands, SEA Games 31 held 526 events in 40 selected sports, witnessed by thousands of local and international spectators, and a significant number of television viewers (Niko Partners 2022). A feature that made SEA Games 31 different was the inclusion of esports as a medal event. The SEA Games 30, hosted in the Philippines in 2020, had also featured esports with six medals contested. Indeed, esports was included as a demonstration sport at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia. However, the presence of competitive digital games for the second time in a row at the SEA Games suggests that the role of esports in the SEA Games had been cemented. Its presence also reflects this youthful region’s acknowledgment of esports as sport, and thus reveals a welcoming attitude toward vibrant gamers cum athletes and shows the aspiration to build a mainstream esports landscape. According to a report by Tencent and Newzoo (2021), esports in Southeast Asia is ready to take off. Over the last decades, esports has flourished in Asia–Pacific in general and in Vietnam particularly. This has led to the emergence of novel and innovative business models, and the provision of new career opportunities, while at the same time, generating unforeseen challenges to the process of media and events governance as seen from the state’s perspective. Online gaming began in Vietnam with the introduction of the internet in 1997. Esports boomed throughout the 2000s, but the term ‘esports’ was not used until later. The esports community in Vietnam was established in the 2000s with early games such as StarCraft , Counter-Strike 1.1, and Age of Empires . The early history was characterized by the spontaneous formation of teams, low-quality hardware and connection, and limited amateur tournaments. After two decades of development, an ecosystem consisting of esports athletes and teams, leagues and tournaments, media outlets, event organizers, and sponsors has emerged. According to a joint report by Vero and Decision Lab (2021), almost one-third (32.8 million) of the Vietnamese population have played an esports-labeled game. Appota (2019a) found that from a pool of 4Gnetwork users that exceeded 51 million, one out of two smartphone users played esports games on their device. Given this popularity, digital sports are thus likely to reach spectator numbers that many classic sports do not. Because of this, esports, similar to its predecessor, video gaming, has

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transformed from a subculture to the mainstream; and the Vietnamese market has become an attractive arena for the esports industry since it has one of the youngest populations in Southeast Asia and had the highest proportion of adult gamers in the world by 2020 (Vero and Decision Lab 2021). This extraordinary growth in interest has also made esports gradually more economically relevant. In just 20 years, digital sports have developed into a market that is worth billions. The once privately organized Local Area Network (LAN) parties with prize pools that were under $50 have become international tournaments with millions in prize money. This is notwithstanding the value of the industry itself, which generates income through sponsorships and advertisements, tickets and merchandise, and media rights. Scholz (2019) found that the development of esports has been selforganizing and should be dissected under the lens of business rather than the type of conventional governance found in traditional physical and intellectual sports. He added that the absence of a standardized governance structure, the mismatch of traditional business rules, in addition to the young audience, the global approach, and the digitized environment, have led to the idea that an observation of the esports history from unconventional viewpoints is crucial. The case of esports in Vietnam is analogous to the situation of Scandinavian countries in the sense that the emergence of this amusement type yet competitive digital sport could be seen as the result of a transition from hobby-ism to serious entrepreneurship, whereby the foundation and the maintenance of its successful status quo rely on the people whose history was closely linked to video games as players then businessmen, and even state officers. Vietnam is in the top 27 in the world in terms of game revenues (Newzoo 2017a); and boasts 18 million esports competitors (among 40 million game players in the domestic market) according to Vietnam Recreational and Electronic Sport Association (VIRESA) (2021). The growth of the online gaming industry in Vietnam, its digital gaming culture, and the emergence of e-competitions are still scarcely documented. The usual gaming story in Asia–Pacific seems to surround the major names in the global market, namely East Asian countries, while Southeast Asian countries have not been paid adequate attention, although this region in general and Vietnam in particular are the fastest-growing market globally. The dogmatic East–West axis applied in researching gaming culture has divided the globe into two, focusing either on Western countries or East Asian nations, presenting a partial image of

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how digital games and/or esports have transformed (Phan 2021). The inclusion of Global South countries with Vietnam as a representative would suggest that the rise of esports is universal, and the participation of under-researched markets would add new patterns that help build an eclectic view of the matter. Therefore, this chapter aims to map the rise and the management of esports in Vietnam by examining the emergence of the new digital entertainment industry, and in particular, aspects of the Vietnamese esports ecosystem including the state, publishers, games, teams, news and media outlets, event organizers, talent agencies, and audience. This research employs a qualitative approach with data collected via documentary review and interviews. The findings are drafted based on an analysis of reports on esports in Vietnam released by Newzoo, Niko Partners, VIRESA, Appota, and Decision Lab, for example. These reports are market analyses of Asia, East Asia, or Southeast Asia and cover a broad range of topics, including trends, finance, human resources, law and regulations, or marketing; 5-year forecasts of market expansion and financial status of such markets; or white papers that provide readers with an overview of a specific market. Access to these reports was granted free of charge after registration to each organization’s newsfeed. The findings of this chapter contain the results of interviews conducted with esports experts in Vietnam. Leaders, managers, and officers of the official organization in charge of governing esports in Vietnam and the coach of the national esports team were approached with the expectation that they would offer insider opinions.

The Esports Ecosystem in Vietnam Esports are team-based video game competitions that take place in a professional league or tournament setup. However, in contrast to conventional sports, the esports ecosystem is both more complex and multidimensional, with its stakeholders divided into a number of segments. In its White paper of 2021, YCP Solidiance summarizes five main components of an esports ecosystem. This concurs with The Esports Observer (2020), a Germany-based journal that offers unfiltered and independent information about activities related to competitive gaming. According to these two sources, the esports ecosystem consists of five different entities. Game Publishers can be understood as the creators of a video game. However, as an esports feature, publishers provide frequent updates to

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include new game components to enhance playing experience and, as a result, the commonly used techniques in professional gaming. Riot Games, Blizzard Entertainment, and Epic Games are examples of these game publishers. League Organizers, as the name implies, organize the primary event for the game’s professional-tier players. Top leagues are frequently aired live, and therefore significant efforts are made to build complex facilities and hire skilled broadcast personnel to offer competitive play-by-play and improve the entire watching experience. To have more control over the material being produced, several esports games’ producers have expanded to include hosting marquee competitions, as Riot Games has. Professional teams that compete in leagues are known as esports organizations. For example, Cloud9, an American gaming business, includes 16 separate professional teams and was valued at $350 million as of 2020. Broadcasters oversee the popularizing process of esports activities. Whereas television is the primary medium for most sports broadcasts, esports viewing is largely done online on livestreaming services—the home sweet home of their digital—native audience. Twitch, owned by Amazon, and YouTube, owned by Google, are two of the most popular platforms, and both have tailored their watching experiences to such esports events. They are the major broadcasters for numerous esports games and have even obtained exclusive distribution partnerships. The last one, Advertisers provide the primary income source for the aforementioned stakeholders. They are located outside of the operational interactions yet are the lynchpin of the whole ecosystem. Because of the large audience, businesses seek media value via affiliation with esports organizations or through airtime commercials, similar to conventional sports competitions. From an academic perspective, Scholz (2019) provides a concise summary of the present state of knowledge on the esports sector from the point of view of strategic management. Scholz offered an early categorization of esports stakeholders and the structure of a so-called esports ecosystem. He observes that the esports sector should be considered an interconnected network in which stakeholders maintain mutual relation´ ships in order to grow. Sliwa and Krzos (2020) comment that by using the stakeholder theory that helps identify and characterize the esports industry’s stakeholders, Scholz proposes a new taxonomy, dividing stakeholders into two groups. The first group includes stakeholders directly involved in the value chain, such as game developers, tournament organizers, professional players and teams, infrastructure and service providers,

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and community; while the second features those who serve as the environment in which the key stakeholders operate and have an indirect influence on. These include governing bodies, sports organizations, sponsors, the public, investors, entrepreneurs, and the media, among others. In addition, Scholz (2019) provides a detailed outline of governance methods and business models that have been seen in the esports industry. They conclude with a prognosis of the sector’s future roadmap. Scholz is exclusively concerned with the economic and commercial components of the esports ecosystem, although it seems as if he also considers the social and ecological dimensions. He contends that many esports organizations adhere to the business narrative, and thus operate as business entities. This is because there is a dearth of governmental regulation in the industry and because there is no legitimate option for non-profit business models. Despite this, not all esports organizations operate in accordance with commercialism. For example, organizations such as international and national esports associations are not business-driven but interested instead in the sustainability of the esports ecosystem at the ´ and international and national levels. Peng et al. (2020), as well as Sliwa Krzos (2020) agree that Scholz’s adoption of a commercial viewpoint has several shortcomings, one of which is that players are seen merely as a stakeholder to be monetized, with little thought given to the potential problems players may have. If Scholz offers a relevant starting point for the consideration of the esports ecosystem as a network, the exclusion of non-profit-driven actors and the subsequent social dimensions necessitates less reliance on a business approach and highlights the need to embrace governance of the entire esports network. This is because Scholz does not include non-profit-driven actors and subsequent social dimensions in his model. Scholz (2019) also suggests that the center of the esports ecosystem is the players, which might be true in the case of Western markets, but it does not seem to be the case in the Asian context. Peng et al. (2020) use the concept of network governance to guide their research, finding that publishers have absolute power in the esports industry simply because they possess ownership of games. Peng et al. (2020) suggest that publishers establish governing structures through license agreements, which are then used to guarantee that stakeholders, such as tournament organizers, comply with the publishers’ interests. As such, a network emerges with publishers as the most influential group of organizations. Karhulahti (2017) indicates that gaming companies, as executive owners,

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reserve the right to literally (re)write the rules of their game, supply the essential technology, and ultimately decide on the playability of the sport. The idea of multiple stakeholders is also discussed by other authors, such as Witkowski and Manning (2019), who seemingly dissect the esports system under a more realistic lens. They assert that player, community, software, developer, publisher, franchise, platform, and context are often multiple and simultaneously involved in solidifying a playing career that is built on the basis of a network. The player in this model also stands at the center as “… players are deeply aware of their expert playing value, their role in co-creation and their social force as their expertise and capital develops across specific networked platforms and publics ” (Witkowski and Manning 2019, 957). Excellence in playing and competing is maintained, with serious players able to manage their professional status and networked career sustainably. Discipline does matter, and this entails burden and pressure. At least players within this system are aware of their power. Witkowski and Manning (2019) also find that inside the network, there are auxiliary supports including the coach and former players, that are salient in the co-creation process of playing and streaming. These seem to be neglected in other models. These human factors would bring into the field maturity and knowledge that may not be beneficial to those who are competing but could help orient young early-career players. This orientation may be helpful as newcomers do not always know how to deal with the media, brands, and publishers. The esports value chain in Vietnam follows the idea proposed by Peng et al. (2020) as game publishers set the rules for the market. Based on the VIRESA White Paper (2021), I offer an adapted version of the esports ecosystem in Vietnam depicted as follows in Fig. 1. As can be seen, the majority of the money that enters the esports economy comes from fans and companies in the form of transactions including in-game purchases, the sale of items and tickets, fan contributions, sponsorships, and advertising. These revenue streams reach the teams, players, and broadcasters, as well as contribute to the organization of events and competitions, advertising, and talent bookings. Nevertheless, in an expanding market such as Vietnam, publishers and organizers are also putting their own money into the process of organizing tournaments and supporting local esports communities. The most important components of the esports value chain are tournaments and leagues, which are supported financially by companies, media outlets, and publishers. The size of the prize pools is the most accurate measure of

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Fig. 1 The esports value chain in Vietnam

the scope of the event’s corporate sponsorships. The concept of talent agencies is relatively new to the esports industry in Vietnam. These agencies play the role of intermediaries, connecting advertisers, event organizers, and media outlets with the community of streamers. The streamers improve publicity for tournaments and improve the visibility of businesses; elite streamers like ViruSs, Nam Blue, or Chim Se Di Nang are capable of reaching more than a million followers on their own. In the following chapter, the emphasis is on the publishers, the teams, the audience, and the parents, in addition to the community.

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Publishers The core human factor of this value chain is undoubtedly the publishers since they are not only responsible for keeping games operational but also making financial contributions to help develop a sustainable esports ecosystem and stimulate the growth of professional esports and a supportive community. At the moment, there are approximately twenty game publishers working in Vietnam. However, there are only four prominent publishers who actively operate in the field of esports: Garena, VNG, VTC Game, and Gamota. It is worth noting that before 2015, the slot currently owned by Gamota was reserved for FPT, a well-known informatics business in Vietnam (Phan 2019). FPT joined the online gaming industry in Vietnam when video games and competitive gaming were still in their infancy, rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the leading units due to its solid background as an IT giant. Nonetheless, the rigors of the market in addition to cheating scandals forced the games department of FPT to shut down in late 2014, setting the conditions for the rise of other ambitious start-ups, with Gamota successful in seizing the mantle. Garena should be considered one of the main companies that helped pave the way for the development of esports in Vietnam. Since entering the market in 2009, the Singaporean company has brought a number of well-known electronic sports titles to Vietnam, including Blade & Soul (2016), League of Legends (2012), FIFA Online 3 (2013), and Arena of Valor (2016). The firm is one of the most active publishers in terms of arranging esports events and communities and is responsible for the development of games such as League of Legends and FIFA Online 3, which are now considered to be the cornerstones of Vietnam’s esports sector. Its leagues, such as the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS), draw large numbers of spectators and serve as a foundation for Vietnamese professional esports teams to compete in international venues. VNG is the first start-up company in Vietnam that seemingly meets every condition to reach “unicorn” status, with a net worth of over $1 billion and was also the first online game publisher operating in the market. The company saw success among Vietnamese gamers with famous online game titles such as The Swordman in 2005, which had over 20 million players, as well as other casual online games that became a large part of the childhood of Vietnamese millennials. The publisher also quickly became interested in esports and brought major mobile

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esports titles to Vietnam, such as CrossFire Legends Mobile and Mobile Legends , in addition to two popular battle royale games that are currently trending: Rules of Survival and PlayerUnknown’s Battleground. These have been encouraging steps toward the emergence of mobile games in Vietnam, and it is likely that in the not-too-distant future, Vietnam’s mobile esports scene will benefit from them. However, the involvement of Chinese investors in VNG is not seen as entirely positive. The giant Tencent Holdings of China has partly revealed its involvement in the Vietnamese market, owning 30.2% of the equity interest of VNG. The presence of Tencent in a leading Vietnamese game company prompted VNG to announce officially that they are Vietnamese owned and operated. Indeed, Vietnamese law does not allow foreign investors to own more than 49% of equity interest (VNG 2012). Since disputes over sovereignty between China and Vietnam have been a long-standing issue, and with anti-Chinese sentiments increasing, the presence of Chinese investors in one of the leading gaming companies has become sensitive. VTC Gaming, which also entered the market at the beginning of 2006, is considered to be one of the four foundations of Vietnam’s thriving online game sector. The publisher introduced several arcade, shooter, and MMORPG game types to the market for video games in Vietnam. The Audition Online series and Phi Doi are two of the more noteworthy examples. In the realm of esports, the company has made significant investments in first-person shooter games such as the well-known CrossFire, organizing major leagues with prize pools of up to 500 million Vietnamese Dong for its CrossFire Elite League and 2 billion Vietnamese Dong for several titles in the Vietnam Pro League 2017 . In 2018, the publisher invested less in esports competitions than in prior years and did not arrange as many competitions. This was a result of a scandal that involved the organization and operation of an online gambling chain with a cash flow of more than $400 million, the largest betting ring in the history of Vietnam, and with the involvement of the former Head of the Ministry of Public Security’s cyber-crime division Nguyen Thanh Hoa, the former CEO of VTC Online Phan Sao Nam, and Lieutenant General Phan Van Vinh, the former Chief of General Department of Police. The three were arrested for colluding with other criminals in running an online gambling ring via the portal RikVip (Do 2018). This scandal was considered a direct challenge to the reputation of the government and the stability of communism due to the presence of high-ranking police officers in the leading team of the betting ring. That led to several critical issues.

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First, the downfall of the officers (who were also high-tier members of the Communist Party) could trigger a loss of faith in the leadership of the Party, especially when this leadership had been challenged after many cases of corruption discovered in the last two decades. Faith in the Party has also declined due to a perceived lack of decisiveness in the dispute over sovereignty with China. Issues involving the morality of a high-ranked officer would intensify this tension. Secondly, the scandal also revealed that the government has not managed the online game industry efficiently, allowing a criminal ring to break the law for years without being discovered. Third, it also damaged the image of VTC to some extent, given that the company was behind game titles that built the online gaming industry in Vietnam, including Audition Online, FIFA Online, and Ace Online. Finally, although this gambling ring was more about casino games, its collapse triggered a crackdown on online gambling systems in Vietnam since 2018. Many companies did not reveal the extent to which they were hosting casino games and indeed were involved in operating esports betting rings. Because of their popularity, Age of Empires , League of Legends, and CS: GO can easily be found on betting sites where the value of annual transactions could reach $50 million (Pham 2020). This came to light after a betting ring on Age of Empires was found in 2020. Other betting sites with offshore servers are outside of Vietnam’s jurisdiction and are likely to push the figure far higher. Gambling is undoubtedly an issue that could harm the emergence of esports in Vietnam. Gaming has been well known in the past in Vietnam as associated with crime and scandal, rather than as a favorite child of both the state and the press. It is possible therefore that esports gambling could cause the collapse of the gaming industry, due to the negative way it is viewed by the state. Gamota is a younger publisher that entered the market in 2012, and over the course of ten years, has been widely recognized for its online role-playing games that can be played on mobile devices, as well as for its community interactions with over ten million players. Over fifty million people now utilize Appota’s digital entertainment ecosystem, of which Gamota is a component. Gamota introduced the popular mobile MOBA esports game Vainglory to the Vietnamese market in the year 2017. Gamota also conducts esports competitions, notably the Fighting League for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds , and the Vietnam Esports Premier League, co-partnering with Vietnam Television (VTV). In addition to this, Gamota is the owner of the very first gaming

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multi-channel network in Vietnam, which features over one hundred of the country’s most popular game streamers. Another reason to help explain why game publishers should be placed at the center of the ecosystem in Vietnam is that these companies have found a way to extend their influence on official governing organizations. Peng et al. (2020) point out that in several nations, governments themselves have become engaged in the controlling process. The government of South Korea, for example, approved the formation of the Korean e-Sports Association (KeSPA), responsible for the regulation of esports in Korea. Because of this, the KeSPA has jurisdiction rights over the leagues on which they carry out their operations. This includes the right to file criminal charges against individual players or teams for violations of the nation’s criminal legislation. In China, not only has the government acknowledged esports as a legitimate sport, but it has also designated its participants as athletes. Because the Chinese government has the authority to directly govern the esports industry in the country, including governing game publishers and players, the esports ecosystem in China is entirely different from that in other countries. The Vietnamese authority also utilizes the same model with VIRESA as the national body in charge of governing esports activities. Nonetheless, when asked about the role of this organization, a manager of VIRESA who oversees organizing esports events and tournaments for students asserted that: It is seemingly obvious that VIRESA is under the influence of VTC Game and VNG. Of course, it would be unwise to declare that they are the ones who make the decision since there are still other parties, but their voices have weight.

Another manager who serves on the coaching board of the national team comments that other companies have also recognized this reality, and they have tried to find a way to break this equilibrium: In late 2011, there was a new organization established in Ho Chi Minh City, which is called Ho Chi Minh City’s esports Federation, with Phong Vu and Garena being the leaders. The fact is there, they want to be away from the influencing circle of VIRESA. If they feel comfortable with the governance of VIRESA, why did they need to create a new organization? Since they have been members of VIRESA from the very beginning, they can simply ask to open a representative office in Southern Vietnam, but

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they established an independent entity instead. And they succeeded; that means Garena can also make its voice heard by the authority.

Teams Esports teams may be thought of as their own mini-companies, complete with their own directors, managers, and coaches. In Vietnam, the process of organizing teams is still in its infancy; as a result, there is a dearth of professional organizations in many domains, such as accounting, finance, and resource management, in addition to a shortage of funds and appropriate gaming houses. Although Vietnam currently has more than 40 professional teams, EVOS esports is the only organization that currently has a permanent gaming home where its players may live and practice together. Given the present rate of industry growth, it is quite possible that esports teams in Vietnam will witness an increase in financing in the not-too-distant future. They will be able to become more professionally structured as a result of this, and improve both their mental and physical gaming talents. This, in turn, may increase their credibility with the public and attract a great number of sponsors. Additionally, since there is a shortage of professional gaming infrastructure, there is a possibility for businesses to offer professional gaming house rentals, which may be thought of as a kind of co-working space for gaming. These rentals have begun to surface in European countries, but they are yet to appear in Vietnam. Vietnamese players’ well-being, is perhaps still marginalized, and there is no strong focus on it within the esports industry. Hong (2022), researching the need for a structured support system for esports players, finds that researchers from a variety of fields have examined the physical and mental health of esports players and other industry concerns. Himmelstein et al. (2017), for example, describe the obstacles experienced by esports players. These issues include a lack of self-development, poor team relationships and cohesiveness, offensive actions from fans and other rivals, and inadequate mechanisms to help deal with anxiety. According to Heere (2018), one of the most significant problems with esports is that they do not require players to engage in any kind of physical exercise. Bányai et al. (2019) emphasized mental health, finding that professional players endure high stress during training and competition. This suggests that more research is required into the causes of

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player stress. It remains unclear, however, how other stakeholders within the esports ecosystem respond to complaints of this kind or how they have attempted to address mental and physical health concerns. Huynh Khoa (2021) interviews Doan “Warzone” Van Ngoc Son, a former player that competed professionally in League of Legends for Saigon Jokers and EVOS Esports. Doan comments that the halcyon days of an esports player are from 18 to 23 years old when they still have energy and stamina. However, 25 years old seems to be the threshold for most players since the body cannot endure more after years of sleep deprivation (caused by time used for streaming), intense training, and competition pressure. The issue is, as Doan points out, that the players do not know how to deal with that properly and can only choose between quitting and living with the pain. Researchers including Parry (2018), do not consider esports to be sports. Parry, a prominent sports scholar who persistently calls for esports not to be considered a sport, only examines Olympic sports. An Olympic sport, according to Parry is an activity that is formally sanctioned and consists of a competition of human physical ability. This provision is acceptable because it is not contentious. Nobody disputes the fact that Olympic sports are sports, regardless of what other activities individuals may consider to be sports. Secondly, the basis for the clause derives largely from its normativity. Parry has selected an Olympic view of sport solely because it appears to give some type of the desired picture of what sport is and may become. The conclusion is that electronic sports are not sports because they are not human enough, and they lack direct physicality. Esports fail to employ decisive whole-body control and whole-body skills, and they cannot contribute to the development of the whole human (Parry 2018). Additionally, the patterns of esports’ creation, production, ownership, and promotion place serious constraints on the emergence of the kind of stable and persistent institutions that are characteristic of sports governance. Although there may be some similarities, competitive video games do not meet the criteria to be considered sports (Parry 2020). Because of this, a support system of the kind that is often used in traditional sports may not be appropriate for use in competitive gaming. However, in early 2021, the Olympic Committee announced the Virtual Series, an Olympic digital experience intended to increase direct contact with new audiences in the realm of virtual sports (Bieler 2021). This recognition of esports is a significant step forward for the industry.

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Parry’s contention is important because it could explain why esports players’ well-being has not been paid adequate attention within the industry. Since esports are still seen as a form of entertainment rather than as a competitive sport per se, the investment in educating and strengthening players’ physical and mental health commonly found in traditional sports remains unconsidered. Owners and the coaching board of esports teams, particularly those who were once professional players or casters, engage with managing and instructing on the basis of the transference from hobby-ism to seriousness. Esports managers who were former professional players, remain only amateurs, untrained in team management, and with little awareness of team operations. In this context, the welfare of players is therefore not a high priority. Researchers have suggested that sports organizations and regulating authorities are accountable for enabling players to balance their lives and create wellrounded identities in conventional sports settings (Anderson and Morris 2000). These domains are not confined to traditional sports contexts. The evidence from conventional sports implies that there is a need to study ownership of responsibility to protect the mental and physical health of esports players, as well as to manage and grow their careers. Even if the esports sector has only started to establish these kinds of support systems, there is still much to be learned from conventional sports. In the Vietnamese context, only SBTC Esports has recruited a personal trainer and a counselor to their coaching team. When questioned on players’ well-being, the head coach of the national team also admits that: Not many teams in Vietnam have experts like physical instructors, counselors, or nutritionists in their coaching team. So rare, like you just need one hand to count. And the national teams also face the same situation. I play all three roles, although it is evident that I cannot be such a multitalented. The formation of our national teams follows the mechanism of selecting teams that were crowned in tournaments organized to help choose participants for competition at the international level. That means we must partially rely on the support of the teams’ owners in granting such [well-being] assistance. If they do not have such a system to help their own players, then the national team must roll with the punches. Time is constrained, and finance does not allow us to make any moves.

In terms of macro-governance, the manager of VIRESA adds:

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We thought about that, but for the moment, we do not have a specific department or person that is responsible for such matters. Finance, of course, is one of the reasons.

It is necessary to note that stakeholders of traditional sports in Vietnam have also underestimated the role of well-being experts. Do Tuan (2021) finds that even in Olympic sports such as swimming or football, the socalled King sport in Vietnam, there are few counselors, despite the known mental issues facing athletes before, during, and after a match or competition. If mental issues are still not considered important in traditional sports, it is perhaps unlikely that they will be considered so in esports. This does not bode well for the esports industry in the long term. Audience There are around ten million people in Vietnam who consider themselves to be esports aficionados, and who regularly consume information related to the industry (VIRESA 2021). The consensus is that most people that watch esports are young men, with the bulk of them being under 19 years old, lacking an education, and being jobless. Appota (2019b) surveyed 1500 individuals, utilizing a random sample of all the people who watched OTA Network’s game broadcasters in December 2018, in order to better understand the actual audience for esports in Vietnam. The largest proportion were based in Hanoi (42%) and Ho Chi Minh City (25%). Despite this, the research lends credence to the idea that spectators of esports come from all corners of Vietnam. The second result was that Gen Z, or those who were born between 1995 and 2013, are driving the growth of esports. The poll indicated that 83% of esports participants are between the ages of 13 and 24. However, contrary to the general public’s perception, the majority of participants in esports are not teenagers. The results of the poll showed that 60% of participants were between the ages of 19 and 24, and among those participants, 58% had a regular source of income. This age group comprises individuals who have just begun their professional lives, are full of energy, and are very engaged in both social and economic activities. They also have a significant impact on their friends and family members in areas such as in their choice of goods and lifestyle, particularly regarding technological devices. Since Vietnam has been seen as the world’s fastest-growing mobile game market (Ahmad 2018), it is obvious that people who watch esports

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in Vietnam do it on their cell phones rather than on their own computers most of the time. Appota (2019b) comments that 71% of viewers between 13 and 18 years old say they watch more videos on their phones than on their computers. This data is consistent with the high level of mobile phone use that exists in Vietnam, which boasts a smartphone penetration rate of 72% in key cities throughout the country. Appota’s research (2019b) also reveals that 37% of esports viewers make it a point to watch gaming livestreams daily, while the other 50% do so at least once a week. This demonstrates that for most people who watch content on livestreams, participating in this activity has become an integral component of their life as entertainment. Six out of ten people who follow the game on a regular basis spend at least one hour a day in front of the television, watching their favorite broadcasters, players, and teams compete. The bulk of viewers across all age ranges watch livestreams between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. This would be the best time to attract consumers interested in esports in Vietnam. However, there are significant differences in the 13 to 18 and 19 to 24-year-old audience groups. The younger group, which may be subject to more parental pressures, is unable to remain up as late as the older group and is less likely to be able to compete with the older group’s level of activity. However, the younger generation is the one that spends the most time watching game livestreams between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Interestingly, Newzoo (2017b) concludes that half of those who watch esports do not participate in the games that are broadcast live on the internet, and this conclusion is consistent with findings in the Vietnamese context. It seems from this that the audience is not just watching because they are interested in gaining knowledge about the game, but also because they like watching gaming in general and the streamers that they follow in particular. Orme (2022) outlines possible reasons for this so-called “just watch” activity. First, directly engaging with games as players is timeconsuming and energy-draining in the interviewees’ eyes, which makes playing games a serious commitment rather than relaxation. Second, not all people are born with innate playing skills; and a losing streak alongside the feeling of holding teammates back can make the playing process unenjoyable, thus watching is a relief. Third, access to gaming can also be seen as a barrier since the cost of consoles and game titles is exorbitant. Gender norms also suggest female players are more likely to watch than to play. Fourth, toxicity in the gaming environment is not uncommon, ranging

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from gatekeeping (attempting to control or limit access to resources in the game) to harassment, and from profanity to cyberbullying. Orme (2022) adds that the idea of games spectatorship offers “just watchers” the narrative engagement that is more interactive than traditional media, and those watchers also think of viewership as a distinctive feature of gaming culture. It seems to concur with the Vietnamese situation as the Vietnamese audience for gaming livestreams expects more than just game content, even though gaming is undoubtedly what draws people to watch esports livestreams. They also take pleasure in material that is associated with the routine lives and tales of streamers, and they search for ways to have more fun when watching livestreams. Everyone involved in esports in Vietnam, from streamers to advertisers, must be aware of the need of providing engaging content for fans of the game. Streamers will almost likely be able to attract a larger number of viewers if they provide a variety of entertaining material in their broadcasts in addition to video games. If they manage to satisfy the audience, the earnings are lucrative. VIRESA’s White Paper (2021) shows that more than 35% of viewers of gaming livestreams stated they had made a monetary contribution to streamers in the preceding month. Donating audiences are synonymous with paying users, which is one of the financial sources that streamers rely on to make a living. This is also an indication of how willing the esports audience in Vietnam is to support their preferred streams, game content, goods, and events in the esports industry. The Missing Pieces: Parents and the Community In all proposed models of the esports system, either by the industry or academia, there has been little attention paid to parents, guardians or the community. There is also a substantial amount of support that comes from gaming communities and parents, and it is advised that this support be included in the esports ecosystem, at least in the case of Vietnam. Hong (2022) notes that Vietnamese athletes stated that having their parents’ support was essential to achieving their goals. On the other hand, some players found it difficult to convince their parents to accept and support them. Evidence suggests that the level of support provided by parents has an effect not only on the physical growth of teenagers (Hart et al. 2003), but also on their academic and professional achievements (Upadyaya and Salmela-Aro 2013). This suggests that parents need to be considered a fundamental part of the esports ecosystem.

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The support that comes from the gaming community itself needs to be recognized as an essential component of the esports ecosystem. In the history of online gaming in Vietnam, September 2005 was the first time that various public bodies and media outlets began to object to online games. Minh Duong (2010) asserted that “the resistant wave, even denying online games started to appear” with negative comments in the press. A series of articles in Tuoi Tre (the mouthpiece of the Vietnamese National Youth Union) that discussed the “bad” influence of online games initiated this dynamic. At that moment, in the eyes of most parents and to wider society, online games were a form of digital drug. The primary object of this opposition was none other than the most popular VNG game—The Swordman. At that time, a large number of young people were “drowning” in its virtual world. Within three months in late 2005, there were over 1000 articles related to this subject published in newspapers. The situation seemed to change after the SEA Games 31 as the national broadcasters constantly aired news pieces that showing esports activities. Kayle (2022) also confirms that most parents of players who participated in SEA Games 31 admitted that they changed their attitude toward gaming in general and esports, particularly after having the chance to watch their children compete on behalf of the nation. This could be considered a positive signal to the esports industry in Vietnam since having the community on the same side is certainly an advantage.

The Need for Professionalization Although the rise of esports during the Covid-19 epidemic has shown that professional video gaming is more than capable of living up to expectations, it has also shown that the sector is not yet ready for its primetime position in mainstream media. The increased speed of production and the heightened focus on esports brought to light many of the industry’s weak spots and some of the most basic weaknesses in its foundation (Rownan 2021). In order to overcome these issues, the professionalization of esports in Vietnam should be made a top priority, particularly in relation to the care of players, the integrity of competition, and the expansion of diversity and inclusiveness (Lake 2021). The care of players has been covered previously, so in the next section I will focus on fairness and diversity. Integrity in competition is important for players, viewers, and other stakeholders because it gives them the certainty that the games they are

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watching or participating in are being played in a fair and open way. Athletes are often overlooked. Professional football players; a great representative of traditional sports, are role models in terms of education and athleticism, and they leave nothing to chance. Football clubs have an army of coaches and consultants at their disposal to assist their players in overcoming on and off-field problems. When compared to other athletes, those who compete in esports live the life of an amateur (Schmidt 2017). Since players can be naive, issues arise, including cheating, doping, and match-fixing (Schöber and Stadtmann 2022). The case of the Pham brothers illustrates the comments made above. Pham “Vigoss” Minh Tai, Pham “Minas” Minh Phuoc, and Pham “Zeros” Minh Loc are three famous faces of Vietnamese esports. However, the careers of the three players were destroyed as a result of the scandal. On its homepage in December 2021, Riot Games issued a notice to ban Minas from participating in all esports activities indefinitely because of betting. Before being banned from playing, Minas competed for SBTC Esports in Wild Rift. Previously he was a famous Attack Damage Carry (ADC) in League of Legends and played for top teams such as Saigon Jokers, Saigon Fantastic Five, and GAM. After the ban on Minas, fans and experts began to consider Vigoss and Zeros. Vigoss is the oldest sibling and has a professional career as support for Saigon Jokers. However, he soon retired and was also involved assaulting a referee during a game. Vigoss frankly admitted that he “smashed the chair, took a plastic water dispenser to the referee’s head” (A Chuan 2021). In terms of qualifications, Zeros is also the most talented player. When he was still playing for Saigon Buffalo (SGB) and GAM, Zeros was considered the number one top laner in Vietnamese League of Legends . Besides his dedication, eye-catching gameplay and VCS titles, Zeros’ career was ruined by incidents. In 2019, he was banned from playing for six matches by the organizers for taking bribes from Phong Vu Buffalo (PVB) (the predecessor of SGB). At that time, the contract between Zeros and GAM was still valid, but he violated it and appeared at PVB’s gaming house without the permission of the host team. Later, when joining SBTC, Zeros was permanently banned from playing for sensitive statements related to Mid-Season Invitational 2021. This was an expensive lesson for the former GAM player when he gave some sensitive and seemingly thoughtless statements on his streaming session. In most circumstances, a career as an esports athlete starts and finishes a great deal sooner than careers held by professional athletes in many

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traditional sports (Schmidt 2017). Careers in competitive gaming often come to an end around the middle twenties because beyond that age, the human brain and reflexes are unable to respond intuitively to high-speed strikes from the opponent. As a result, the majority of gamers become professional by the age of seventeen, or even earlier. This represents a rather short amount of time to master a professional athlete’s lifestyle (Byron 2018). While schools and other academic institutions are beginning to see the significance of gaming material in their curricula, the education and training of esports athletes need to take place in a setting that is more similar to that of conventional sports. The players may benefit from their coaches and infrastructure, as well as their skills in marketing, sponsorship, and even scouting. In addition, they can capitalize on the opportunities presented by these resources. Pham “Zeros” Minh Loc dropped out of school when he was 12, and in a country such as Vietnam where education is well-respected, the lack of proper education has been cited as the source of the problem. If the concepts of “professionalism” and “e-sportsmanship” had come sooner via the educational path, his career could have been different. In terms of diversity, SEA Games 31 is the first time that Vietnam has made a serious investment in the organization of esports matches with the desire to create leverage for athletes and contribute economic and social value to the country. It is also the first time ever in Vietnam that female athletes in esports have their own tournament at the international level. Lake (2021) suggests that since aptitude and skill are not constrained by factors such as age, gender, or ethnicity, video games have become one of the most appealing forms of entertainment. Furthermore, video games do not provide an advantage to players who are naturally talented in physical activities. Esports, which are played on digital platforms, have the potential to level the playing field for competitors of all skill levels and, for the vast majority of participants, provide a venue for self-expression and a setting in which they are accepted. If we open our minds, we can see that the industry of esports will be in a better position to capitalize on its potential to become a worldwide, gender-blind, and expansive sector of the contemporary economy that has the ability to endure for an extended period of time.

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Conclusion Esports have existed in Vietnam for some time, but the industry has not fulfilled its potential. I predict that from now until 2030, the electronic sports business in Vietnam will experience a period of tremendous growth, beneficial to all parties engaged in the industry. It is expected that Vietnam will host an increased number of international esports competitions, and will experience an increase in the number of professional teams, players who compete and bring fame to the country, and, most importantly, in the number of people who watch esports. However, in order to fully exploit the potential of esports, increased investment and collaboration between the government and those involved in the ecosystem of esports is required. This is necessary in order for the government to recognize esports as an official sport and for professional esports players to be considered athletes. There are several considerations. The number of participants in the esports ecosystem is quite small, particularly when considering the number of professional event organizers, esports leagues, and talent agencies. The primary reason for the performance and ability disparities that exist between Vietnamese players and players from other countries in games such as Dota 2, StarCraft , FIFA, Tekken, and others is that there are not enough long-running community leagues for gamers. In addition, the esports ecosystem in Vietnam currently does not yet have any competitive digital platforms such as Skillz or Faceit. In addition, Vietnamese gamers are unable to access betting sites or game markets. However, this also creates an opportunity for businesses that are ready to step in to these gaps and thus expand the ecosystem. Funding is also a concern. This issue is connected in some way to the previous one. Publishers and event organizers are unable to provide esports leagues and community cups to gamers and lack the capability to increase the level of competition if insufficient funds are made available. Garena and Vietnam Esports, the two major names in the market, have shown how adequate financing can be obtained. They have been able to establish comprehensive league systems, spanning everything from community cups to professional leagues, and this has attracted millions of viewers. Naturally, the promising Vietnamese market is not small, which means we need more than only a few companies that stand out, and other financial sources need to be mobilized. While esports businesses work to increase the difficulty of the games, Vietnamese investors should consider

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investing more money in the future of electronic sports in Vietnam and should look at the potential of esports as a method to provide more support for the industry. Because of the rapidly increasing interest in gaming among the population of Vietnam, now is the ideal time to make an investment. Moreover, since every publisher relies on their own strategies to expand their own esports and gaming communities, the cooperation between esports organizers and publishers is scattered. The absence of significant collaboration in Vietnam’s esports sector is a restraint on its overall potential. It restricts the scale of esports leagues in Vietnam since there is not a single tournament in Vietnam that can include all the main esports games. The communities who participate in esports are also dispersed among their primary games. Therefore, a close collaboration between the most important stakeholders in the ecosystem will make new opportunities available. A large esports tournament that includes all the major esports titles could be organized if publishers, organizers, and the government worked together to coordinate their efforts. This tournament’s scale could be comparable to that of the Vietnam National Olympics, and it would draw a large number of interested spectators. Solidarity seems to be the key to success. It is imperative that all participants in the esports ecosystem work together to not only provide the audience with the most exciting esports events, games, and engaging material of the highest possible quality but also to assist in the growth of the esports community in Vietnam.

