Finished at 23, eSports players peer nervously into retirement

Dota 2 player Tue 'ah fu' Soon Chuan (right) of team RNG attending the media day of the International Dota 2 Championships in Shanghai. A record US$33.5mil is up for grabs but professional eSports players, like those competing in The International in mid August, pay a physical price with deteriorating eyesight, digestive problems and wrist and hand damage. — AFP

SHANGHAI: As the first generation of professional gamers enters retirement, eSports is forced to confront a vexed question: after years spent killing rivals in a virtual world, what next?

It is a quandary that comes far earlier than in most sports – in the most frenzied eSports games, players can be finished by 23 because reactions supposedly slow after that.