DOTA 2冠軍背后的故事

Getting paid to play video games may sound too good to be true. But Newbee， a team of five professional gamers， has proven it is possible. This Chinese-based e-sports team won the DOTA 2 world championship at the international tournament in Seattle， US， on July 21， 2014， taking home a $5 million （31.2 million yuan） prize.

Many have been stunned by the huge sum， but only few know of the team’s thorny road to glory.

打電子游戲也能賺錢？這聽上去就像天上掉餡餅一樣不靠譜。但是，這支由5名專業選手組成的名為Newbee的戰隊告訴我們：這個可以有！2014年7月21日，這支來自中國的電競隊伍獲得了在美國西雅圖舉辦的DOTA2國際邀請賽冠軍，將500萬美元（約合3120萬元人民幣）的獎金收入囊中。

很多人都驚訝于獎金數額的巨大，卻鮮有人知道他們鋪滿荊棘的獲勝之路。

Another level

Playing for fun and becoming a professional gamer are totally different scenarios in the e-sports field. E-sports competitions require quick reaction speeds and incredible multi-tasking skills.

“Of the young men who attempt to go pro， only 1 in 1，000 make it to a professional level，” Newbee’s manager Tong Xin says. “The odds of a player becoming a ‘top player’ are less than 1 in 10，000.”

另一種高度

在電子競技領域，業余玩家和職業選手有著天壤之別。電子競技比賽對選手的反應速度和多任務處理能力都有很高要求。

Newbee電子競技俱樂部經理佟鑫說：“在想要成為職業選手的年輕人中，1000人中也只有1人能夠達到職業選手的水平，而成為頂級職業選手的比例則不到萬分之一。”

Daily routine

Zhang Ning and his teammates train for up to seven hours a day， six days a week to improve their tactics and work out ways to deal with different gaming situations. But this is only their daily training schedule.

Before the international tournament， Zhang and his teammates underwent a whole month of intensive training. During that time， the team members were gathered in a house in Shanghai. Their cell phones were taken away and they were completely cut off from the outside world.

日常訓練

為了提升戰略戰術，在不同的游戲局勢下找到不同的應對策略，張寧和他的隊員們每周訓練6天，每天訓練7小時。而這還只是他們的日常訓練。

在DOTA2國際邀請賽前夕，張寧和他的隊員們度過了一整月的強化集訓。這一個月里，他們聚集在上海的一棟別墅中，上交手機，完全與世隔絕。

What about the future？

Winning the tournament is a dream coming true for Zhang. It has also boosted his confidence. Being a 25-year-old player in the field is a rare thing and he doesn’t want to retire from professional gaming yet. “I still want to play in next year’s tournament，” he says.

未來在何處？

對張寧而言，獲得國際邀請賽的冠軍可謂夢想成真，也讓他信心滿滿。雖然很少有人像他一樣25歲還在打比賽，但張寧表示他還不想退役，他說：“我還想參加下一屆比賽。”

Not a career， yet

Though professional gamers can earn a respectable income and bonuses for winning e-sports competitions， playing video games is not considered a serious occupation.

There were more than 9 million DOTA players around the world by the end of June， 2014， according to official data released by DOTA 2. In China， according to Tong， there are no more than 1，000 professional players.

仍非職業

盡管職業選手贏得電競比賽后可以獲得可觀的收入與獎金，但玩電子游戲仍不被視為一個嚴肅的職業。

DOTA2發表的官方數據顯示，截至2014年6月底，全球共有超過900萬名DOTA選手。而在中國，根據佟鑫所說，職業選手人數還不到1000。

Vocabulary

championship n. 冠軍稱號

tournament n. 錦標賽；邀請賽

stun v. 使大吃一驚，使目瞪口呆

thorny adj. 布滿荊棘的

incredible adj. 極好的

attempt v. 試圖；嘗試

odds n. 概率；可能性

tactic n. 戰術；策略

undergo v. 經歷；經受

intensive adj. 加強的；集中的

respectable adj. 可觀的

occupation n. 職業

release v. 發布

boost v. 增強

rare adj. 罕見的

retire v. 退役