Graham Carroll was racing his BMW touring car around the Interlagos race track in Brazil at speeds of up to 250km/h (155 mph).

Graham Carroll正在驾驶着他的BMW赛车在巴西的Interlagos赛道上以250千米的时速飞驰着。

For the 30-year-old Scotsman the race went well. Despite stiff competition from a strong field of competitors, he and his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Job emerged victorious.

Only they weren't really at the race track in Sao Paulo back in November. No-one was.

对于这位30岁的苏格兰人来说比赛进行的还算顺利。顶住了各路强敌带来的艰难挑战，他和同属于Red Bull战队的队友Sebastian Job取得了胜利。

只不过，这场举行于11月的比赛并不是真的在巴西的圣保罗进行的。没有人当时在现场赛车。

Carroll was back in the UK, playing his trade in the competitive world of e-sports. A professional e-sports race car driver, he pocketed $1,200 (£860) for the win.

Even before Covid-19 arrived, the world of competitive e-sports had built up huge viewer numbers, with people watching events on their computers around the world.

Then the pandemic hit, most of us were stuck at home, and audience figures rose even higher.

Carroll当时在英国，在电子竞技赛事上大展身手。作为一位职业电子竞技选手，这场比赛他赢下了1200美元（860英镑）。

在新冠疫情袭击之前，电子竞技赛事就已经打下了夯实的观众数量基础，世界各地的人们都会通过网络来观看电子竞技比赛。

而后随着疫情来袭，由于大部分人们受困在家，观看电子竞技的人数有所上涨。

Last year, 435.9 million people around the world watched e-sports events, according to figures from NewZoo, a market research group that focuses on the sector. That was 10% more than 397 million in 2019.

At the same time, e-sports worldwide revenues hit $947m in 2020, driven by sponsorship from the likes of Coca-Cola, Gillette and Nike.

The start of the pandemic last year gave e-sports an unexpected boost, because with much professional sport paused, many real world players started to try their hand at the virtual versions.

In the case of Formula 1, drivers such as Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz and George Russell swapped their cars for gaming rigs.

While in football, Gareth Bale, then of Real Madrid, and now of Tottenham, was one of many to pick up a gaming controller. And some football clubs formed their own e-sport teams, such as Manchester City, and Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon.

去年，来自全球的4.359亿们观众们观看了电子竞技赛事，数据来源于NewZoo，一个专注于电子竞技板块市场调查的群体。对比2019年的3.97亿，这项数据上涨了10%。同时，电子竞技在世界范围内的财政收入在2020年达到了9.47亿美元，其中的很大一部分是由诸如可口可乐、吉列和耐克等公司提供的赞助组成的。

去年的疫情爆发成为了电子竞技意想不到的推手。在疫情使得大部分现实赛事停摆的情况下，许多职业选手转而投向了电子竞技赛事。

以F1方程式赛车来说，像Max Verstappen，Lando Norris， Carlos Sainz和George Russell就把他们的座驾从真实的汽车转变为了虚拟世界内的赛车。

以足球来说，前皇马队员，现役于托特纳姆热刺俱乐部的Gareth Bale，也是电子竞技的新兴力量之一。有些足球俱乐部甚至成立了他们自己的电子竞技俱乐部，比如曼城和葡超的里斯本竞技。

Ivan Curtiss, general manager and coach of the e-sports side of US basketball franchise Brooklyn Nets, says the pandemic has changed the perception of gaming in general, opening it up to more people.

"In the past, people have been criticised for staying in the house and playing video games for hours," he says.

"But people are now realising that individuals are out there making a living from video games."

Rob Kingyens says it is important to remember that it is not just the players who can make money from e-sports.

He is the founder and chief executive of Yellowbrick, an online learning platform that last year launched a gaming and e-sports course in collaboration with New York's Fashion Institute of Technology.

"Games have evolved to be more complex and nuanced... all this means more jobs, more specialisation, a richer ecosystem," he says.

布鲁克林篮网电子竞技分部的总经理，同时也是俱乐部教练的Ivan Curtiss认为，疫情改变了许多人对于电子竞技的看法，使得这个市场对更多人打开了。

“在过去，在家长时间的打电子游戏是一件会被人诟病的事情，”他说道。“但是现在，人们能够认识到这也是一件能赚钱过生活的事情。”

在线学习平台Yellowbrick的创始人兼总经理Rob Kingyens提到，人们还需要意识到能靠电子竞技赚钱的并不单单是那些选手们。他所创立的Yellowbrick在去年与纽约时装学院合作推出了一项主题为游戏与电竞的课程。

“游戏已经进化成为了更复杂而微妙的一种东西……而不管怎么样，这意味着有更多的职业选择，更多的特殊技能，更丰富的行业生态。”他说。