Pro Gamer

Pro Gamer is a virtual online-game novel by web author Niu Bi, first serialized on Chuangshi Chinese Network, where it was featured on the site's homepage cover recommendation in May 2014. The title "Pro Gamer" (gaowan) is gamer slang for "advanced player" or "expert player." The story opens with the protagonist at age twenty, already called the most gifted gamer in a century and rising in the professional scene; his brilliance makes him countless enemies, he is framed in a setup, and he spends seven years in prison, plunging from the peak to the depths. Seven years later he walks out at twenty-seven—an age when esports players are already "due to retire"; the world and the technology have changed, his old glory has been taken over by others, old enemies hold high positions, and a new generation of prodigies has arrived. The novel follows how he restarts from a forgotten position, fighting his way back layer by layer in the virtual online-game world through his mastery of controls, skills, and tactics, renewing his rivalry with old nemeses and making new companions and opponents. The work overall takes a light, comedic "king's return" approach; its strengths are fight description and detailed skill-and-statistics research, interspersed with plenty of joking banter and interactions with female characters—a brisk online-game novel with clear wish-fulfillment appeal. The entry is based on the web serialization; chapter titles and update status in the text follow the serialization platform.