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Appota. 2019a. “Vietnam Mobile Marketing and Game 2019.” https://www.sli deshare.net/appota/vietnam-mobile-marketing-and-game-2019-english-new. Appota. 2019b. “Vietnam Esports Guidebook 2019.” https://www.slideshare. net/appota/vietnam-esports-guidebook-2019-by-appota-esports-short-ver sion. Bányai, Fanni, M. D. Griffiths, O. Király, and Z. Demetrovics. 2019. “The Psychology of Esports: A Systematic Literature Review.” Journal of Gambling Studies 35 (2): 351–65. Bieler, Des. 2021. “IOC Announces Inaugural Slate of Olympic-Licensed Esports Events.” The Washington Post, April 22. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ video-games/esports/2021/04/22/ioc-olympics-esports/. Byron. 2018. “The Issue with Professionalism in Esports.” Obilisk, February 4. https://www.obilisk.co/the-issue-professionalism-in-esports/. Do, B. 2018. “The Gambling Ring Behind Downfall of Vietnamese Top Police Official: What We Know so Far.” VnExpress, November 14. https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/the-gambling-ring-behind-downfallof-vietnamese-top-police-official-what-we-know-so-far-3724022.html. ´ cân ` Do, Tuan. 2021. “Thê thao Viê.t Nam rât nhu˜,ng chuyên gia tâm lý [Sports in Vietnam Need Counselors]” Bongdaplus, November 5, 2022. https://bongdaplus.vn/the-thao/the-thao-viet-nam-rat-can-nhungchuyen-gia-tam-ly-3475632110.html. Hart, Craig H., Lloyd D. Newell, and Susan F. Olsen. 2003. “Parenting Skills and Social-Communicative Competence in Childhood.” In Handbook of Communication and Social Interaction Skills, edited by John O. Greene and Brant R. Burleson, 753–97. New York: Routledge. Heere, Bob. 2018. “Embracing the Sportification of Society: Defining e-Sports Through a Polymorphic View on Sport.” Sport Management Review 21 (1): 21–24. Himmelstein, Daniel, Y. Liu, and J. L. Shapiro. 2017. “An Exploration of Mental Skills Among Competitive League of Legend Players.” International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations 9 (2): 1–21. Hong, Hee J. 2022. “Esports: The Need for a Structured Support System for Players.” European Sport Management Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 16184742.2022.2028876. Huynh Khoa. 2021. “Tuôi nghê` nga˘´ n ngui cua game thu chuyên nghiê.p [The Short Career of Professional Esports Players]” Zingnews, November 5, 2022. https://zingnews.vn/tuoi-nghe-ngan-ngui-cua-game-thu-chuyen-ngh iep-post1262239.html. Karhulahti, Veli-Matti. 2017. “Reconsidering Esport: Economics and Executive Ownership.” Physical Culture and Sport Studies and Research 74 (1): 43–53. Kayle. 2022. “Phu. huynh co,i mo, ho,n vo´,i Esports sau SEA Games 31 [Parents Are More Open-Minded Towards Esports After SEA Games 31]” ij

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Toquoc-Trithuctre, June 3. http://ttvn.toquoc.vn/phu-huynh-coi-mo-honvoi-esports-sau-sea-games-31-10202236131851803.htm. Lake, Jason. 2021. “The Time for Esports’ Professionalization Is Now.” VentureBeat, February 27. https://venturebeat.com/esports/the-time-for-esportsprofessionalization-is-now/. ´ .chsu,d-ángnho´,cua game online Viê.t – Phân ` 2 Minh Duong. 2010. “Nhu˜,ngmôcli [The Highlighted Spots in the Timeline of Online Games in Vietnam – Part 2].” http://gamek.vn/mmo/nhung-moc-lich-su-dang-nho-cua-game-onlineviet-phan-2-20100316110013454.chn. Newzoo. 2017a. “Top 100 Countries by Game Revenues.” Newzoo. https:// newzoo.com/insights/rankings/top-100-countries-by-game-revenues/. Newzoo. 2017b. “Esports, a Franchise Perspective: 70% Watch Only One Game and 42% Do Not Play.” Newzoo. https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esp orts-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play. Niko Partners. 2022. “Esports at the 31st SEA GAMES.” https://nikopartners. com/esports-at-the-31st-sea-games/. Orme, Stephanie. 2022. “‘Just Watching’: A Qualitative Analysis of Non-Players’ Motivations for Video Game Spectatorship.” New Media & Society 24 (10): 2252–69. Parry, Jim. 2018. “Esports Are Not Sports.” Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 13 (1): 3–18. Parry, Jim. 2020. “Computer Games Are Not Sports.” In Das Phänomen e-Sport. Eine sportwissenschaftliche Annährung aus verschiedenen Disziplinen, edited by Annette R. Hofmann, 10–26. Aachen: Meyer & Meyer. Peng, Qi, Geoff Dickson, Nicolas Scelles, Jonathan Grix, and Paul Michael Brannagan. 2020. “Esports Governance: Exploring Stakeholder Dynamics.” Sustainability 12 (19): 8270. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198270. Pham, Phuong. 2020. “Cá d-ô. eSports ta.i Viê.t Nam: Câu chuyê.n không có ` kêt ´ [Esports Betting in Vietnam: An Unending Story].” Webthethao, hôi November 4, 2022. https://webthethao.vn/esports/ca-do-esports-tai-vietnam-cau-chuyen-khong-co-hoi-ket-122597.htm. Phan, Quang Anh. 2019. “Challenges and Opportunities for the Online gaming Industry in Vietnam: A Qualitative Study on the Thoughts of Involved Parties.” Creative Industries Journal 12 (3): 248–71. Phan, Quang Anh. 2021. “Shifting the Focus to East and Southeast Asia: A Critical Review of Regional Game Research.” Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences 14 (2): 173–96. Rownan, Alan. 2021. “Unpacking Esports: Participation, Professionalism, and Partnerships Drive Growth.” https://www.euromonitor.com/article/unpack ing-esports-participation-professionalism-and-partnerships-drive-growth. ij

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Schmidt, Sasha. L. 2017. “How Professional Athlete Education Is Becoming Crucial for Esports.” The Esports Observer, June 13. https://archive.esport sobserver.com/professional-esports-athlete-education/. Schöber, Timo and Georg Stadtmann. 2022. “The dark Side of e-Sports—An Analysis of Cheating, Doping & Match-Fixing Activities and Their Countermeasures.” International Journal of Esports 1 (1). https://www.ijesports.org/ article/98/html. Scholz, Tobias M. 2019. Esports is Business: Management in the World of Competitive Gaming. New York: Palgrave Pivot. ´ Sliwa, Piotr, and Grzegorz Krzos. 2020. “The Model of Esports Ecosystems.” Paper Presented at HED - Hradec Economic Days 2020, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. https://doi.org/10.36689/uhk/hed/2020-01-080. Tencent and Newzoo. 2021. “Games & Esports: Bona Fide Sports.” https:// tencent.blog/sea-esports. Tencent Holdings. 2011. “2011 Annual Report.” https://www.tencent.com/ en-us/articles/1700111460105814.pdf. The Esports Observer. 2020. “An Introduction to the Esports Ecosystem.” https://archive.esportsobserver.com/the-esports-eco-system/. Upadyaya, Katja, and Katariina Salmela-Aro. 2013. “Development of School Engagement in Association with Academic Success and Well-Being in Varying Social Contexts: A Review of Empirical Research.” European Psychologist 18 (2): 136–47. Vero and Decision Lab. 2021. “Gaming and Esports: A New Arena for Brands.” https://vero-asean.com/gaming-and-esports-in-vietnam-a-newarena-for-brands/. VIRESA. 2021. “Vietnam’s Esports White Paper 2021.” https://sachtrang.vir esa.org.vn/. VNG. 2012. “Thôngcáobáochí: VNG làcông ty Viê.t Nam [Announcement: VNG Is a Vietnam Company].” https://vng.com.vn/vn/tin-tuc-press/chitiet.thong-cao.tcbc-cong-ty-co-phan-vng-la-cong-ty-viet-nam.320.html. Witkowski, Emma, and James Manning. 2019. “Player Power: Networked Careers in Esports and High-Performance Game Livestreaming Practices.” Convergence 25 (5–6): 953–69. YCP Solidiance. 2021. “The Next Level: The Rise of Esports in the Philippines.” https://ycpsolidiance.com/white-paper/the-next-level-the-rise-of-esp orts-in-the-philippines.

Fighting Corruption in Esports. Towards Good Governance in Light of Integrity, Transparency and Neutrality Tsubasa Shinohara

Introduction The esports (‘electronic sports’ or ‘competitive video games’) industry has rapidly developed over the last twenty years (Jacobson 2021, 1–54; Scholz 2019, 17–41). In 2021, the global revenue of the esports industry reached almost $1.2 billion and is expected to reach nearly $2 million by 2025 (Newzoo 2022, 34; Scholz 2019, 2–6). Partly because of this, the number of esports players has sharply increased (See Deloitte 2021a; Deloitte 2021b). Esports players are drawn to the industry for the prize money at competitions (Statista 2022) and lucrative player and sponsorship contracts (Herpy 2022; Lavelle and Faint 2021a; Lavelle and Faint 2021b; For a contract with minor esports players, see Brabners 2021). Professional players can also generate revenue through live streaming on Twitch and YouTube (Newzoo 2022, 35; Jungar 2016, 24–5). This new economic market cannot be ignored.

T. Shinohara (B) University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Swiss Esports Federations, Berne, Switzerland © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_4

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However, esports governing bodies have not yet considered sufficiently how to prevent corruption in the esports society (Hattenstone 2017). Sports’ governing bodies worldwide face corruption at the international level (Philippou 2022, 819–20; Jennings 2011, 387–98).1 For instance, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) experienced a scandal (Král and Cuskelly 2018, 238; Junghagen and Aurvandil 2020, 655–57; Heaston et al. 2020, 406–9) when in November 2021, the former President of FIFA, Joseph Blatter, and the former President of UEFA, Michel Platini, were accused of unlawfully arranging payment of CHF 2 million ($2.2 million) to Michel Platini, by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) under the Swiss Criminal Code (OAG 2021; Vuilleumier 2020).2 This case resulted in the withdrawal of sponsors and a reduction of interest in the football industry (Ingle 2016a; Ingle 2016b), also contributing to an increasingly negative image of football. In response to the scandal, and to help prevent further corruption, the governing body attempted to improve transparency and neutrality (FIFA 2020).3 Other sports governing bodies (e.g. the International Tennis Federation [ITF]) have also engaged in anti-corruption programmes (Hessert 2021). Therefore, sports has made considerable effort to fight corruption.4 Corruption in esports can also be found. For example, in 2019, the former Korean e-Sports Association (KeSPA) chairman, Jun Byung-hun, 1 In response to these scandals, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) published a report on corruption in sport. It is important to note that this report examines an issue of esports. See UNODC (2021); See also Riedl (2011, 48–58). 2 For instance, Adidas and Nestlé decided to terminate the sponsorship contract with the IAAF due to the athletics’ corruption and doping scandals to protect their public image and reputation in 2016. 3 FIFA published several anti-corruption instruments, such as the Anti-Corruption

Directives. See FIFA, Anti-Corruption Directives, https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/7895e1 7ae0642f31/original/t8m7wdzgxmerctqienol-pdf.pdf; Furthermore, FIFA also published some Guides and training materials for FIFA employees, Committee members, and its member associations and external stakeholders on its website. See FIFA, Guides and training materials, https://www.fifa.com/legal/compliance/directives-and-trainingmaterial. 4 Besides, it is worth noting that the International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport (IPACS) was established in February 2017 for creating a multi-stakeholder platform to strengthen and support efforts to eliminate corruption and promote a culture of good governance in sports under the aegis of the IOC. See IPACS’s website, https://www. ipacs.sport.

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was sentenced to six years for corruption when “the court found Jun guilty of abusing his power to try to pressure the South Korean finance ministry to allocate funds of ₩2 billion ($1.78 billion) for KeSPA without proper documentation and accepting an additional ₩20 million ($16 million) in illegal political funds” (Wolf 2019). It is clear that governing bodies need to consider how to prevent corruption in esports (Udoey 2021; Naha and Hassan 2018, 722).5 The question of how esports governing bodies should guarantee and promote the ‘integrity of esports’6 thus arises. The concepts of ‘transparency’ and ‘neutrality’ should be examined in the context of esports as they are elementary principles of ‘good governance’ (Král and Cuskelly 2018, 240–1). More precisely, the principle of ‘transparency’ may contribute to enhancing the good governance of organisations and associations to prevent corruption (Král and Cuskelly 2018, 240–1). Furthermore, the principle of ‘neutrality’ may serve to consider the interests of esports-related business enterprises, esports players, and any other participants in the esports activity. To serve this end, esports governing bodies should not represent a specific interest group but support all esports stakeholders within the esports society. Through the respect of the twin principles of transparency and neutrality, esports governing bodies may maintain, and even enhance, their reputation and public image (‘transparency’) and balance the interests of esports players, business enterprises and any other participants in esports (‘neutrality’) (Czegledy 2021, 162; Jacobson 2021, 55–71; Kelly et al. 2022, 6).7 5 The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) has already released some instruments to guarantee the integrity of esports in the esports activity. See ESIC, Anti-Corruption Code, https://esic.gg/codes/anti-corruption-code/. 6 The concept of ‘integrity of esports’ has been unclear. Thus, it will be precisely examined in Sect. 2.1. in this article. It is important note that a match-fixing in esports competitions is also an important issue in relation to the integrity of esports, but this article will focus on an issue of good governance in esports governing bodies. Regarding the match-fixing in esports, see Kulkarni (2016); Martin (2016); In the context of traditional sports, some argue that the match-fixing in sport may bring to other criminal activities such as corruption, organised crime and money-laundering. See Henne (2015, 330). 7 The concept of ‘neutrality’ has been frequently cited in the context of ‘political neutrality’, but this article will not put the adjective ‘political’ in front of the word ‘neutrality’. This is because esports publishers has a dominant power to decide regulatory framework and esports governing bodies may influence the esports regulatory frameworks within the scope of the license contract. Furthermore, there is no central esports

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The purpose of this chapter, therefore, is to consider how esports governing bodies might promote the ‘integrity of esports’ in light of the concepts of ‘transparency’ and ‘neutrality’.8 In doing so, it will seek to answer the following research questions: (1) How should the concept of ‘integrity’ be understood in the context of esports?; and (2) How should esports governing bodies manage the economic relationship with business enterprises and/or public authorities? To answer these questions, this chapter will focus on examining the relationship between the board members of esports governing bodies and business enterprises (and public authorities, if necessary). If the majority of board members in esports governing bodies have close ties to business, it may create an increased risk of corruption.9 These board members may directly influence decisionmaking and the policy-making processes of the esports governing bodies (e.g. the allocation of financial resources to their activities). This chapter will consider the following examples: the International Esports Federation (IESF), Global Esports Federation (GEF), Swiss Esports Federation (SESF) and Japan Esports Union (JeSU). The article will then offer recommendations on how esports governing bodies could mitigate the potential risk of corruption. This chapter will be divided into the following sections: Section two will consider how the concept of ‘integrity’ should be understood in the context of esports. In doing so, it will take into account what role the concepts of ‘transparency’ and ‘neutrality’ can play in maintaining the ‘integrity of esports’. It will then identify economic relationships between governing body in esports society. This situation is clearly different from sports society and, thus, the concept of ‘neutrality’ should be used in a different meaning to promote ‘good governance’ in esports industry. 8 This article will not consider the concept of ‘accountability’ because, from my perspective, it should be examined in the context of ‘global governance’ of esports governing bodies. For the topic ‘global governance and esports’, Shinohara explained in his presentation “Global Governance in International Esports Society?” at the 11th Annual Conference of Cambridge International Law Journal. https://www.researchgate. net/publication/359208781_Global_Governance_in_International_Esports_Society. 9 According to Black’s Law Dictionary (2nd edition), the term ‘corruption’ means “Illegality; a vicious and fraudulent intention to evade the prohibitions of the law. The act of an official or fiduciary person who unlawfully and wrongfully uses his station or character to procure some benefit for himself or for another person, contrary to duty and the rights of others.” In this sense, if a person who has a power to allocate budget in private organisation has a deep economic connection with business enterprises in esports society, a risk of corruption would increase. See https://thelawdictionary.org/corruption/.

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esports governing bodies and business enterprises to consider whether governing bodies successfully serve to promote the ‘integrity of esports’ and to respect the principles of ‘transparency’ and ‘neutrality’. This final section will suggest recommendations for the improvement of the governance of esports governing bodies in order to prevent corruption.

The Concept of ‘Integrity’ in the Context of Esports First of all, this section will consider how ‘integrity’ should be understood in the context of esports. In doing so, it will take into account the concepts of ‘transparency’ and ‘neutrality’ in context. It will examine the following questions: (1) What is the concept of the ‘integrity of esports’; and (2) What do the concepts of ‘transparency’ and ‘neutrality’ mean in the context of esports? Defining the Concept of ‘Integrity of Esports’ A single definition of the concept of ‘integrity of esports’ does not exist. It is thus necessary to refer to the general definition of the term ‘integrity’ from the English dictionary. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (9th edition), ‘integrity’ is “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles”. If integrity is ensured, an organisation’s activities should be honest in accordance with strong moral principles. Based on this definition, the following subsection will consider how the concept of ‘integrity’ should be understood in the context of esports. The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) created an integrity programme, including the Code of Ethics, the Code of Conduct, the Anti-Corruption Code, the Anti-Doping Code, the Disciplinary Procedure and the ESIC Prohibited List.10 However, it does not define the term ‘integrity of esports’, but limits its scope to include good governance (i.e. the conduct of board members, esports players and player support personnel), anti-corruption and anti-doping.11 In this sense, it can be

10 See all codes on the ESIC’s website, https://esic.gg/codes/. 11 However, the ESIC does not include the term ‘match-fixing’ in its integrity

programme.

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said that good governance of esports governing bodies may constitute a part of the ‘integrity of esports’. More specifically, Article 1.1 of the ESIC Code of Ethics stipulates that: The purpose of this Code of Ethics is to set out the rules that will govern the conduct of persons serving on the Executive Board, including without limitation, Directors, the Chairman, the Integrity Commissioner and all ESIC employees (called “Directors” hereafter).

To achieve this purpose, Article 1.3 of the ESIC Code of Ethics provides that: While Directors are all individuals and this Code applies to individuals, it is also considered ethical (and, therefore, covered by the spirit of this Code) that companies and organisations that are Members of ESIC should behave towards each other with dignity, respect and courtesy and should never use or attempt to use their position within ESIC to gain a competitive or commercial advantage over any other Director or Member company or organisation. Because Directors are the public face of Esports integrity, they are expected to conduct their affairs on a basis consistent with the trust that has been placed in them by supporters, players and other stakeholders in Esports. This requires their behaviour to conform to the highest standards of honesty, impartiality, equity and integrity when discharging their duties and responsibilities to ESIC. Directors’ actions must be dedicated to the promotion and development of Esports integrity worldwide. The Code of Ethics should be read and understood as a minimum standard of acceptable conduct. (Emphasis added)12

Under these provisions, the ESIC Code of Ethics imposes on all members of the ESIC Executive Board the responsibility for conducting a high standard of morality to protect the public image of esports. While the ESIC Code of Ethics governs the conduct of ESIC Executive Board members, the ESIC Code of Conduct imposes responsibility on players and player support personnel. In this regard, the Introduction to the ESIC Code of Conduct stipulates that:

12 ESIC, Code of Ethics, https://esic.gg/codes/code-of-ethics/.

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This Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel (the ‘Code of Conduct’) is adopted and implemented as part of ESIC’s continuing efforts to maintain the public image, popularity and integrity of Esport by providing an effective means to deter any Participant from conducting themselves improperly whilst participating in Esports or acting in any way as an ambassador for or representative of an ESIC Member. (Emphasis added)13

Under this provision, all players and player support personnel must conduct themselves properly to maintain the public image, popularity and integrity of esports. It can be considered that the ESIC understood the concept of the ‘integrity of esports’ to mean that all esports participants (i.e. the ESIC members, players and player support personnel) should not engage in inappropriate conduct or behaviour that may lead to a negative image in light of the ESIC Code of Ethics and the ESIC Code of Conduct. In addition to the ESIC’s perspective, the GEF has also created a Code of Ethics adopted on 16 December 2020.14 It refers to nondiscrimination, respect, fair play, integrity, neutrality and independence, non-conflicts of interests and confidentiality.15 Among other things, Article V (4.1) of the GEF Code of Ethics provides that: GEF Family shall not, directly or indirectly, solicit, accept or offer any concealed remuneration, commission, benefit of any nature connected with their participation in esports or with their function as an official.

Furthermore, Article V (4.2) of the GEF Code of Ethics stipulates that: No official shall solicit or accept benefits, entertainment or gifts in exchange for, or as a condition of, the exercise of their duties, or as an inducement for performing an act associated with their duties or responsibilities except that gifts hospitality or other benefits associated with their official duties and responsibilities may be accepted if such gifts, hospitality or other benefits:

13 ESIC, Code of Conduct, https://esic.gg/codes/code-of-conduct/. 14 GEF, Code of Ethics (as approved by the GEF Board on 16 December 2020),

https://www.globalesports.org/resources. 15 Article V (1) to (7) of the GEF Code of Ethics.

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4.2.1 Are within the bounds of propriety, a normal expression of courtesy, or within the normal standards of hospitality; 4.2.2 Would not bring suspicion on the official’s objectivity and impartiality; and 4.2.3 Would not compromise the integrity of GEF. Moreover, Article V (4.3) of the GEF Code of Ethics prescribes that: GEF Family may not be involved with any company, association, firm or person whose activity is inconsistent with the objectives or interest of GEF. If it is unclear, the matter shall be submitted to the Governance and Ethics Commission for a decision.

According to these provisions, it should be considered that the GEF recognises the concept of ‘integrity’ as meaning that the GEF members should not be involved in deep financial connections (e.g. benefits, entertainment, gifts, or hospitality) with business enterprises and public authorities, but manage an economic relationship with them that prevents governance corruption. In conclusion, the ESIC and GEF consider that the concept of ‘integrity of esports’ can be used in the context of corruption (See Czegledy 2021, 163–70). In addition, in order to ensure the integrity of esports, governing bodies should take measures necessary to prevent the degrading of public image, reputation and popularity of esports caused by corruption (ESA 2019; Tseng 2020, 236–47).16 To avoid such corruption in esports, it should be considered that the ‘integrity of esports’ should be understood as meaning that all members of esports governing bodies should not have deep financial connections with business enterprises and public authorities, but ensure a ‘transparent’ and ‘neutral’ relationship with them from third parties to mitigate a potential risk of governance corruption. Based on this definition, the following sections will examine the concepts of ‘transparency’ and ‘neutrality’ in esports.

16 In 2019, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced the four universal

esports principles in collaboration with several representatives of video game industry. Principle 2 of the Universal Esports Principles (the integrity and fair play) stipulates that “Cheating, hacking, or otherwise engaging in disreputable, deceitful, or dishonest behavior detracts from the experience of others, unfairly advantages teams and players, and tarnishes the legitimacy of esports.”

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‘Transparency’ in the Context of Esports The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (9th edition) defines ‘transparency’ as “the quality of something, such as a situation or an argument, that makes it easy to understand”. On this basis, if transparency is ensured, the structure of organisations is easily understandable and can be seen objectively. In line with this general definition, Auger distinguishes the concept of ‘transparency’ into the following types: (1) organisational transparency (i.e. integrity, respect for others and openness) and (2) communicative transparency (i.e. participation, accountability, provision of substantive information and secrecy) (Auger 2014, 328–9). If organisational transparency is ensured by reforming a simple and objectively understandable structure of organisation, it may increase stakeholders’ trust and prevent reputational damage (Auger 2014, 339–40). Furthermore, communicative transparency may reinforce stakeholders’ trust as they are able to access credible and reliable information on the organisation’s activity (Auger 2014, 328–9). This may then result in lengthening relationships. If both transparencies occur, all types of organisations may develop trust and positive behavioural intentions of stakeholders and thus mitigate the potential risk of corruption (Auger 2014, 341). In the context of esports, if transparency is ensured, the structure of esports governing bodies themselves or selection procedures (e.g. host cities’ selection for global esports events [Henne 2015, 329–37]) should be objectively understandable. In this way, esports governing bodies should restructure their organisational structure (‘organisational transparency’). In addition to this, they should allow public access to documentary information (i.e. reports, policies and regulations, etc.) (Philippou and Hines 2021, 9–10), for instance, the publishing of names and affiliations of board members on their websites. The information provided by esports governing bodies should be accurate, reliable, and available to everyone in the esports society to help ensure the objectivity of their activities (‘communicative transparency’). Neutrality’ in the Context of Esports Concerning the concept of ‘neutrality’, the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines the word ‘neutrality’ as “the state of not supporting either side in a disagreement, competition or war”. In other words, the

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state of neutrality may be considered as an entity not showing support for any other entities. In the context of esports, governing bodies should strive to maintain neutrality by not favouring any particular interest group and balancing the interests of esports players, business enterprises, and public authorities. This means that the decision-making and policymaking body should not be controlled by specific interest groups, but should include groups with lesser status, allowing them the opportunity to represent their interests in the decision-making and policy-making processes.17 In conclusion, the ‘integrity of esports’ should be understood to mean that no members of esports governing bodies should have deep financial connections with business enterprises or public authorities. A ‘transparent’ and ‘neutral’ relationship between members and third parties must be ensured in order to mitigate the potential risk of governance corruption. In this context, the concept of ‘transparency’ should be recognised as an ‘external element’ for good governance. Esports governing bodies must be objectively observable by third parties. If this is achieved, the structure of esports governing bodies should be clear and easily understandable from third parties’ perspective (‘organisational transparency’) and should provide accurate, transparent and reliable information on their activities by means of documentation (‘communicative transparency’). In contrast, the concept of ‘neutrality’ should be considered as an ‘internal element’. In order for good governance, esports governing bodies should not support a specific interest group but play an important role in balancing the interests of esports players, business enterprises and, if necessary, public authorities to mitigate the potential risk of corruption. Summary This section suggested that the concept of ‘integrity’ in the context of esports requires that members of esports governing bodies should not maintain deep financial connections with business enterprises and public

17 For instance, the GEF Code of Ethics contains a provision of neutrality and indepen-

dence, but it considers ‘political neutrality and independence’ from any political groups, or other confederation, association, league and/or clubs. Thus, the GEF does not use the term ‘neutrality’ as meaning that esports governing bodies should strike a balance the interests of all esports participants in the GEF’s community. See Article V (5.1) of the GEF Code of Ethics.

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authorities, but, if so, ensure a transparent and neutral relationship with them to mitigate the potential risk of corruption. The concept of ‘transparency’ should be recognised as an ‘external element’ of good governance and require that esports governing bodies’ activities should be clear and understandable objectively. Esports governing bodies should thus restructure their organisational structure (‘organisational transparency). In addition to this, they should also accept public access to information on their activities by means of documentation. The information provided by them should be accurate, reliable, and available for everyone in esports society in order to help ensure the objectivity of their activities (‘communicative transparency’). Furthermore, the concept of ‘neutrality’ should be considered as an ‘internal element’ for good governance, and that esports governing bodies should not support specific interest groups, but balance the interests of esports players, business enterprises and public authorities. In this, the decision and policy-making bodies should not be dominated by specific interest groups but be open to all groups in order to allow their interests to be represented in decision-making and policy-making processes.

Economic Relationship Between Esports Governing Bodies, Business Enterprises and/or Public Authorities Based on the above, how do esports governing bodies manage an economic relationship with business enterprises and/or public authorities? Deep economic connections between governing bodies and business enterprises or public authorities may result in a high potential risk of corruption in esports.18 If governing bodies achieve effective management of these economic relationships in light of the principles of ‘transparency’ and ‘neutrality’, the potential risk of governance corruption would be mitigated. The following section will examine the relationship between board members and business enterprises (and, if necessary, public authorities) 18 Of course, there is another cause that brings corruption in private organisations. For instance, president of private organisations abuses or misuses their power or trust to receive bribery. This means that individual wrong behaviour might lead the private organisations to be corrupted. Thus, this article focuses on an economic tie between board members and business enterprises (and public authorities).

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because, if the majority of board members in esports governing bodies are representatives of business enterprises, they may easily influence decisionmaking and policy-making processes (e.g. allocation of financial resources to their video game companies or creation of esports publishers-friendly policies). This section will identify potential risk in the structure of esports governing bodies that may prevent good governance. In doing so, it will examine the structure of esports governing bodies at international and national levels to consider whether they successfully manage their economic ties with business enterprises and/or public authorities. International Esports Federation (IESF) The IESF was founded in August 2008, and its headquarters are located in Busan, South Korea.19 The IESF’s mission is “to serve as the critical global organization representing, coordinating, harmonizing and administrating Esports while preserving the rights and providing a voice to all Stakeholders of the Esports industry”.20 In doing so, Article B (8) of the IESF Statutes provides for the IESF’s objectives. The structure of the IESF is composed of the following organs: (1) Confederations (Article H); (2) General Meeting (Articles I to K); (3) Board (Article M); (4) Secretariat (Article N); (5) Membership Committee (Article O); and (6) Athletes Committee (Article P). In particular, the IESF Board has vast powers over the IESF itself because Article M (68) of the IESF Statutes stipulates that: The Board of IESF is the central executive body of IESF. Its primary role is to decide and implement the policies of IESF to pursue and achieve IESF Objectives, in accordance with the General Meeting resolutions and these Statutes.

Under this provision, the IESF Board plays an important role in the implementation of the IESF Objectives. However, it does not clearly indicate the issues of ‘integrity’, ‘transparency’ and ‘neutrality’. In this sense, the IESF does not prioritise these issues in its activities.

19 IESF, Statutes (Version: 15 November 2020), https://iesf.org/wp-content/upl oads/2021/01/IESF-Statutes-2021.pdf. 20 Article B (7) of the IESF Statutes.

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In light of these facts, it would be difficult to suggest that the IESF is an objectively transparent or neutral body because it did not expressly make an effort to fight corruption in esports or promote the integrity of esports through its activities. If not, it is unclear how the IESF handles political and economic relationships between the IESF board members, sponsoring companies and Korean government. In other words, the problem is not that the IESF has such political and economic ties, but rather it does not clarify how to manage them. Global Esports Federation (GEF) The GEF, a different entity from the IESF, is an international esports governing body established in Singapore.21 According to Article 1.3 of the GEF Constitution, “GEF was established and founded through the efforts of the Singapore Esports Association”. At the same time, it established a private company limited in Singapore (the ‘SG Vehicle’) for the purposes of the GEF.22 Article 4.1 of the GEF Constitution stipulates that “[t]he purposes of GEF are to: … (d) Protect the integrity of Esports and GEF by developing and enforcing standard of conduct and ethical behaviour and implementing good governance”.23 Under this provision, the GEF shall

21 GEF, Constitution (Edition: September 2020), https://www.globalesports.org/res ources; See Articles 1.2 and 3.1 of the GEF Constitution. 22 Article 4.2 of the GEF Constitution. 23 Article 4.1 of the GEF Constitution: “The purposes of GEF are to: (a) Promote,

develop, and be the convening body for Esports worldwide; (b) Encourage participation in Esports at all levels throughout the world through competitions, events, programmes and activities; (c) Establish, manage, control and supervise international competitions and recognise records in Esports from international competitions; (d) Protect the integrity of Esports and GEF by developing and enforcing standard of conduct and ethical behaviour and implementing good governance; (e) Encourage and support the development, organization and delivery of Esports worldwide through its Members and Non-Voting Members; (f) Support and assist Members to promote and develop Esports in accordance with the Purposes of GEF; (g) Preserve the right of every individual to participate in Esports as a sport, without unlawful discrimination of any kind undertaken in the spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play; (h) Cooperate with other sports organizations, public and private organizations and authorities to promote the interests of sport generally, and Esports in particular, throughout the world; (i) Partner with corporate and other entities to protect and enhance GEF’s intellectual property including entering into the commercial marketing and sponsorship arrangements for the sport of Esports and GEF; and (j) Promote and

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commit to protect the integrity of esports by creating a code of conduct or that of ethics to implement good governance.24 The GEF consists of the following: (1) The General Assembly (Article 13 et seq. of the GEF Constitution); (2) The Board (Article 20 et seq. of the GEF Constitution); (3) Executive Committee (Article 26 et seq. of the GEF Constitution); and (4) Commissions (Article 28 et seq. of the GEF Constitution). This subsection will briefly explain the powers of the GEF Board. Concerning the GEF Board’s powers, Article 22.1 of the GEF Constitution stipulates that: The Board has the power and duty: …

c. To prescribe, adopt, amend and repeal rules and regulations, policies and procedures, which shall be binding on all Members and NonVoting Members (the “Rules and Regulations”); d. To make decisions regarding the interpretation of the Rules and Regulations. Any such decisions may be notified to the Members and Non-Voting Members and shall be reported to the next General Assembly; e. To approve the annual budget and administer the finances of GEF in accordance with Article 25; f. To appoint GEF’s financial auditors in accordance with Article 25.5; g. To appoint and employ such chief executive(s) as may be determined necessary for the management and operation of GEF’s financial resources and on such terms and conditions of employment as the Board may agree (…) Under this provision, the GEF Board25 develops the GEF regulations, rules, policies and procedures, binding all Members and Non-Voting

implement programmes and practices to ensure the sustainability of Esports including the environment in which Esports is undertaken.” 24 See subsection: “Defining the Concept of ‘Integrity of Esports”. 25 GEF, “The Global Esports Federation Board”, https://www.globalesports.org/gov

ernance.

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Members and decides how to distribute financial resources within the organisation.26 In short, the GEF Board Members have the power to enact regulations and allocate financial resources, but the GEF has engaged in anticorruption programmes under the GEF Constitution and Code of Ethics. Therefore, it has taken the initiative to prevent potential governance corruption in esports. Swiss Esports Federation (SESF) This subsection will provide an overview of the SESF’s structure at the national level. There are no deep economic relationships between the board members of the SESF and business enterprises and/or public authorities. The SESF was established in 2014 with the mission of promoting esports in Switzerland. It is “a reliable, honest and fair organisation which actively fights bad practices in esports such as corruption, doping, and cheating” (integrity) and “a preconception-free organisation that will always offer its help in resolving any conflict, without bias” (neutrality).27 The SESF has a sponsoring contract with Swisscom and partner contracts with WIDE, By The Way and SEL.28 SESF staff work on a voluntary basis and, thus, they do not receive any remuneration or other financial support from the SESF, the sponsoring company or partner companies.29

26 See Article 25 the GEF Constitution (Finances of GEF). 27 See SESF, “About the Federation”, https://sesf.ch/about-the-federation. 28 See SESF’s website, https://sesf.ch. 29 This is because the SESF does not conclude sufficient sponsoring contracts with esports business enterprises to pay salary for the staff members. Furthermore, the Swiss authority does not provide public procurement for the SESF to support esports activity in Switzerland because it considers that esports is not sport, but a digital and virtual game culture. In this regard, see OFSPO (2018, 12).

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The structure of the SESF consists of the following organs: (1) The General Meeting; (2) The Committee30 ; (3) The Revision Board31 ; (4) The Control Commission; and (5) The Referee Commission. This subsection will briefly explain the General Meeting, the Control Commission and the Referee Commission.32 Concerning the General Meeting, Article 3.2 of the SESF Statutes stipulates that “the General Meeting is the supreme organ of the Association”. According to Article 64(1) of the Swiss Civil Code (SCC), “[t]he general meeting of members is the supreme governing body of the association”. Furthermore, Article 65(1) of the SCC provides that “[t]he general meeting of members decides on admission and exclusion of members, appoints the committee and decides all matters which are not reserved to other governing bodies of the association”. The SESF board members are selected by the majority of the SESF members. As regards the Control Commission, the purpose and function of the Control Commission is identified in Article 3.19 of the SESF Statutes stipulating that: 1. The Control Commission is a body solely for consultation that ensures that the SESF’s decisions and activities conform with the statutes and rules of the Association. 2. It has no decision-making authority.

30 Article 3.8 of the SESF Statutes prescribes that “[t]he Committee is the management body of the Association”. Furthermore, the competences of the Committee stipulated in Article 3.11 of the SESF Statues: “The authorities of the Committee are the following: (a) to manage the current affairs and the administration of the Association, in accordance with its aims and decisions in the General Meeting; (b) to solicit sponsors and negotiate contracts to guarantee the Association’s financing; (c) to edict internal regulations and ensure their application; (d) to represent the Association and its members; (e) to convoke and prepare the General Meetings; (f) to decide on the implementation of an electronic vote system for General Meetings; (g) to keep the accounting and the accounting documents of the Association up to data; (h) to handle the Association’s funds; (i) to establish he budget and the annual management report and to present these documents in the General Meeting; (j) to present the assessment and the annual accountings, as well as the notice of the Revision Board, in the General Meeting; (k) to make decisions about the exclusion of an Association member.” 31 The SESF Statutes do not stipulate its competence. 32 Article 3.1 of the SESF Statutes.

