Jerry Li was born in Shanghai, the financial and entertainment center of China. Top students of the whole school since elementary school, Jerry shows great intelligence and learning capacity. During middle school, Jerry participated in a national physics competition and received second place. Just when his "Tiger Mom" thought she had planned everything out for Jerry, Jerry became infatuated with video games in high school and abominated with all the physics competition classes. With only one year of practicing, Jerry became a semi-professional Dota(a game derived from Warcraft) player and a guild leader in the game Fantasy Westward Journey. Though he stopped playing in his senior year of high school, I am intrigued by his drastic change and passion about video games.
I met Jerry at Starbucks and wanted to ask him a few questions about his game journey. After I told him my intention, his eyes gleamed for a second but then lost its light. He zipped his dark coffee and began to formulate his thoughts.
"While, it all started from the summer after middle school graduation. With all the awards in the physics competition and my GPA, I easily got into the best public school in Shanghai. My mother was exhilarated and promised to give me a two-month break before high school. As middle schoolers, I mean, with all the suffocating workloads, most students' interests are just playing balls or video games. When I was practicing all the extra physics problems that my mom gave me, all my friends were discussing which Internet Cafe they should go to after school. Though I understand now why my parents did that to me, I felt really angry and depressed at the time" A slight twitch passed his face as he spoke of this and told me that he still felt resented about her mother.
He continued on: "So I made a really good use of that two-month break and joined my friends in the Internet Cafe. I still remember the first time when I created a character in Fantasy Westward Journey(FWJ). No game later gave me more thrills than that first time. I started from level 1 and played from sunrise to nightfall. When I needed money, I just told my mom that I am going to play pool and drink bubble tea with my friends. Ah, that three months."
Jerry closed his eyes and seemed to recall all the pictures in his mind and a smile of satisfaction appeared on his face.
"So, you think it is your parents' strict ruling that leads to your obsession with games?", I asked.
"Pretty much," Jerry returned from his recollection and answered me. "While, I mean, it's not just my parents. Everyone was so obsessed with video games at that time. My parents just served as a catalyst. That stifling study environment definitely fostered my interest in games and your know teens have that rebellious period. By the end of July when my mom called me back to study, everything was too late. I started arguing with my parents and compared myself with other students. That tension between me and her lasted through the beginning of high school. Though I compromised to study hard at school and joined the physics team, everyday after school, the first place I ran to was Internet Cafe. Then I started playing Dota and entered the Shanghai Cup, well, that's another story."
I nodded to tell him that I understood how you felt and began to ask some deeper questions. "I played that game too in middle school and saw everyone was so passionate about it. But why do you think you and your friends are obsessed about FWJ. It costs a lot of money. It is a 2D turn-based game with rough visual effects. After you reached level 100 you basically repeats the same thing everyday. Why do you think it attracts you for such a long time?"
Jerry laughed and shook his head. "It is not about the visual effects or story you know. It's about a place where friends can communicate and work for the same guild (player-based group in the game). We have about 100 people in our guild and 40 of them are in our school. After school many parents picked up their kids and asked them to study at home. So after homework, how do they entertainment themselves? Games of course. Every night after 9 we went online at the same time, fight other guilds in both power and finance. You see all the time-cards (more discussion in artifact) I show you. Those are not for gaming time but to buy better equipment that helps guild as a whole. The competitions with other guild and cooperation brought players from different places together. It gave us a more interesting goal to fight for and provided us a shelter from all the academic stress."
"So do you still enjoy all these interactions with other players? I know you stopped playing in your senior year. What stopped you?" I continued my questioning.
"I guess I woke up from it. I knew I needed to start preparing for college application seriously so I dropped out both games during my senior year and worked harder for my academics. I realized that it was such a waste of time and I should make better plans about my life, so I do not spend much time playing games nowadays."
