In China, a club that trains professional esports players has launched a special program to help young people suffering from gaming addiction, reports China Morning Post.
The club in Hebei province was founded in 2018 by its owner Su Chenxao. At first, he aimed to lead players to championship success. However, he soon realized that only a small number of people can achieve high results in esports. Most started playing as a way to escape from studying or real-life problems.
Nearly 4,000 children have passed through the club, and 85 percent of them turned out to be heavily addicted to online games, which negatively affected their daily lives and education. Su stated: “The atmosphere here is so intense that gaming feels harder than studying.” This led him to create a special “quitting games” course.
The cost of therapy varies depending on the chosen duration: a one-week course costs several hundred dollars, while a 22-day treatment program costs about 1,400 dollars.
Classes follow a simple schedule: participants play on the computer from nine in the morning until midnight, with breaks only for lunch and running. According to Su, one of the players who dreamed of an esports career started having seizures on the very first day, while another child left home in tears on the second day.
It should be noted that such centers are very popular in China. For example, an esports club in Sichuan province has accepted 700 students over the past eight years, but only three of them managed to reach a professional level. Experts calculate that the probability of becoming a well-known esports player is one in 120,000.
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