Alice Jung earns her living by playing
computer games
she's a young star in China's thriving
gaming scene the industry is worth
millions and it's dominated by men
Alice is one of the women challenging
that she's living her dream but it's a
risky business if you want to survive
you have to win
Alice has been playing professionally
eSports for almost two years along with
her teammates she competes in the game
League of Legends which I'm sure that
all do some math I like the competition
you can reach different levels and each
the time you do it gives you a sense of
accomplishment so here on Sahaja yoga
each day Alice has to practice for 10
hours or more behind the scenes the
team's manager Panjang Ching takes care
of everything else to get a place on the
team the players have to have reached a
certain level a certain score in the
the game that's the most important thing
then we look at their age the younger
they are the greater their potential
the lead of Legends is a team game the five
players in the LLG team win or lose
together they picked the name for love
laughing girls who love to laugh
this life makes me happy being able to
do what I love most professionally is
the greatest motivation for me to
improve most people have to do something
they don't like but I can do what I
enjoy than just all worthwhile after the
short season for two teams compete
against each other, they both have five
fighters each with different features
and powers
the paths from your base to the
opponent's lead through a jungle full of
monsters together the team has to defeat
the monsters and their enemies before
they can conquer the opponent's base
chin Jim Lang trains the LLG girls he
used to be a pro gamer himself I helped
them improve their fighting skills and
look at how they do him one on one
battles but what's most important is how
they work together as a team today is a
training match against another
all-female team LLG is the blue figures
on the top right-hand corner of the map
their opponents are the red figures at
the bottom left
both teams are connected through the
internet the games are all about speed and
cooperation each individual has to play
to their full potential the opponent
will exploit any weaknesses they find
they're under attack and the mood gets
tense in the flurry of battle it's hard
to keep an overview of who is where this
the time they escape and hunt
but the opponents are tougher than
expected next door the trainer and the
assistant are nervously following the
the action they're clearly at a disadvantage
after an hour the opponent's managed to
take all G's base you suffered too many
casualties on the middle path and you
let yourself get cornered you have to
get better at judging when to attack
don't just strike as soon as you see
your opponent you felt too safe it's
fine it was just a training match if it
had been a real competition that would
have been bad but it sure was a wake-up
call the following day they head out to
an important tournament Alice and her
roommates wake up once lunch is ready we
stay up late playing so we wake up late
analyst shares an apartment with her
teammates LG is one of China's top ten
an investor pays for the apartment food
and the player's salaries to make her
dream come true Alice ran away from home
my parents often got angry they'd scold
and hit me when I played too much when
they hit me I cried but I'm quick to
forget after a while everything would be
fine again and I went on playing then
they'd hit me again and I played again
and so it went on and on
now she's 19 and has been here for two
years in China young people like Alice
are often considered internet addict's
problem cases in a society that expects
discipline and performance professional
leaks for gamers only emerged in the
past few years but mostly for boys the
Women's League is just getting started
in many sportsmen are stronger than
women but I don't think that has to be
the case with eSports I think we're also
pretty strong when you go I'm not
nervous we're stronger in competitions
then we normally are we really want to
win
at the tournament the winners from each
of China's regions compete for the
Chinese championship title then a
the message arrives from the manager they've
had a car accident two players and the
the trainer is injured there at the
hospital the final is canceled six
months later the players are back on
their feet but the team has split up
Alice is staying with her former manager
Panjang Shing in an apartment block near
Guangzhou after the accident
our motivation sank the club had been
making losses for a long time and was
only kept alive in the hopes that the
the market would eventually pick up again
but it didn't while men's professional
leaks have generated over 100 million
euros in China alone women's clubs have
had to do with low prize money and a
lack of sponsors Pangaean team bought
this apartment a year ago she lives with
her parents in Guangzhou but comes to
visit Alice on the weekends mostly they
just hang out at home as long as someone
gives me a small room and food every day
doesn't really matter what as long as it
fills me up and I have a bed in a
the computer I don't really ever have to
leave the room some lead and a toilet -
I do need a toilet today they've decided
to venture out a neighbor has invited
them for dinner they live in a new
a residential area that sprang up from
what was just a field not long ago many
of the residents are young there's an
activity center that offers a little
entertainment
if I go out to go shopping or get food I
always come here it's my only chance of
the scenery and it helps me unwind
done shall we go
while Pangaean Shing stays out with the
neighbor Alice returns home she'll have
to be online that evening Alice needs to
build a new life for herself while she
does Panjang King's apartment has become
her retreat I had another fight with my
mother, two days ago she blamed me for
never coming home but I don't want to
live there anymore I don't want to work
in an ordinary job and my parents don't
like me playing video games when I was
competing in the team they tolerated it
but as soon as they found out the team
had broken up they just started
pressuring me again to get a normal job
two weeks ago she received a fixed-term
contract a games distributor pays her to
play online and live stream the games
good evening everyone
she has to stream online at least four
hours a day while she plays and talks to
the viewers she's paid a modest amount
do you have sound can you hear me her
life isn't about winning games but the
hearts of her fans she has to entertain
her followers by playing music telling
stories answering questions and giving
advice very quick hands that helps if
you're not good enough to show up too
rarely the others will quickly throw you
out of the game, it's not a bad job but
when I think back I feel a little
melancholy it was a great time living
and playing with the others but what can
you do nothing lasts forever yes in the
coming weeks
Alice Jung really needs to build up her
fanbase then hopefully she can carry on
working as a gamer after all