I stopped my inquiry and started a casual talk with him. He passionately introduced me some of the new games and taught me some special techniques in Dota 2. Though Jerry seemed to regret his devotion to video games in high school, his excitement about new games gave me a feeling that he wasn't telling the truth. His paradoxical feeling toward game, on the one hand reminds of my childhood memory, but on the other hand leads me to a sorrowful uncertainty.
I met Jerry at Starbucks and wanted to ask him a few questions about his game journey. After I told him my intention, his eyes gleamed for a second but then lost its light. He zipped his dark coffee and began to formulate his thoughts.
"While, it all started from the summer after middle school graduation. With all the awards in the physics competition and my GPA, I easily got into the best public school in Shanghai. My mother was exhilarated and promised to give me a two-month break before high school. As middle schoolers, I mean, with all the suffocating workloads, most students' interests are just playing balls or video games. When I was practicing all the extra physics problems that my mom gave me, all my friends were discussing which Internet Cafe they should go to after school. Though I understand now why my parents did that to me, I felt really angry and depressed at the time" A slight twitch passed his face as he spoke of this and told me that he still felt resented about her mother.
He continued on: "So I made a really good use of that two-month break and joined my friends in the Internet Cafe. I still remember the first time when I created a character in Fantasy Westward Journey(FWJ). No game later gave me more thrills than that first time. I started from level 1 and played from sunrise to nightfall. When I needed money, I just told my mom that I am going to play pool and drink bubble tea with my friends. Ah, that three months."
Jerry closed his eyes and seemed to recall all the pictures in his mind and a smile of satisfaction appeared on his face.
"So, you think it is your parents' strict ruling that leads to your obsession with games?", I asked.
"Pretty much," Jerry returned from his recollection and answered me. "While, I mean, it's not just my parents. Everyone was so obsessed with video games at that time. My parents just served as a catalyst. That stifling study environment definitely fostered my interest in games and your know teens have that rebellious period. By the end of July when my mom called me back to study, everything was too late. I started arguing with my parents and compared myself with other students. That tension between me and her lasted through the beginning of high school. Though I compromised to study hard at school and joined the physics team, everyday after school, the first place I ran to was Internet Cafe. Then I started playing Dota and entered the Shanghai Cup, well, that's another story."
I nodded to tell him that I understood how you felt and began to ask some deeper questions. "I played that game too in middle school and saw everyone was so passionate about it. But why do you think you and your friends are obsessed about FWJ. It costs a lot of money. It is a 2D turn-based game with rough visual effects. After you reached level 100 you basically repeats the same thing everyday. Why do you think it attracts you for such a long time?"
Jerry laughed and shook his head. "It is not about the visual effects or story you know. It's about a place where friends can communicate and work for the same guild (player-based group in the game). We have about 100 people in our guild and 40 of them are in our school. After school many parents picked up their kids and asked them to study at home. So after homework, how do they entertainment themselves? Games of course. Every night after 9 we went online at the same time, fight other guilds in both power and finance. You see all the time-cards (more discussion in artifact) I show you. Those are not for gaming time but to buy better equipment that helps guild as a whole. The competitions with other guild and cooperation brought players from different places together. It gave us a more interesting goal to fight for and provided us a shelter from all the academic stress."
"So do you still enjoy all these interactions with other players? I know you stopped playing in your senior year. What stopped you?" I continued my questioning.
"I guess I woke up from it. I knew I needed to start preparing for college application seriously so I dropped out both games during my senior year and worked harder for my academics. I realized that it was such a waste of time and I should make better plans about my life, so I do not spend much time playing games nowadays."
I stopped my inquiry and started a casual talk with him. He passionately introduced me some of the new games and taught me some special techniques in Dota 2. Though Jerry seemed to regret his devotion to video games in high school, his excitement about new games gave me a feeling that he wasn't telling the truth. His paradoxical feeling toward game, on the one hand reminds of my childhood memory, but on the other hand leads me to a sorrowful uncertainty.