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According to this provision, the Control Commission has a consultative status in the SESF for the SESF’s decisions and activities. It may also exercise its power to examine whether SESF activities are compatible with SESF Statutes and the rules of the Association. Finally, regarding the Referee Commission, the SESF Statutes do not include any description of the Referee Commission in order to maintain independence and impartiality. This Commission can be established by mutual agreement between the SESF and esports tournament/league organisers. Based on this agreement, the Commission is competent to resolve esports-related disputes in light of the SESF Standard.33 However, Article 69 of the SCC stipulates that “[t]he committee is entitled and obliged as defined under the articles of association to manage and represent the association”. According to this provision, it can be considered that the Referee Commission may represent the SESF. In conclusion, the SESF’s structure has no deep economic relationship with either business enterprises or Swiss authorities. The SESF has sponsoring contracts with only Swisscom and the Swiss authorities, who have not yet provided public procurement for the SESF’s activities. However, aspects of the SESF structure are still unclear and it should thus restructure its organisation to enhance transparency and neutrality in order to contribute to the promotion of the integrity of esports (Shinohara 2021a; Shinohara 2021b; Shinohara 2021c).34 Japan Esports Union (JeSU) In light of the previous examples, this subsection will consider how the JeSU manages relationships between the board members and business enterprises and/or public authorities. The JeSU was established in February 2018 as a result of the merger of the Japan Esports Association, the Esports Promotion Organization, and the Japan Esports Federation in alliance with the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) and the Japan Online Gaming Association (JOGA) (Hoppe 2019; Akihabara News 2020). It aims 33 The SESF Standard is not published on the SESF website. 34 From June 2021, the SESF launched a human rights project for esports participants

in Switzerland and it includes the establishment of dispute resolution bodies. In doing so, it is necessary to restructure the SESF’s internal organs. See SESF’s website, https://sesf. ch/news/human-rights-protection-for-gamers-and-staff-members-in-swiss-esports.

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at improving national competitiveness and promoting a sporting spirit through the promotion of esports in Japan, and thereby contributes to national health, social and economic development.35 The list of board members is published on its website and is dominated by video game companies, including Sega, CAPCOM and KONAMI.36 Furthermore, JeSU members work for a number of business enterprises, but there are no esports players’ organisations on the list.37 More importantly, JeSU collaborates with Japanese public authorities (i.e. Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) to publish a report on esports development in Japan (Investigative Commission on Measures for Vitalizing Esports 2020). It can be seen that JeSU has a deep economic connection with business enterprises and Japanese public authorities, receiving sufficient financial support and public procurement. This suggests that JeSU is the most successful model in esports society at obtaining financial support from business enterprises and public authorities. Because of this success, it must consider how to prevent governance corruption in its activity. JeSU is composed of the Memberships (kaiin), the General Meeting (shain-s¯ okai), the Board members (yakuin) and the Council (riji-kai). The General Meeting can decide on the “(1) expulsion of a member; (2) election or dismissal of directors and auditors; (3) total amount of remuneration, etc. of the directors and auditors; (4) approval of the balance sheet and profit and loss statement (statement of net assets); (5) amendment of the Articles of Incorporation; (6) dissolution and disposal of residual assets and (7) other matters provided for by law or these Articles of Association to be resolved at a general meeting of members”.38 In this sense, the members may decide how to allocate the budget for Japanese esports activities. However, it is unclear whether esports players may represent their interests in the JeSU General Meeting under JeSU Statutes. On this basis, does the JeSU prevent governance corruption in esports in light of its structure and activity? It should be said that the structure of the JeSU Board members and special consultants is not neutral 35 Article 3 of the JeSU Statutes (In Japanese); See also JeSU, “Foundation purpose”, https://jesu.or.jp/contents/union_summary/ (In Japanese). 36 JeSU, “List of officers”, https://jesu.or.jp/contents/union_summary/ (In Japanese). 37 JeSU, “List of members”, https://jesu.or.jp/contents/union_summary/ (In

Japanese). 38 Article 12 of the JeSU Statutes.

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for all stakeholders in the Japanese esports society because it does not include the esports players’ representatives in its composition. In contrast, it publishes a list of Board member’s names and affiliations (‘organisational transparency’), but it does not share a sufficient amount of accurate, transparent and reliable information on their activities by means of documentation (‘communicative transparency’). In this sense, it could be considered that JeSU does not ensure transparency in its activities. In consequence, JeSU does not do enough to respect ‘transparency’ and ‘neutrality’ in terms of its structure and activities. In short, JeSU has strong fiscal ties with Japanese businesses, and the directors of these businesses dominate the JeSU board. Furthermore, it receives public procurement from the Japanese public authorities. There are no board members that represent the interests of esports participants against the representatives of the esports companies. Despite the significant financial success of the esports industry as a whole, it should be considered that JeSU’s structure is not robust enough to prevent the potential risk of governance corruption arising from the deep economic nexus between JeSU and business enterprises and between JeSU and Japanese public authority. Therefore, JeSU does not successfully balance the interests of Japanese esports players, business enterprises and public authorities. Summary In summary, the SESF’s structure was found to have no deep economic relationship with business enterprises or the Swiss authorities, having only a sponsorship contract with Swisscom, and receiving no financial support from the Swiss authorities. Furthermore, the GEF Board members have powers to decide on how to bind all GEF members and allocate financial resources to esports activities, but the GEF has engaged in an anti-corruption programme under the GEF Constitution and Code of Ethics. Thus, it has clearly attempted to prevent a potential corruption. In contrast to this, it would be difficult to suggest that the IESF is an objectively transparent or neutral body because it did not expressly make an effort to fight corruption in esports or promote the integrity of esports through its activities. Furthermore, the JeSU has considerable financial ties with Japanese business enterprises and the directors of these companies dominate the JeSU board. Furthermore, it receives public procurement from the Japanese public authorities. In this case, no board

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members represent the interests of esports participants against the companies’ representatives. In spite of considerable financial successes, it should be considered that the structure of JeSU has a potential risk of corruption due to the deep economic nexus between the board members, business and the Japanese public authorities. However, JeSU does not take the necessary measures to mitigate such potential risk of corruption. Therefore, the problem is not that the JeSU and IESF have such political and economic ties, but rather it does not clarify how to manage the economic relationship in light of the principles of ‘transparency’ and ‘neutrality’.

Conclusion In conclusion, esports governing bodies should play an essential role in managing the relationship between esports players, business enterprises and public authorities to protect the ‘integrity of esports’ to prevent the potential risk of corruption. In doing so, they should implement the principle of transparency through providing accurate and reliable structure (‘organisational transparency’) and information (‘communicative transparency’) in public and the principle of neutrality through balancing the interest of all esports participants (i.e. not only esports publishers or sponsoring companies, but also esports players). To respect these principles, this article suggests the following recommendations: 1. Create an easily understandable structure for all esports participants and establish a whistle-blower organ for implementing anticorruption and good governance (See Hessert 2021; Philippou and Hines 2021, 5–6 and 10)39 ; 2. Share accurate and reliable information with all esports participants by means of documentation (e.g. annual financial report); 3. Include players’ representatives as the Board Members or establish athletes’ commission to represent their interests in the decisionmaking and policy-making processes of esports governing bodies (See Thibault 2010, 279–82 and 293–8); 4. Create regulations and rules for anti-corruption and protection of integrity of esports (Czegledy 2021, 170). 39 For instance, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) is an anti-corruption body that in is charge of preventing, investigating and prosecuting corruption (especially, match-fixing) that occurred in professional tennis society.

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Through the implementation of these recommendations, esports governing bodies would create fundamental mechanisms for the prevention of corruption in esports and the promotion of good governance in esports governing bodies. However, it is necessary to consider the availability of adequate finance. For instance, the SESF has insufficient financial resources to allocate it to a whistle-blower organ. In this sense, it should be considered that esports governing bodies, if able to generate sufficient financial resources for their activities, should take the necessary steps to manage their economic relationships with business enterprises and public authorities to prevent the risk of corruption in esports governance. However, this article could not take into consideration how the concept of ‘good governance’, which has been discussed in the sports industry, should apply to the esports industry (Kelly et al. 2022, 8–12).40 Therefore, this issue will be examined in future research.

References Akihabara News. 2020, July 13. “Rise of the Japan eSports Union”. https://aki habaranews.com/rise-of-the-japan-esports-union/. Auger, Giselle A. 2014. “Trust Me, Trust Me Not: An Experimental Analysis of the Effect of Transparency on Organizations.” Journal of Public Relations Research 26 (1): 325–43. Brabners. 2021, February 1. “Esports – enforceability of contracts with minors”. Brabners. https://www.brabners.com/blogs/esports-enforceability-contractsminors. Czegledy, Peter K. 2021. “Esports Integrity Policies.” Gaming Law Review 25 (4): 161–70. Deloitte. 2021a. Let’s Play! 2021a: The Swiss esports market. https://www2. deloitte.com/ch/en/pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/art icles/the-swiss-esports-market.html. Deloitte. 2021b, October 20. Let’s Play! 2021b: The European esports market. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/telecommunications/ esports-in-europe.html. ESA. 2019, November 5. “Video Game Industry Establishes Universal Esports Principles for Fun & Fair Play”. https://www.theesa.com/news/video-gameindustry-establishes-universal-esports-principles-for-fun-fair-play/.

40 Sarah J. Kelly et al. have already proposed a good governance model in esports industry in light of the sports governance model.

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Kelly, Sarah J., et al. 2022. “Governance Challenges in Esports: A Best Practice Framework for Addressing Integrity and Wellbeing Issues.” International Journal of Sport Policy Politics 14 (1): 151–68. Král, Pavel, and Graham Cuskelly. 2018. “A Model of Transparency: Determinants and Implications of Transparency for National Sport Organizations.” ESMQ 18 (2): 237–62. Kulkarni, Manali. 2016, September 2. “The Continued Rise Of ESport – Efforts To Combat Match Fixing And Improve Integrity”. LawInSport. https:// www.lawinsport.com/topics/features/item/the-continued-rise-of-esport-eff orts-to-combat-match-fixing-and-improve-integrity#references. Lavelle, Matthew and Faint, Grace. 2021a, March 5. “Esports Player Contracts: A Guide for Teams and Players (Part One)”. Brabners. https://www.brabners. com/blogs/esports-player-contracts-guide-teams-and-players-part-one. Lavelle, Matthew and Faint, Grace. 2021b, March 5. “Esports Player Contracts: A Guide for Teams and Players (Part Two)”. Brabners. https://www.bra bners.com/blogs/esports-player-contracts-guide-teams-and-players-part-two. Martin, Alain. 2016, August 2. “Fair Play and Fixing: The Growing Pains of eSports”. Red Bull. https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/fair-play-and-fixingthe-growing-pains-of-esports. Naha, Souvik, and David Hassan. 2018. “Introduction: Ethical Concerns in Sport Governance.” Sport in Society 21 (5): 721–23. Newzoo. 2022. Global Esports & Live Streaming Market Report 2022 (Free Version). Newzoo. https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-glo bal-esports-live-streaming-market-report-2022-free-version/. OAG. 2021, November 2. “Football: Indictment for a Payment of CHF 2 Million by FIFA to the Former President of UEFA”. OAG. https://www.bundesanwaltschaft.ch/mpc/en/home/medien/archivmedienmitteilungen/news-seite.msg-id-85688.html. OFSPO, e-sport – rapport et position de l’OFSPO, December 17, 2018. https://www.baspo.admin.ch/fr/home.detail.news.html/baspo-internet/ 2019/e-sport-eine-spielkultur-keine-sportart.html. Philippou, Christina. 2022. “Anti-Bribery and Corruption in Sport Mega-Events: Stakeholder Perspectives.” Sport in Society 25 (4): 819–36. Philippou, Christina, and Tony Hines. 2021. “Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policies in International Sports Governing Bodies.” Frontiers in Sports and Active Living 3: 1–16. Riedl, Erika. 2011. “How Sport Regulations are Being Used to Restore Trust Following the International Biathlon Union scandal.” In Restoring Trust in Sport: Corruption Cases and Solutions, edited by Catherine Ordway, 48–63. New York: Routledge. Scholz, Tobias M. 2019. Esports is Business: Management in the World of Competitive Gaming. New York: Palgrave Pivot.

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Shinohara, Tsubasa. 2021a, June 15. The Project on Human Rights Protection for Gamers and Staffs in Swiss Esport Activity—A Brief Introduction, SESF . https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mca_BtnhL_xyMW32_ UIUA_VnKiXjUa4J/view. Shinohara, Tsubasa. 2021b, June 15. Project Statement, SESF . https://drive. google.com/file/d/1btoVVc1sty9CTJQxLO6knKVZVGci91Bu/view. Shinohara, Tsubasa. 2021c, June 15. Interpretation of Human Rights Clause and Non-Discrimination and Equality Clause, SESF . https://drive.google.com/ file/d/1JrLOmgT2zAx_lSGsHC28EVnXySvaFKEw/view. Statista. 2022, February. “Leading eSports Tournaments Worldwide as of January 2022, Ranked by Overall Prize Pool”. Statista. https://www.statista.com/sta tistics/517940/leading-esports-tournamets-worldwide-by-prize-pool/. Thibault, Lucie, et al. 2010. “Democratization and Governance in International Sport: Addressing Issues with Athlete Involvement in Organizational Policy.” International Journal of Sport Policy Politics 2 (3): 275–302. Tseng, Yen-Shyang. 2020. “The Principles of Esports Engagement: A Universal Code of Conduct.” Journal of Intellectual Property Law 27 (2): 209–50. Udoey, Ubong. 2021, July 2. “eSports: A Playground for Corruption?”. The Global Anti-Corruption Blog. https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2021/ 07/02/esports-a-playground-for-corruption/. UNODC. 2021. UNODC Global Report on Corruption in Sport. https://www. unodc.org/unodc/en/safeguardingsport/grcs/index.html. Vuilleumier, Marie. 2020, June 3. “Corruption at FIFA: 25 Criminal Cases and a Prosecutor in Hot Water”. swissinfo.ch. https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/jus tice_corruption-at-fifa--25-criminal-cases-and-a-prosecutor-in-hot-water/458 00868. Wolf, Jacob. 2019, February 23. “Former KeSPA Chairman Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Corruption, Abuse of Power”. ESPN . https://www.espn. com/esports/story/_/id/26062756/former-kespa-chairman-sentenced-sixyears-prison-corruption-abuse-power.

Communities

The Management of Professional Esports Teams on League of Legends in Vietnam Florian Lefebvre and Pham Vu Thang

Introduction Esports, also known as electronic sports, can be characterized as a constantly changing and multidimensional global industrial phenomenon. Esports encompasses a rich variety of gaming titles played in numerous contexts. Although unequally distributed globally, the popularity of esports is increasing and has been appropriated as a marketing tool to reach Millenials and Generation Z audiences, as esports companies leverage these esports cultures to reach specific audiences. Notwithstanding its historical roots in North America and Europe, the esports phenomenon also has origins in the Asia–Pacific, with South Korea often

F. Lefebvre (B) University Rouen Normandie, Rouen, France e-mail: [email protected] University Paris-Saclay, Bures sur Yvettes, France F. Lefebvre · P. V. Thang University of Economics and Business, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_5

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depicted as an esports mecca (Scholz 2019) and with China portrayed as the most important current esports market worldwide (Yu 2018). In the shadow of these two Asian esports giants, Greater Southeast Asia’s (GSEA) national esports markets are “destined to become a powerhouse of esports” (Worrall 2019). This is exemplified in Tencent and Newzoo’s (2021) report which predicted that the market would reach an audience of 42.5 million by the end of 2021 across six major countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. However, very little is known about the main challenges and opportunities related to the development of professional esports teams inside GSEA despite its unique position as a mobile-first-world region. This chapter discusses the specific case of Vietnamese professional esports team management for three reasons. Firstly, they are embedded in a fast-growing esports industry that has been supported by a national esports federation since 2009; the Vietnam Recreational and Electronic Sport Association (VIRESA). Secondly, this market is also dynamic, as exemplified by the implementation of esports competitions in the 31st SEA Games (Garnace 2021). Thirdly, it is also youth-oriented since 75% of Vietnamese esports communities are between 13 and 22 years old (Vietnam Recreational and Electronic Sport Association 2021). The specific aim of this research is to identify the main features of professional Vietnamese esports team management in League of Legends. Both sporting and commercial management will be considered.

Theoretical Framework Drawing on a dynamic capabilities (DC) approach (Teece 2007), this study relies on Wu, Chen and Jiao’s (2016) opportunity recognition capability (ORC) and opportunity capitalization capability (OCC) approach to better illuminate how the commercial professionalization of Vietnamese professional esports teams contributes to the overall structure of the Vietnamese esports market. According to Wu, Chen and Jiao (2016), ORC refers to “a firm’s capability to identify and acquire externally generated knowledge that is critical to its operation” (p. 2681). In particular, ORC pertains to “the dimensions of managerial processes, structures, information and managerial systems, and networks, through which external information and knowledge can be identified and imported across organizational boundaries” (ibid, p. 2681). According to Pham et al. (2019, 6), ORC thus allows firms to sense resources that are relevant to market

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needs and to thus identify a fit between a particular market need and a specific resource. It should also be noted that firms with strong ORC tend to be active listeners and use a rich variety of media to scan information and knowledge in a wide variety of sources (Wu et al. 2016). In particular, external information can help companies through ORC to (1) better detect customer’s needs, (2) actively monitor innovative behavior of competitors, (3) establish friendly cooperative ties with suppliers or vendors as well as (4) observe the latest scientific and technological discoveries in their field (Wu et al. 2016, 2683). This is even more important for newly established ventures as they “persistently seek ORC to ensure their survival in the market” (Anwar et al. 2022, 773). Additionally, Wu, Chen and Jiao (2016) state that OCC “attempts to capitalize on, and exploit, potential business opportunities through reconfiguration and redeployment of a firm’s resource stock so as to align it with the environmental requirement and to exploit these potential opportunities” (p. 2681). According to the authors, this generally involves new products, processes or services. In other words, companies with strong OCC are characterized by their ability to quickly mobilize the resources necessary to positively exploit sensed opportunities in hyper-competitive markets. As noted by Scholz and Stein (2017), analyzing DC deployment is particularly relevant when focusing on evolving companies in high-velocity environments such as esports. Resources in esports are allocated bottom-up as the industry is people-driven rather than driven by the market. This requires ultradexterity on the part of the company (p. 55). As such, ORC and OCC deployment should be analyzed through the lens of the esports manager as he/she is at the center of ORC and OCC. In addition to this, recent research on ORC and OCC deployment inside Vietnamese small and medium firms to explain competitive advantage is built (Pham et al. 2019), strengthens our theoretical positioning. This is because professional esports teams in Vietnam can also be depicted as small and medium firms with limited human resources to support their commercial development.

Method Given a lack of information on the deployment of ORC and OCC DC in the literature, we chose a qualitative explorative approach. We selected Vietnamese professional esports teams active inside the Vietnamese esports industry for at least two years as our unit of analysis.

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Following Miles et al.’s (2014) recommendations, we then sought to capture all the shades of this unit of analysis by obtaining the most diverse sample possible. To serve this purpose, data were collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews with Vietnamese professional esports teams’ managers operating at Vietnamese Championship Series (VCS) level. Data Collection The first step in our data collection phase was to identify which organizations to contact in order to conduct interviews with LOL team managers. To do this, we listed all the teams that took part at least once in their history in a LOL professional league in Vietnam. This included a total of 61 teams taking part in the Glorious Arena event in 2012 or the VCS between 2013 and 2021. From this, we then created an Excel tab to connect a range of information to each team in order to better identify the most relevant team. Relevant factors included (i) the number of active days since the team’s creation date, (ii) the number of times they participated in the VCS and / or Glorious Arena, (iii) their total earnings in prize money, (iv) the total number of matches played in the VCS and/ or the Glorious Arena, (v) their creation and (vi) disband date (if this occurred) and (vii) their sporting performance (e.g., win rate, number of podiums and wins). At this stage, we then classified the 61 teams into three historic periods, namely (i) teams that participated in Glorious Arena’ season(s) (i.e., in 2012), (ii) teams that participated in VCS leagues before Riot Games’ recognition of the VCS as an independent region (i.e., from 2013 to 2017—34 teams) and (iii) teams that participated in or joined the VCS after this recognition (i.e., from 2018 to 2021—10 teams). We then selected the four most successful and sustainable teams in each era by looking at their lifetime per day and the prize money earned in VCS and/or Glorious Arena. Following this process enabled us to reach team managers with extensive experience in LOL professional team management and with a wide knowledge of the evolution of esports on LOL in Vietnam over a ten-year period. Once identified, we then attempted to contact the managers that are or were active by e-mail, Facebook, Discord, LinkedIn and Zalo. The results are shown in the Table 1. Data collection was nonetheless a difficult task given that the four teams representing the Glorious Arena era had already been disbanded by Garena for some time. Furthermore, the two teams shown in green were

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Table 1

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Breakdown of interviewees

Code

Experience in esports

Length of the interview

Date and location

ALPHA

7 years and worked with the VCS team as team manager and coach 6 years and worked as a manager with three different VCS teams About 10 years: from the Glorious Arena era (player and then manager) to the current era of VCS with Riot recognition (general manager of a VCS team) 13 years of esports experience since World Cyber Games 2009 and 3 years as general manager of a VCS team

78 Minutes

11 February 2022 Zoom

73 Minutes

18 February 2022 Zoom

63 Minutes

22 June 2022 Zoom

62 Minutes

03 July 2022 Zoom

BETA

GAMMA

EPSILON

no longer active in the VCS. For these reasons, we had to rely on snowball methodology to find current or former team managers who accepted our request to take part in this study. Sample Our unit of analysis consists of four semi-structured interviews with skilled LOL team managers holding previous experience in 5 teams as listed in Fig. 1. The team managers are referred to throughout as ALPHA, BETA, GAMMA and EPSILON. The interviews were between 62 and 78 minutes and took place between February and June 2022. All interviews were conducted on Zoom. A summary is shown in the table below. Following Castillo-Montoya’s (2016) methodology, respondents were first asked introductory questions on their past experience in the Vietnamese esports industry in order to make them comfortable in answering the subsequent questions (e.g., please could you introduce yourself and talk about your first experience regarding esports?). Interviewees were then questioned about their sporting management routines. For example, they were asked questions on the main challenges and management issues

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Fig. 1 Teams classified according to earnings and lifetime as a team

esports managers had in properly managing their teams. Thirdly, respondents were requested to discuss the commercial management of their team with questions including “do you have any specific strategies to financially develop your team?” The fourth and final part of the interview was constructed to question interviewees on the professionalization of esports teams in Vietnam. For example, they were required to answer questions such as “what could be the current concerns that still need to be regulated to improve LOL Vietnamese esports team’s management?” Data Analysis Collected data were classified and examined using a categorical thematic analysis using NVivo QSR 10 software. They were organized within firstlevel nodes and sub-nodes levels 1 and 2 to better examine the results. Table 2, for example, displays the Nvivo nodes and sub-nodes for the sporting duties of Vietnamese LOL esports team managers.

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Table 2 Nvivo coding—sporting duties of Vietnamese LOL esports team managers Sub-nodes

Number of files (interviews)

Number of references

Know your players, spend time with them Organize everything for the players Group meeting with players to setup the goals Talent recognition—searching Motivate the players Individual meetings Managing player time—routines Manage the people Help the team to survive—sporting Help the team to reach achievements Develop a team culture

4

9

4

7

4

6

4 3 3 3 1 1

7 5 3 4 2 2

1

1

1

2

Results Consistent with an ORC and OCC DC approach, we planned the provision of a preliminary framework outlining the main features of a Vietnamese professional esports team management model. The results section highlights three main categories, namely, the (i) sporting management duties of managers inside Vietnamese LOL esports teams, (ii) their commercial duties and (iii) perspectives on the professionalization of LOL Vietnamese esports teams. This relies on four semi-structured interviews with managers working within such organizations participating in the VCS. Given the size of the sample, this chapter provides more of an overview than outcomes that can be generalized to all Vietnamese professional LOL esports team evolving at the VCS level. A further reason the results cannot be generalized is that interviewees are not always involved in both the sporting and commercial aspects of team management, as explained by respondent BETA: I think we need to divide two parts about esports duties and business because I work better with the players and I’m not good enough to find the business. Sometimes, I go together with the boss to meet the brand.

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For example, MSI. And when they talk, I keep silent because it’s not my part. (BETA)

Sporting Management Duties This section aims to illustrate how LOL esports team managers in Vietnam manage the sporting side of their team in order to achieve the best possible outcomes when competing in VCS or in other major competitions. This implies a rich variety of routines developed by managers to improve sporting performances as presented below. Develop a Team Culture by Spending Time with the Players Respondents first pointed out the need to manage players’ time in a way that supports the development of a team culture in which their players are key actors. To achieve such a goal, the interviewees all agreed that team managers should “know their players and their staff in person” (ALPHA). In this respect, it is necessary for the managers to understand players’ emotions in order to avoid common scenarios in which the players no longer want to play because they lose passion for the game. In more concrete terms, this involves managing player emotions to increase the likelihood of getting good sporting results as outlined by ALPHA: You have to keep them (the players) having the passion. If they don’t have the passion anymore, they don’t play. They play like zombies, just play for play but they don’t know how to play to win. You have to know about their feelings, keep them having good emotions and in this case they play very well if they have good emotions. (ALPHA)

In addition to this, ensuring the players remain positive also requires managers to spend time with their players outside of training and competition. Three respondents out of four highlighted the need to setup sporting and leisure activities in player schedules, as reported in the following excerpts: This season, we need them to training workout twice per week and. One day per week is for stretching and one day is to play something together like football or the pool table, billiards. We need to play one day together. (GAMMA)

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The last thing is to keep them healthy routines, so exercises. You have to ask them to join you in sports day, badminton or running jogging. […] It’s outside activities that bring the team together and keep a healthy body and mind. Esports players need this a lot. (EPSILON) You need to play football in the Sunday. Do sport in the team. […] But for now, I am scared that the team doesn’t have the time to do the sport time or go out together to see the movie. (BETA)

Another key aspect of developing a team culture discussed by the interviewees relates to the establishment of daily and weekly routines. This includes the need to wake up at a specific time to prepare for competitions, as shown in the following quote: Routines are what we build for the players from day one. If they have routine, you will have routinely worked with them, you will be familiar with the schedule. […] When you say 10 o’clock, it’s 10 o’clock. They cannot change it because the players will think that they can be late. (EPSILON)

Building a team culture is not restricted to simply being on time. Team manager GAMMA provides an in-depth description of the pillars of their team culture: Our team culture focus on 3 things. The first is we, not me. You need to put the team above you. The team is the first priority, then the individual. […] The second rule is no complaining, no complaint. […] And the third is to be early. We need our team to be early in training, wake up, tournaments or everything. (GAMMA)

Hence, setting up such a team culture requires managers to not only identify possible issues that may prevent the team’s success; but also to find quick solutions. Moreover, developing a clear team culture that is widely accepted in the structure could be seen as an antecedent of ORC DC. This is because managers may try to predict if a new player can fit into the current team culture when they look for new player opportunities in the market. Problem-Solving According to the interviewees, a second main skill required for any team manager is problem-solving. Contexts vary from one team to another

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one, so it is difficult to generalize about roles within the team, and thus, approaches to team management. Indeed, half the interviewees are general managers while the other half are team managers. We observe that general managers have a wider range of sporting and business duties, as explained in the following excerpt: It’s not the same in every organization I think. Because I’m the general manager so basically I care about everything in our team. […] I’m focused on […] how my team will be the champion? It’s everything in esports teams like organizing the team, recruitment, the team routines and player contract, something like that. […] So the second part I manage is a community. We have a large fanbase. We have so many fans so I need to manage team social media, merchandise and team events. (GAMMA)

As such, there is no simple solution but rather context-specific solutions to in-game and out-game issues, as reported by respondent BETA: The first thing that team manager needs to know quickly about their team. What problem they get it. And finish the problem as soon as possible. […] For example, your player cannot play well. […] The manager and coach need to know why. In [name of the team], I divide in two ways, in game and out game. Out game means your family, friends, girlfriend. And in game the coach need to know why the players cannot do their job. Like if you go to mid lane, you need to do ABC. And the player cannot do. [...] If they change and play better, the coach and manager do the best way. If the players failed again, you need to know the problem again. (BETA)

A final reason that managers must deal with a range of duties can be found in the lack of supportive human resources inside the team. This suggests that there is an infrastructure issue that team managers encounter, as highlighted by EPSILON: I think in Vietnam, infrastructure is very basic. As you can see in other region team, they have a department of management. They have the head coach, the analyst, the strategy coach, the mechanic’s coach but in Vietnam we only have one coach and one assistant. That is luxury already. […] But due to covid economic backdrop, […] I have to drop the assistant so I do all the management jobs by myself besides cooking and cleaning. […] I have to do from finance, strategy planning from the team, rosters, jersey, public relations, health care and the benefits of the players, contract and designing the fan page. (EPSILON)

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As exemplified by the quotes above, our results allow us to suggest that the capacity of a manager or general manager (when applicable) to deal with the different sporting problems that can occur daily in their organization could represent a second antecedent of the ORC DC. This is perhaps important when a manager who is already overloaded by daily and weekly tasks has less capacity to seek new player opportunities. The work overload that esports managers face in Vietnam therefore tends to hinder their ability to achieve sporting success in the long run, notably when they lack the human resources necessary to clearly separate in-game and out-game issues and to address them accordingly. Organize Specific Meetings with the Players A third major duty disclosed by all respondents is the need to organize meetings with players in order to ensure that the players conform to the strategic goal of the team and to address issues that can occur before, during or after a competition. The first category of meeting implemented by all respondents is the group meeting with the players. Such meetings appear vital in ensuring the players are connected with long-term team ambitions, as explained by ALPHA and BETA here: The most important you have to tell them (the players) is: if you play for me, […] I will make you a champion. […] In this case, they will think: I think I must play with this team for many years. [...] Usually some players play for a few splits (seasons) and want to leave. (ALPHA) The main thing for the manager is to keep the team believe that they can do TOP 1 or TOP 4. […] The whole team need to believe in that also. (BETA)

These group meetings are well integrated into the team schedule and act as an efficient way to quickly address issues that may occur as highlighted by the next quote: So every Monday we have a small meeting to explain what change in the tournament. If nothing serious, we just go play really fast. And after a tournament match. If that match we see a problem, we will also have a small meeting. (EPSILON)

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Another form of meeting used by team managers is individual meetings with players. They are important in clarifying “what happens in your team” (BETA) or in some cases addressing issues such as “a toxic player that doesn’t fit with everyone” (GAMMA). However, individual meetings do not represent a routine found in every team but rather a supplementary tool managers can deploy when major problems arise. According to our results, group meetings could represent a third antecedent to ORC DC as they can, in some instances, help managers detect when players no longer fit into team plans. In such circumstances, these meetings allow team managers to precisely define the team’s needs in terms of the players required to continue their evolution at the highest possible sporting level. In other words, group meetings can be seen as an efficient way to sense the future need for hiring new players. Talent Recognition The fourth sporting duty for Vietnamese LOL esports team managers is related to their ability to recognize new talents that may fit with their current roster of players. In this respect, no specific commonalities emerge from the data, as the way each team find new players varies significantly from one team to another. One major obstacle here is that Vietnam suffers from a lack of non-professional tournaments to scout young talents not yet competing at the VCS level. This is highlighted by respondent GAMMA who pointed out both the lack of an academy system and of competitions in which to identify new talent: It’s very hard to have a specific strategy to identify talents opportunities because we don’t have enough non-professional league in Vietnam. We need them to join some good teams step by step and we realize ah there is a good player so this is very hard. (GAMMA)

This observation is reinforced by EPSILON who noted the need for good scouts in Vietnam, given the weakness of talent management: We don’t have that many tournaments in Vietnam to actually see them (young players). So our head coach is actually having a good eye for young players that he developed through time. And I think right now we only depend on good scouts, the experience of the coach yes. If the coach can see the talent and fit the team. We don’t have that much esports agency to already doing the scouting for us. So that is the next step for the industry. We are not there yet. (EPSILON)

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In addition to gauging how new talents play the game, one respondent argued the need to assess whether players “have discipline, if they live good and healthy” (ALPHA). A last respondent suggested that it is necessary for managers to meet prospective players in person to understand how they behave in order to see if they can fit into the team culture. To do this, managers can also investigate players’ relationships with peers and family and thus more clearly anticipate how they might be accepted in the team roster: I will take the transports, see how he is thinking. What he thinks about our team if he can play well or not. Next step, I will talk to their family also. So the family support them going in esports or not. If everything clear, I will talk with them about a contract, talk with the family about this. (BETA)

Our results show that Vietnamese LOL esports teams do not demonstrate specific ORC outside the need to see how the players are playing. Instead, they tend to rely heavily on the experience of their coach to sense new talent opportunities, as there is no academy system and few tournaments outside professional leagues such as VCS A and VCS B. Despite the lack of clear common ORC DC acknowledged by all interviewees, our results still support the generation of a framework for talent recognition capability for VCS LOL esports teams. Indeed, we firstly identify three main antecedents that can influence the ability of team managers to sense new talent opportunity, namely the team culture of their structure, their ability to solve in-game and out-game issues with their players and the use of group meetings to detect when a player may not fit anymore with the team’ objectives and culture. Secondly, our results also support the existence of three facilitators of ORC DC that can directly influence the capacity of team managers to sense new talents in the market. Notably, these facilitators can be seen as lower-level tournaments in which new player opportunities can be seen, the experience of esports coaches on which the team relies when choosing a new player, and the growing role of esports scouts. Lastly, we might also consider the addition of a fourth facilitator given that some interviewees highlighted the lack of an academy system in Vietnam that represents a future mechanism to detect new players.

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Commercial Management Duties The aim of the following section is to portray how LOL esports team managers in Vietnam manage the commercial side of their team in order to financially develop it. This includes leveraging sponsorship opportunities in addition to other sources of income. This section thus outlines the resources on which esports managers rely to deploy their OCC DC. Sponsors Unsurprisingly, the interviewees describe sponsorship as the main source of income for their teams. One respondent illustrates this as “a way to make the team survive in Vietnam” (ALPHA). Respondents commonly agree that good sporting results increase their chances of both finding and retaining sponsors. This is notably highlighted by BETA who explained that only the best teams can retain sponsors as the less performing teams receive less visibility: People don’t remember the team who did a top 6. But they just remember the team that do top 1 or top 2. So esports teams need achievement first. [...] Without an achievement, no sponsors come to top 6, top 7 and top 8. So if you are top 1 already, you have the money, you can find new talents comes to you also. That is easier. (BETA)

In this context, finding and retaining long-term sponsors require a specific strategy that is not yet the case in Vietnam. Rather, one respondent suggests that teams should focus on developing four things that can be called the “four Cs: championship, community, content and cash” (GAMMA). The goal for any team at this stage is to create a positive circle in which each of the four Cs help develop long-term revenue streams, as GAMMA explains: We believe one thing: if we go to be a champion, we win, we can have a big community of fans, people know about us. And if we do more content to keep them with our side, so we can make cash because more followers so maybe more sponsors, more merchandise, more events, more streaming. (GAMMA)

Another concern when looking for sponsors is to locate companies likely to be interested in maintaining long-term partnerships with teams they will support. This is paramount when teams want to stabilize their

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long-term business model. According to EPSILON, such a goal can be achieved only when the team is seen as a “marketing promoting channel” and when it stops relying only on local Vietnamese brands. To do this, EPSILON suggests the solution is to seek “fundraising, ETF funds or global financial funds” to find “long-term investments […] because (local brands) cause so much problem and then we need to change the jersey again, […] to fix our branding again.” Sponsorship opportunities remain the main way to generate funds for a Vietnamese LOL esports team. However, this income stream is highly volatile and few top teams are lucky enough to enjoy it, as reported by GAMMA: Just about 4 or 5 teams in Vietnam have real sponsors who pay them large amount of money for the team. GAM esports, team Flash, maybe some teams in mobile teams on FreeFire or Arena of Valor have big sponsors. And the rest, sponsors are paid by the owner. (GAMMA)

Therefore, looking for other sources of income appears paramount for any LOL Vietnamese esports team. This is problematic, as some team managers do not consider the business side of their team. This is notably the case when they acknowledge “being not good about the business part” (BETA). In this context, our results help identify three antecedents of the OCC DC when it comes to finding and retaining sponsors. Indeed, despite a lack of clear strategy deployed by the esports managers to reach this goal, the managers consider the creation of content, the development of a strong fan community and sporting achievements as three pillars on which they can build on. In other words, esports managers cannot exploit their entrepreneurial abilities to sign and retain long-term partners if they do not benefit from those three antecedents in their structure. Other Sources of Income Very little information has been collected about other sources of income as most interviewees did not have the capacity to develop revenue for their team other than sponsorship. In this respect, only two teams reported that they sold merchandise to generate supplementary income. However, there is little merchandise teams can sell in addition to their jersey, as expressed by EPSILON:

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Merchandizing is not really good because the need is not there. We only can sell our jersey. We are not focusing on merchandizing anymore due to COVID also. There is an economic collapse anywhere so events, we cannot only depend on those small things. It occurs every season just once so it cannot be stable financial resources. (EPSILON)

Our data confirms that Vietnamese esports teams remain highly dependent on sponsorship for survival. There is still no income stream for player loans or transfers in Vietnam. However, teams generate revenue from prize pools, sponsorship and to a lesser extent, “subscription on streaming, YouTube, the advertising and merchandise” (GAMMA). In this context, Vietnamese LOL esports teams portray weak opportunity recognition capabilities to develop income streams outside sponsorship, the main source of revenue. Teams need to perform well to sign and retain partners. Therefore, the development of other sources of income such as merchandizing and perhaps in the future, player transfers also heavily rely on the same three antecedents noted in 4.2. This is notably the case because esports teams need strong sporting achievements, in order to build a solid fanbase regularly nurtured through social media content if they want to increase jersey sales or improve the value of their players for potential transfer. Perspectives on the Professionalization of LOL Vietnamese Esports Teams The last section of the results outlines the perspectives on and limitations of the professionalization of Vietnamese LOL esports teams. Perspectives The first perspective identified by all the respondents is related to government and public policies for esports in Vietnam. For one respondent, this means having protection from the government to prevent teams being disbanded or shut down by the publisher of the competition. According to GAMMA: The power of publishers is too strong. So they own everything, the license, the decision they can disband a team or they can shut down the league immediately. I think the esports team needs protection from the government, like the VIRESA. We need to balance the power from the teams, the publishers and the government. (GAMMA)

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Two other respondents reported more a general willingness to see more the government more active in supporting the development of esports in Vietnam. This may help change attitudes on esports as seen in Vietnam, as expressed by respondent ALPHA: Vietnamese people don’t like esports, they like the game and they just see that as a game. Not a sport. My family too. It’s hard to work with an esports team. But I think now we have a lot of opportunities with the government. They see it as a real sport and put them into the SEA Games. (APLHA)

The interviewees share the idea that esports remain neglected by the Vietnamese government outside the specific case of the SEA Games which included esports. On this matter, one respondent stressed that there is still no legal status for people working inside professional esports teams in Vietnam as players and managers: Accidentally, esports in Vietnam is very strong. Accidentally because the government is not paying attention to us. They don’t. Right now, esports players, esports staff, are not considered a real job, even in Vietnamese law. There is not a term for esports player. We are all performer. There is no coach or certification from being an esports staff or player. In Vietnam, progressing is very slow. It takes a lot of time to actually change something. (EPSILON)

Perhaps stronger support from the Vietnamese government towards the main actors of the esports industry would help develop esports teams’ managers’ capacity to deploy both ORC and OCC DC. A first step might be to create in collaboration with VIRESA a legal status for esports professions such as professional players, coaches and managers. A second perspective identified by all the respondents is the ability of Vietnamese teams to attract more foreign investors in order to develop their teams on a financial level. This is notable in Vietnam as it is an attractive region for foreign investors due to both the facts that (1) “Vietnam is the country that have the most viewers and players in SEA at the exception of Indonesia that have huge following” (BETA) and (2) “it’s quite cheap to enter Vietnam, to have a team, a roster and to compete in VCS.” (EPSILON). A third reason is that “Vietnam has 2 slots to go to Worlds while all the other regions only have 1 slot” (EPSILON). Currently, foreign investors appear as a solution for Vietnam

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having personally owned self-financed teams as claimed by interviewee GAMMA: The foreign investment, I think more organization like NRG come is better for us. Because we need something important here is the cash, the money you know. So if we take a look at maybe China or Korea, they have big brands to sponsors or actually buy the team. Like in Korea we have T1, the team owner is maybe one of the biggest media companies in the US, Comcast I think. And the SK Telecom. Some team like KT is a Korean Telecom. So big companies hold the team. But in Vietnam just some owners like personal owners, they pay with their own money to run the team. We don’t have many big companies or brands hold the teams or sponsor the teams. More foreign investment is better. (GAMMA)

This view is widely held among the sample. One respondent pointed out that Vietnam needs increased foreign investment as foreign investors have greater capacity, knowledge and financial weight: We need foreign investment more and more because they know what they are doing. Actually, we don’t know (what we are doing). The whole market has actually maybe 1 or 2 people that know what they talk about. And the Vietnamese team cannot pay enough to have people with that knowledge in their team. We can’t afford to have better quality employees. Most of them are passionate and leave after a while because this industry did not pay them well. (EPSILON)

In this context, foreign investment could be seen as a second facilitator of the deployment of ORC and OCC DC among Vietnamese LOL esports teams as it generally fosters the implementation of new managerial systems and the hiring of new employees. This is important in reducing the workload of esports managers and reallocating sporting management and commercial tasks to more than one employee. The recent failure to acquire Saigon Buffalo VCS esports team by the South Korean company Juego to form CNJ Esports also tends to support our findings as the original Vietnamese manager from Saigon Buffalo was supported by four South Korean representatives with the aim of creating a stable and high-quality esports department (Šimi´c 2022) but this situtation has stopped.

