The damage caused by Ning's statement about playing games and reading

Professional esports player Ning, former League of Legends world champion and FMVP, recently made waves with a controversial statement during a livestream. He claimed, “Does League of Legends have a champion called City Wall? I play LoL, I don’t need to read a lot of books.”

This single sentence not only coined a new meme - “Does X game have Y champion?” - but also directly harmed the basic foundation of the esports audience - university It reinforced the negative stereotypes that the esports industry has been trying hard to shed in recent years - that gamers are “uncultured” and “uneducated internet addicts”.

For the esports industry, its only audience base with significant spending power and leisure time to follow competitions closely are these college students. They are game players themselves, and thanks to their education, they have the time, energy and money to pay attention to and consume esports content.

However, Ning’s logic of “I’m good at gaming, so I don’t need to study, so I can look down on educated people” is callously harming these very fans who spend their time, energy and money to watch him compete. They support him, but he doesn’t respect them in return. This is a surefire way to lose your grassroots fan base.

The esports industry has been working hard in recent years to go from niche to mainstream, from subculture to popular culture. This is evident from esports' inclusion in the Asian Games and the official approval to hold an Esports Olympics. To do so, esports first needs to formalize itself, remove labels, eliminate public biases, and guide public opinion in the right direction. However, Ning’s statement undoubtedly deepened people’s stereotypical impressions of esports players.

From this perspective, Ning being criticized today is not without reason. He goes against the current progressive trends of esports. He has harmed his core user base, but more importantly, he has not made any positive guidance or set a good example for the industry.

Esports has gone through nearly a full lifecycle in China, from early wild growth to the boom after Season 8, to declining popularity today. The end product it has cultivated is an internet boy who shouts at the camera “I play games, I don’t need to study much!”

Traditions in traditional sports are very different. Athletes work hard to be role models and aim to make positive contributions to their sport. Ning is not just some third-rate player, he is an LPL champion whose name is enshrined in LPL history. But what has he done since winning the championship? He got married right after, then abandoned his ex-girlfriend to welcome a new love Xu Xiaomeng, exploded at MSI with a 1086 creep score “jungle gap” game, blamed his teammates when losing to LNG in summer, shouted “what kind of teammate is Canyon, what kind of teammate am I” to humiliate his teammate Rookie, got kicked by Xiaohuo resulting in the team missing Worlds, and boasted “I don’t believe none of the 17 teams want me” but ended up watching Worlds from home.

He also used his celebrity with singer Yin to trend CP gossip, but the “honeymoon phase” was rightfully cut short by disgusted fans after just a few months. The most exasperating thing is still Ning chasing and biting Tarzan over a mistranslation from years ago where Tarzan said “Ning is a very average jungler”, tormenting him for five whole years. Anyone who saw this felt heartache.

He went from being an unquestionable LPL first-team jungler to “streaming and using cheap gimmicks to chase views”, knowing full well he’s chasing views but still pretending to be a misunderstood hero shouting grievances at the sky and moon. In his delusion, he’s a heroic tragic figure bravely speaking hard truths that others dare not say. But when EDG’s little knights Tian and Meiko say a few words criticizing him, he immediately turns hostile and tells them to watch their tone. Is this the attitude a veteran and former world champion should have?

Reading books helps expand knowledge and experience, see the outside world, encounter different lives. Only after reading can one express inner thoughts and communicate with others in an informed way. Someone who only knows how to play League of Legends is an internet addict, not a professional player. It’s a shame that Ning, even so many years after retiring, still hasn’t spent a single day as a true professional.

In conclusion, while Ning’s statement exposed some of the cultural and educational issues present in the esports industry, it also highlighted the importance for the industry and society to provide a more positive growth environment for these young esports talents - one that not only allows them to succeed competitively in-game, but also grow and mature as individuals in their life journeys. The path forward is winding, but the future is bright. Hopefully this drama can truly awaken, enlighten and warn the people who need it.