From play to profession: understanding the professionalization of e-sports athletes from a civilizing process...

Despite the rapid expansion of the e-sports industry in terms of economic scale, tournament systems, and professional demand, the issues of identity transformation, bodily discipline, emotional management, and their associated alienation during the professionalization of e-sports athletes remain insufficiently discussed. Grounded in Elias's theory of the civilizing process, this study aims to explore the professionalization process of e-sports athletes as they transition from amateur players to professional competitors, as well as the relationships among social constraints, bodily practices, and emotional internalization within the digital competitive arena.

Using historical analysis, case study, and semi-structured interviews, this study takes current and former professional e-sports athletes in China as empirical subjects.

The study reveals three civilizing mechanisms in the professionalization process of e-sports athletes, namely the institutionalization of identity, the rationalization of bodily discipline, and the internalization of emotional management. The findings indicate that the professional development of e-sports athletes is driven by interdependency networks composed of capital, leagues, clubs, data platforms, and fan communities, with digital technology serving as a mediator to facilitate the transformation from external constraints to individual self-constraint.

The study points out that the professionalization of e-sports also faces dilemmas such as the alienation of bodily discipline, imbalance in power dependency, and lack of health protection. This study proposes that a sustainable support mechanism for the professional development of e-sports athletes should be improved from two aspects, which are a dual-dimensional health protection system encompassing both physical and psychological aspects, and the enhancement of individual subjectivity.