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A third perspective acknowledged by three respondents is related to the low education level of professional esports players in Vietnam. Interviewees commonly comment on the need to educate the players more to prepare them for the future: I think the manager is not only doing their job like manage the team. But one important thing is to educate players. In Vietnam, we need to educate players more to get them to be a professional level. They are professional players but some of them are not professional there. (GAMMA)

More broadly, educating the players exists alongside issues such as punishing toxic players for poor behavior as expressed by interviewee EPSILON: “You have to teach them about sportsmanship to have a straightforward characteristic in this industry. It affects your own career long term.” From a managerial perspective, this also means that managers need to understand their player’s background. This is important as players are often not well educated or they come from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and often make significant sacrifices to be players, as reported by EPSILON: Most players in Vietnam come from very poor families and don’t have education background. They don’t. So that’s why they play game for 13 years old and quit school just to play game. […] But they sacrifice, they consume their youth, their time to the game. So their culture and background is not good so I have to study them. I cannot put them in the background that I see. I have to see through their eyes. To know what they want, to listen to their stories, to research about their family and what traumas, what stress, what story behind their behavior. (EPSILON)

In such circumstances, we can depict the education level of esports players as the final facilitator of the deployment of ORC and OCC DC among Vietnamese LOL esports teams, given that more educated players could be better promoted as brand ambassadors, and therefore help the team to improve their brand image. However, it should be noted that poorly educated players could inhibit the capacity of their team managers to deploy ORC and OCC DC as toxic behaviors could damage the team brand image, and this can result in a loss of sponsorship.

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Main Limitation—lack of Recognition of Esports in Vietnam The main limitation that emerges from our data for the professionalization of the Vietnamese LOL esports team is the lack of recognition of esports itself in Vietnamese society. One respondent highlights that “in Asia, the parents don’t want their child to play games.” (ALPHA). This cultural difference from other regions such as Europe and USA is a significant challenge for Vietnamese esports ecosystems as it is widely shared in Vietnamese families. This is even more challenging when support for the Vietnamese esports market is mainly from Generation Z and Millenials, but older generations have more financial power and influence. GAMMA: Actually in Vietnam we have lot of people know about esports already but it’s just Gen Z or Millenials know about esports. But the older, from 35, they don’t know about esports much. But they are the people who have a lot of money you know. [...] We need more people know about esports in Vietnam. This is our main limit now. If we have more people know about esports, it’s better to have the sponsor or some investment in esports. (GAMMA)

Therefore, we can identify the lack of recognition of esports in Vietnam as a key inhibitor of both ORC and OCC DC for esports managers. Those that are financially strong enough to support their team are often unaware of the success of esports among Millenials and Generation Z. Weak recognition of esports in Vietnam could also discourage some talents to choose playing professional esports as a vocational career.

Conclusion From this research, we can provide an exploratory model of the management of esports teams on LOL in Vietnam. Table 3 acts as a summary. Currently, Vietnamese LOL professional esports team still lacks both ORC and OCC to structure themselves more professionally. Given the key role of professional esports teams in the esports ecosystem (Scholz 2019), we can now draw upon the above model to argue that they contribute to the Vietnamese esports industry’s structuration in different ways. First, a broader professionalization of Vietnamese LOL esports team would foster the development of non-professional tournaments, an academy system and esports agencies. This is notable as the development of the latter appears paramount for teams to build stronger ORC

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Table 3 Exploratory model of the management of esports teams on LOL in Vietnam 1. Sporting management Need to develop a team culture - Manage players’ emotions - Know staff in person - Set up sporting and leisure activities in players’ schedules - Set up specific routines

2. Commercial management

2.1. Sponsors - Need sporting achievement first - Need strong community and content - Need to see the team as a marketing promoting channel - Need to develop fundraising Need to organize everything 2.2. Other sources of income for the players to address problems- General manager - Merchandizing is still poor versus team manager debate - Teams remain very - Need to identify and solve dependent on sponsorship problems quickly - Lack of human resources to do this Specific meeting with the players - Set up group meetings inside the schedule at a specific time - Use individual meetings as a supplementary tool Talent recognition ability - No specific routines yet - Lack of non-professional tournaments to scout players - Lack of an academy system - Lack of esports agency - Mainly supported by the head coach and scouts Lack of ORC to find and Lack of OCC to find and retain the talents retain sponsors and develop financially the teams

3. Perspectives and limits 3.1. Perspectives - Need for better support from the government - Attract more foreign investors in Vietnam - Need to develop the education level and sportsmanship level of Vietnamese esports players 3.2. Limits - Lack of recognition of esports in the Vietnamese society

in order to find and retain the best talents. Secondly, a better structuration of Vietnamese LOL esports teams seems necessary so that teams become less financially dependent on sponsors. In this respect, one possibility for Vietnamese LOL esports teams is to develop their team as a

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marketing promotion channel that creates innovative content to improve fan engagement with the brand. This is particularly important for teams to become less dependent on sporting achievement as the revenue derived from sponsorship is closely connected with sporting results. A third way in which Vietnamese LOL professional esports team professionalization contributes to the Vietnamese esports industry’s structuration is that some teams have begun to attract foreign investors, and this is beneficial to the whole market. However, our results show that increasing foreign investments, educational programs for the players and a wider involvement from government inside the esports ecosystem are all needed in order to pursue the professionalization of Vietnamese esports teams. These three factors are essential given the lack of recognition for esports in Vietnamese society.

References Anwar, Muhammad, Thomas Clauss, and Wunnam Basit Issah. 2022. “Entrepreneurial Orientation and New Venture Performance in Emerging Markets: The Mediating Role of Opportunity Recognition.” Review of Managerial Science 16 (3): 769–96. Castillo-Montoya, Milagros. 2016. “Preparing for Interview Research: The Interview Protocol Refinement Framework”. The Qualitative Report 21 (5): 811–31. Garnace, Simon Juleovenz. 2021. “Wild Rift, League of Legends Joins MLBB in 31st SEA Games Hanoi 2021”. 24 mars 2021. https://esports.inquirer.net/ 24716/wild-rift-league-of-legends-joins-mlbb-in-31st-sea-games-hanoi-2021. Miles, Matthew B., A. M. Huberman, and Johnny Saldaña. 2014. Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook. Third edition. Thousand Oaks, Califorinia: SAGE Publications, Inc. Pham, Ly Minh Thi, Lobel Trong Thuy Tran, Phanee Thipwong, and Wan Tran Huang. 2019. “Dynamic Capability and Organizational Performance: Is Social Networking Site a Missing Link?” Journal of Organizational and End User Computing 31 (2): 1–21. Scholz, Tobias M. 2019. Esports is Business: Management in the World of Competitive Gaming. New York: Palgrave Pivot. Scholz, Tobias, and A Stein. 2017. “Going Beyond Ambidexterity in the Media Industry: eSports as Pioneer of Ultradexterity”. International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations 9 (2): 47–62. Šimi´c, Ivan. 2022. “Vietnamese esports Organisation Saigon Buffalo Acquired by JUEGO - Esports Insider”. https://esportsinsider.com/2022/11/leagueof-legends-saigon-buffalo-acquired-by-juego.

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Teece, David J. 2007. “Explicating Dynamic Capabilities: The Nature and Microfoundations of (Sustainable) Enterprise Performance.” Strategic Management Journal 28 (13): 1319–50. Tencent, and Newzoo. 2021. “Games & Esports: Bona Fide Sports. Esports Market Outlook for Southeast Asia”. https://www.media-outreach.com/ news/2021-07-29/87927/mobile-esports-takes-off-across-southeast-asia. Vietnam Recreational and Electronic Sport Association. 2021. “Vietnam ESports White Paper 2021”. VIRESA. https://viresa.org.vn/viresa-phat-hanhsach-trang-the-thao-dien-tu-viet-nam-2021. Worrall, William. 2019, November 19. “Greater Southeast Asia Is Becoming a Gaming and Esports Steamroller”. CCN.Com. https://www.ccn.com/gre ater-southeast-asia-is-becoming-a-gaming-and-esports-steamroller/. Wu, Hang, Jin Chen, and Hao Jiao. 2016. “Dynamic Capabilities as a Mediator Linking International Diversification and Innovation Performance of Firms in an Emerging Economy.” Journal of Business Research 69 (8): 2678–86. Yu, Haiqing. 2018. “Game On: The Rise of the ESports Middle Kingdom.” Media Industries 5 (1). https://doi.org/10.3998/mij.15031809.0005.106.

Love in Imagination: A Comparative Analysis Between Chinese K-pop Fans and Esports Fans Regarding Their Parasocial Interaction and Relationship Towards the Virtual Idol Group K/DA Yixiang Que

Introduction On November 3rd, 2018, virtual K-pop girl group K/DA debuted with their first single “POP/STARS.” Then, they performed at the opening ceremony of the League of Legends (LOL) Season 8 finale (Haasch 2020). The developer company, Riot Games, borrowed four well-known champions from LOL to form K/DA, including Ahri, Akali, Evelynn, and Kai’sa. K/DA became a unique case of transmedia storytelling which blends the K-pop and esports industries. Moreover, it was the first time when Riot Games used its characters to form an idol group with Kpop features, a music genre encompassing appearance, choreography, Korean language, and mixed music genres (Zhe and Lee 2020). Eventually, K/DA influenced the media industries with its creative media

Y. Que (B) Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_6

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business model, rather than merely earning revenue (Haasch 2020). K/ DA became a dominant act in the virtual artist space including gaming and music industries (Haasch 2020; Zhe and Lee 2020). Because of its mixed identities, K/DA attracted two groups of media consumers: esports fans and K-pop fans. Therefore, K/DA is valuable for comparative parasocial interaction studies. Drawing from and extending upon studies of parasocial interaction, parasocial interaction tries to explain the relationships between audience and media characters, and people from various media industries conduct parasocial interactions differently. In the gaming industry, players often sense parasocial interactions with the avatars and other digital entities in games. Different from most other music industries, where consumers mostly focus on the act of listening (Chion 2019), the K-pop industry stresses the importance of persona (Zaborowski 2018). However, K/DA members were already well-known in LOL before they debuted. The goal of this research goes beyond merely investigating whether parasocial interactions and relationships of esports fans and Kpop fans towards K/DA would be in line with the results from previous studies. It also aims to study the role of mixed identities of K/DA in these two groups of fans regarding in what situation they sense parasocial interactions, what parasocial relationships they construct, and what they consider vital in building such relationships. Therefore, the research question for this study is stated as follows: How do Chinese esports fans and K-pop fans differ in their parasocial interactions and relationships with the virtual idol group K/DA, and how can we understand these differences?

Literature Review Parasocial Interaction The roots of parasocial interaction theory lie with Horton and Wohl. They defined it as a “simulacrum of conversational give-and-take” (Horton and Wohl 2016, 215) that media audiences experience when reacting to media performers, especially their personas, when exposed to a media situation (Dibble et al. 2016). According to Horton and Wohl (2016), the most significant characteristic of parasocial interaction is that it can only be triggered in exposure situations, which means the audiences should directly experience the

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media performance (Horton and Strauss 1957, as cited in Giles 2009). Current academic scholarship extends this theory to include the exposure situation as an essential factor to define parasocial interaction. As stated by Hartmann and Goldhoorn (2011), it is the mutual awareness, attention, and adjustment between media figures and audiences that are vital to parasocial interaction. From Parasocial Interaction to Parasocial Relationship An affiliated theory emerged from the original parasocial interaction definition, which is parasocial relationship. It is used to illustrate a more enduring relationship constructed by the audience towards the media characters (Dibble et al. 2016). The difference between parasocial interaction and relationship lies in the fact that parasocial interaction is only ever triggered in exposure situations, whereas parasocial relationship is extended beyond single viewing moments. Therefore, parasocial relationship does not stay at the conversational level but is deepened into an illusionary and relational kinship (Erickson and Dal Cin 2017). The enduring relationships include friendship, romance, family love, parental love, and any other kinship that can define close relationships among humans. Among them, romance is a widely mentioned parasocial relationship which appeals to consumers (Bui et al. 2021; Elfving-Hwang 2018; Kang et al. 2021). However, the distinction between parasocial interaction and parasocial relationship was neglected by Horton and Wohl (2016). To cope with this, other scholars supplemented their understandings (Hartmann and Goldhoorn 2011; Klimmt et al. 2006), and they advocated different perspectives to illustrate such kinship (Rosengren et al. 2016; Rubin et al. 1985; Nordlund 2016). Firstly, from the perspective of influential approach (Nordlund 2016), the distinction of long- and short-term between parasocial relationship and parasocial interaction was weakened. Instead, media interaction process becomes linearly organized. Based on this approach, parasocial interaction and parasocial relationships are converged to explain the ongoing phases of the audiences meeting, forming emotional reactions to, and constructing intimate relationships with media figures. Secondly, similar to Nordlund (2016), Rubin et al. (1985) considered parasocial interaction and parasocial relationship as an overarching long-term social involvement, including “interaction, identification, and

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long-term identification with television characters” (2016, 156). Still focusing on the consumers, Rubin et al. (1985) saw parasocial interaction from a broader perspective and understood it as the interactive involvement of the audiences and what they appreciate, and this approach suggests possible forms of parasocial interaction and relationship that would emerge when interviewees interact with K/DA. With all being said, this research opts to illustrate parasocial interaction and parasocial relationship with the definition of Dibble et al. (2016). Parasocial interaction stands for a surreal awareness that is triggered only during the viewing process, whereas parasocial relationship illustrates an enduring connection to media figures being constructed by the audiences, and it might begin from the viewing process of parasocial interaction and extend beyond exposure moments. Gaps of Parasocial Interaction Apart from the decision of how to define parasocial interaction, there are other aspects to consider when studying parasocial interaction in this research (Giles 2009). Firstly, it needs illustration regarding which kinds of media use would connect media users and figures. Considering this, Giles (2009) suggested the intermediated relationships between users and media figures being positioned in a continuum of social interaction. Fully face-to-face interaction is placed at one end, while parasocial interaction with a virtual protagonist is located at the other end. Accordingly, the target of this research leans to the end where fans interact with virtual idols but with real singers as backup voices. Secondly, parasocial interactions with different sorts of media characters are called for study. To develop it further, Cohen (2009) indicated four kinds of relationships between audiences and media figures. Firstly, it is the parasocial interaction discussed previously (Cohen 2009). Secondly, identification refers to users’ recognition of media characteristics similar to their own (Feilitzen and Linné 1975). Thirdly, wishful identification stands for audiences’ seeing idols as their role models. Lastly, affinity is a term often used as a standard to measure audiences’ liking for media characters (Rubin Perse and Powell 1985). Cohen’s implication provides theoretical support to investigate how fans conduct parasocial interaction with K/DA in different situations, including inthe game and when they experience K/DA’s music performances.

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Parasocial Interaction in Different Contexts: K-pop Idol and Esports Game Industry K-pop Industry K-pop is famous for hybridizing music genres and highly produced sound. Moreover, visual presentation, including plastic surgery and costume design, is central to K-pop. K-pop idols also invite American singers as their song producers and writers, and they have gained a loyal fandom and have built close parasocial relationships with fans (Elfving-Hwang 2018). An “idol” stands for a singer with a media personality, and they often participate in regular fan meeting sessions (Zaborowski 2016). What differentiates idols from other celebrities is their significantly fictional persona, which complicates the traditional discussions of live musical performances. Persona is seen as “an entity that mediates between musicians and the act of performance” (Auslander 2006, 102). Therefore, the existence of idols makes a huge difference in the forming of parasocial interaction among fandoms. As indicated by Elfving-Hwang (2018), parasocial relationships within the K-pop industry are not only limited to the relationships between fans and idols on a semiotic level. The kinship could also extend to familiallike ties inside fandoms, forming a horizontally strong cohesive network. Parasocial interaction within fandom creates group identification among fans (Auter and Palmgreen 2009). Besides, the parasocial relationship between idols and fans can also be deepened to a familial level (ElfvingHwang 2018). Hence, the role of fans within the K-pop industry is no longer passive in relation to mass media (Gitzen 2013). Also, they would identify themselves as protectors when the idols are faced with exploitative incidents (Gitzen 2013; Jung and Young 2009). These are all enduring relationships in the K-pop industry. However, the Korean idol industry has been criticized because the idols could face psychological health issues, and the agencies are worried about the idols being tilted from their portrayed persona (Marx 2012). The emergence of virtual idols solves this problem and opens more room for persona (Rambarran 2016). In terms of K/DA, with the focus of character modeling, the presence of backup voice singers is reduced. The fans would still engage with the virtual idols with high emotional realism (Zaborowski 2018), in which they invest their true feelings in their love for virtual idols (Ang 2013).

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Game and Esports Industry Gamers experience more physical and direct interactivity than K-pop fans, and esports is also highly dependent on digital game content. Therefore, it is vital to discuss parasocial interaction in the gaming industry separately. Parasocial interaction in the game industry includes the response of gamers towards digital entities, such as bots, the avatar, the player character, and other players’ digital representations (Kavli 2012). According to Nass and Moon (2000), users of digital programs would attribute digital entities with human-like qualities, in which they unconsciously apply social common sense to virtual figures. In terms of players’ own avatars, Klimmt et al. (2006) state that gamers cognitively interact with game figures on screen, and parasocial interaction will develop by frequent exposure to the persona, which will be extended to parasocial relationships. Moreover, given the interactive nature of games, parasocial interaction of gamers towards digital entities are observed to be more direct and bodily than users of other media forms. Therefore, parasocial interaction in games, especially in esports games, is described as “a player’s interpersonal involvement with his avatar and the extent to which the player perceives himself as interacting with the avatar” (Kavli 2012, 2). Hai-Jew (2009) categorized players’ emotions into two groups: self-love and other-love. Self-love refers to a developed parasocial relationship towards their own avatars, whereas other-love stands for that towards others’ online personas. Besides, some scholars of cultural studies emphasize the role of social backgrounds when studying gamers’ parasocial interaction with game entities, suggesting that media content is a part of social life (Deuze 2011; Montola 2011). This is because people’s social context is the basis of gamers’ understanding of parasocial phenomena in games (Newcomb and Hirsch 1983, as cited in Zhou 2021). To sum up, parasocial interaction is defined as an imagined awareness or closeness towards media characters triggered when the audiences are exposed in front of media productions, with parasocial relationships understood as enduring kinship constructed between fans and media characters. Given the transmedia storytelling nature of K/DA, the discussion of different forms of parasocial interactions and relationships that emerged in both industries offers insights for this study to investigate, as in whether the fans would still stick to the old forms or change their kinship towards K/DA’s new identity.

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Methodology Research Design This research implemented a qualitative research method of semistructured interviews, and it aimed to investigate in-game and in-music experiences of the participants, in which in-game refers to interviewees’ LOL gameplay, and in-music implies when interviewees are faced with K/DA’s idol-related music products, including music videos, live performances, and social media. This method firstly strived to investigate how both groups of interviewees experience parasocial interaction in the game and in K/DA’s music. Then, it asked the interviewees about the kinds of parasocial relationships they formed with K/DA members and how such relationships were constructed and maintained. Moreover, this study analyzed the data with thematic analysis, because it is suitable for categorizing different situations where the interviewees sense parasocial interactions and different forms of parasocial relationships with K/DA. Sampling and Positionality During April 2022, the researcher posted several recruiting messages on Weibo, Little Red Book (LRB), Wechat groups and moments, and Bilibili. Weibo and LRB are among the biggest Chinese social media platforms with various game and music communities being active; Wechat is the biggest instant message mobile application in China (DeGennaro 2020); Bilibili is the biggest Chinese user-generated content video platform full of ACG (Animation, Comics, and Game) content (van Gastel 2020). Besides, this study employed criterion sampling, a method that set several criteria to limit samples (Schreier 2014). According to the research question, the interviewees need to be: Chinese adult League of Legends and esports fans who have played the game for at least five years and had personal experience in using four champions from K/DA; Chinese adults who have been K-pop fans for at least four years and then became K/DA fans. The criteria were determined also based on ethical considerations and suitability for answering the questions. Besides, K/DA debuted in 2018, which is approximately 4 years before this research was conducted. So, the interviewees needed to have been involved in their own communities before the debut of K/DA. During the sampling, the researcher played an important role. Being acquainted with many Chinese Esports fans, the researcher was able to

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post recruiting messages asking for whoever meets the criterion in LOL group chats. Meanwhile, he is also a self-media channel owner with more than 2000 fans on Bilibili, which is also helpful for him to recruit potential interviewees by posting recruiting video on April 12, 2022. Interview and Analysis Eventually, sixteen interviewees participated in this research, with eight being experienced esports fans and the rest being K-pop fans. Seven of the K-pop fans interviewees have played LOL, and the only remaining Kpop fan followed LOL esports world contests constantly. Therefore, the researcher was able to ask K-pop fans questions regarding in-game parasocial interactions with K/DA. The interviewees consisted of four males and twelve females according to their self-identification, with their ages ranging from 20 to 25. Besides, most of the interviewees are either Bachelor’s or Master’s students and the oldest interviewee graduated with a master’s degree in 2022. Given the physical distance between the Netherlands and China, the interviews were conducted online through Zoom and Voov. Before each interview, the participants were asked to sign consent forms, stating their rights to know and withdraw. The interviews lasted approximately between thirty-seven and forty-six minutes. Given that K/DA’s last comeback was in 2020, the participants were kindly reminded to re-watch K/DA’s music videos and live performances before interviews. This ensures more details that trigger parasocial interactions to be recollected by the interviewees. The interviews were recorded and transcribed into text files. Then, the files were imported into the thematic analysis software Atlas.ti. Based on the interview guide, the data were initially categorized according to different parasocial interaction moments, including in LOL gameplay and when consuming K/DA’s music works. After that, different parasocial interaction moments and feelings were coded and categorized, while various forms of parasocial relationships and factors that helped construct such relationships were identified and grouped.

Findings Based on the interview, both esports fans and K-pop fans experienced close parasocial interactions with K/DA out of different triggers, and they have constructed different levels of parasocial relationships with K/DA.

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Table 1

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Coding table for thematic analysis

Parasocial interaction

In-game (gameplay, character skins)

In music (music video, live performance)

Parasocial relationship

In-game (gameplay, character skins)

In music (music video, live performance)

Moments they are aware of parasocial interaction Feelings triggered by the interaction Moments they are aware of parasocial interaction Feelings triggered from the interaction Forms of parasocial relationship What is important for cultivating such a relationship Forms of parasocial relationship

What is important for cultivating such a relationship

Getting killed, dealing kills, background stories, animation, interaction with others playing LOL Guilt, immersion, excitement, compassion, a stronger sense of persona, pride Between-members interactions, costume, social media, champion skills, Chinese, language, realistic scenes, professional talent, fandom interactions Nostalgia, stronger sense of persona, realism, sense of blurring identities Role model, old comrade, only virtual models, daughter, double identities, self-identity Familiarity with champions, champion skins, practice, persona

Old friends, idols, only another identity, real human, romantic relationship, familial relationships, imagined relationships between K/ DA and background singers Extra personal information, higher expectations, technology, background singers, details adding to personas

These findings are closely linked to their own community backgrounds and the persona of K/DA. The main themes resulted are summarized in Table 1. Parasocial Interaction In-Game Interactions: Immersion vs. Persona Both groups of esports fans and K-pop fans shared moments triggering parasocial interactions with K/DA champions in LOL. Two significant

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moments were when the interviewees were dealing kills and being killed in LOL: When I sucked at playing Evelynn in LOL, I felt sorry for her. I liked her so much, yet I let her die in the rift so many times. There was instant guilt coming out of my chest. (Esports E, male, 25 years old)

The death moments of K/DA champions, stated by Esports fan E, led to players’ emotions of loss. Such loss, according to Jakoby (2015), is similar to the loss of pets, ending of romantic relationships, and so on. These losses would result in emotions of grief response, in which the one lost is mourned by those close to them (Jakoby 2015). Hence, emotions of loss and grief can be found throughout the interviewees’ interactions with K/DA in game. Moreover, all these moments mentioned by interviewees can be generalized as intense times when the interviewees were facing combat against opponents in their lane, in which kills and deaths take place within seconds. Other than that, the interviewees realized little parasocial interaction during gameplay, focusing only on controlling the champions. This finding supplemented the exposure indication of parasocial interaction (Dibble et al. 2016; Giles 2009; Horton and Strauss 1957; Horton and Wohl 2016). Those intense moments in LOL gameplay involved no direct addressing or body language from the K/DA champions, yet parasocial interactions were still triggered in gameplay. According to most interviewees, parasocial interactions in gameplay are attributed to K/DA’s personas. For example, many interviewees have Ahri as “an extremely beautiful and sexy fox-like woman” (Esports E, male, 25 years old) who is “seductive and charming” (Esports G, male, 25 years old). Such descriptions imply the important role of appearance in the construction of a persona for virtual characters. Besides, the animation and usefulness of champion skills are also of assistance for constructing personas in interviewees’ minds: Evelynn could perform as an assassin, and I prefer this kind of assassinating play style, and it is easier for me to get the hang of her. That is the reason why I like playing them (Evelynn and Akali). (K-pop D, female, 24 years old)

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This phenomenon is similar between esports fans and K-pop fans, and it supplements parasocial interaction in video games found by Jin and Park (2009), which indicated that players’ own personality makes a difference in their parasocial relationships with digital entities. The playing habits usually reflect a gamer’s self-identity, and the similarity between playing habits and champion skills creates more opportunities for in-game interactions, which made interviewees immersed in the champions’ virtual bodies. However, with the same moments being the triggers, interviewees sensed different kinds of parasocial interactions. In terms of esports fans, most of them would immerse into the LOL world, seeing the champions they control as themselves to be the heroes who defeat the opponents: Maybe I am with my friends in the same battle, we are teammates, and I did a pentakill. I will show off to them and imitate the significant Kai’sa move in front of them. (Esports H, male, 25 years old)

This is the intentional act that esports fans would do where such immersion is manifested during parasocial interactions with K/DA champions. Moreover, esports fan E indicated that he only uses female characters in every game because of his curiosity about experiencing the virtual world in another gender. There has been discussion of how virtual worlds influence identity presence and game gratification (Carter 2012). These two examples supplement the finding that gamers usually reflect their own gender identification when conducting parasocial interactions with their avatars (Jin and Park 2009; Kavli 2012), which leads to a selflove for the avatars (Hai-Jew 2009). Regardless of the avatar’s gender, immersion is still manifested through their imitation of champion skills and choice of champions in LOL. Those identities are the imagined identities that refer to the selves that gamers wish to perform (Cohen 2009; Gee 2003). In contrast, the K-pop fans experience parasocial interaction in a more interactive way. When dealing with kills, pride rises from their heart, feeling K/DA champions are “showing off their muscles” to the fans. When being killed, K-pop fans would imagine the K/DA champions calling for help, and they blame the fault on themselves: “When I get killed, I get super sad. I don’t have such feelings for other champions, only Akali and Ahri” (K-pop C, female, 24). This goes in accordance with the traditional definition of parasocial interaction where the receiver

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senses a conversational simulation of interaction (Horton and Wohl 2016). In general, the parasocial interactions that esports fans sensed were related to themselves, and they tried to look for similarities between them and game content to deepen their emotions. This is the identification process of parasocial interaction raised by Feilitzen and Linné (1975). In contrast, K-pop fans consider K/DA champions as personas more than esports fans do. The personas of K/DA champions are important, so fans could feel emotions for them. This is what the traditional implication of personas stress as important for parasocial interactions (Dibble, Hartmann, and Rosaen 2016; Kang et al. 2021). What this study adds to the indications of persona is that even faced with the same media characters, interviewees still construct media personas based on the ideologies, values, and common sense shared by the sub-cultural communities they belong to. In-Music Interaction: Idol-Simulation vs. Game Simulation The instant feelings when the interviewees watched K/DA’s music videos and live performances were all related to seeing K/DA members as realistic human beings. These primary feelings were contributed by the advanced augmented reality (AR) and the uses of realistic elements in music videos. Based on the interviewees, the 2018 live performance of K/DA was “mind-blowing” and “something unexpected” (Players C, D, G, and H; K-pop B, D, F, and G): K-pop D (female, 24 years old): What impressed me the most was K/DA’s first music video. Ahri was sitting on a washing machine, and then she cast a seduction spell. Interviewer: At that moment did you feel she has a direct connection to you, as she’s talking to you? K-pop D: yeah, she’s so down-to-earth.

The interviewees raised several realistic scenes in K/DA’s music videos, such as metro compartments, cars, and Shanghai World Trade Centre. These scenes have brought realism to the interviewees, making them experience parasocial interactions between K/DA’s virtual world and our realistic world. Moreover, when K/DA was put on stage with AR in a live performance, a stronger sense of parasocial interaction was recognized.

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This similarity supplements the understanding of parasocial interaction with virtual characters. Elements similar to our own living environments are helpful for triggering parasocial interactions towards virtual characters. This goes along with one factor that helps build parasocial relationships raised by Feilitzen and Linné (1975) that media consumers identify characteristics in media characters that are shared by themselves. To contrast these two groups, it is easier for esports fans to sense parasocial interactions when there are elements in LOL simulated by K/ DA, while parasocial interactions can be easily triggered among K-pop fans when K/DA imitate real-idol activities. Esports fans mentioned a moment when Ahri cast a seduction spell. This spell is a useful skill in LOL and is suitable for conducting direct interactions with the audience. During that moment, they felt “seduced” and “deeper love for Ahri.” This finding is an example of media characters directly addressing the audiences to trigger parasocial interaction (Horton and Wohl 2016). However, speaking of virtual idols, it is no longer mutual awareness between the media characters and receivers raised by Hartmann and Goldhoorn (2011). When being aware of parasocial interaction, the audience’s role becomes one-directional. This, however, does not deny the direct cueing function of virtual media characters in triggering parasocial interaction, yet they are not aware of it. On the contrary, K-pop fans sensed parasocial interactions with K/ DA when K/DA take actions imitating real idols. A vital factor triggering parasocial interactions was K/DA’s social media accounts. K/DA have posted updates of them in the choreography studio, celebrating records, and being on magazine covers, which are all real idols’ daily schedules. By browsing K/DA’s social media, the idol identity of K/DA is validated by K-pop fans: Mostly I sense such connection from their social media. Because, they are always updating their daily routines, instead of going nowhere after releasing their singles. There is a K/DA studio account on Weibo too, and you can see there are fans commenting too, imitating fans of those real idols. (K-pop D, female, 24 years old)

These sorts of parasocial interactions were also triggered by commenting on K/DA’s social media that imitate real idols’ comments. Such comments triggered parasocial interactions among fans in the same fandom. This result validates the suggestion that parasocial interactions

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and relationships can also be extended among fans (Auter and Palmgreen 2009; Elfving-Hwang 2018), which leads to closer and more effective parasocial interactions. Parasocial Relationship Parasocial Relationship In-Game: Familial vs. Accompanied Kinship Most interviewed participants of this research have constructed close parasocial relationships with K/DA champions in gameplay. The relationships mentioned by the interviewees are all imagined kinship that they constructed with K/DA, which goes in accordance with the definition of parasocial relationship (Dibble et al. 2016; Kang et al. 2021), but battle companionship was rarely discussed in previous studies. Eventually, they are willing to invest money for K/DA, and their emotions of trust, love, and vanity are stimulated. These emotions are all stimuli of commercial income for Riot Games, which is also the reason why many media companies make endeavors to construct parasocial relationships with their users for commercial aims (Zaborowski 2016). Besides, the interviewees indicated factors vital for their parasocial relationships. Firstly, most interviewees stated the need for constant practice with champions in game to build familiarity with the champions regarding their appearance and personas. This result implies the essential role of exposure in parasocial interaction (Horton and Wohl 2016). In terms of in-game parasocial relationship, repeated exposure to parasocial interactions is vital for long-term relationships (Konijn et al. 2008). To contrast the two groups, K-pop fans have constructed more intimate parasocial relationships towards K/DA champions more than esports fans do, and these two groups stated different factors that are deemed to be vital to constructing parasocial relationships. For K-pop fans, most of them would define their parasocial relationships with K/DA members with familial kinship. They directly call the champion’s daughter and express parental emotions for K/DA: K-pop F (female, 25 years old): … (having privileged K/DA skins) regardless of skills in the game, I’ve already won. Interviewer: Does it feel like you’re dressing your daughter up and taking her out? K-pop F : Yeah, I kind of want to show off, and want others to see her.

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Such a parent–daughter relationship was raised by most of the Kpop fans. They would deem K/DA members as their beloved treasured daughters and show off how beautiful their daughters could be in the game. Besides, there are closer relationships indicated by the K-pop fans, for an interviewee called K/DA Kai’sa her wife: “If someone beats my Kai’sa, I will think: ‘why are you bullying such a beautiful champion? Why do you bully my wife?’” (K-pop D, female, 24). These familial parasocial relationships are commonly seen in the K-pop industry (Elfving-Hwang 2018). Besides, K-pop fans in parasocial relationships with K/DA in gameplay are active, in that they protect their “wives” when encountering opponents. This situation also often takes place among K-pop fans as protectors of their idol (Gitzen 2013; Jung and Young 2009). Therefore, the social background of gamers plays an important role in the forms of parasocial relationships in gameplay, which goes according to the indications of Deuze (2011) and Montola (2011). Even in the game realm, K-pop fans would still grow parasocial kinship that is common in the K-pop realm. In contrast, LOL gamers constructed different relationships with K/ DA champions. Half of the esports fans only treat K/DA as 3D models they can control. However, the distant parasocial relationship with K/ DA champions indicates players’ immersion into the LOL universe. In this sense, the LOL universe is the digital entity raised by Kavli (2012) that gamers immerse in, believing in the universe and roleplaying as the summoners. Besides, other esports fans constructed closer parasocial relationships with K/DA champions, yet it still stops at the level of friendship. Most of them see K/DA champions as friends or “old comrades” in the battlefield. K/DA champions are someone they can trust with an accompanied kinship: Esports D (female, 25 years old): Our relationship… is like friends… how to say… I would not define it as friends. Anyway, it is like we are combatting the opponents alongside each other.

