DOTA 2冠军背后的故事

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.

打电子游戏也能赚钱？这听上去就像天上掉馅饼一样不靠谱。但是，这支由5名专业选手组成的名为Newbee的战队告诉我们：这个可以有！2014年7月21日，这支来自中国的电竞队伍获得了在美国西雅图举办的DOTA2国际邀请赛冠军，将500万美元（约合3120万元人民币）的奖金收入囊中。

很多人都惊讶于奖金数额的巨大，却鲜有人知道他们铺满荆棘的获胜之路。

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.”

另一种高度

在电子竞技领域，业余玩家和职业选手有着天壤之别。电子竞技比赛对选手的反应速度和多任务处理能力都有很高要求。

Newbee电子竞技俱乐部经理佟鑫说：“在想要成为职业选手的年轻人中，1000人中也只有1人能够达到职业选手的水平，而成为顶级职业选手的比例则不到万分之一。”

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.

日常训练

为了提升战略战术，在不同的游戏局势下找到不同的应对策略，张宁和他的队员们每周训练6天，每天训练7小时。而这还只是他们的日常训练。

在DOTA2国际邀请赛前夕，张宁和他的队员们度过了一整月的强化集训。这一个月里，他们聚集在上海的一栋别墅中，上交手机，完全与世隔绝。

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.

未来在何处？

对张宁而言，获得国际邀请赛的冠军可谓梦想成真，也让他信心满满。虽然很少有人像他一样25岁还在打比赛，但张宁表示他还不想退役，他说：“我还想参加下一届比赛。”

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.

仍非职业

尽管职业选手赢得电竞比赛后可以获得可观的收入与奖金，但玩电子游戏仍不被视为一个严肃的职业。

DOTA2发表的官方数据显示，截至2014年6月底，全球共有超过900万名DOTA选手。而在中国，根据佟鑫所说，职业选手人数还不到1000。

Vocabulary

championship n. 冠军称号

tournament n. 锦标赛；邀请赛

stun v. 使大吃一惊，使目瞪口呆

thorny adj. 布满荆棘的

incredible adj. 极好的

attempt v. 试图；尝试

odds n. 概率；可能性

tactic n. 战术；策略

undergo v. 经历；经受

intensive adj. 加强的；集中的

respectable adj. 可观的

occupation n. 职业

release v. 发布

boost v. 增强

rare adj. 罕见的

retire v. 退役