However, a closer parasocial relationship is imagined between professional esports players and K/DA champions by esports fans. When watching LOL world contests, esports fans felt that esports players are “more at ease controlling K/DA champions in gameplay” (Esports A, male, 21 years old). This made them imagine the esports players fighting

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in LOL universe, while seeing themselves as fans being connected to K/ DA members much less than the esports players do. This finding indicates one of the most significant parasocial relationships that one can construct for game characters: identification (Feilitzen and Linné 1975). Based on similarity and familiarity with the media characters, gamers would see themselves being inside the avatars and exploring the game universe. However, in terms of MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games, such as LOL, familiarity plays a huge role in constructing an identification relationship, because “gamers cannot experience background stories in MOBA esports games as much as they can do in RPGs (Role-Playing Games)” (Esports C, male, 20 years old). In this sense, an imagined parasocial relationship is extended to the level between esports players and K/DA, which suggests the relationship network raised by Auter and Palmgreen (2009), and Elfving-Hwang (2018). Parasocial relationship can be imagined involving anyone related, and the awareness of such a network is usually present in the K-pop industry. Therefore, this section brings about new findings regarding how parasocial relationships common in K-pop fandom transfer to esports fans. Parasocial Relationship In-Music: Real Idol vs. Blending Identities Similarly, both groups of interviewees have constructed a parent–daughter parasocial relationship with the idols in K/DA. Interestingly, such a transformation of K/DA identity was deemed as “growth” from the perspectives of both groups: I felt like an old friend growing to be a more beautiful character with more attention from Riot Games. No matter if it’s a music video or new skin, they are all rewards to us senior players, making us closer to these champions. (Esports E, male, 25 years old)

The interviewees sometimes see themselves as parents watching their daughters grow into a woman, and sometimes as friends accompanying K/DA along their transformational journey. This is attributed to the new identities of K/DA, because of which all interviewees sense closer relationships with K/DA than in the game. This parasocial relationship is also commonly seen in the K-pop industry, as fans often accompany their beloved idols through their active period (Elfving-Hwang 2018; Jung and Young 2009), from which a more vivid persona of an idol is imagined by fans (Zaborowski 2016; 2018). Moreover, such parasocial relationships

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start taking place among players towards game characters with blended identities, which adds to former parasocial relationship studies on gamers (Deuze 2011; Hai-Jew 2009; Jin and Park 2009; Kavli 2012; Montola 2011). This is possible, according to esports fan G (male, 25 years old), in MOBA games, because all champions in MOBA games have their own background stories in the universe. To contrast the two groups, K-pop fans already started comparing their parasocial relationships towards K/DA to that with real idols, while esports fans started realizing K/DA’s new idol identity, with conflicting emotions that see K/DA as blended personas. As regards K-pop fans, a typical give-and-take relationship has already been constructed. For K/ DA, they are willing to pay for K/DA’s game and idol merchandise. In return, they receive joy, emotional support, and pride from K/DA. Moreover, their beloved idols in the past used to be role models they look up to, but now K/DA are represented as close friends and romantic partners they can reach. This finding adds longitudinal supplements to most K-pop parasocial relationship studies (Elfving-Hwang 2018; Erickson and Dal Cin 2017; Kang et al. 2021; Zaborowski 2016), in which they only indicated horizontal parasocial relationships that fans construct. In addition, K-pop fans also imagined parasocial relationships between K/DA members and their back-up singers. The role of back-up singers is vital in K/DA’s personas. When seeing the singers interacting with K/ DA members in live performances, K-pop fans see K/DA “inheriting spirit” from the singers. These special findings on virtual idols add to the implication that parasocial relationships in K-pop industry are also extended to a cohesive network (Auter and Palmgreen 2009; ElfvingHwang 2018). Beyond fans-to-fans, an imaginative parasocial relationship could be extended to anyone involved. As for esports fans, the LOL persona of K/DA members have left deep impressions in their minds, so a blended persona of idols and champions was built. Such parasocial relationship is more effective than the battle companionship in game: If a celebrity dies, he’ll exist in the virtual and spiritual world. Their performance and their images in movies, TV shows, or music is a form of existence for me. Accordingly, idol K/DA means another form of existing for K/DA characters, that’s all. (Esports D, female, 25 years old)

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The blended identities mean that esports fans deem K/DA as LOL champions with a layer of real idols. This is attributed to the deep impression they have on K/DA’s game persona. Eventually, players weakened K/DA’s idol identity in their perceptions. This finding validates the importance of media persona in what kind of parasocial relationships can be constructed by receivers (Jin and Park 2009; Zaborowski 2018). Yet, these esports fans started to understand why romantic parasocial relationships exist: I used to have friends playing love games with virtual characters, I didn’t understand how a real human can develop romantic relationships with his digital girlfriends. But, K/DA … brought about an impressive effect to me, even for virtual characters. (Esports H, male, 25 years old)

This finding reveals the vital role of idol K/DA’s charisma in their personas. This conclusion implies again how social backgrounds of media receivers can make a difference on the construction of parasocial relationships (Newcomb and Hirsch 1983, as cited in Zhou 2021).

Conclusion and Discussion In general, this research brings about two main implications. Firstly, the ideologies of esports games and K-pop communities are essential for their differentiated emotions during parasocial interactions with K/ DA. More conversational interactions were triggered among K-pop fans, while esports fans immersed themselves more into the characters. Moreover, K/DA personas are important to trigger parasocial interactions, but it is easier for K/DA to appeal to K-pop fans with their appearance, while esports fans need extended background stories to construct personas in their minds. These findings accord with Alexander’s (2020) indication that communities’ central ideologies are reflected in their fundamental actions. Most of these characteristics of parasocial interactions were already indicated by existing studies (Auter and Palmgreen 2009; Elfving-Hwang 2018; Kavli 2012; Klimmt et al. 2006; Jung and Young 2009; Zaborowski 2018). What this study brings about is that Kpop fans stress appearance, charisma, and professional skills to be vital for K/DA’s persona, whereas esports fans consider background stories and functions as the essence of K/DA’s persona.

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Secondly, the mixed identities of K/DA play an important role in how fans perceive their parasocial relationships with K/DA. Esports fans started to become aware of the close parasocial relationship between professional esports players and K/DA champions. Comparatively, K-pop fans started to comprehend the LOL universe with more knowledge from websites. These findings help to answer the research question of this study and respond to the gap of parasocial interactions in that various sorts of parasocial interactions are expected to be triggered by different media forms (Cohen 2009). Moreover, this study implies how receivers of different sub-cultural communities construct mixed forms of parasocial interactions and relationships towards transmedia storytelling virtual characters.

Appendix: Interviewee Overview Interviewee

Gender by identification

Age

Esports A Esports B Esports C Esports D Esports E Esports F Esports G Esports H K-pop A K-pop B K-pop C K-pop D K-pop E K-pop F K-pop G K-pop H

Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Male Female Female Female Female Female Female Female Female

21 23 20 25 25 25 25 25 23 25 24 24 22 25 21 24

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Labor Migration to League of Legends Pro League: Confronting Local Fandom Communities Yelin Zhao and Hao Luo

Introduction The esports industry has been growing rapidly over the last two decades and has garnered substantial scholarly attention in a wide range of disciplines, with the issue of employment and labor being one of the themes. Contributions on this topic vary from critical evaluations of laws and regulations (De Moor et al. 2022; Paiva et al. 2022; Holden and Edelman 2020), to insights into gender and racial inequality (Fletcher 2020; Taylor and Stout 2020), and rumination on the working conditions in the industry (Kauweloa and Winter 2019; Zhao and Zhu 2020; Lin and Zhao 2020). Among the considerable volume of diverse scholarship, two tendencies can be discerned. The majority of the existing research constrains the scope of the study within a national boundary, despite the boundless

Y. Zhao (B) Manchester, UK e-mail: [email protected] H. Luo Birmingham, UK © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_7

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promise of internet infrastructure that underpins esports. While such a high concentration of research testifies to the heavy reliance esports has on physical materials and geographical resources, there is a pressing call for studies that take a transnational perspective. Esports is characterized as a global phenomenon with a global audience, market and sponsors, as well as a deeply interweaved labor ecosystem that involves actors from across the world (Johnson and Woodcock 2021, 1449). It presents a convenient opportunity to evaluate cultural, social, economic and political disparities and both intra- and interregional exchanges. The second tendency is a continuing extension of study to previously overlooked countries and regions. This results from rising criticism of early video gaming scholarship’s nearly exclusive Western-oriented perspective, privileging North America and Europe in terms of area of study (Anh 2021, 175) and intended readership (Wolf 2015). Calling for a shift in focus, Anh (2021) convincingly argues for the necessity of investigating esports industries in East and Southeast Asia which are seeing robust economic growth, the coexistence of a variety of gaming cultures, and a mix of styles of state intervention. Taking up Anh’s (2021) call and to supplement current scholarship, this chapter sets out to investigate the labor flows within the Asia–Pacific region, taking League of Legends Pro League (LPL), a professional league of League of Legends (LoL) players in mainland China, as a case study. Developed and published by Riot Games in 2009, League of Legends (LoL) has grown into one of the most popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games in the world. As of 2021, there are twelve tier-one professional leagues across the world, among which LPL is one of four that have established franchise systems. By focusing on labor migration from other leagues and regions to LPL, this chapter adopts an interregional and transnational perspective to explore not only the internationality of the industry but also the interplay of political complexities and cultural heterogeneity in the Asia–Pacific region. Selecting four cases of individual workers from Hong Kong, Vietnam and Taiwan, the research scrutinizes and evaluates the cultural and political negotiations they made when confronting local fandom communities after they came to live and work in mainland China. While the question of whether esports can be considered a proper subcategory of sport remains a subject of heated discussion (Summerley 2019; Parry 2019; Hilvoorde and Pot 2016), one thing that sets esports apart from conventional forms

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of sports is the unprecedented extent to which the fandom communities are incorporated into its economic and operational systems. This is possible due to esports’ essence as a virtual activity, and the advance in digital technologies of social media and live-streaming. In LPL, professional players are usually obliged to produce live-streaming content to fulfill their teams’ contracts with live-streaming platforms. These sessions of open and live interaction with fans, and possibly other interested parties, have effectively integrated the online communities, especially the fandoms, into the professional sphere of work.

Theoretical Framework Our interest in workers’ intentional actions and decisions to shape or reshape their environments makes labor agency a key concept in this chapter, and our considerations are informed by two strands of thinking: theories of labor geography and, more specifically, studies of sport labor migration. For labor geography, we are inspired by Coe and JordhusLier’s (2010) work on re-embedding labor agency. While Coe and Jordhus-Lier (2010) emphasize collective over individual action, their argument that labor agency needs to be re-embedded in community politics is pertinent, as it points to the “porous boundaries… between struggles in and beyond the workplace” (Coe and Jordhus-Lier 2010, 225). This sheds light on the ambivalent positioning of fandom communities in relation to the professional esports workplace. On one hand, while fandom communities may not have a direct say in specific employment arrangements, it is often through them that the wider impact, either positive or negative, is achieved, potentially inducing a ripple effect beyond the workplace. Indeed, the fandom also bears the ethos of the social–political predispositions of the local communities and develops tactics “to renegotiate these larger frameworks within their own space” (Ismangil 2018, 212). On the other hand, fandom communities in esports are unlikely to be neatly classified under any single conventional work-related label such as a colleague, client, patron, stakeholder, etc., as they might take different stances at different times and be willing to contribute in different ways. With their participatory engagement (if we take the perspective of cultural studies) and free labor (if we consider it in the discipline of digital economy), they co-produce creative content in the esports industry (Vesni´c-Alujevi´c and Francesca Murru 2016, 423–427).

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Here we recall, albeit briefly, the concept of prosumption—a simultaneous engagement of both production and consumption activities made possible by emerging interactive technologies—in the field of digital media studies (du Plessis 2018). While the increasing involvement of fandoms in the professional sphere of work may appear an overly rigorous intrusion, team employers in the esports industry are complicit in encouraging it by signing players up for live-streaming hours and actively making and publishing vlogs of behind-the-scenes contents on their social media accounts. Migrant workers’ negotiations with local fandom communities should, therefore, be considered meaningful actions to re-anchor and re-root themselves in the workplace, networks and wider local communities. What is more, it is important to emphasize that if fandom communities appear rather homogeneous in this chapter, without individual voices, it is because we refine our selection of episodes to those that compelled migrant workers to responsive action. With such criteria for inclusion, the ethos of the fandom community may seem more rigorous and unified than it necessarily is. Sports labor migration is another relevant field of study, as it specifically enlightens us about this complicated maneuver of re-anchoring and re-rooting. From Mari Haugaa Engh and Sine Agergaard’s (2013) transnational framework of three interdependent concepts, mobility, locality and visibility, we are led to Thomas F. Carter’s (2011) concept of locality and visibility, and Janine Dahinden’s (2010) consideration of the dynamics between mobility and locality. Carter (2011) points out that for athletic migration, mobility is a highly valued commodity that is not self-maintained after its initial production but rather requires constant re-production. This is particularly poignant in the case of LoL esports with the implementation of the Interregional Movement Policy (IMP) by Riot Games in four franchised regions since 2014. We return to this in more detail in the following section, but it is worth highlighting here that the value of professional LoL player mobility, as a commodity, has been enhanced by the restriction on importing players due to increased competition. According to Carter (2011), the initiation and maintenance of mobility across locales rely heavily on visibility. It encompasses not only the migrant player’s professional performance but also their position in the local social landscape, which “is informed both by public understandings and awareness of a migrant group’s social identities” (Carter 2011, 17).

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This establishment of social relations and rootedness is what Dahinden (2010) considers to be a migrant’s locality. Disputing the insufficient theorization of “locality in mobility – or mobility in locality” (Dahinden 2010, 52, emphasis in original), Dahinden proposes to consider transnational formations “as a function of the combination of different forms of physical mobility and locality” (Dahinden, 2010, 52). Here, Dahinden is thinking of migrants in general, but her proposition of a relational model of mobility and locality contests the binary assumption of migration worker as either settled or moving. Drawing on the works of these two transnational migrant theorists, Engh and Agergaard’s (2013) conceptualization of the interplay among the concepts of mobility, visibility and locality not only attends to the migrant worker’s endeavors to root and anchor themselves in the localities they are migrating from and to, but also accounts for the role the public at large could play in maintaining their mobility. What the migrant worker encounters is not the fully informed structures of social geometries and power relations, which are pre-determined and unyielding. Rather, these structures constantly adjust and transform as a result of changing conditions, one of which is the migrant worker’s action. On one hand, such lively dynamics open a space for negotiation, and enable and empower migrant workers to construct and shape their conditions of work and living. On the other hand, it demands continuous attention and effort from the migrant worker to sustain their position. The case of Tabe (Wong Pak Kan, from Hong Kong) is emblematic of this ongoing process with a drastic change in his reputation in fandom communities and a series of negotiation strategies over a prolonged period.

League of Legends Pro League (LPL) and the Interregional Movement Policy Before we move to a discussion of specific challenges that migrant workers encounter in LPL, it is worth briefly covering the history of the league, especially in juxtaposition to the rise and collapse of other leagues in geographical proximity, as this is one of the crucial motivations for regional labor flows. LPL established its first season of competition in the spring of 2013, making it the third league in the Asian region, following League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), a league for South Korea and the Garena Premier League (GPL), a league initially for teams in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia. The League of Legends

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Japan League (LJL) was inaugurated in 2014. While LPL’s, LCK’s and LJL’s covering geographical territories and general structures remain more or less intact, GPL underwent a series of organizational changes, starting in 2015, with Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau forming their own league, the League of Legends Master Series (LMS). In 2018, teams from Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand) founded the League of Legends SEA Tour (LST) to replace GPL, and Vietnam established its own league, the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS). In 2020, Riot Games and Garena (LoL’s distributor in Southeast Asia and Taiwan) announced the merging of LMS and LST into a new league the Pacific Championship Series (PCS). Figure 1 shows a timeline of the evolution of the leagues. What incited the evolution of the leagues is partly the performance of their qualified teams at international tournaments, specifically the League of Legends World Championship and the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI). Stable leagues often indicate consistent quality of performance. While LJL has always been one of the wildcard regions, championing teams of which do not get automatic entrances to the tournaments, LCK and LPL have been dominating the game, with the former garnering six world champions (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020), since its establishment in 2011, and the latter three (2018, 2019, 2021). While MSI only invites the league champions, World Championship will assign stronger leagues more seeds entering the tournament and the exact number is subject to review each year. In 2022 both LCK and LPL will have four teams presenting at the tournament whereas PCS two and VCS one. Playing in LPL, therefore, indicates a better chance to participate in international

Fig. 1 Evolution of LoL leagues in Southeast Asia

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competitions. This has been mentioned by all the selected individuals when asked about their motivation to work in LPL in interviews, except Ðo˜ˆ Duy Khánh (Levi) whose career in LPL was too short-lived. Partly in response to the professional excellence of LCK and LPL players, Riot Games implemented the Interregional Movement Policy (IMP) in 2014 to regulate the migration of players in order to “help balance local and foreign talent on professional and semi-professional teams” (LoLesports Staff 2016) and protect the regional identity of its major franchised leagues. According to the policy, players are categorized as resident or import. Any team operating in the major leagues can only have two non-residents, hence import, players, out of five, on their starting roster. While the 2014 version defined residency as either holding citizenship of the region or holding a resident visa for the region as a player for more than two years, the policy was revised in 2016 to be stricter, making citizenship mandatory for future professional players. Since there are a fixed number of teams in each tier of the franchised leagues, the IMP has ensured that only a fixed number of imports can be taken by each league as a roster, enhancing the commodity value of player mobility by the increased competition. The policy is complicated by the contemporary political complexities between Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and mainland China. Although LoL esports follow the international custom in the sport of separating the former three from mainland China, the situation becomes more difficult when considering player residency only as citizenship. While Hong Kong and Macau are internationally recognized as political territories of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), their permanent residents hold citizenships that are essentially different from those of mainland China, with distinct passports and entrance permits operating among the three. Taiwan is, of course, more controversial, due to the political disputes with PRC over its sovereignty. To tackle the issue, LPL established the policy, updated most recently on July 24, 2022, that new-coming professional players from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan would not be considered residents unless they elected to register at LPL when they started playing professionally. Those who had already joined LPL before August 1, 2016, when the revised IMP came into effect, had to reside in mainland China for more than 48 months of the previous 72. One of the case studies in this chapter, the Vietnamese player Lê Quang Duy (SofM), gained his LPL residency in December 22, 2021, following the second route, becoming one of four who succeeded. As it has been over 72 months from

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August 1, 2016, at the time of completion of this chapter in September 2022, it is very likely that the second route will soon close for good. That is to say, on the one hand, new LoL players from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan will have to decide on their residency when they first join professional esports. On the other hand, it has become impossible for players of other nationalities to be considered residents by LPL, and their professional migration is dictated by the limit set on imports. Their space for mobility is, thus, enormously compromised.

Language Barriers: The Ambivalence of Foreignness The juxtaposition of the professional careers of two Vietnamese players, Lê Quang Duy (SofM) and Ðo˜ˆ Duy Khánh (Levi), in LPL, reveals that both employed language barriers as a reasonable response to fan criticism in the early days after moving, though on two distinct issues. Levi, in his first game at Jingdong Gaming (JDG) in 2018, had several failed operations with his teammates due to clumsy communication. Although the team secured victory of the series with two subsequent winning games, disappointed fans left exasperated comments on the team’s Weibo (a Twitter-like platform that prevails in mainland China) page. The zealous discussion compelled Levi’s teammates to explain the situation on his behalf for he had not set up his Weibo account yet. Yagao, who played most closely with Levi, posted first, attributing the defeat in the first game to communication problems and disclosing that Levi was working hard on his Chinese (JDG-Yagao 2019). The team captain, LvMao, reposted this thread three minutes later, adding “Levi is a great player” (JDGLvMao 2019). The team’s account soon reposted LvMao’s thread with a kiss emoji (JDG 京东电子竞技俱乐部 [JDG jingdong dianzi jingji julebu] 2019). Despite these exchanges defending Levi’s professional skills and addressing public concern over his language abilities, the incident revealed the crucial role smooth communication plays in performance during the game. Language is, arguably, one of the most significant factors in (re)producing the mobility of labor in esports, as it has an enormous impact on both the visibility and locality of the player. Familiarity with the language of the area to which the player is moving, not only contributes immensely to the successful establishment of social relations but can also

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improve their professional performance. Unlike many traditional sports, where limited verbal exchanges are required after the match kicks off, team-based esports such as LoL usually demand constant smooth and efficient communication among teammates and coaches, both before and during the match. Language proficiency, therefore, plays a significant role in team performance. It is probably no coincidence that all four import-transformed-resident players in LPL, Kim Tae-sang (Doinb), Lee Ye-Chan (Scout), Lê Quang Duy (SofM) and Song Eui-jin (Rookie), speak fluent Chinese in their live-streaming sessions and public interviews, even though their native languages are Korean for Doinb, Scout and Rookie, and Vietnamese for SofM. Another effective attestation to the significance of linguistic congruity comes from the fact that, among the three selected regions covered in the chapter, Taiwan remains the one that sees the largest number of individuals come to work in LPL as various actors in the esports ecosystem, both public-facing team members and behind-the-scene staffs. Levi’s career in the LPL was unfortunately very short-lived. He was compelled to leave after four games, all defeated, in five months. While it is not our intention to imply that the language barrier is the only cause of Levi’s eventual departure, nor are we suggesting that he should be solely blamed for the disappointing results, his level of Mandarin was definitely one reason he could not perform at his best. Consequently, his visibility, defined by his performance as a professional player, was impaired by an ineffective locality, and his mobility was not sufficiently maintained. In comparison to Levi, SofM’s journey in the LPL was much smoother, although not without fluctuations. SofM joined LPL in May 2016 on the invitation of Zuowu, the team manager of Li-Ning Gaming (LNG, known as Snake before a rebrand in 2019). Struggles with communication were anticipated since the very beginning. In one of the first public interviews with SofM and Zuowu, published on May 22, 2016, both were asked about SofM’s language. Zuowu explained that their exchanges had been mostly in English and a translator would be employed as SofM’s personal assistant and Mandarin teacher. In the same interview, SofM specifically brought up the language obstacle, saying “I am correcting my English accent and practice with my teammates in the rank mode” (SofM 2016). When asked if communication was a problem between him and his team, SofM admitted, “communication is the biggest problem.” Zuowu recognized at the end of the interview that communication for a team like

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Snake, with its Vietnamese and South Korean imports, could be a great risk and incur an enormous cost (Zuowu 左雾 2016). Probably to the surprise of both SofM and Zuowu, the first problem caused by the language barrier was not in regards to SofM’s gaming performance, but an allegedly misunderstood conversation he typed in the game’s chat box during a live-streaming session. On June 18, 2016, less than one month after SofM joined LPL, he typed “SB (a slang for idiot in Chinese, author’s note) China” in a live-streamed game. Viewers took screenshots and disseminated them on Weibo, inciting rigorous inquiries to both SofM and his team. Zuowu, the manager, soon responded on his Weibo on behalf of SofM, who did not have an account at the time, that the comment was a frustrated expression about the bad internet connection (左雾君 [zuowujun] 2016). In a subsequent interview with 15W, SofM explained that he misunderstood the meaning of “SB,” as his teammates were often smiling when they said it, and he did not realize that it was swearing. Careful consideration of the two explanations provided by Zuowu and SofM reveals that they are completely different. While Zuowu indicated that “SB” was a complaint, not pointing to China as the nation, SofM suggested that he did not comprehend the negative connotation of the word at all. However, both attributed this controversial expression to SofM’s lack of appropriate comprehension of Mandarin and hence, managed to recontextualize a damaging incident into an honest mistake. For migrant workers, using the language barrier as a reasonable explanation could only be acceptable for a limited period. Eventually, it becomes a lame excuse and reflects poorly on the worker. In the context of LPL, the shared language of written Chinese, or speaking Mandarin, plays an important role in uniting the gaming communities, as well as inducing affection and enthusiasm among fans (Ho 2019). From speaking Vietnamese in the interview with 15W in June 2016 to being able to answer questions in Mandarin with occasional translation by his teammate and a sometime perplexing accent in an after-match interview in January 2018, and to fluent Mandarin communications and even the completion of a Mandarin tongue twister challenge in one of his online streaming sessions in November 2020, SofM made conspicuous progress. Because video game live streaming is a highly social activity with real-time communication (Li et al. 2020), his language competence has enhanced his interaction with audiences and raised his profile among the LPL fandom communities. In the online vote organized by LPL for its all-star match in 2020, SofM ranked third among the favorite Jungle players with a total

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of 263,695 votes, demonstrating both his popularity in the fandom and their recognition of his professional excellence. For esports professionals, especially players, being a live-streamer is one of the potential careers to pursue after retiring from playing. Maintaining a relationship with local fandoms, and the community in general, should be considered a form of forward-looking and entrepreneurial planning.

Controversial Cooperation: Confronting Nationalism As demonstrated by Levi’s case, unsatisfactory professional performance, sometimes in conjunction with disappointing match results, can elicit visceral criticism from fans. Incidents that gained Tabe (Wong Pak Kan, from Hong Kong) two nicknames further show the impact that local fandom communities can have on migrant worker mobility. Among the first to come to mainland China for an esports career, Tabe moved to Beijing in 2011, two years before LPL was founded, initially as a player, upon the invitation of Invictus Gaming (IG). After his team, Royal Club, placed second in the World Championship in 2013, the best result an LPL team had ever achieved at the time, he retired from his player career and turned to other positions in the team, such as shoutcaster, analyst and coach. In 2015, Tabe was invited to join the analyst desk in Los Angeles during the World Championship. On 11 October, just before IG played what turned out to be their last match in the tournament, Tabe revealed the strategy of his former team. Although he later clarified that he had confirmed with Riot Games that the players would not be able to hear his words on air, the frustrated and outraged LPL fans bestowed on him the insulting nickname, Esports Wang Jingwei 电竞汪 精卫 (dianjing Wang Jingwei), after a Chinese politician whose name is a widely known byword for treason in Chinese culture for his alliance with Japan during the Pacific War. In his apologetic Weibo thread (@Tabe解说, October 14, 2015), Tabe acknowledged his awareness of this nickname and confessed that he had considered leaving LPL, but decided to stay after all to confront his mistake. To the surprise of most fans, Tabe joined IG again half a year later as a support player. While many take this as an indication that Tabe did not betray IG, the decision also seemed to be a result of Tabe’s attempt to reposition his career in LPL and mainland China, given that he had not played professionally for two years. As revealed by Tabe in a public talk

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released online in February 2016, he suffered damage to his visibility in LPL after the incident, with his live-streaming audience more than halving (Wong 2016). The loss of audience made it extremely difficult for Tabe to pursue a career as a self-commentary video player, which he said he was looking forward to in a documentary made by Riot Games (LoL esports, 2013), released just a week before the incident. Compelled to abandon his hope to be the first professional-player-turned-commentator in LPL, he regressed to his previous career as a player, only this time it did not seem to be what Tabe wanted, as he left IG less than eight months later and has so far never returned to play. In May 2017 Tabe was invited to coach the LMS team, HK Attitude (HKA). His reputation in LPL began to be restored in September that year when HKA beat Rampage (RPG), the first Japanese team to make it to the play-in stage of the World Championship. He was subsequently nicknamed Esports Chu Yunfei 电竞楚云飞 (dianjing Chu Yunfei), after one of the main protagonists from a 2005 TV series, Drawing Sword, set in the years of second Sino-Japanese War and subsequent Civil War. Adapted from the military fiction of the same name by Liangdu, the series is extremely popular among Chinese audiences and has been broadcast repeatedly. By invoking the name of Chu, fans compared this LoL match to the second Sino-Japanese War and relived the victory of China with HKA’s triumph. Both of Tabe’s nicknames, as condemnation and as appraisal, reveal a nationalistic predisposition of the audience’s perception of the match results. Instead of trying to ignore the insulting nickname, Tabe referenced it before the HKA-RPG match and posted on his Weibo “Old Wang is going to try his best tomorrow. Good night,” accompanied by a photo of his back in team uniform (Tabe 2017). In an interview after HKA was knocked out by the Fanatics (FNC), when asked about his thoughts on referring to himself as “Old Wang,” Tabe replied that he had never avoided the nickname Wang Jingwei (Wong 2017). He deliberately brought this up in Weibo, because he was aware of fans’ proposal of the new nickname, Chu Yunfei, and he wanted to take it, presumably to replace the previous one. His willingness to respond to the online discussions among LPL fans and carry out proactive action was probably driven by his wish to return to LPL, which he expressed in the very same interview (Wong 2017). The drastic change in Tabe’s reputation among audiences in mainland China, on the one hand, testifies to the idea that the social relations

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migrant workers develop in the locality they move to can be weak (Engh and Agergaard 2013). On the other hand, it confirms the significance of the visibility of migrant esports worker, especially their professional excellence. Tabe acquiring a new nickname was completely conditioned on the victorious match result his team attained. About two years after the HKA-RPG match, Tabe succeeded in returning to LPL, taking up the position of an analyst at Royal Never Giveup (RNG). His mobility was thus restored. If, as it seems to be in Tabe’s case, the nationalistic perspective is a completely imposed interpretation of incidents, not related to the personal or political situation, workers from Taiwan are often compelled to make political negotiations when confronting interrogation about their self-identification of nationality. Almost all Taiwanese professionals who work in LPL are subject to the question, asked in one way or another, “do you think you are Chinese?” In fact, the same issue may have emerged even before they moved to mainland China. As early as in 2016, Flash Wolves (FW), a now dismissed LMS team from Taiwan, posted a Facebook thread calling their trip to Shanghai “travelling abroad” 《Flash ( Wolves》閃電狼職業電競隊 [Shandianlang zhiye dianjing dui], April 30, 2016). This stirred heated discussion in mainland China with screenshots widely circulating on Weibo as Facebook was blocked for access in the geographical area. The public sensitivity to the issue was fueled by the political complexities of the mainland (People’s Republic of China) and Taiwan (Republic of China), which have a long history dating back to the first Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895). It is beyond the scope of this chapter to fully explore the geographical, political and cultural intricacies, but suffice to say that while PRC insists on the One China Principle that there is only one legitimate sovereignty of China, i.e. PRC, in the world and Taiwan is part of it, ROC has been seeking alternative understandings, from one China with respective interpretations, to establishing Taiwan as an independent sovereignty. It is in this context that mainland Chinese fans internalized the government political claim and were, thus, irritated by FW’s post which implied that mainland China was a separate country from Taiwan. Caught up in this intra-regional tension, Hung Hau-hsuan (Kasar), originally from Taiwan and a former player for FW, was fiercely interrogated about his nationality several times after he left FW and joined LPL in December 2017. In 2018, a Weibo user accused him of saying he was not Chinese when he played for RNG in now deleted footage released

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by the LoL Weibo account. His coach at the time soon came forward to clarify that the conversation was misheard and taken out of context (@YiHeart, July 7, 2018). In 2022, Kasar was put under another public inquiry when his team, Victory Five (V5), published footage of its players celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong on July 1, in which Kasar did not feature. Kasar responded by starting a live-streaming session after midnight on 2 July, “just to clarify the situation.” In this session, he explained that he was not aware of the footage and had already recorded a section since the news was out. He then read out a now-removed comment from Danmaku, “Could the streamer say that he is,” and finished the sentence with “he is what? Chinese? (after six seconds of silence)… [he] is Chinese all along.” Because viewers can join any time after live-streaming started, similar conversations appeared several times during a session that lasted for about fifty minutes (V5_Karsa 2022). In regards to the complexities of Taiwan-mainland relations, Taiwanese players need to negotiate with the fandom communities not only in mainland China, the locale they are in, but also Taiwan, the locale they are from. In a live-streaming session in 2019, when asked about his coming transfer, Kasar said “of course I will stay in LPL… definitely not PCS, or it is too stupid, only idiots would go.” The comments were vigorously discussed on PTT, one of the most popular non-commercial open-source online forums in Taiwan, and the comments were rather divided. Some considered the refusal to return to PCS a professional decision based on reasonable judgment, whereas others took his attitude to be offensive and called him a traitor. What has stood out from the struggles of Tabe and Kasar is, first and foremost, that their visibility in LPL is defined by fandom’s perception of them as outsiders. In Tabe’s case, this was evidenced by his new nickname, Esports Chu Yunfei. Chu was, in fact, a Kuomingtang officer, who developed a friendship with the major Communist protagonist, Li Yunlong, during the Sino-Japanese War. Their close relationship eventually turned sour during the Civil War. The nickname is, therefore, not only a recognition of Tabe’s success in coaching a team that defeated a Japanese team but another remark on his migration status as a worker from outside mainland China. As to the case of Kasar, the questioning of his private political inclination will definitely diminish, if not disappear, if he was from the mainland. In fact, no mainland players have ever been subject to such close scrutiny and relentless inquiring.

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When confronting the nationalistic rhetoric and interrogation, both Tabe and Kasar chose to cooperate, with self-mockery and constant reaffirmation to sustain their mobility in LPL. If Tabe could resolve his crisis with humor, Kasar had no choice but to present a clear and firm stance by repeating his recognition of being Chinese. The contrast is due to two reasons. Firstly, although all the incidents Tabe and Kasar encountered demonstrated a tone of nationalism permeating the fandom communities’ perception and expectation of the match results and the esports workplace, their triggers and consequently, their appeals were essentially different. In the case of Tabe, it was his inappropriate professional behavior, as an analyst, aggravated by the unsatisfactory match result, that initiated the critiques in the first place. The accusation of him for treason, along with the analogy with a historical personality of the crime was, indeed, not related to his personal dispositions at all. It is for this reason that his professional excellence as a coach and enhanced visibility could redeem his reputation. In Kasar’s case, the situation was exactly the opposite. Neither the misheard conversation nor the challenged footage had anything to do with his performance as a player. What is revealed by their problematizing was the conflicts in the localities that Kasare migrates to and departs from, which he inherited from the intra-regional politics. It seems that Kasar was aware that the contemporary political tensions between mainland China and Taiwan has made it an either-or decision for him to re-root himself and it is difficult, if not impossible, to maintain mobility in one locale without damaging it in the other. This is perhaps the reason that he did not respond to the debate in Taiwan fandom communities in 2019. The second reason lies in their different ways of interacting with the fandom. While Tabe also runs live-streaming sessions, in the examined crises he responded with Weibo posts and in interviews, two relatively more mediated forms of communication. Kasar had his coach post an explanation for him in 2018, circumventing the direct contact with fans. Although the incident culminated with the individual who was the first to make the accusation posting an apology on Weibo, the skepticism persisted and reignited in 2022. Kasar’s decision to employ live-streaming this time put himself in a more vulnerable position as he confronted a broader audience and was compelled to react immediately. Whether this is a more effective strategy will be better evaluated with time, it is evident now that the emerging interactive technology has a momentous impact on esports migrant workers’ negotiations with local politics.

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Conclusion All the negotiations examined in this chapter fall under the category of resilience, a kind of coping strategy that Cumbers et al. (2010) borrow from environmental psychologist Cindi Katz. In comparison to the other strategies, reworking and resistance, resilience concerns acts that aim to just get along and often do not have a wide impact or challenge the existing system. Tabe attempted for resistance by articulating subversive comments to international media in 2013, complaining about the way players were unfairly treated in LPL and L-ACE (LoL branch of Association of China-Esports, an association founded in 2011 and joined by a majority of major LPL esports clubs throughout years, whose legal status is not revealed to the public to the date of this chapter). He was then banned from working in LPL for three seasons. An interview with both L-ACE and Tabe in early 2014 helped clarify the situation, in which L-ACE’s then president Enchen Li confirmed that there was a voted decision on some form of penalty but it was not made public “for this was between Tabe and the association and since Tabe was no longer a member of the association after his retirement” (Wang 2014). Li also mentioned that the penalty was not only for Tabe’s untruthful claim but also for his inadequate head-hunting when coaching a newly formed esports team. Tabe also confirmed the penalty when he said “because I really want to join season 4…after the association’s decision, I have to deal with my misunderstanding with them” (Wang 2014). This singular incident alludes to the adversity of individual’s attempt to prompt systematic changes, especially without a unionized collective. Some solidarity can be found in the examined cases, as teammates, coaches and management colleagues often come forward to clarify misunderstandings. Their involvement echoes the findings of Parshakov et al. (2018) in their study of the cultural, linguistic and skill diversity in esports teams, that different kinds of diversity have different integration and communication costs. Fundamental to the frequent import of players from other regional leagues to LPL is the inpouring of capital to the esports market of mainland China and the inseparable government support of the industry (Yu 2018). This demonstrates the impact the rise of a dominant league might have on the labor system in the broader region. At the Asia–Pacific Games Summit in 2018, the former manager of FW, Ling-Li Pi, remarked that its “inability to keep its talents is going to be Taiwan’s biggest challenge. Not only players, but also coaches and management teams, we

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are all receiving various invitations.” A little over a year later, Pi herself migrated to LPL and joined RNG. While this chapter focuses primarily on players and player-turned-coaches as in Tabe’s case, it is worth noting that without the restriction of IMP, there also might be a higher ratio of migrant workers taking up behind-the-scenes posts. Despite being not visible to the public, they form local social relations and may have a significant impact on the initiation and maintenance of mobility “by enabling migrants to gain knowledge of local conditions, laws, languages, recruitment/referral opportunities” (Engh and Agergaard 2013, 980). Moreover, they also play a significant role in affecting visibility by raising and altering public awareness of the social group of migrant workers. A more comprehensive examination of labor migration as a sub-ecosystem will be a good supplement to this study.

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Primary Resources Hung Hau-hsuan (@V5_Kasar). 2022. “Xiaoboyixia~” 小播一下 [A Little Streaming Session]. July 2. Video. 51:21. https://www.bilibili.com/video/ BV1LS4y1n7Jc/?spm_id_from=333.999.0.0. JDG jingdong dianzi jingji julebu JDG京东电子竞技俱乐部. 2019. “Reposting with a Kissing Emoji.” Weibo, January 19. https://weibo.com/617497 6862/HcIhOw7FZ?from=page_1006066174976862_profile&wvr=6&mod= weibotime&type=comment. SofM, Zuowu 左雾. 2016 “Caifang Yuenan Faker: Buyuan Wanli de Zhuimeng Shaonian” 采访越南Faker: 不远万里的追梦少年 [Interview with the Vietnamese Faker: Dream Pursuer from Miles Away)]. Interview by Xinlang Dianjing 新浪电竞, May 23. Text. http://dj.sina.com.cn/article/fxsktkp91 71398.shtml. SofM. 2016 “Interview with 15w.com.” Interview by 15w.com, June 21. Video, 02:20. https://v.qq.com/x/page/i0308j33z7r.html. Wong, Pak Kan (@Tabe解说 Tabe jieshuo). 2015 “Xiexie zhichi zhongguo dianjing de nimen duibuqi” 谢谢支持中国电竞的你们 对不起 [Thank You to All the Supporters of Chinese Esports. Sorry]. Weibo. October 14. https:// weibo.com/2347085313/CF2G84u2x.

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Wong, Pak Kan (@Tabe解说 Tabe jieshuo). 2017 “Laowang mingtian hui jin quanli. Wan’an” 老汪明天会尽全力, 晚安 [Old Wang Will Try His Best Tomorrow. Good night]. Weibo. September 24. https://www.weibo.com/ 2347085313/FnkYiqS0z?pagetype=profilefeed. Wong, Pak Kan. 2016. “Youxi Rensheng: Tabe” 游戏人生: Tabe [Game and Life: Tabe]. Published February 5. Video. 51:01. https://www.bilibili.com/ video/av3758580/. Wong, Pak Kan. 2017. “HKA vs. FNC Post-match interview”. Interview by Wanplus. September 28. Video. 08:10. https://www.carrystats.com/lol/ video/530508. Yingxiong lianmeng guanfang wangzhan 英雄联盟官方网站. “Yingxiong lianmeng zhiye liansai bisai guize (2022 nian 7 yue 24 ri guize buchong banben)” 英雄联盟职业联赛比赛规则 (2022年7月24日规则补充版 本) [League of Legends Pro League Competition Policy (Modified on July 24, 2022)]. June 7. https://lol.qq.com/news/detail.shtml?type=1&docid= 16161886509984835765. Zuowu (@左雾君 Zuowujun). 2016. “Shoudao gewei de sixin” 收到各位的私 信 [Upon the Receipt of Your Direct Messages]. Weibo. June 18. https:// weibo.com/2277196682/DASmDij37?pagetype=profilefeed.

Identities

“What They Love About Sports Is What I Love About Esports”: How Esports Factors into Australian National Identity David Jian-Jia Cumming

Introduction Arguably more than any other country, sport holds a strong cultural significance in Australia. The standing hegemonic Australian identity can be traced back to the eventual succession of Australian sporting teams over British teams in the nineteenth century (Mewett 1999; Horton 2000). This demonstration of prowess and superiority over the colonial ‘motherland’ became a key distinction between ‘Britons’ raised in Australia and those in Great Britain (Horton 2000). In time, this distinction evolved into a deeply ingrained and celebrated element of the hegemonic Australian national identity which reigns today. While this veneration of sport endured as a central theme in Australians’ constructions of national identity, notions of sport have shifted throughout the ages. As sports, particularly Australian sports, evolved so too did renditions of Australian national identities. Notably,

D. J.-J. Cumming (B) London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, London, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_8

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the glorification of toughness during the formation of Australian organised sport instilled sports-expressed masculine aggression in constructions of the authentic Australian (Burgess et al. 2003). Initially expressed on the playing field, this grittiness has come to extend to Australian sport fandom and other facets of Australian society where sport holds significance, such as the school system, media landscape, and government (Stewart et al. 2004). More broadly, the sport has been long noted as a nation-building tool across various countries and contexts (Keim 2003; Koch 2013; Charway and Houlihan 2020). Perhaps the most recent disruption to contemporary notions of sport is esports. While other ‘non-traditional’ sports-like skateboarding, surfing, and dance have sparked noteworthy debate, esports’ inherent computerised, digital nature has fuelled intense arguments across various discourses regarding the fundamental qualifiers for what is or is not a sport. Regardless of esports’ contested status, it is undeniable that a significant number of popular esports formats are at least sports-like. On a related note, popular conventional sports have become increasingly digitised in regard to their competition, media production, and organisation. The COVID-19 pandemic has also seen the convergence of esports and sports into hybrid formats, such as in the NBA and NASCAR (Ke and Wagner 2022). Esports is not the only manifestation of digitisation in and around sports; it reflects the expansive digitisation of society, culture, and life (Scholz and Vyugina 2019; Zhong et al. 2022). The contested status of esports as a sport and the position of sport enjoyment as a hegemonic aspect of Australian national identity raises some pressing questions. To what extent does esports factor into Australian national identity? Conversely, how do hegemonic notions of Australian national identity shape Australian esports fandom and spectatorship? In beginning to answer these questions, it is prudent to explore how similar inquiries have been approached in relation to other regions. Much esports literature is framed by regionality, originating from works investigating competitive video gaming being played akin to a professional spectator sport in South Korea (Jin 2010). Scholars focused on other regions note how esports has been influential in individuals’ and nations’ reconstructions of identity for a contemporary digital landscape, with a significant portion of such research focused on China. Notable work has been produced by Yu (2018) and Zhao (2018), which illustrates how Chinese prowess in international esports regarding both competition and industry stands as a significant source of national pride among

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young Chinese people, reinforcing and reinterpreting notions of nationalism and citizenship for a new context (Ismangil 2018). This significant Chinese investment in the digital games and esports industries, sustained player success at high-level international esports, and fervent Chinese esports fandom are propulsive elements of China’s efforts to cement its dominance at “the world’s digital frontier” (Yu 2018). Similar observations have been made of South Korea, the country which arguably set the precedent of large-scale organised professional esports for the rest of the world (Jin 2010). Much like the case of China, much of South Korean influence stems from the national government, industry, and media investment, embracing and facilitating the development of esports in the country (Jin 2010). In contrast to these major esporting regions, Australia stands as a relatively small nation with minimal influence on the global stage of esports (Carter et al. 2017). Reflecting this status is the small amount of government and industry support for esports in Australia when compared to countries like China and South Korea. Besides shedding light onto a less investigated, smaller esports region, this work explores ways in which esports relates to reimaginings and negotiations of national identity in an increasingly digitised world. As will be made clear going forward, esports in Australia acts as both a subject around which identity is negotiated, as well as an apparatus through which it is expressed. The forthcoming paragraphs will explore the observations and findings of two ethnographic studies, one conducted in 2017 across two major Australian esports events, and the other conducted in 2018 in an Australian esports bar. Together, they provide insights into how Australian esports fans construct their identities. Specifically, these identities present insight into how certain aspects of the hegemonic Australian identity are challenged, while others are upheld. In doing so, these identities help to portray what an authentic contemporary Australia looks like.

Sport and Australia The basis of nationalism demands compatriots share a sense of fundamental sameness. Mewett (1999) argues that historically, such senses of sameness were derived from distinctions of ethnicity, religion, or class. More recently, the diversity and complexities of modern societies lead compatriots to instead subscribe to a “myth of cultural homogeneity” (Mewett 1999) based on supposed aphorisms of the nation’s birth; in the

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case of Australia, these often being clerical properties of the bush, loss of innocence through war, and sporting prowess. It is important to note however that these are perpetuated origin myths of a colonial Australia which largely ignores Indigenous Australians before European invasion, the plights of Indigenous Australians after European settlement, and the various cultural contributions of non-European Australian immigrants (Ireland 2018). As previously discussed, the embracement of sport as a key value in Australian nationalism stems from a colonial origin; the besting of the British in sporting competition by colonial descendants raised in Australia. Despite this connection, the value of sport in Australia has transcended its original context and is also often embraced by non-hegemonic Australian identities. As Hallinan and Judd (2012a) note, social structures in Indigenous Australian communities are often strongly influenced by sport. They assert that sport stands as one of a small number of avenues for success available to Indigenous Australians in light of their limited “affirmative life opportunities.” Indeed, many distinguished and revered Indigenous Australians are national sporting icons. Similarly, sport serves to ease immigrant populations into Australian society. For example, Zulfiqar et al. (2021) observe how South Asian immigrant children in Australia often find a sense of belonging through participation in sports. Such observations extend to the resettlement of refugees in Australia, with the Australian national government employing youth sporting programmes as a mechanism to adjust to an unfamiliar culture and way of life (Northcote and Casimiro 2009; Jeanes et al. 2015). In short, sport acts as a common unifying theme connecting various Australian identities, whether they are hegemonic or not. Despite the unifying effects of sports in Australia, it is argued that such endeavours are acts to ‘mainstream’ minority groups into embracing and accepting dominant hegemonic Australian values. Scholars including Tascón (2008) and Hallian and Judd (2012a; 2012b) extend this argument to assert that this mainstreaming is more accurately a process of ‘whitestreaming,’ where the “invisibility of Anglo-Australian narratives” (Hallian and Judd 2012b) are constructed as standard in contrast to other Australian narratives; a notion that a person of any ethnic background can find success and belonging as long as they recognise and adhere to the hegemonic normality of white Australian narratives. This perspective speaks to the more recent construction of the multicultural Australian

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origin myth; the idea that modern Australia is built on the immigration of people from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, as well as those of Indigenous Australians and their cultures. While this post-WW2 nation-building exercise sought out to establish a sense of shared cultural inheritance by emphasising the diversity of the country’s inhabitants, shifts within Australia’s governments starting in the 1970s (reflecting similar shifts in Europe) saw notions of Australian multiculturalism reinterpreted as centred around citizenship rather than post-ethnicity (Moran 2011). This shift signalled a symbolic return to assimilation policies that the introduction of multiculturalism was intended to replace (Moran 2011; van Krieken 2012). As Bruce and Hallinan (2002) argue, the national celebration of Indigenous and non-white Australian sportspeople like Cathy Freeman at the Sydney 2000 Olympics stands as a type of superficial national ‘evidence’ exemplifying the supposed success of Australian multiculturalism and repaired race relations within the country. In summary, sport stands as perhaps the least controversial of Australia’s national origin myths. Remaining steadfast across changes in hegemonic and non-hegemonic Australian identities, the sport has stood as one of the first ways that a distinct sense of Australianness was constructed and later as a grand assimilator for supposed multicultural nation-building. Despite this wide celebration of sport in Australia, it nevertheless stands as a factor which can exclude people from identifying as an authentic Australian. While Zulfiqar et al. (2021) identify how sport engagement helps to provide a sense of belonging to immigrant children, they also identify how children who didn’t engage in sports, were overweight or were otherwise perceived as non-athletic were often ostracised and ridiculed by their peers.

Method The two present studies were conducted as a part of a broader ethnographic research project concerned with exploring lived experiences of esports spectatorship within Australia. As a methodology, ethnography centres around a theoretical framework stipulating that groups of individuals can be best understood by becoming “immersed in their way of life” (Blaikie and Priest 2019). Regardless of the research context, the core tenets of ethnographic research implore researchers to embed themselves closely among the subject or subjects of research, adopting an epistemology that human meaning and knowledge are generated from social

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interactions between people within the specific contexts in which they occur (Atkinson 2016). Much ethnographic research is characterised by their use of both observation and participatory methods which see the researcher closely interact with the field and the people within it. Thus, such a methodology was chosen for the two studies and the overarching research project, as it specifically sought to explore Australian esports fans’ lived experiences of spectatorship, and to look beyond the technologies associated with esports and explore how fans engage with and around these technologies (Dourish 2014). While both studies were aligned with the core tenets of the ethnographic tradition of social investigation (Button 2000), their approaches differed to suit the contexts of their respective field sites. Study 1 at the two 2017 Sydney esports events took the form of a rapid ethnography, inspired by approaches developed by Hughes et al. (1995), Millen (2000), and Button (2000). As data collection took place during the finite period of two esports events, a more traditional longformat ethnographic approach would not have been possible. Instead, the employed approach made use of “time deepening” (Millen 2000) strategies to collect a substantial amount of ethnographic data from multiple sources during the relatively brief data collection periods. Data were generated through field observations of the events and their attendees, my own personal participation in and experience of esports spectatorship at the events, attendee interviews, the capture of photographs of the events, and the reviewing of the events’ online live streams as recorded on a computer for later analysis. Study 2 at the esports bar took the form of a more traditional, longformat ethnography. Unlike the finite site availability of Study 1, the bar site of Study 2 acted as a continuously accessible field, enabling the fieldwork to extend for 5 continuous months. The longer duration of Study 2 allowed me to gain an intimate familiarity of the bar’s social and cultural dynamics. During the five-month period I spent two-to-three nights a week at the bar, making observations, spectating esports, and partaking in casual conversation with patrons. While initially employing a “wallflower” (Adler and Adler 1987) observational approach, over the 5 months I eventually transitioned to a more participatory method as I became a frequent presence in the bar and quickly understood that one cannot remain a passive observer in the dynamic confines of the venue. At the end of the research project, the generated data were collated and transcribed where appropriate. Within ethnographic approaches, there is

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a celebrated flexibility in analysis methods, with no one approach seen as peerless. There nevertheless exists a range of tools and approaches commonly employed by ethnographers, often taking the form of thematic categorisations of data (Angrosino 2007). This was the case for Study 1 and Study 2. Study 1 drew on a more structured approach, drawing on Braun and Clarke’s (2006, 2021) approach to thematic analysis. In contrast, the amount of data generated over a long period of time in Study 2 afforded a more free-flowing and iterative approach, guided by Geertz’s (1973) “thick description” through which themes from the data are generated through describing observations and interpretations with nuance and detail that extend beyond surface-level observations.

Esports in Australia The two Australian esports events at the centre of the first ethnographic study are significant for several reasons. In the grand scale of global esports, they are not of particular note, being moderately sized events when compared to the grand spectacles of major esports events hosted in the northern hemisphere. Similarly, with the haste with which esports has grown and evolved over the past decade, it is a stretch to suggest that these two events are entirely representative of esports in 2023 both in Australia and globally. Nevertheless, their significance lies with the context in which they occurred. Taking place in 2017, the Intel Extreme Masters Sydney and Overwatch World Cup Sydney Qualifiers were among the first major esports events to take place in Australia. At the time, IEM Sydney was the largest Australian esports event in history, with attendance numbers reaching around 7000 each day of the three-day event (ESL Gaming, n.d.) However, this significance lies not entirely in their status as landmark events, but rather in the opportunities they provided Australian esports fans. As the first major esports events in Australia, they would not only likely grant Australian esports fans their first opportunity to attend an esports event in-person, but also be among the first times that Australia and Australian esports fans had the opportunity to present themselves on the global stage of esports. Being at the two events, I felt an atmosphere of keen anticipation among attendees; a chance to experience what other fans in larger esporting regions had long had the opportunities to partake in. Fans attended, cheered, and relished in the experience not simply to

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support a favourite team, player, or video game title, but also to celebrate esports in Australia as a whole. The esports bar at the centre of the second ethnographic study is significant for similar reasons. Opened in central Melbourne during 2017, the venue was the first esports bar in Australia. A somewhat hidden venue in an unassuming basement surrounded by towering office buildings, those in-the-know who descend the bar’s stairs would come to find themselves in a dimly lit space bathed in red and blue neon. Operated in a similar vein as a conventional sports bar, the venue features several wall-mounted monitors displaying various esports both live and pre-recorded for patrons to watch while enjoying a range of gaming-inspired foods and drinks. The venue acted as a rare venue in Australia which offered consistent opportunities for public communal spectatorship. In doing so, the bar acted as a community anchor for the Melbourne esports community. Frequented by a diverse range of patrons ranging from businesspeople to students, the bar took on a liminal quality and stood as a third place; a site that sits between the home (the first place) and workplace (the second place) which facilitates and maintains a local culture that offers respite to its patrons from the structures of everyday life (Oldenburg 1989). Indicative of this third-place quality was the bar’s flattened social hierarchy, which saw patrons leave their identities at the door and become united simply as esports fans. As an emergent, consistently available site of esports spectatorship, the bar stood as a site in which a local esports culture was fostered. This enabled Melbournians in creating their own fan identities.

Esports and Australian National Identity When analysing the data generated across the two studies, a major theme identified was the intersection of fan and national identities. As newly afforded opportunities for Australian esports fans to congregate and partake in esports spectatorship outside of the home, attendees across the two studies were presented with an opportunity to construct their identities as esports fans. While likely already having a sense of fan identity situated in online esports cultures, the two Australian stadium events and the Melbourne esports bar present the necessity for a new type of esports fan identity: a localised one representative of Australian esports. As I have explored in previous articles (Cumming 2018; Cumming et al. 2022), fans at both the stadium and the bar were not passive in their

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spectatorship. Rather, they played active roles in working to construct an authentic Australian esports culture where no dominant notion had previously existed. Both speak to a need to not only be a part of a local esports culture but also to figure out what it should be. While there exists a long history of research in conventional sports fandom studies regarding team identification (Lock and Heere 2017), the construction of identities across the present two studies concerned more fundamental and foundational questions: what is an authentic esports fan and what do I need to do to be one? As one interviewee at IEM Sydney proclaimed: When you’re online and you hear them talk about the crowds and how energetic and how like really exciting it is being here and you think ‘oh yeah, but you get the same experience online’ but you really don’t. Being out here is a completely different feeling than being sitting at home behind a computer screen

Perhaps the most fundamental attribute of esports fan identity that fans across the two studies constructed relates to attendance and the ability to show active support. Up until the arrival of IEM and OWC in Sydney in 2017, most Australian esports fans had not had an opportunity to attend an esports event in-person. Attendees sought to understand what spectating at the site of play would be like in comparison to spectating at home. While ostensibly a motivation of curiosity, the act of attendance itself is a noted motive to travel to and be present at an event, playing a significant role in fan identity creation. As Rogerson et al. (2019) identify in a study of hobbyist board gamers, attendance at major international events serves as a key element of “hobbyist engagement” distinct from other forms of hobbyist activities. In some cases, they note that the desire to attend among certain individuals was so strong that they considered travelling to a major board gaming event even though they were unsure if they would actually enjoy it. Simply being at such an event would constitute a defining moment in one’s enthusiast identity, indicating engagement and dedication exceeding that of less driven individuals (Weed and Bull 2009; Rogerson et al. 2019). Such notions tie into representations of ‘active’ in contrast to ‘passive’ forms of leisurely engagement and status within the social hierarchy of enthusiast cultures (Gibson 1998; Green and Jones 2005). Likewise, during screenings of large esports events at the esports bar, it

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was common for patrons to gloat to their non-attending friends of their experience of communal spectatorship, sending photos and quips to show that they had in some way missed out on the ‘true’ experience of spectatorship in the bar. Attendance does not necessarily pertain to the site of play, but also to other sites which exist beyond the mundanity of the home. This desire to attend to demonstrate active support is important to note, as it implies an underlying desire held by fans across the two studies that attendance was an important characteristic of an authentic experience of esports spectatorship, and therefore an important attribute of an authentic esports fan. In the context of conventional sport, the authenticity of attending the site of play to spectate is not controversial, as historically attending the site of play allowed the spectator to be as close to the competition as possible and watch it with as little mediation as possible (Bale 1998; Lamont 2014); the true ‘original’ and ‘genuine’ perspective. The increasing mediation of sports, even at the site of play, has raised questions regarding whether contemporary sports can still be considered authentic from an objectivist perspective (Bale 1998; Virilio 1991). Nevertheless, the act of attendance continues to carry much subjective authenticity for sports fans, whether at the site of play or elsewhere. Esports however lacks a “meatsport” (Johnson and Brock 2019) through which a similar symbolic desire for attendance to the site of play could have been derived; as the ‘playing field’ of esports exists within a computerised system, it must be inherently mediated by a production crew to be spectated, with the feed shown in the stadium in most cases identical to that streamed remotely. Such notions can be further complicated when considering esports’ status as a set of digital practices which require no centralised site of play; an attribute that benefited esports at the peak of COVID-19 restrictions which saw esports continue in many cases where conventional sports could not. One may struggle to deduce why fans across the two studies placed much emphasis on attendance in constructing their authentic fan identities if solely looking at the canon of esports history alone. It is rare however for a direct history alone to be drawn on in constructing identities and values. Rather, Hobsbawm and Ranger (2012) assert that tradition is invented, with “largely fictitious” histories used to construct a “continuity with a suitable historic past.” Collinson (2009) applies this notion of invented tradition to the context of Australian A-League soccer. First established in 2004, the A-League stood as a modernised

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rebirth of professional national soccer in Australia, replacing the declining National Soccer League. With little history and a blank slate to construct a new identity for Australian soccer fans, Collinson notes how Sydney FC fans drew on ritual songs of global soccer culture to provide a foundation of cultural authenticity for their own local identities as A-League fans. While a league on the opposite side of the globe to the mostly European-centralised football culture from which they drew, fans nevertheless adopted a suitable historic past which granted them not only a basis to construct their own local identities but also the subjectively authentic fan characteristics to be accepted in global soccer communities. Similarly, the Australian esports fans across the two studies turned to the long-established conventions and rituals of Australian sports culture. Much like Collinson observed of Sydney FC fans in the A-League, the Australian esports fans established a continuity with Australian sports culture through the ways they showed support, particularly through the rituals and chants they enacted. The iconic Australian sporting chant of Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi was a recurring component of the soundscape at the bar and stadium, alongside enactments of shoeys (the act of drinking beer out of one’s shoe) at IEM and OWC Sydney. Being among the crowd as they enacted these rituals and waved Australian flags, the atmosphere felt aligned with any other major Australian sporting event. Indeed, fans had bridged a continuity with that of broader Australian sports and thus performed an identity that closely resembles that of a conventional Australian sports fan. It would be inaccurate to argue that it was the sole efforts of the esports fans to construct this sports-reminiscent identity for Australian esports. IEM and OWC Sydney were produced evidently as sportsinspired events, independent of fan rituals and behaviours. Outside of the tournament structure, production design, and events management, the act of hosting esports events in a stadium environment speaks to a suitable historic continuity being made between esports and conventional sports on the organisational side. Standing as the “new cathedrals” (Trumpbour 2006) of the contemporary city, stadia exist as a monument to the value nations place on the pastime of sports, and act as a site of worship to the historic events that took place inside them. By hosting esports events in stadia, these symbolic cultural connotations are projected onto esports. Likewise, on a more grassroots level, the esports bar in concept draws heavily on the already established sports bar, establishing a similar continuity.

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These observations across the two studies reflect the broader sportification of esports. Sportification is the process in which sporting attributes such as fair play, competition, and aesthetics are integrated into a non-sporting activity to increase its attractiveness to new and existing audiences, promoting a familiar sense of popularity, engagement, entertainment, and excitement (Heere 2018). This process heavily relies on the broadly perceived positive image that sport holds across various cultures and societies. As Jenny et al. (2017) note, sport is seen as the goal that esports often aspires to. For example, Blizzard’s Overwatch League is structured around a proven franchise-based model common in conventional sports, making the league more attractive to both investors and audiences by appealing to their notions of what a ‘legitimate’ professional sport should be (Ruotsalainen 2022). Likewise, esports events themselves have become more sports-like, featuring formats centred around the spectatorship of professionals framed as elite athletes, rather than participatory events where the line between player and spectator is less demarcated (Nick Taylor 2016). Sportification of esports has taken place across organisation and tournament structures, career progressions, management strategies, aesthetics, and its production as a spectacle (Karhulahti 2017; Heere 2018). The sportification of esports not only establishes a suitable continuity with the well-received histories of conventional sports but also works to obscure its historic ties to gaming practices and culture which have been the continued subject of moral panic (Shaw 2010). Fans are however not passive consumers of media, holding power and agency to negotiate and affirm the meanings presented to them (Jenkins 2006; Ruotsalainen 2022). While organisations can provide a sportified framework through which they intend fans to present their support, fans ultimately hold the power to negotiate if such frameworks are to be accepted as authentic. This was particularly prevalent at OWC Sydney, where attendees were provided with Australian flags to not only rally support for the Australian team playing but also to celebrate the location in which the event took place. These negotiations reveal a complex intersection of identities. As a conformation of positive cultural appeal of sports, the sportification of esports inevitably influence notions of what an esports fan ought to be. Conversely, the push for esports to attain a sports status and the continued efforts by organisations and fans alike to sportify esports presents a challenge to hegemonic notions of what an authentic, sports-loving Australian

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looks like. At the intersection of these identity dynamics sits the negotiation of what an Australian esports fan ought to be. As one interviewee at OWC Sydney remarked: I know I’m not into conventional sports really and being able to support the country in something that I genuinely enjoy definitely helps.

Here, this interviewee expressed how attendance and spectatorship at the event acted as an outlet through which to express patriotic support; an outlet he did not have in the form of conventional sports enjoyed by other Australians. A shift is observed in what can be considered a sport, and therefore who can be considered an Australian. Support for esports in Australia, when considering the sportified status of contemporary esports, communicates a reimagining of the authentic Australian; one which is more digitally aligned and can express national zeal through highly digitised sports-like outlets like esports. It is a stretch to assert that such perspectives are shared by all Australians. Nevertheless, the engagement with these events by a sizable group of young Australians indicates an ongoing negotiation, which at the least offers fans a potentially newfound opportunity to empathise with how other Australians experience nationalism and patriotism. As another interviewee explained: For the longest time I didn’t get the point of [conventional sports] until I got into esports. That’s when it clicked for me, when I could empathise with the people following their sports. What they love about sports is what I love about esports.

Other developments in the Australian sporting landscape have challenged notions of what it means to be an authentic Australian. For example, the AFL Women’s established a semi-professional Australian football league for female players in 2017. Creating opportunities for women to play high-level Australian football which had historically undermined their ability to play, the AFLW and the female fans it drew worked to challenge and reimagine the identities of Australian football and its fans (Lane 2018). While this challenge has seen resistance by men who see women’s inclusion in Australian football as an act of ‘taking away’ their sport and their dominance as the hegemonic fan identity, the AFLW has largely been seen as a positive change for the sport that will allow it to grow. As Burke et al. (2022) note, the AFLW and other women’s

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leagues act as “sites for resistance to male control” over the sport. Symons (2022) explains that women followers of AFLW have “come back” to or “found” something that was missing from their identities as Australians. These observations of AFLW echo those relating to Australian esports acting as a site of negotiation and challenge. Such challenges which bring forth ostensibly positive change can however have problematic connotations. While the AFLW has brought more female fans to the sport of Australian football, it is widely noted that female inclusion in traditionally male-dominant sports tends to see women adjust themselves to conform to the hypermasculinity of such spaces (Pope 2014; Richards 2018; Toffoletti and Palmer 2019; Symons 2022). Unless there is a reflexive systematic change to the culture and values of the sport, uncritical inclusion of new fan identities sees individuals adapt themselves to fit in and feel belonged, reinforcing existing hegemonic norms. As Dixon (2015) explains in relation to soccer, efforts by women to fit in as ‘real fans’ by embracing masculine characteristics and behaviours do “not necessarily contribute to the quality of practice that those participants in the current sample desire.” When applying a similar frame to the two present studies, fan efforts to renegotiate the hegemonic Australian as one inclusive of esports fandom and digital forms of competition can alternatively be interpreted as reinforcing and affirming extant notions of hegemonic Australian national identity. In efforts to authenticate themselves as esports fans and partake in an authentic experience of spectatorship, those across the two studies fashioned their fan identities after those of Australian sport, enacting iconic sporting rituals and behaviours. Through these efforts and guided by the broader sportification of esports, fans found a sense of belonging as Australians by conforming esports and their identity as esports fans to the image of conventional sports, affirming this hegemonic type of sports fandom as central to the dominant Australian national identity instead of challenging it. This was particularly evident in the values that were conveyed through fans’ actions and behaviours in the stadia and bar. Such expressions reflect a performative aspect of these efforts to establish a continuity between sport and esports. At the two Sydney events, alongside other Australian esports events I have attended since, it is almost inevitable that a spectator will attempt to pull-off a shoey in front of the camera. The drive to perform this ritual to the camera, almost as a game among spectators, is key to emphasise for two dominant reasons. Firstly, it demonstrates

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a more conscious effort to perform a type of identity which combines Australian nationalism, sports fandom, and esports fandom. But perhaps of greater note is the evocation of a specifically masculine interpretation of Australianess. As other works focused on masculinity in Australian gaming cultures have noted, Australian drinking culture and nationalism are intertwined closely by notions of masculine identity. de Widlt and Butt (2018) explain that these identities exist “as an ecology of complex entanglements,” illustrating a compounded identity of gamer, male, and Australian through drinking rituals performed at gaming events and functions, including shoeys at Australian esports events. Such performances work to not only portray a sense of modern nationalism to national and international audiences but also appeal to entrenched notions of masculinity found in sport and gaming. Likewise, the very act of watching esports in a bar in the presence of alcohol speaks to the intersection of masculinity, drinking culture, and sports in Australia, establishing an authenticating connection to esports. These adaptions to appeal to an entrenched sense of sporting masculinity reflect broader discussions in esports and games studies regarding “geek masculinity.” Originally coined by T. L. Taylor (2012), geek masculinity concerns an alternative form of masculinity that draws on, blends, and enforces values of hegemonic masculinity in a gamer culture context (Lockhart 2015). The resulting “hegemonic geek/nerd masculinity” (Ruotsalainen and Friman 2018) seeks to position and authenticate gamers as truly masculine, contrasting stereotypes of gamer and other geek cultures as meek, docile, and effeminate. Much like fans across the stadia and esports bar, geek masculinity operates on the basis of fitting in with that which is hegemonic, rather than directly challenging such notions and effecting systemic cultural change. Attributes of gamer culture are reframed to fit the merit structures of hegemonic sports masculinity; the dexterous mastery of a game is made equivalent to the athletic mastery of a sport, triumph over competitors is equated to the historic wins of sports canon, and the undying support for a favourite player or team is made admirable as the tribalism of a loyal fan (Taylor 2012; Ruotsalainen 2022). Other games scholars like Consalvo (2012) point towards the misogynistic toxicity of gamer culture as a product of “patriarchal privilege attempting to (re)assert its position”; the consequences of hegemonic masculine traits like aggression and hyper-competitiveness being enacted to authenticate a geek identity.

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While it is true that fans across the two studies used esports as a new-found outlet through which to express Australian nationalism, this occurred primarily due to the sportified incarnations of esports allowing such templates of nationalism to be easily applied with minimal contention. Indeed, one of the core goals of sportification is to increase the appeal of a non-sport activity by making it more sports-like; a process that inherently appeals to and affirms widely held and positively perceived sporting values (Heere 2018). Despite constructing a bridge of hegemonic, sports-based geek masculinity to the Australian national identity, it is evident that esports in this instance only functions as a surrogate for this type of Australian nationalism when it is sportified and therefore ‘fits in.’ Only when these activities are scaffolded to the established structures, aesthetics, and masculinities of conventional sport do they begin to act as an outlet for expressing Australian nationalism. The key issue that hegemonic geek masculinity raises is its exclusionary properties. As Lockhart (2015) describes in the context of gamer culture, “nerd/geek masculinity turns the very traits nerds and geeks are often mocked for into evidence of manhood—at the cost of excluding women and queer people from nerd and geek culture.” Given the already male-dominated character of hegemonic gamer culture, it is perhaps unsurprising that esports fandom has been so readily oriented to appeal to, adhere to, and enforce the hegemonic masculinity of sport and Australian national identity. Across the two studies, it was observed that men predominantly populated the two stadium events and bar. The sports-inspired rituals they enacted manifested a strong masculine bravado; chants and rituals like the shoey evoking a rambunctious sense of masculine domination and heterosexism typically reproduced in sports fandoms (Tarver 2017). It was evident however that these performed masculine traits were of only a specific type of masculinity. Across the stadium events and the bar, it was clear that not only were the majority of individuals males in their late teens and early twenties, but specifically young white men. This is not particularly surprising when considering that individuals of European ancestry constitute the majority of Australia’s population. Of greater relevance is how the non-white majority were excluded from the constructed masculine identities across the field sites. As Zhu (2018) notes from a broader Western context, the enactment of hegemonic masculine traits to legitimise esports as an authentic sport evokes a decidedly Euro-American masculinity that “historically exoticized and effeminized Asian bodies.” This contrasts with the

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often proclaimed egalitarianism of esports, being a competitive activity where men and women can compete on equal grounds due to a reliance on dexterity rather than athleticism (Zhu 2018). Such a perspective can also be applicable to an Australian context, with hegemonic Australian national identity sharing the nineteenth-century imperial British ancestry Zhu speaks to which originated this effeminisation of Asian men. Similarly, scholars in the United Kingdom like Ratna (2014) explain that “national inclusiveness is not guaranteed for British Asian [football] fans.” She elaborates that despite British Asian men being subjected to a neocolonialist representation of being weak, they are nevertheless seen as a threat to the ethnic hegemony of the majority white populace. The colonialist white Australia policy sharply reflects this perceived threat, forbidding non-Europeans, particularly Asians and primarily the Chinese, from immigrating to Australia and challenging the ethnic white hegemony, despite being perceived as having an inherent inferior, servile nature (Curthoys 2003). Although formally abolished in 1973 (Jones 2003), Tavan (2005) describes the white Australia policy as having a “long, slow death,” maintaining a “residual appeal” as evident across several immigration controversies that have occurred after the policy’s apparent adjournment. With hegemonic Australian national identity tied to origin myths of white colonial sporting prowess (Mewett 1999; Horton 2000), Zhu’s assertion of white masculinity as a legitimiser for esports rings true in an Australian context. A striking instance which illustrates these perspectives can be seen from the fieldwork conducted at the esports bar during the venue’s overnight screening of The International 8; the 2018 championship event for Dota 2. As the championships approached their climax, it became evident that the two teams that would play against each other for the championships were the teams OG and LGD. The former was the favourite among the majority in the bar, largely because the mostly European team also featured the player Anatham ‘ana’ Pham, a then 18-year-old professional Dota 2 player from Melbourne and the only Australian to be playing in the championship. Through ana’s inclusion on the team, OG stood as an unofficial Australian team which those in the bar rallied behind. In contrast, LGD was represented by an entirely Chinese team roster and stood as an opposing Chinese national team. Besides the majority white OG supporting patrons, there was also a small group of around five Chinese Australians in the bar who were supporting LGD, wearing their team’s colours among the sea of OG paraphernalia. Throughout

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the night and particularly when the championship match between OG and LGD was about to take place, this group of Chinese Australian fans were often the subjects of banter and light jokes directed from the OG supporting majority. While these jokes were light-hearted and the LGD fans took them in their stride by returning comebacks and banter of their own, these interactions nevertheless acknowledge an ethnic distinction. As I spoke with patrons around me, I was assured that there was no intended animosity and that everyone at the bar was united across a flattened social hierarchy of broader esports fans. As one patron explained: No matter who wins we’re all still friends! We all love Dota! Regardless, these actions reflect a type of ethnic hegemony long established in Australia, one where nationalism is tied to whiteness, and a specific type of masculine whiteness. While patrons had assured me that they had not been acting with explicitly racist intent, they unconsciously engaged in an implicit process of othering; a process that Snow and Oliver (1995) describe as key to strengthening group identities and defining membership borders. There existed two contrasting types of spectating experiences that night in the bar; one where the majority white patrons could enjoy the spectacle and ability to support OG with no scrutiny, and another where the minority Chinese Australian patrons were under constant scrutiny for lending support to a team which stood against the nominated ‘Australian’ team. These observations echo those made in other ethnographies of gaming spaces by Nick Taylor (2018) and T.L. Taylor (2012), which illustrate how normative young white males are invisible in such gaming spaces while those who are not scrutinised, othered, and excluded. While many contemporary esports are ostensibly absent of specific national alignments, fans and audiences nevertheless apply a framework founded in established national racial norms to constitute their fandom in a sports-like manner. Despite their self-described jocular, light-hearted bantering, these actions nevertheless performed a process of othering which excluded the Chinese Australian fans supporting the opposing, designated non-Australian team from a comparable ‘invisible’ spectating experience and strengthened the inclusive, national sense of belonging and unity shared by the white OG supporting majority. Curiously, ana’s status as an Asian Australian did not sway patrons’ conduct, nor was it mentioned or discussed by anyone. One could argue that this factor illustrates a more inclusive situation; a multicultural perspective where Australians of any background are celebrated as

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proud representations of the country, and that any interactions between the majority OG supporters and the minority LGD supporters centred on opposing team allegiances alone. However, when situated against broader interpretations of Australian national identity and culture, it reflects a type of previously discussed ‘evidence’ (Bruce and Hallinan 2002) which proves supposed positive race relations in Australian sport, where successful non-white Australian athletes are celebrated as proof of the opportunities provided them and the success of a multicultural Australia. Such perspectives blind observers to the systemic, hegemonic issues which underpin these situations and ultimately fail to effectively address the more complex issues which surround them. Despite ana providing Asian Australian representation on the world stage of esports, his success is subverted and whitewashed through this framing, co-opted to celebrate the hegemonic (white) Australian values which through multicultural benevolence (Gomá 2020) granted such opportunities to minority groups. In this way, ana’s success ceases to be about his own merits, and rather about the success of the system that has allowed him to reach such heights, linking to existing narratives of multicultural Australia which ‘emancipates’ ethnic minorities from their cultural dissonance and hardships.

Final Remarks While colonial relics like the white Australia policy have ostensibly been abolished, their implications can still be widely felt. As Walters (2020) describes, it has been challenging to determine a unifying national identity across Australia’s troubled history; the vision to construct a clear sense of sameness clouded. Yet, the world does not wait for one to be achieved. As new media and platforms like esports reach Australia and are adopted by its citizens, they too are drawn into ongoing debates surrounding what cultural signifiers and values constitute an authentic Australian, whether they be the subject of negotiation itself or the vessel through which existing values manifest. Across the two studies in the stadia and esports bar, fans worked to negotiate ways in which their enjoyment of esports could be used to constitute themselves as true, authentic Australians. Embracing broader movements to sportify esports, fans used their spectatorship across the two sites as an outlet to express sporting nationalism associated with hegemonic Australian identity. On one hand,

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it is arguable that in doing so fans challenged hegemonic Australian identity by redefining what sporting nationalism can look like in the face of increasing global digitisation. On the other, fans nevertheless reinforced a range of problematic Australian values and norms. Embracing a hegemonic geek/nerd masculinity to authenticate their identities, a hegemonic white, masculine Australian national identity was strengthened through their fan actions and rhetoric. Such developments are concerning in the context of esports. While esports as a dexterous sport is lauded for its egalitarianism and its status as a ‘new media’ distanced from the sectarian gatekeeping of traditional media (Burroughs and Rama 2015), these positive attributes stand to be diminished if esports continues to be conformed to hegemonic standards rooted in the past in efforts to seek authenticity. With the embracement of sportification as a proven and effective way for esports to gain credibility with audiences both old and new, fans too orient their practices and performances of identity to appeal to established sports fandom. An Australian esports fan can constitute oneself as a true Australian, assuming it guises the racial and gender discrimination which underscores Australian values like many other outwardly progressive interpretations of sport. Despite the somewhat pessimistic tone of this conclusion, I would like to echo remarks made by Ruotsalainen (2022) that adapting esports for mainstream appeal and the growth of national sentiment in esports is not necessarily a bad (or good) thing. It is certain that without these recent shifts, esports would not have grown to its current heights, which despite its flaws has granted enjoyment, career opportunities, and a broad sense of community to many. What needs to be better considered are the implications of these shifts to appeal to existing standards and values. As evident across the two studies discussed in this chapter, these efforts so far have been relatively uncritical, focused on immediate benefits and the desire to fit in. Greater reflexivity and criticism are needed, from both the esports industry and fans, to ensure that the authentication of esports inspires positive change to the hegemonic values and identities they seek to appeal to, rather than blindly conform.

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Clutch or Gay: Experiences of Gaymers in Valorant Philippines Angelo James Ferrer Esperanzate and Augustus Ceasar Destura Latosa

Introduction The last twenty years have seen an explosion in competitive online gaming in the Philippines. Its popularity further increased during the COVID19 pandemic lockdowns. Online games, however, do not offer inclusive spaces, and toxic attitudes and homophobia often experienced in wider society persist. This chapter explores the negative impact of homophobia in esports on the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philippines, by focusing on the experiences of gay gamers in the online game Valorant. Through the lens of Co-Cultural Communication Theory, this chapter identifies the communicative strategies employed by gay players to position themselves within the online space as they experience and respond to verbal and text-based discrimination.

A. J. F. Esperanzate (B) Quezon City, Philippines e-mail: [email protected] A. C. D. Latosa Far Eastern University, Manila, Philippines e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_9

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Esports and Its Global Impact The growing global influence of esports and the gaming industry is undeniable. It is a growing global industry with earnings of approximately $1.8 billion, in 2021. This figure is likely to continue to increase (Newzoo 2022) and thus have a considerable economic impact (Reitman et al. 2020). Esports can be defined as a form of video gaming where players through their computing devices, either as individuals or as a team, engage in competitive sport and is also known in its long form as electronic sports (Hamari and Sjöblom 2017). Its growth is not only seen as impactful to the gaming industry but also to the economy (Newman et al. 2022) and society (Hamari and Sjöblom 2017), thriving even through the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns (Newzoo 2021). The expansive reach of this industry can have significant effects on both culture and behavior (Leis et al. 2021). Esports is global and has also established a stronghold in the Philippines, taking root in the early 2000s (Ignacio 2016). While there is considerable recognition of its existence, there is little recognition given to the players, partly because of the lack of institutional support (Capistrano et al. 2018). Despite this lack of support, the esports scene has made a massive impact. From the rise of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang nationwide (Kishimoto et al. 2021) to the first Filipino-made First Person Shooter (FPS) with Project Xandata (Logarta 2021), the impact of esports on the global community has the same weight of influence within the Filipino community. However, despite this influence, online games are not safe spaces for the LGBTQIA+ community, and discrimination persists.

Being LGBTQIA+ in the Philippines As a widely Catholic country, the Philippines has a complex relationship with its queer community (De Guzman 2022). Despite the growing positive perception of the LGBTQIA+ community in the Philippines (Tang and Poudel 2018), the stigma, discrimination, and even violence, sometimes leading to death, are still experienced by individuals who are or are perceived to be from a sexual minority (“Hate Crimes Against LGBTQI+ in BARMM Must Not Go Unpunished” 2021; Gutierrez 2020; Redfern 2021). Many LGBTQIA+ rights advocates have been clamoring for

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recognition and protection from the legal system, with national legislation for anti-discrimination filed as early as 2000 (Abad 2019; Moya 2022) but yet to be successfully passed in either house of congress. In contrast, local legislation has been gaining traction (Abad 2022). Much needs to be done to protect the community from the stigma, discrimination, abuse, and violence that is reflected in national legislation (Miano 2022). While laws such as the Safe Spaces Act of 2017 (Hontiveros 2018) afford sexual minorities some protection, online spaces are still unsafe for queer people. Due to the lack of a unified local community voice in the Philippines on how to self-identify, this research will refer to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and all other sexual minority communities as LGBTQIA+, sexual minorities, or queer community. This is as used on the international stage so as to be as inclusive as possible (Blakemore 2021). Other authors cited herein may refer to the community differently.

LGBTQIA+ in Esports A person’s sexual orientation, or their “capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with, individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender” (Karsay et al. 2016, 15), has long been a basis for discrimination in different aspects of society including health care (Ayhan et al. 2020); education (Gallardo-Nieto et al. 2021); employment (Cech and Rothwell 2020); and even in industries such as sports (Denison et al. 2021). Homophobia has been defined “as a range of behaviors, feelings, negative attitudes towards sexual variations and people identified or perceived as LGBTQI” (Ventriglio et al. 2021, 1). Homophobia is not only about being the recipient of aggression because of gender and sexuality (Pace et al. 2020) but also about being exposed to it in media (Wiedlack 2017) and encountering it even if not the intended target (McCormack 2020). Lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and all other members of the community that do not fall under the imposed normal sexual orientations, gender identifications and expressions, and other sexual characteristics, are often either left at the margins or attacked, even in gaming (Winterhalter 2021). Despite the long historical presence of the LGBTQIA+ community in gaming (Shaw 2009), they have always been invisible in how games are designed (Morgan et al. 2020). As the esports community enshrines the

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image of the ultimate gamer as a young heterosexual man, with confidence and bravado (Witkowski 2013), this, in turn, furthers the othering of those who do not fit this profile. Gaymers or gay gamers, individuals who play video games and identify as gay or part of the LGBTQIA+ community (Shaw 2017) are often at the receiving end of acts discrimination (Shaw 2015) because they fall far from this profile. While female representation has made strides in gaming and positive representation is already present, LGBTQIA+ representation remains sparse (Granger 2021). There is very little positive representation of LGBTQIA+ people in video games, and they are often overpowered by the amount of homophobia and transphobia in the industry (Shaw et al. 2019). There are different means by which the queer community reacts to such microaggressions, defined here as offhand interaction, verbal or otherwise, that casually maligns or insults a target vulnerable individual or groups, intentionally or unintentionally attacking their dignity (Nadal et al. 2011). However, often their actions are weighed against possible negative consequences (Nadal et al. 2011). The community has participated in multiple ways to address the high level of discrimination (Pulos 2013) including building safe spaces such as gaming communities (Gray 2018), but there is still much to be done. Online gaming in the Philippines is a highly social activity due to its interactive and competitive nature. It is common, if not expected, for members of the gaming community to express care for players they root for and people they interact with in and out of the game (Soriano et al. 2019). While there is a glaring absence of data on how the Filipino LGBTQIA+ community addresses discrimination, gender-based aggression has been studied in depth. McLean and Griffiths (2019) for example, studied varying strategies women in Western countries adopted, either ignoring the aggression or opting to hide their identity to avoid being harassed altogether. As for the LGBTQIA+ community, there are those who are either passive about addressing discrimination or those who challenge it head-on (Passmore and Mandryk 2020).

Valorant and the “Gayming” Experience Online gaming gained even more popularity during the COVID-19 lockdowns worldwide (Cmentowski and Krüger 2020) partly because it is a social activity (Barr and Copeland-Stewart 2022) and because it offered an opportunity to ease economic woes brought upon by an inability to

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work in normal circumstances (De Jesus et al. 2022). Valorant is an online game that gained traction in South-East Asia, with its foundations in the esports scene (Lozano 2020). Developed by Riot Games, Valorant is a “5v5 multiplayer FPS where one team attacks and the other defends” (Roach and Caswell 2021) in a very competitive environment. Valorant became one of the most popular FPS games in the Philippines since it was first established in the early 2000s. Currently, the country sends teams to represent South-East Asia in international esports tournaments (Lozano 2020). Team composition is important in Valorant, and diverse groups have a higher chance of winning, and a lower rate of surrender, even if they are not winning (Cheng et al. 2019). There are still cases, however, where toxicity in the form of “communicative aggression” is common in competitive gaming, especially if it is team-based (Kou 2020). Research suggests that competitiveness may result in aggressions demonstrated differently based on gender and sexual orientation through in-game homophobic verbal or text abuse (Cote 2017; Gray 2013). While Riot Games is cognizant of the homophobia that is plaguing Valorant, they are still hesitant to take any more drastic action to ensure the safety demanded by the LGBTQIA+ gaming community (Amos 2021). Currently, only “in-game text abuse”, “in-game voice abuse”, and “disrespectful behavior” can be reported by any participant of that particular game if it occurs. Toxicity and homophobia are not exclusive to communication between team members but also occur when opposing teams attempt to “tilt” the enemy. Indeed Kou (2020) found that aggressions in the form of negative interactions, such as homophobia, are used to tilt others in the game. Tilting is a common description of a state of mind of a player who has been annoyed or insulted enough to not be able to function well enough to win the game (Sharma et al. 2022). Homophobic slurs are thus weaponized to tilt opponents and prompt them to lose focus on the game. This toxicity and homophobia are added stressors on an already socially ostracized queer community, burdened by their real-life experience of discrimination. Even if they are aware of the homophobia that plagues gaming and esports, they are often still affected by these microaggressions in-game (Passmore and Mandryk 2020). There are different means by which the queer community reacts to microaggressions, and they weigh their actions based on the possible consequences (Nadal et al. 2011), for example, fighting back to anger the aggressor or staying silent to keep the

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peace. On the other hand, positive reinforcement by team members in the face of tilting has also been observed (Wu et al. 2021). There is an overall lack of localized research on homophobia in Philippine esports. This study therefore focuses on examining the forms of homophobia that take place in-game from the lens of the gaymers themselves and on the communication strategies taken in response to experiencing or encountering homophobia in Valorant. It also focuses on the community’s experience and response when encountering or experiencing homophobia in an esports game, namely Valorant.

Co-Cultural Communication Theory Co-cultural theorizing is a process of looking into the means by which members of a non-dominant group negotiate their power with others and with members of the dominant power (Littlejohn et al. 2021). Building on Muted Group, Standpoint, and Cultural Phenomenology, Co-Cultural theory identifies “six factors that influence the process by which underrepresented group members communicate within dominant societal structures: preferred outcome, the field of experience, abilities, situational context, perceived costs and rewards, and communication approach” (Orbe and Roberts 2012). Among the six factors, preferred outcome and communication approach form part of a framework that presents a spectrum of communication strategies employed by a non-dominant cultural group to negotiate power with the dominant group. The other factors affect the decision-making by the non-dominant group before they select the communication approach they find most appropriate for their preferred outcome. Table 1 shows the framework employed in CoCultural Communication Theory. There are three outcomes: assimilation, accommodation, and separation, and three approaches to communication: non-assertive, assertive, and aggressive. It must be noted that each identified communication strategy is mutually exclusive to certain preferred outcomes. And in the same way, each communication strategy is mutually exclusive to the communication approach employed by the non-dominant group in the face of aggression. The nomenclature of these strategies is general in nature, but Orbe and Roberts (2012) allow for emergent nuances based on specific contexts. For example, the framework uses the term “avoiding” as a strategy, but a non-dominant group may express this communication strategy in such ways as muting the in-game text chat or quitting the game completely. This research will utilize the concepts of

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Co-Cultural theory to analyze the communication strategies employed by gaymers in response to homophobia within the heteronormative context of Valorant. Valorant is a successful competitive online FPS video game that is played and enjoyed by a large number of people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Given its expansive reach and continued growth, the toxicity that is an inevitable consequence of the industry as a whole is worthy of examination, especially for those players targeted by homophobia. Since there is little research done in the context of the communication strategies taken by gaymers, and especially Philippine gaymers, this study is focused on examining the communication strategies employed in response to experiencing or encountering homophobia in Valorant. The study aims to answer the following research questions: (1) What are the ways homophobia is communicated in-game? (2) What communication strategies are used by gaymers to negotiate power upon encountering/experiencing homophobia? (3) How do the communication strategies they use affect their experience in Valorant?

Table 1

Communication strategies identified in Co-Cultural Theory Separation

Accommodation

Assimilation

Nonassertive

• Avoiding • Maintaining interpersonal barriers

• Increasing visibility • Dispelling stereotypes

Assertive

• Communicating self • Exemplifying strengths • Embracing stereotypes • Attacking • Sabotaging others

• Communicating self • Intragroup networking • Utilizing liaisons • Educating others

• Emphasizing commonalities • Develop positive face • Censoring self • Averting controversy • Extensive preparation • Overcompensating • Manipulating stereotypes • Bargaining • Dissociating • Mirroring • Strategic distancing • Ridiculing self

Aggressive

• Confronting • Gaining advantage

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Methodology The qualitative study was conducted online using 11 individual interviews. The informants were selected using a non-probability sampling design specifically the snowball-convenience technique to reach participants that had the following characteristics: self-identified cisgender homosexual male, currently playing or having played Valorant within the last 3 months, understood conversational English and Filipino, and experienced or encountered homophobia. “Experiencing homophobia” is seen here as directly being targeted with homophobic actions through in-game text or voice chat, and “encountering homophobia” as seeing or hearing homophobia happen to someone else through similar means. The participant must currently reside in the Philippines. Of the 11 participants, those referred to in this study are Anton, Carlo, Dave, Marco, Mark, Martin, Ralph, and Ric. The informants were sent an initial email that included a cover letter, and enclosed instructions, which contained the inclusion criteria. Participants were presented with the study background, purpose, and the informed consent form. The consent, which indicated that the researchers would not collect any identifying information such as name, email address, or IP address, was read to the informants prior to the interview. A Data Storage Policy was included in the informed consent form, explicitly stating how their data sample was to be handled. The researchers transcribed the interviews and coded the transcripts. The codes were thematically collated and analyzed using the grounded theory coding to aid in the thematic categorization of data (Vollstedt and Rezat 2019). The codes were used for analysis under the strategies identified in Co-Cultural Communication Theory.

Findings Known worldwide as a 5v5 multiplayer FPS game, Valorant is designed to appeal to all gamers regardless of gender. The game itself does not discriminate against gender orientations until male players start making homophobic remarks to their fellow male players who may be cisgender or members of the LGBTQIA+ community. In the game, the homophobicremark-making male players may not necessarily know that those they call gay or refer to as gay for playing poorly in reality identify as gay. This study explores how homophobia is communicated in Valorant from the

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experiences of the gay players and the communicative strategies through which they negotiated homophobia and that enabled them to change ingame dynamics. Communicating Homophobia Our findings revealed that homophobia was communicated by male players in five different ways, namely, sexual violence, associating weakness and incompetence with homosexuality, gun association, considering homosexuals as inferior, and playing character roles. First, sexual violence through language characterized homophobia. Whether the game reached an intense climax or not, gay players experienced being mocked and told to perform oral sex. Dave shared, “I ride on the mockery. I use it as content. If they start saying sexual stuff like ‘just suck a dick’, I ride on it by saying, ‘sure, how big is yours?’” Dave and other gay players may not have taken offense at such statements because they owned their homosexuality, i.e. they are gay men who identify themselves as such and comments on their sexuality do not offend them. Other gay players, however, were offended and admitted to having been affected in-game. Second, weakness and incompetence were associated with homosexuality and showed that the gay players were unwelcome in the gaming community. Carlo recalled, “They would often say, ‘clutch or gay?’ If you don’t win the game, it means you’re gay,” Clutch refers to a player winning a round despite the odds while the term gay was derogatorily used in the game by the male players when the players who were performing badly were assumed to be gay. However, the gay players noticed how incompetence-homosexuality association was not made when they were performing well in-game. Third, gay players experienced homophobia by gun association. While some used shotguns that required less shooting skill, others used machine guns that did not require complex shooting skills because the player did not need to aim. Using types of guns that did not necessitate a more targeted and highly valued skill was associated with gayness. Fourth, homosexuality was considered an inferior orientation that resulted in gaymers being perceived as less of a player compared to their cisgender heterosexual male teammates. Given the nature of Valorant as a group game, the players were initially cooperative but changed their attitude towards the other players and refused to help them in the game when they felt they were being gay on the basis of game performance.

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Finally, playing character roles in-game such as Sentinels, characters that play more defensively, or when they choose a support role, fueled homophobic expressions because these types of players are less “aggressive” or kill-dependent. Gay players were apprehensive in responding to the gayrelated questions of their cisgender counterparts because of the anxiety it brought them. Due to the stereotyping of homosexuality as inferior in gaming and esports, added to the character selection of support roles, some respondents avoid answering homophobic remarks. Communicative Strategies and Changed In-Game Dynamics The homophobia experienced by gay players was dealt with using several communicative strategies. Owning their homosexuality was a common defense of the gay players. By doing this, they felt unaffected by homophobic insinuations in-game. “When the other male players ask ‘clutch or gay’, I throw away my gun. I lose the game intentionally. It’s true I’m gay anyway,” Anton shared. Losing the game even after being called gay did not matter to the players. In other instances, players used their homosexuality as a means to retaliate. Ric bragged, “When they call me gay, I don’t take offense. I may be gay, but this gay plays better than you do. Look at your score, and look at mine. Gay MVP.” In this moment of victory, the opponents were silenced. Due to their sense of ownership of their sexual orientation, gay players were able to compose themselves in a homophobic situation in-game. “When I encounter homophobia, I don’t get hurt because it’s true I’m gay. I try as much as possible not to react negatively to the gay comment. It’s just not me,” said Marco. Other players acknowledged the fact that they were gay, and doing so made their gaming experience less complicated despite the homophobic slurs. To them, being gay did not make them less of a gamer so they diverted their energies into winning the game. Disengagement also allowed them to focus more on the game rather than retaliating to the homophobic expressions hurled at them. Mark recounted, “We try not to engage. When we do so, we agitate our opponents all the more. We just do better. We take the high road.” Non-engagement did not mean the players were unaffected by the slurs. However, by not engaging with the opponents’ homophobic remarks, the gay players were able to redirect their attention to having fun while playing, to some extent winning. They were motivated to be competitive in the game and outperform their opponents so as to prove them wrong

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about their notion that homosexuality was equated to inferior gaming skills. Although other players ignored homophobia, they had to vent their annoyance on their party mates (or players they often group with) to avert their attention from the homophobic experience. “Our opponents must have had a lonely childhood. Or, perhaps, they have unloving parents,” Martin recalled telling his party mates. Others simply muted players who hurled homophobic slurs. To some players, homophobia had to be dealt with. In certain instances, they could not let their opponents get away with insults and derogatory comments. The gay players felt the need to report such instances especially when the acts were done repetitively. The reporting was done either during or post-game, individually or collectively by asking their party mates, whether they are gay or not, to report similar cases of homophobia. The informants noted that reporting was the only means to call out their opponent’s insulting behaviors in the hope of rectifying them. “It’s more fulfilling for me to report via the game. It’s more fulfilling because I’m helping myself and other players feel better when we’re playing,” Carlo stated. Reporting was carried out by the gay player not only for himself but for the other gay players who may have been offended by their opponent’s behavior. By reporting either in-game or post-game, the respondents hoped Valorant developers would take measures to prevent the same incident from happening in the future. Even with the intervention of the game developers, the gay players managed their expectations by saying, “It’s not a guarantee that our opponents will learn something from this experience after being reported and penalized.” After their supposed reporting, the gay players still experienced bigotry. Even then, they still did not lose interest in the game and went back to playing. They became accustomed to the constant bigotry however frustrating, annoying, or exasperating the experience was. The gay players also communicatively addressed these homophobic experiences on social media and within their gay circles. “I tweeted my frustrations about the homophobia in Valorant and even responded religiously to those who asked about how my male opponents poked fun at me just because I performed badly in the game,” recounted Ralph. While some cisgender heterosexual male opponents uttered homophobic expressions as a form of joke, such expressions were an outright insult to the gay players. This is the reason others had to address bigotry

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for their fellow gaymers. “I fight back for the gay community. I feel victorious whenever I speak up because not all gaymers can. I want to set an example to fight back especially because we are not doing anything wrong,” Carlo shared. Calling out homophobia is a means to fight it even when and especially when other male players took the slur lightly.

Discussion The evidence suggests that Valorant has become a space for homophobia to be more pronounced especially because the game is dominated by cisgender male players who weaponize homosexuality to distract perceived gay opponents. While it is true that gaymers are queer, their opponents only perceive them to be gay on the basis of game performance. As such, the gaymers are at the receiving end of the discriminatory behavior of their cisgender male opponents, a phenomenon that has been observed by Gutierrez (2020) and Redfern (2021) who argue that discrimination is experienced by individuals who are perceived to be members of a sexual minority. In many industries including sports, discrimination on the basis of an individual’s sexual orientation is commonplace (Denison et al. 2021). Valorant as an online sport is no exception. When gaymers are reduced to sexual beings (Anderson 2009), alluding to the perceived dominance of a particular sexual orientation over another, during the game, their cisgender male opponents use this as an attempt to sabotage gameplay and tilt the targeted players. Sabotaging the game by reducing gaymers to their sexuality is a homophobic strategy employed by the cisgender male players against their perceived gay opponents. This gaming strategy is an attack on the queer players just because they are not perceived as having normative sexual orientations or gender identities (Winterhalter 2021). In this context, fair play on the basis of skills is no longer the language of the game. Even so, not all gaymers are always offended by homophobia, particularly those who take ownership of their homosexuality. Gaymers who experience homophobia and find homophobic slurs offensive and those who do not, continue playing the game. They do not lose interest in Valorant despite the character assassination, because playing the game takes precedence over any unpleasant in-game experience. Some gaymers’ experiences on Valorant confirm the observations of Passmore and Mandryk (2020) who assert that despite their knowledge about the homophobic atmosphere in-game, gaymers are still affected by microaggressions done to them by

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their opponents. However, despite being affected, Valorant gaymers do not let these microaggressions get in the way of their game performance. Furthermore, the homophobic phenomenon on Valorant is highlighted when male cisgender players make skill in playing the game double-edged. When gaymers do not perform excellently, their opponents equate lacklustre performance to gayness despite not knowing anything about the gaymer’s sexuality or gender. However, when gaymers do well during the game to the extent of defeating their opponents, assumptions about their sexuality are not made. This suggests that high-level game skills are stereotypically attributed to a cisgender heterosexual male characteristic. Playing skillfully is perceived as a strength that enables male players to outdo each other. Any demonstration of waning skills becomes an opportunity for homophobia to take place; a communicative aggression commonly demonstrated in team-based competitive games through in-voice abuse exacerbated by the gender variance of Valorant players (Kou 2020). When cisgender heterosexual male players muscle-flex ingame by demonstrating confidence and bravado (Witkowski 2013), the gaymers are further rendered invisible (Morgan et al. 2020). The gaymers’ invisibility is more pronounced when they are discriminated against by their cisgender heterosexual male opponents (Shaw 2017) whose barometer of excellent gaming skills is their heterosexuality. In the face of homophobia in-game, gaymers employ communicative strategies to overtly or covertly address it. Confronting their opponents head-on by saying they can do better than them is an attempt to take up space in an already competitive and toxic game environment. This represents significant progress towards inclusion as gaymers are accommodated in the male cisgender-dominated platform. Accommodating gaymers allows them to navigate the game using the skills they possess. In the process, as they hear homophobic slurs due to a lacklustre performance, the gaymers must use other strategies to counter their opponents. When they are sexualized by their cisgender heterosexual opponents, gaymers find themselves in a position where they can indirectly disclose their sexual orientation in a way as lewd as their aggressor. The aggressors can no longer claim any moral ascendancy, superiority, or societal righteousness over homosexuality because it was negated the moment they became sexually aggressive using the same indecency they chose to demean and belittle. Gaymers then use the same tactics as a communication strategy against their aggressors, retaliating in the same toxic manner

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in-game by responding with lewd remarks to negotiate or even reclaim power. Communicating oneself albeit indirectly—yet lewdly—makes any form of disclosure of the gaymers’ sexual orientation accessible or palatable to their aggressors because of the use of the same language. The opponents’ perception of the gaymers being “lesser” due to lewd acts is countered with ownership of their sexual orientation. This sense of ownership allows gaymers to negotiate and grab power by utilizing it as a means to communicate dominance towards the aggressor through acknowledgment and pride. In the instance when Dave was told to “just suck a dick” and he retorted with the acknowledgment ‘‘sure, how big is yours?” it can be said that the aggressor’s penis size is equitable to social acceptability. The power of value is now the gaymer’s to dispense. The communication strategy used to negotiate one’s place and power in the game was achieved by using the same lewd language introduced by the cisgender heterosexual male player because it is something that they, the aggressors, will understand. This could be categorized as an “aggressive separation— attacking” co-cultural communication strategy. If the aggressor falls short of the standards imposed by the hypersexualized stereotyping of the gaymer, they become the lesser even though they are part of the dominant group (Orbe and Roberts 2012). This in no way tells the aggressor that their target is actually gay, but the lewdness is now weaponized by both communicators. The gaymer can communicate themselves on a level playing field by negotiating power using hypersexualized language as a strategy. Communicating oneself, even under duress, is especially important to gaymers. But upon encountering and experiencing homophobia, these communication strategies allow gaymers the opportunity to come out without the consequences of being further discriminated against due to the change of dynamics introduced by these strategies. Whether or not the aggressors believe them is already moot because gaymers come out and disclose in a way they determine for themselves in the given situation while at the same time taking back some power in the game. The language war between the gaymers and their opponents is reinforced by a skillfully played game. Cisgender heterosexual male players expect their opponents to rival their strength in the game. Anyone who falls short of such expectation is perceived as gay. Gaymers turn such perceptions into an opportunity to overcompensate such that their opponents do not think of them as weak, incompetent, or unworthy

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opponents. Since the cisgender heterosexual male players expect high levels of skill, gaymers give them just that. When gaymers put up a good fight and defeat their opponents, they are able to redeem themselves and prove that they, too, have the same skills as their opponents regardless of their homosexuality. Excellent performance and winning the game allow gaymers to demonstrate that their ability or competence in the game has nothing to do with their gender orientation. In this way, they are able to compartmentalize their homosexuality as their skills disprove the stereotypical notions of their opponents towards gay people. Exerting efforts to exemplify their strength during the game illustrates how gaymers are able to separate their identity and their gaming competence. Gaymers also address homophobia through covert means. As they disengage from the homophobic behavior of their opponents, they refuse to give them the power to influence their game performance. In response to the homophobic atmosphere in-game, gaymers sometimes report their opponents for their microaggressive behavior using the available game features. By doing so, they contribute to the creation of a small safe space for their fellow gaymers even though they are unaware of it (Gray 2018). There may have been collective efforts on the part of the gaymers to create such a safe space on Valorant through the reporting act–one of many attempts by the LGBT+ community to address discrimination (Pulos 2013), but the space is often punctured by continuing homophobia in-game. It appears that reporting micro abuses is inadequate to halt homophobia in-game as it persists even after the reporting is made. Furthermore, what the gaymers are not able to articulate to their opponents, they do so to their fellow gaymers who also experience homophobia. Communicating pent-up exasperation with fellow gaymers eases the negative emotions exacerbated by their opponents who could not care less about their homophobic behaviors. Articulating emotions to those who have experienced similar homophobic behavior enables the gaymers to keep interest in the game. Their disengagement from the homophobic expressions of their opponents does not derail their focus on the game. Disengaging with the homophobic propensities of their opponents gives the gaymers the power to control game dynamics, and they are able to leverage their skills and expose the strength they possess otherwise undermined by their opponents. This disengagement act is replaced with overcompensation that turns the toxicity of homophobia into a gamefocused performance. True to the principle of Co-Cultural Theory (Orbe and Roberts 2012), the gaymers employ overcompensation as an assertive

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communication approach that allows them to assimilate themselves in a homophobia-induced gaming environment of Valorant. Such a communication approach enables the gaymers to position themselves in a cisgender heterosexual male-dominated game marked by microaggressive behaviors.

Conclusion Gaymers in Valorant find different ways to communicate a response to homophobia due to their different expectations, varied levels of how homophobia is experienced, as well as what they wish to achieve when utilizing a particular communication strategy. Where those gaymers who do not engage may perpetuate the status quo of the existence of homophobia in the game, those who voice their dissent against the aggression may create safe spaces and encourage visibility by standing up against it (Gosse 2005; Bruce 2016). Despite the incidence of homophobia coming from straight men, the research also highlights that allies also exist and echo the communication strategies employed by gaymers, or even find their own means of fighting against homophobia. In the advent of more queer gamers pushing back, as well as esports institutions slowly responding to calls for safer spaces, while homophobia may not lessen, we can expect more people to respond to it proactively and find concrete solutions to address it, be it in-game or post-game. This research focused on the narratives of cisgender gay identifying male players of Valorant in the Philippines. While the study has referenced the perspectives of straight cisgender male players towards gay players based on the extant literature, their experiences with gaymers and assumptions about their identity or gender in the context of Valorant were not explored. It must be noted that the allusions made by straight cisgender male players were taken from the stories of gaymers. Future research may therefore investigate Valorant or any esports dynamics from the lens of cisgender male players and intersperse their narratives with those of the gaymers.

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‘Watching Our Men Playing for the Nation’: Esports LPL’s Hierarchical, Gendered, and Mainstremeist ‘All-Chinese Team’ Fandom in China Lan Ge and Zhen Troy Chen

Introduction This chapter develops a typology and a critical analysis of the fandom groups of one of the world’s most popular computer games and esports, League of Legends (LOL). LOL is a competitive MOBA online game developed by Riot Games and operated by Tencent in China. We focus on a particular fandom group, termed as ‘All-Chinese Team fandom’ who are obsessed with the nationality of the players for the Chinese League, League of Legends Pro League (LPL). In this chapter, we examine how such a hierarchical, gendered, and mainstremeist fandom group was established and fostered.

L. Ge University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Z. T. Chen (B) City, University of London, London, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_10

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We argue that LPL fandom shows highly gendered and hierarchical characteristics where Chinese male fans try to defend and monopolise the interpretation of national pride and masculinity. The identity work and performance reflected from such an All-Chinese Team fandom of LPL offer a much-neglected aspect of Chinese contemporary gender politics, where gender issue gets paradoxically downplayed and intensified intersecting race and meritocracy. Racialised and gendered discriminations are concealed and justified by a meritocracy-based and nationalist fandom discourse in socially mediated communication and even tolerated in national media outlets.

Esports Impact, Official Endorsement, and Hierarchical Fandom Circle LOL has a rich and well-established esports ecosystem. It not only develops worldwide professional leagues but also hosts world-class events, fostering fandoms around the world. The annual League of Legends World Championship (known as and hereafter, ‘Worlds’ in Chinese fandom) is the largest and most popular esports event. According to LOL’s official data (LOL 2021), the Global Finals Champion and Runner-up Finals attracted more than 30 million average audiences per minute (AMA), a 60.33% increase from 2020. LOL esports is undoubtedly one of the most viewed gaming events around the world. In addition, LOL has been designated as an esports competitive event for the 19th Asian Games, which is the first time for esports to become an official competition at such a scale, further demonstrating its huge influence. As the world’s largest esport market, the Chinese League, League of Legends Pro League (LPL) has garnered phenomenal attention and fandom over the years. LPL is the highest-level official LOL tournament in China. LPL is the only channel for the Chinese chapter to the annual League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and Worlds. The development of LPL also gained support from government and industry professional bodies. For example, S7 Worlds held in Beijing in 2017 and S10 Worlds held in Shanghai in 2020 were ranked second in the ‘2020 Shanghai Sports Event Influence Ranking’ by Shanghai Sports Bureau. Chinese LPL fandom has been growing in tandem with such popularity and support, especially after LPL won its first Worlds Championship in 2018. It is worth noting that LPL has established a vibrant fan ecosystem and vernacular community culture.

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Although the emergence of LPL as the top league in China was in 2013, professional teams and talented professional players had already emerged before the LOL open beta test. The national server of LOL in China started on 22 September 2011. From then on, many players flocked into this game. In 2012, Team WE won the championship in IPL5 (5th IGN Pro League), which was the first world-class title achieved by a mainland China team at an international LOL tournament. The enthusiasm of the players was ignited by this champion and an increasing number of players started to follow the professional tournament and a loyal fan community was formed. The very first social media platform that gathered the core viewing audience was the ‘Kangya’ (meaning pressure-resilient, to describe the gaming style of player Caomei) and ‘Beiguo’ (meaning to take the blame, to describe player Youzi’s mistake in the 2014 Allstar match) in Baidu Tieba (Forum). These two fora gathered the most LOL players and fans at that time and soon became and remain the most popular place to discuss esports tournaments. In addition, Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo were used as the second place for discussion, but Tencent Weibo slowly fell out of fashion. The official community discussion platform has also been released with an in-game app called Pocket League of Legends. One interesting fact is that app users are tied to their game account, so what users say on the app will show the user’s actual game level, that is, their rank. This also shows that instead of economic capital (membership fees) and fan duration (seniority), the gaming level and the understanding of the game become the core standard and cultural and technical capitals of LPL’s hierarchical fandoms.

Idolisation of LOL Players as Nationalised Celebrities 2017 and 2018 saw significant turning points for LPL. The S7 Worlds was first held in China’s mainland, and LPL gained wider publicity at an official and national level. In each new city the Worlds visits, the game slogan would light up on the iconic buildings of the city. The fandom community also spread to other social media. Hupu created ‘LOL corner’ around 2017 and gathered millions of predominately male fans. The operation of LPL started official cooperation with live-streaming platforms Douyu, Huya, and Bilibili, while officially collaborating with Zhihu and Weibo. Especially since LPL won its first Worlds in 2018, a huge

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number of new fans have flooded into such socially mediated communities. These fandoms have become more formalised and organised as a result, and significantly increased cross-group and cross-platform communication, some involving flames. The development of digitalisation and convergence of fandoms leads to the homogenisation of fan culture in other entertainment sectors and celebrity fan culture. Dubbed as ruled by the ‘logic’ of ‘idol fan’ (Yin 2021, 465), esports fandom has become idolised where players of the game become what we call the new breed of ‘nationalised celebrities’. Unlike fans of the previous generation, who mostly supported the whole team collectively, fans of Gen Z choose to merely support a single player, which resembles the similar logic of idol fans. In addition to the organised fandom of respective host teams, other fandom groups are different from general ‘LPL fans’, which needs further explanation. First, many male fans are obsessed with the concept of the ‘All-Chinese team’ which is nationalistic and highly racialised. China joined the World and became a strong contender for the championship since 2011. However, it took LPL 7 years to get the first Worlds Championship. The South Korean League (LCK) has won the 5 of 7 Worlds Championships, dubbed as ‘the nightmare of LPL’ by the game fans. Therefore, the China-South Korean rivalry is further polarised in the early stage of LPL fandom, where fans describe LCK as the number one opponent of the LPL. In addition, the three Worlds Championships of the LPL team had two South Korean foreign players, which does not qualify as an ‘All-Chinese team’. Race and ethnicity have become a defining feature of the ‘All-Chinese Team’ fandom. Second, LPL fandom is highly gendered. Many Female fans also flocked to or became visible in the LPL after Invictus Gaming won the World in 2018. This creates new sub-groups of LPL fandom which also generated conflicts and fractions within fandom groups. What is most obvious is the toxic chauvinism where some male fans proclaim their long-term hardcore fan privilege and are hostile to female fans. Finally, we further unpack the hierarchical fan groups within LPL fandoms. LOL matches require a certain literacy to appreciate the game. The game involves a great deal of input, such as years of practice and learning. However, a third fan group ‘cloud audience’ (云观众, namely, audiences who merely watch matches online but do not understand the game) has also increased. These ‘cloud audiences’ are often found to

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be mocked and ridiculed, especially when they ask simple questions or misunderstand the games during online streaming or review. After the introduction and contextualisation of LOL, LPL and their hierarchical fandoms, we examine the complex entanglements among the LPL fandom groups with a review of key concepts to be used for our analysis.

Situating the ‘All-China Team’ Fandom in Fandom Literature Fandom and fan culture are always complex in the Chinese context as demonstrated in the sports fandom context (Cha 2008). Subcultures from Japanese ACG (anime, comic, and game) culture (Chen 2021), Otaku culture (Chen 2020), and K-pop are said to have significantly influenced Chinese fan culture, or ‘fan-circle’ in general (Yin 2020, 478). It is not easy for one to become a single ‘fan’ in a media saturated world. The ‘fan identities’ are highly overlapped and hybridised, which shows the intersectionality of the fan-circles. According to Yin (2022b), the ‘fan-circle’ is a group of fans who share cultural norms, knowledge, and ideologies. Therefore, it is misleading to regard different fan-circles and cultures as ‘fan communities’, which refers to a specific group of fans with particular manifestations and norms. As explained by Yin, the term ‘fan-circles’ refers to a broad set of norms, rules, cultural tastes, and patterns of participation across communities. Fan-circles are defined by specific rules and patterns of engagement, including regulation of online behaviours, support activities, socialising processes, consumption, and fan production (Yin 2021). Driven by algorithms and digital technologies, fan-circle culture has become the dominant power in the Chinese fandom landscape. These fan-circle moral values permeate into popular or mainstream fan communities, such as the ACG and celebrity fan-circles, as well as emerging communities, such as esports fandoms (Yin 2022a). Recent Chinese fandom literature has a central focus on digital fandom. The digital fandom is ‘always a dynamic and negotiated one, dealing with complex and interconnected conversations among multiple participants, values, norms, and performances’ (Yin 2021, 461). Yin (2021) describes how the logic of digital fandom has reshaped so-called ‘traditional’ fan culture. She argues that the impact of emotional capitalism on digital fandom lies in the incarnation of virtual fan objects, the concretisation of emotional engagement, and the reconstruction of diverse social networks.

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Yin (2020) revisits fan culture and the fan-circle on Weibo from an algorithmic perspective. Charting the datafication of China’s online fan-circle, she argues that ‘traffic data’ has become the new emotional object in the fan-object relationship and has constructed an algorithmic culture. Similarly, scholars also researched fan-circle’s motivations and how fans build emotional connections with celebrities (Zhao and Wu 2021). For example, Zhang and Negus (2020) analysed the impact of ‘data fan practices’, which includes contributions and even manipulations of ranking, media, and ‘content traffic’. These fan-led activities benefit the idols fans follow and enhance fans’ sense of achievement and agency. By using the Tencent video as a case study, Fung (2019) researched fandomisation of online video and television in China where fans’ discourses influence the production of TV programs. In addition, fan participation becomes technical and tactical practice with orchestrated efforts, gaming for influence and control among fans, celebrities, and platforms (Yin and Xie 2021). In terms of changing power relationship within fandom, a relevant strand of literature deals with ‘morbid fan labour’ (a highly pathological term) and how it shapes hierarchical power relationship. Wang and Ge (2022) found that by internalising the dominant discourse of statesponsored power as a norm of legitimacy for fan behaviour, some fans use ‘the power of the state’ to censor the comments and work of other social media users. Refashioning fan participatory surveillance as ‘whistleblowing’ (but towards authorities, our emphasis ), fans have created a ‘mainstremeist’ mobilisation in fan-circle culture, ‘a scientisation and cultural edification of the misogyny, racism, patriarchy, and inequality that its adherents resent losing the ‘right’ to enjoy’ (Lux and Jordan 2019, 167). That is, these fans act as the ‘fan police’, using censorship to report the alleged ‘problematic’ and ‘illegal’ speech of their opponents to gain the upper hand in fan conflicts (Wang 2021). Unlike the ‘mainstremeist’ alt-right movements in the West, these self-claimed Chinese mainstream fans are not directly opposing to the legitimacy of the authorities, rather, they support and embrace it through discourses and mobilisations, such as the All-Chinese Team fandom. However, the Chinese government has been monitoring and controlling the fan culture on social media and has introduced strict cultural policies in regulating ‘fan-circle’ culture. The authorities’ ambivalent attitude towards such fandom mobilisations can be understood from its consistent caution on the populist nature and potential of radicalisation of said progressive and liberal politics. For example, an unprecedented fan conflict called the ‘227 Incident’, revolving around

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the issue of gender and particularly trans politics, took place, culminating in the complete blocking of a well-known fandom works website AO3 in China’s mainland (Lam and Chen 2023). This incident further demonstrates the hierarchy of fan-circle communities. Chin (2018) argues that the hierarchy of the fan community is in a constant state of change, negotiation, and conflicts. One manifestation is distinction and discrimination in terms of tastes, values, and ideologies. Wang and Ge (2022) outlined the power hierarchy in Xiao’s fan-circles. As an idol who was made the ambassador of China’s number one sportswear Li Ning, Xiao has many ‘purists’ (Cha 2008), who like Xiao Zhan and only, termed 唯粉/Wei Fen (fans with exclusive love) are the majority. These purists consider themselves loyal and dedicated fans rather than CP (coupling) fans, who dedicated their love and support to his appearance and the bromance between Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo, rather than to their talent and hard work. Furthermore, divisions exist based on the distinctive fannish objects, i.e., ‘real person slash (RPS) fandom’ vs. ‘character fandom’ through media consumption (Lam and Chen 2023). The leading fans often own more subcultural capital, through producing fan fiction and fan art, and at the lower end are ordinary fans who are mostly followers (Wang and Ge 2022, 7). Chin (2018, 332) also indicates that the fan community is therefore a site of struggle, between the cannons and fannons (original media texts and fan-made paratexts). Since digital fandom is gaining mainstream, the line separating fans and the audience has become increasingly blurred (Turner 2011). This has given rise to the ‘fanisation’ problem in many spheres of social life (Sandvoss et al. 2017). As mentioned before, the ‘logic’ of fan-circle has permeated into relatively marginalised communities, and traditional sports and esports have also been the new frontline for such powerladen fan struggles. Yet, what needs to be emphasised here is that the representation or performance of esports has not been significantly influenced by fan labour or algorithmic culture. Unlike the celebrity fandoms reviewed previously, the gaming system and performance standards of LOL do not often require fans to deal with data or buy endorsement products, as sports purists would hope. It mostly depends on the ability and performance of the players and teams. Although LPL and Riot hold All-Star voting and match every year, the glory and impact are not comparable to that of the Worlds champion. Another interesting fact is that none of the LPL’s three world champions

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Fig. 1 The pyramid structure of LPL fan-circle

were the most popular team of that year when they won the title. In addition, players seldom gain a specific endorsement opportunity, as brands generally cooperate with the whole team rather than a single player. In a way, the performance and result of teams and players are not as dependent on fans’ support or cultural capital as to entertainment fandoms (like in Xiao’s case). Therefore, the power hierarchy pyramid of LPL fans is different from the celebrity fan-circle (see Fig. 1), which will be discussed later in this chapter.

Gendered and Nationalised ‘All-China Team’ Existing literature have demonstrated even though sports purists would hope sports competition has a central focus on the game (Cha 2008); however, international sports are historically a channel for the construction and portrayal of sports nationalism (Billings 2008), on the front of nationality, ethnicity/race and gender (Song 2018, 25). Tan et al. (2022, 259) indicate that hegemonic masculinity in China simultaneously dominates and marginalises femininity and subordinate masculinity, thereby producing gendered hegemony on Chinese social media. During the dynastic times, Chinese hegemonic masculinity mainly shows two aspects: wen (cultural achievement) and wu (physical prowess) masculinities (Louie 2002). Nowadays, the ideal wu equivalents are linked to

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physical virility and pride in one’s country (Zhang 2014). Esports players, as the new type of athletes, are also deeply linked to nationalism and masculinity because their fighting prowess is one of the classic icons of hegemonic masculinity. This is especially the case when hegemonic masculinity gets played out in a cultural context where wen-wu dynamics continues to shape how men watch nationalised sports games and how they position themselves in relation to other gendered fans. Peng et al. (2023) used Chinese teenage NBA male fans’ experience to demonstrate how emerging male adults monopolise the interpretation of fandom and masculinities using the contextualised wen-wu framework reviewed above. They argue the social ethos has shifted to more inclusive masculinities in celebrity and entertainment fandoms such as in reality shows, novels, and ACG. For example, the metrosexual identity has a bigger role to play, and non-conforming masculinities could be tolerated. However, esports fandoms are still perceived as a macho sphere. Even though bromance and homosociality are being experimented, male fans are trying to monopolise the interpretation of such engagements as heterosexual and masculine. In the case of esports fandom involving Korea, nationalist sentiments are heightened as in other entertainment industries and fandom, which bring together gendered and territorialised identities of celebrities and their fan groups. Peng (2020) used the gender-nation nexus to explain this, which echoes the take that gender and the nation are always linked and cannot be separated (Butler and Spivak 2007). Using the case of gender non-confirming K-pop stars and their fandom in China, many scholars provided detailed accounts of how Chinese female fans and their ‘misplaced love’ trigged a series of backlash from Chinese male fans online, resulted in K-pop stars being accused as ‘sissy pants’ or ‘East Asian soft masculinities’ (Louie 2012; Song 2022; Wen 2021). This gendered, nationalist, and racialised discrimination (see also ‘racial hierarchy of desire’ in Chong and Kim 2022) became official when it was picked up and endorsed by state media to discipline its domestic gender politics (see review in Chen 2022). After establishing the gender-nation analytical framework, we will explain our methodology and present our thematic analysis below.

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Methodology This chapter is based on long-term participant observation and autoethnography of authors being the LPL fans, along with related posts and comments collected on social media, such as Tieba, Weibo, Douban, Hupu, and Bilibili. In particular, the observation is conducted through social media platforms that have popular esports fan-circles, including anonymous Weibo bots and non-anonymous fora. The online observation started in 2019, covering both male-dominated communities and female-dominated communities in LPL’s fan-circle. We also included three semi-structured interviews, which are selected through snowball sampling in the said fan communities. The fan seniority, level of engagement, and self-reported attachment were taken into consideration while selecting interviewees. All interviewees were born after the late 1990s. They have all been League of Legends players and have been loyal LPL fans for at least 10 years. With purpose sampling, the three interviewees we included in this chapter are all male and can be considered ordinary fans (see Fig. 1). Even though they support different host teams, all three are supporting All-Chinese teams and hope one day ‘All-Chinese team could win the Worlds’.

Findings and Analysis Before presenting our thematic analysis, we further explain LPL’s fancircle hierarchy pyramid (see Fig. 1). At the top are hardcore fans, unlike subculture capital, the main hierarchical criteria of LPL fans are gaming level and understanding (game literacy). This means fans with a higher ranking and a deeper understanding of LOL will be treated with more respect. Several video creators are focusing on the analysis of game tactics and situations, have gained more respect than ordinary fans, except when they engaged in flames with some players’ fans. The secondary level is ordinary fans, who are the majority of LPL fans. They are the ordinary players of LOL and the audience of LPL for years. Another group, termed ‘first-year’ fans are those who became a fan after LPL won the first Worlds Champion in 2018. In the early days, these fans would be mocked on social media and in official variety shows, as they often represent newcomers to the LPL fan-circle and did not know the history or story of the previous seven years of the LPL. Therefore, senior fans would joke that 2018 was like the first year of the LPL, a cultural ritual such as

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the hazing in universities and sports, where new comers get humiliated and later welcomed to the community (Groves et al. 2012). ‘First-year’ fans have also acquired knowledge and the ability to understand the game almost over time. Therefore, the rookie status would change in the future; however, this is a concrete example of how fans establish hierarchy within their fan-circle over time. Respondents also mentioned that ‘first-year’ fans are now no longer mentioned separately but are more often put in the same group as ‘the general fans group’. That is, they are being accepted as ‘ordinary fans’ given it has been more than 5 years since they first became a fan. The bottom of this hierarchy pyramid is the ‘cloud fans’ or ‘cloud audience’ (Yun Guanzhong ), who are fans supporting teams or players based on news reports or friends talking about them online or offline. Yun, literally ‘cloud’ in modern Chinese, and ‘to talk about’ in classical Chinese, indicates such fans cannot understand the game or haven’t even played the game themselves but merely talk about. According to Wang and Ge (2022)’s research, LPL’s ordinary fans also have several subcommunities and different hierarchies, but this is out of the scope of this chapter. Our central focus is the extreme group of ‘All-Chinese team’ fans who are hostile towards LCK teams, players, and other fans, including female fans, and discriminate against ‘cloud audience’. Because not all the ‘All-Chinese team’ fans are extremely obsessed with the purity of the All-Chinese team, these fans were excluded from investigation. ‘Who Does Not Support the All-Chinese Team Get out of China!’ In China and elsewhere, national sports have been used as one of the key political tools for unification and orchestration of ideology (Cha 2008), and the goal of national rejuvenation has long been applied to Chinese elite sports. The images of top athletes and sporting ‘heroes’ have been politically appropriated within the collective nature of sports, especially at a national level (see more in Zhang and Schultz, 2022). To win the championship in a world-class competition means to bring honour and glory for the whole country, winning a gold medal and wearing the national flag is a significant representation of patriotism, which extends symbolically as China’s superiority over other joining countries in the event. Esports events are no exception. Based on our interview, when Chinese team beat South Korea and gained the gold medal in the LOL performance at the

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2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, it is ‘a mesmerising and pride moment for many Chinese LPL fans’ (Aze, Personal Interview, 2023). The competitors mentioned winning this gold medal as the most significant honour in their life, and fans list this at the top when listing the players’ honours on social media. Through our observation, every year during the Worlds, many comments and posts expressed the desire to see an All-Chinese Team win the Worlds. These include, ‘I still hope that one day an All-Chinese Team will win the Worlds. I could die for seeing this’. When searching ‘All-Chinese team’ on Bilibili, it shows many mashup videos, normally a man wearing the All-Chinese Team’s uniform and screaming ‘Who does not support the All-Chinese team get out of China!’ and ‘Who supports LCK team is a traitor!’. These videos gained millions of views. Though many audiences are mostly playful and self-deprecating while watching it, the phenomenon deserves further analysis. Interestingly, most LPL fans seem to have reached a consensus that Chinese people should support the Chinese league as a universal ‘truth’. All of the interviewees mention this logic and express that this is the norm of sports fan culture, ‘There is no sports culture where the Chinese team loses and then the Chinese people mock their national team, but LCK fans would do so, I cannot understand why they have the sense of belonging to other Leagues’ (Aze, Personal Interview, 2023). Peng et al. (2023, 17) interviewed male adolescents who are NBA fans and found that an unreflective aspect of their self-reflective sports consumption. Young fans’ justification of nationalist sentiment is an attempt to echo the politics of state-dominated nationalism through the prism of masculinity. This observation also represents the ‘indisputable and unchallengeable’ logic of the All-Chinese team fandom: Chinese fans should support the LPL and the All-Chinese team, as we observed. Guo (2003) argues that Chinese online games can contribute to a kind of cultural nationalism, which is achieved through everyday life practices and can enhance the players’ sense of cultural identity. In this case, All-Chinese Team fans follow nationalism and construct their fandom practice to protect and advance the nationalist fandom and hegemonic masculinity. Nagel (1998, 249) also suggests that hegemonic nationalism and masculinity co-shape and strengthen each other. Therefore, the practice of defending the national pride of All-Chinese Team fans could be seen as a representation of their masculinity.

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This hegemonic masculinity also manifests through their hostility towards the ‘number one opponent’ LCK teams and fans. Yin (2022b) argues that the ideology of nationalism emerged in China has largely influenced the norms of fan discourse and practice in the country, especially among fans whose targets involve countries such as Japan and Korea due to their complex historical engagements (war included). Therefore, it is hard to imagine, for the All-China Team fans, to ‘educate’ and ‘persuade’ people who cannot understand their motivations and passion. For example, All-China Team fans feel the need to ‘defend’ their project, as ‘I cannot understand why they [some fans] like Korean people. Normally we dislike them, as they claim everything to be theirs, festivals, Confucius and customs’ (Azi, Personal interview, December 26, 2022). This specific antagonistic emotion has a particular target due the geopolitical rivalry and proximity. When we asked their response if other Leagues won most of the Worlds champions, Azi said, ‘if Europe or North America League has been the strongest, we would not have had such strong emotions and may felt indifferent’ (Personal interview, December 26, 2022). All of them admitted that this Sino-South Korea fandom confrontation and antagonism is not only resulted from the fact that LPL often lost to LCK before 2018 but also tightly connected to Sino-South Korea relations (historical and contemporary), the behaviour of Korean athletes in international competitions, and the disputes in the cultural traditions of the two countries. As Aze said, ‘I dislike the immorality of the Korean athletics, I hope LPL can beat them once and for all’. He also describes the extreme emotions All-Chinese Team fans have expressed on social media, ‘It is a great shame that we Chinese are oppressed by Koreans and that is why so many players and fans are so agitated. It is like you are good at tech and entertainment, so be it. But esports, no way!’ (Personal interview, January 14, 2023). Another interviewee, May, also echoed this, ‘They have the freedom to support LCK, and we also have the freedom to oppose them’ (Personal interview, January 26, 2023). According to Enloe (2001, 45), ‘nationalism has typically sprung from masculinized memory, masculinized humiliation and masculinized hope’. Their hegemonic masculinity expresses through this antagonistic emotion towards LCK and LCK fans are under the influence of nationalism and are directly constructed by it. However, Aze also points out that the obsessiveness of the All-Chinese Team is dissolving now, and the topic of winning the Worlds with Korean support players is not valued and will not be widely accepted on the forum

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(Personal interview, January 14, 2023). It is also worth noticing that though All-Chinese Team fans show strong hegemonic masculinity characteristics, not all of them are male fans which showcase the complexity and multiplicity of Chinese gender politics. In addition, the extreme AllChinese Team fans are not welcomed on all social media platforms, as they may be seen as a joke to make fun of, especially in more progressive platforms. Most ‘ordinary fans’ could critically engage with All-Chinese Team fans, yet they rarely actively distinguish themselves from the AllChinese Team fans. This ambiguity towards such nationalist sentiments allows and sustains these sentiments, and sometimes finds their way into national media. ‘First-Year Fans Have Already Watched LPL for Four Years!’ As mentioned before, the winning of Invictus Gaming of its first Worlds championship in 2018 has been seen as the most significant milestone for LPL. This brought millions of new fans to esports, including both male and female fans. Yet, when mentioning ‘first-year’ fans on social media, people generally refer to female rather than male fans. Male fans are suspicious of female fans’ motivations for being LPL fans. Esport purists believe female fans become LPL fans not because they can understand the game, but for other reasons. This reflects the unequal gender power relations, an environment in which men reject, look down upon, or consider themselves far superior to women (Tan et al. 2022, 262). In gaming culture, female gamers are often stereotypically represented as rookie players or support players who can merely play simple characters. In addition, the esports profession is highly male-dominated. There are few LOL female professional players on the stage, and all the World’s competitors are male. ‘Because the percentage of females playing games is relatively low, many male fans believe that they [female fans] do not play or understand the game, but simply like these players as idols’ (Aze, Personal interview, January 14, 2023). Therefore, ‘first-year’ female fans were simply seen as ‘cloud audience’ in the early stage of their fandom. This is another male fans’ attempt to defend their hegemonic status in the LPL fan-circle. All the interviewees mentioned are in the LPL’s fan-circle. However, most male fans insist on building a boundary to distinguish female fans and consider them to be from the celebrity fan-circle, which is accused of ‘harmful’ and ‘belonging to a peripherical circle’. In the face of ‘threats’

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opposed by the periphery to their ‘original thus central fan-circle’, male ‘mainstremeist’ fans choose to defend and consolidate their hegemonic position, demonstrating hegemonic masculinity, while non-binary, trans, and non-gender conforming players are completely excluded from the picture and discussion. As Fiske (1992, 934) points out, discrimination is intense: the reified boundaries between the in-group and out-group fan-circle are equally strongly marked and patrolled. People may subconsciously be hostile towards outsiders who invade their perceived territory, especially when male fans feel that the newcomers bring with them new rules and discourses that are not conducive to the development of the esports fan-circle they started it. However, this gender power structure is not unidirectional. Rather, female fans have a strong agency to transgress the hegemony of male-dominated discourse and to constantly challenge the status and legitimacy of male fans on social media. Through our observation, female fans frequently discuss related topics on social media, such as exploring why some male fans support the All-Chinese Teams ideal so much and how to (re)define fan-circle of LPL. These discussions may turn into debates sometimes flames, especially in the Chinese context where the gender binary is becoming more and more polarised. This echoes Chin (2018)’s argument, the power struggle game between original fans and new fans is a dynamic process. Apart from the debates above, female fans truly changed the LPL fan-circle in some respects. Female fans have brought a more specialised fan support system to the LPL’s fan-circle, such as setting backup clubs for well-known players, supporting merchandise at offline matches, and organised celebrations for players on their debut anniversaries. Aze mentioned ‘I want to purchase those beautiful merchandise, especially since the official store does not offer such excellent products’ (Personal interview, January 14, 2023). Additionally, May one of the interviewees, points out that female fans will be more concerned about the personal lives of players than male fans, and they will be more critical of players’ behaviour, especially in terms of morality (Personal interview, January 26, 2023). This opens up new areas to be researched in terms of esports fandom in China which will be further discussed in our conclusion. ‘LOL Is a Free Game, Just Download and Play It’ In LPL’s fan discourse and fan-circle hierarchy structure, the ‘cloud audience’ is reified as sitting at the bottom of the ‘discrimination chain’.

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Compared with the ‘first-year’ fans, they have less power and resources to talk back against the hegemonic group. Due to the main hierarchical criteria being gaming level and understanding (literacy), ‘cloud fans’ are weak in the system and are mostly one-sidedly bullied and mocked online by other fans. For example, screenshots of ‘ignorant’ comments from cloud fans’ would be circulated, such as misunderstandings about gaming skills and characters, or raising questions about general knowledge of LOL. Based on our observation, the majority of the ‘cloud audience’ is not female as sports purists would assume. In addition, female fans are also the main force behind the ridicule of the ‘cloud audience’, which can be understood as an internalisation of misogynistic discourse and values. However, adding meritocracy to the equation of the pyramid fandom structure, our investigation brings about new insights regarding the gendered esports dynamics. That is, the female informants of the study explain that female fans are prone to discrimination and being held to a higher standard in the male-dominated esports and fan-circle, so they treat the ‘cloud audience’ even more strictly and do not want to be classified in the same group as such, especially when most male fans would perceive them as such. During our online observation, there was a discussion forum on Weibo regarding ‘why fans dislike cloud audience’. Drawing a comparison with football audiences who do not need to play to qualify as a fan, fans explain ‘Playing football requires physical teammates and professional training, but LOL is free and merely requires access to the internet and electricity’ (Weibo fieldnote, October 2022). This further explains why fans must create additional criteria to distinguish themselves from their peers to stand out in the in-group fandom, often with the expense to belittle and even humiliate others or (their becoming) selves. The ‘before and after’ comparison on a personal level, creates a ‘growth’ and ‘becoming’ narrative to legitimatise their dedication, affection, and investment, thus seniority. Thinking in this way, the idea of ‘cloud audience’ can be seen as a challenge to the definition of an esports fan. The ‘meritocracy test’ becomes important when esports fans disagree on whether one has to be a (good) ‘gamer’ in order to be a fan. That is, whether only hardcore players are qualified as gamers or people who play the game at various levels of availabilities are also included. The interviewees seem to be protective in terms of their fannish objects and expertise but act in a way they are carefree. Aze stays ambiguous towards esports fan identities, as he is obviously taking pride in his gaming literacy of the game and flames,

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but instead told us ‘fan identity is a worthless thing, you can identify what you want’ (Personal interview, January 14, 2023). Ordinary fans normally are tolerant of silent or modest ‘cloud audience’, ‘having the willingness to pay attention to LPL is a good thing, the normal communication or questions is reasonable’ (Azi, Personal interview, December 26, 2022). This ambiguity towards fan’s identity still hides an agenda that they try to sustain the monopoly to decide what kinds of communication are ‘normal’ and ‘legit’ and when to police it. By taking a seemingly ‘inclusive’ approach, the hierarchical fandom pyramid can be sustained by attracting more people to participate. They need ‘cloud audience’ and ‘ordinary fans’ to legitimatise their perceived superiority, within a new ecosystem that consists of different fan-circles in the making. Overall, the emergence of the ‘cloud audience’ is a sign that as the ecosystem of the LPL fan-circle grows, the barriers to entry into the LPL fandom culture continue to be lowered to be more inclusive.

Conclusion Using participant observation and in-depth interviews, this chapter has so far presented our understanding of the complex entanglements among the LPL fandom groups within China. Informed by the gender-nation nexus, we further added the meritocracy to the framework where the expertise and literacy of the fannish object is put into the equation of establishing and legitimising a fandom hierarchy (see Fig. 1). We argue that LPL fandom shows highly gendered and hierarchical characteristics where Chinese male fans try to defend and monopolise national pride and masculinity while marginalising other competing discourses. The meritocracy discourse creates a further distinction on top of gendered and nationalist structures that produce and sustain such a power dynamic by taking a seemingly inclusive approach in first welcoming and then mock and troll new ‘cloud fans’. One area of future research is female fans’ role in esports fandom. Driven by the specificity of gaming and esports in the Chinese context, female fans would also evaluate or even police players to see if they are behaving appropriately as public figures. Therefore, these new entrants to the fandom circle offer new and different criteria that will challenge the hegemonic masculinity-dominated fandom. This will for sure continue to shape the existing LPL fandom discourse on issues of gender and diversity. In addition, fans with ‘mainstremeist’

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ideologies are also influenced by female fans and used the celebrity fancircle discourse as a tool to counteract emergent discourses within the LPL fan-circle. Along with females and fans of other genders’ engagement, their development of game understanding and ability, the gendered hierarchy of the LPL fan-circle would take different shape in the future, creating ruptures in a male-dominated environment.

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Conclusions to Esports in the Asia–Pacific Filippo Gilardi

and Paul Martin

Esports is global; at least that is usually how it is framed. Journalists frequently refer to esports as a global phenomenon, as do market data agencies and industry boosters (Geyser 2022; Newzoo 2022; Willingham 2018). Esports history is filled with ambitious initiatives to establish global governing bodies (some more successful than others), and academic books bear titles such as Global Esports (Jin 2021) or Understanding Esports: An Introduction to the Global Phenomenon (Rogers 2019). In many ways, this framing is justified. Last year’s The International, the main tournament in the popular esports game DoTA 2, was held in Singapore and featured a final with players from 10 different

The original version of this chapter was revised: The chapter has been changed from non-open access to open access and the copyright holder has been updated. The correction to this chapter is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_12 F. Gilardi (B) · P. Martin University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, China e-mail: [email protected] P. Martin e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2023, corrected publication 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_11

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(mainly European) nations. Meanwhile, League of Legends, another major esports game, runs professional leagues in 9 regions covering (at least nominally) all 6 inhabited continents. However, while the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) ostensibly includes franchises from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, in reality, the 10-slot league, at the time of writing, comprised exclusively of Europe-based teams. Similarly, while esports does attract viewers from all over the world, audiences are disproportionately concentrated in East Asia, Europe and North America, where the lion’s share of esports’ much-discussed revenue stream is generated. Familiarity with esports is also heterogeneous across the globe, with one YouGov (2020) study finding that more than 70% of people in several East Asian and European countries know what esports is, but less than 30% do in North Africa, the Middle East and India. All this is to say that, yes, esports is a global phenomenon, but that it is also a regional phenomenon, with structures, regulatory frameworks, practices and experiences of esports varying widely across the world. By focusing at the regional level, the research in this book has identified the regional specificities of esports in the Asia–Pacific. Several of the chapters focused on the national level, but even these demonstrated how esports spills across national borders, with regional leagues, competitions, media services and governing bodies, as well as multi-national teams and, more generally, the international flow of esports labour. These elements all have a global aspect, but the interconnections within esports regions are usually more stable and influential than those at a greater distance. For example, as Zhao and Luo’s chapter demonstrated, the mainland Chinese League of Legends tournament (the LPL) attracts some non-Chinese players, but they usually come from neighbouring Asia–Pacific countries. Similarly, as Johnson and Williams pointed out, latency is an important technological factor in esports. While players can play on any server globally, they will tend to select local servers to reduce latency, and this leads to the development of distinct regionally (often nationally) specific player communities, which has implications for a range of issues including regulation and governance (Ma et al. 2022). And, as shown by Ge and Chen in their discussion of the rivalry between the Korean and Chinese League of Legends leagues, identities that are avowedly nationalistic require other (often neighbouring) nationalities for their definition. Experiences across the Asia–Pacific (or any other region) are not entirely homogenous, but there are significant interconnections, some of which create common issues and topics for research, others of which make intra-regional analysis absolutely necessary.

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Topics Across Chapters As is often the case in edited books, chapters from different sections approached the same topic from different perspectives. A frequent theme in this volume was the need to develop research programmes on Asia– Pacific esports that go beyond the usual sites of China and Korea. However, as this volume attests, it is often necessary to invoke these central esports nations in order to understand aspects of how other areas of the Asia–Pacific experience esports. For example, both Johnson and Williams and Zhao and Luo mention the ‘brain drain’ of esports athletes from less to more central esports nations; in the case of Johnson and Williams from Australia, in the case of Zhao and Luo from South-East Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The destination for many of these players is China. Both chapters in the eco-system section concluded the importance of coherence in national esports strategies. Johnson and Williams report frustration in Singapore that, even though support is forthcoming, the markedly different agendas of those providing support can lead to inertia. Phan also calls for a more coherent development agenda for esports in Vietnam. Both chapters on Vietnam identify publisher power as a major challenge in the development of esports. In future research, it would be interesting to understand the role of publishers in other countries in the Asia–Pacific. The attitude to digital games in general and esports, in particular, varies across cultures, but several chapters in this book identify negative attitudes to games as holding back the development of esports. However, in several of the contexts discussed in this book, authors have noted a tendency for esports to normalize gaming, for example, in both Phan’s and Lefebvre and Vu Thang’s chapters on Vietnam. The importance of communication patterns is flagged by both Esperanzate and Zhao and Luo. Esperanzate demonstrates how players engage in different sorts of communication approaches when faced with homophobic abuse. Similarly, Zhao and Luo discuss the communication styles of foreign esports players in relation to their fans. In both cases, players frequently engage in conciliatory forms of communication that fail to ‘call out’ abuses grounded in discrimination based on nationality or sexuality. This speaks to the need for systematic interventions that might actually reduce instances of such abuse.

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The collection is, of course, not exhaustive, and much of the research reported here will hopefully inspire more research into esports in the Asia–Pacific. Missing from this book are several contexts in need of future scholarly attention, including major emerging esports regions such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan. Missing too are investigations of esports in several other countries, including Thailand, India and New Zealand to name but three. There are areas of esports research that we might have expected to see in the collection but did not make an appearance. Esports education is an important topic, as is broadcasting and streaming, which, though mentioned in several chapters, was not the subject of a specific investigation here. The rise of mobile-based esports, not discussed in this volume, has been particularly important in South-East Asia. The research here focused on several communities, but again this is not exhaustive. As mentioned by Zhao and Luo, research on non-player workers and their experience of esports is an important area for future research. We hope that this volume serves as a platform for future research in these areas.

References Geyser, Werner. 2022. “The Incredible Growth of Esports [+ Esports Statistics].” Influencer Marketing Hub. https://influencermarketinghub.com/esp orts-stats/. Jin, Dal Yong. 2021. Global Esports: Transformation of Cultural Perceptions of Competitive Gaming. London: Bloomsbury. Ma, Renkai, Xinning Gui, and Yubo Kou. 2022. “Esports Governance: An Analysis of Rule Enforcement in League of Legends.” Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction 6 (CSCW2): 1–28. Newzoo. 2022. “Newzoo’s Global Esports & Live Streaming Market Report 2022 (Free Version).” Newzoo. https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-rep orts/newzoo-global-esports-live-streaming-market-report-2022-free-version. Rogers, Ryan, ed. 2019. Understanding Esports: An Introduction to the Global Phenomenon. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Willingham, A. J. 2018. “What Is Esports? A Look at an Explosive, BillionDollar Industry.” CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/27/us/esportswhat-is-video-game-professional-league-madden-trnd/index.html. YouGov. 2020. “Gaming and Esports: The Next Generation.” YouGov. https:// strivesponsorship.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Gaming-and-esportsthe-next-generation-report-2020.pdf.

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Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

Correction to: Esports in the Asia-Pacific Filippo Gilardi

and Paul Martin

Correction to: Chapters 1 and 11 in: F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7 The chapters “Introduction to Esports in the Asia-Pacific” and “Conclusions to Esports in the Asia–Pacific”, written by Filippo Gilardi and Paul Martin, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal without open access. With the author(s)’ decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the chapter changed on 11-May-2023 to © The Author(s) 2023 and the chapter is forthwith distributed under a Creative Commons BY 4.0 Funded by: University of Nottingham.

The updated original version of these chapters can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_1 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_11 © The Author(s) 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_12

C1

C2

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Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

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Index

A Addiction, 3, 18, 21, 27 Age of Empires, 38, 47 A-League soccer, 168 Appota, 38, 40, 47, 52, 53 Arena of Valor, 45, 105 Asian Games, 2, 29, 37, 38, 208, 218 Asia Pacific Games Summit, 152 Audience, 3, 7, 37, 39–41, 50, 52–54, 59, 91, 92, 116–118, 127, 138, 146, 148, 151, 170, 173, 176, 178, 208, 210, 213, 216, 217, 220, 222, 223, 228 Australia, 1, 7, 9, 18, 22–24, 26, 33, 161, 162, 165, 166, 175, 177

B Bale, John, 168 Bilibili, 121, 122, 209, 216, 218 Blizzard, 40, 170 Braun, Virginia, 165

C Carter, Marcus, 125, 161 China, 1, 2, 4–6, 8, 17–19, 21, 24, 26, 27, 31, 46–48, 108, 122, 138, 143, 146–152, 160, 161, 207, 209, 210, 212–215, 217, 218, 221, 223, 229 Corruption, 7, 21, 47, 66–69, 72, 74, 75, 77, 79, 82–86 CrossFire, 46 CS: GO, 47 Cullen, Amanda L.L., 6, 17 Culture, 3, 9, 18, 19, 21, 25, 31, 32, 39, 54, 66, 79, 91, 99, 103, 109, 138, 147, 160, 163, 166, 167, 169, 170, 173, 174, 177, 186, 208, 210–213, 218, 220, 229 Cumming, David Jian-Jia, 4, 9, 23, 166

D Deloitte, 65

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 F. Gilardi and P. Martin (eds.), Esports in the Asia-Pacific, Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7

269

270

INDEX

Discrimination, 7, 185–188, 196, 199, 208, 213, 221, 222, 229 ˜ Duy Khánh (Levi), 143–145, 147 Ðô DoTA 2, 227 Dynamic capabilities (DC), 92, 93, 97, 99, 101–103, 105, 108–110

E Epic Games, 40 Esports ecosystem, 4, 7, 8, 10, 21, 27, 28, 40, 42, 43, 48, 54, 55, 58, 59, 110, 112, 208 Esports event, 25, 28, 30, 41, 45, 48, 59, 73, 161, 164, 165, 167, 169, 170, 172, 173, 208, 217

F Fandom, 9, 119, 123, 130, 138–140, 146, 147, 150, 151, 160, 161, 172–174, 176, 207–213, 215, 218, 221–223 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), 28, 31, 45, 58, 66

G Gambling, 46, 47 Game, 2–5, 8, 10, 18, 20, 22, 25–27, 29, 31, 37–43, 45–48, 52–55, 57, 58, 79, 100, 103, 107, 118, 120, 121, 125, 126, 128, 130–132, 142, 144, 172, 173, 185, 189, 190, 192–197, 199, 200, 207, 209, 210, 214, 217, 218, 220, 222, 224, 227, 229 Garena, 28, 45, 58, 94, 142 Garena Premier League (GPL), 141, 142 Gaymers, 188, 190, 191, 193, 196–200

Gender, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 53, 57, 125, 137, 178, 187, 191, 192, 196, 197, 200, 208, 213, 215, 220, 221, 223 Global, 3, 8, 17, 21, 23, 31, 33, 37, 39, 65, 73, 91, 138, 165, 169, 186, 227, 228 Global Esports Federation (GEF), 28, 68, 71, 72, 77–79, 83 Governance, 3, 4, 20, 38, 39, 42, 66–70, 72, 74–78, 82, 83, 85, 228 Grassroots, 18–21, 24, 26, 29, 30, 169 Gray, Kishonna L., 188, 189, 199

H Hallinan, Chris, 162, 163, 177 Heere, Bob, 49, 167, 170, 174 Homophobia, 9, 185, 187–200 Hong Kong, 1, 6, 8, 138, 141–144, 147, 150, 229 Horton, Donald, 116, 117, 124, 126–128 Hung Hau-hsuan (Kasar), 149–151

I Idolisation, 209 Industry, 4, 7, 18, 19, 22, 27, 30, 32, 38–43, 47, 49, 51, 52, 54, 55, 57–59, 65, 68, 72, 76, 83, 85, 92, 93, 102, 108, 110, 112, 116, 119, 120, 129, 130, 137, 138, 152, 160, 161, 186, 188, 208, 227 Infrastructure, 20, 23, 25–27, 41, 49, 57, 100, 138 Ingle, Sean, 66 Integrity, 8, 55, 67, 69–72, 77, 78, 83

INDEX

International Esports Federation (IESF), 68, 76, 77, 84 Interregional movement policy (IMP), 140, 143, 153 Ismangil, Milan, 4, 161

J Japan Esports Union (JeSU), 68, 81–84 Jeanes, Ruth, 162, 187, 196 Jin, Dal Yong, 1, 3, 17, 18, 27, 125, 131, 132, 160, 161, 227 Johnson, Mark R., 5, 7, 20, 21, 138, 168, 228, 229

K K/DA, 8, 115, 116, 118, 120–133 Karhulahti, Veli-Matti, 42, 170 Korea, 1–3, 6, 17–19, 27, 91, 108, 141, 160, 217, 219 Korean Esports Association (KeSPA), 1, 48, 66, 67 K-pop, 115, 116, 119, 121, 122, 125–133, 211, 215

L Lavelle, Matthew, 65 Law, Ying-Ying, 19, 20 League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), 141–143, 210, 217–219 League of Legends Japan League (LJL), 142 League of Legends (LoL), 8, 10, 50, 56, 92, 115, 121, 138, 140, 142–145, 148, 150, 152, 207, 216, 228 League of Legends Master Series (LMS), 142, 148, 149 League of Legends Pro League (LPL), 8, 9, 138, 139, 141–150,

271

152, 153, 207–211, 213, 214, 216, 218–221, 223, 224, 228 League of Legends SEA Tour (LST), 142 Lin, Zhongxuan, 4, 5, 17, 18, 137 Louie, Kam, 214, 215

M Management, 8, 20, 28, 29, 40, 41, 49, 51, 75, 78, 80, 92, 94–97, 100, 102, 108, 110, 111, 152, 169, 170 Masculinity, 173–175, 178, 208, 214, 215, 218–221, 223 McCauley, Brian, 5, 20, 21, 23 McCrea, Christian, 17, 22 MOBA games, 131 Mobile Legends, 28, 29, 31, 46, 186

N National identity, 9, 159–161, 166, 172, 174, 175, 177, 178 Nationalism, 7, 10, 151, 161, 162, 171, 173, 174, 176–178, 214, 215, 218, 219 Neutrality, 8, 66–69, 71–76, 79, 81, 83, 84 Newzoo, 38–40, 53, 65, 92, 227 Niko Partners, 2, 38, 40

O Olympics, 2, 28, 29, 50, 163 Overwatch League, 170

P Parasocial interaction, 116–128, 132, 133 Phan, Quang Anh, 7, 39, 45, 229 Philippou, Christina, 66, 73, 84

272

INDEX

PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (PUBG), 46, 47 Politics, 139, 151, 208, 212, 213, 215, 218, 220 Professionalization, 55, 92, 96, 97, 106, 110, 112

R Regulation, 4, 5, 7, 9, 40, 42, 48, 73, 78–80, 84, 137, 211, 228 Reitman, Jason G., 3, 4, 186 Riot Games, 40, 41, 56, 94, 115, 128, 130, 138, 140, 142, 143, 147, 148, 189, 207 Ruotsalainen, Maria, 170, 173, 178

S Scholz, Tobias M., 3, 20, 21, 39, 41, 42, 65, 92, 93, 110, 160 Shaw, Adrienne, 170, 187, 188, 197 Shinohara, Tsubasa, 7, 81 Singapore, 1, 2, 6–8, 17–19, 22, 26–32, 77, 92, 142, 227, 229 SofM, Zuowu, 143–146 Spectatorship, 18, 20, 54, 163, 164, 166–168, 171, 177 StarCraft, 31, 38, 58 Streaming, 4, 9, 43, 50, 56, 65, 104, 106, 146, 211, 230 Swiss Esports Federation (SESF), 68, 79–81, 83, 85

T Tekken, 58 Tencent, 4, 5, 38, 46, 92, 207, 209, 212 Transmedia, 8, 115, 120, 133

Transparency, 8, 66–69, 72–76, 83, 84 V Valorant, 9, 29, 31, 185, 189–193, 195–197, 199, 200 Video games, 26, 27, 30, 39, 40, 45, 46, 50, 54, 57, 65, 72, 76, 82, 125, 146, 166, 188, 191 Vietnam, 1, 2, 6–8, 21, 37–40, 43, 45–49, 52–55, 57–59, 92–94, 96, 98, 100–111, 138, 142, 229 Vietnamese Championship Series (VCS), 56, 94, 95, 97, 98, 103, 108, 142 Vietnamese players, 49, 58, 143, 144 Visit Singapore, 28 W Weibo, 5, 13, 121, 127, 144, 146–149, 151, 209, 212, 216, 222, 233 Williams, J. Patrick, 7, 27, 30, 228, 229 Witkowski, Emma, 21, 24, 43, 188, 197 Wong, Pak Kan (Tabe), 2, 141, 147 World Cyber Games, 1, 95 Y Yin, Yiyi, 210–212, 219 Yu, Haiqing, 4, 17, 27, 92, 152, 160, 161 Z Zhao, Yupei, 4, 5, 8, 9, 17, 18, 137, 160, 212, 228–230