Protecting Children and Young People in ESports

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ESports has always attracted the interest of children and young people.A significant number of professionals began their careers well before they turned eighteen.As the eSports industry matures, development opportunities for children and young people will inevitably increase.The number of “grassroots” eSports clubs is also on the rise,and we will see more organised coaching and more sophisticated scouting1scouting人才发掘。足球俱乐部通过雇用球探来搜寻杰出球员的行为。for young players.

对青少年而言，电竞运动一向魅力十足。许多专业选手不到18岁就早早开始了职业生涯。随着电竞行业日渐成熟，青少年的发展机会势必与日俱增。“草根”电竞俱乐部也越来越多，针对年轻选手的有组织培训将更多，人才发掘活动也将越来越成熟。

[2]The involvement of more children and young people in eSports is something to be celebrated and encouraged.Indeed2indeed甚至；而且。用于引出更深层、更强烈或更惊人的内容。, it is vital for the long term health and stability of the eSports industry.As the British ESports Association notes in a recent publication concerning a pilot initiative: “By targeting children from a younger age, we are looking at the bigger long-term picture3picture情况；局面；事态。with the goal of creating more British eSports champions and talent in the future.We can also present our findings to the Government to show them the value of eSports in a bid to4in a bid to = in order to为了。secure potential funding for grassroots eSports in the future.”

[2]更多青少年投身电竞是件好事，可贺可励。对电竞行业长期健康、稳定的发展而言，这一点实际上至关重要。英国电竞协会最近发布了关于某试点项目的一份文件，其中指出：“之所以面向年纪更小的儿童，就是要放眼长期、着眼大局，将来为英国培养更多的电竞冠军与人才。另一方面，我们还可以将研究成果呈交政府，让政府看到电子竞技的价值，以确保草根电竞未来可能获得资助。”

[3]If it is to be considered successful however, the involvement of children and young people in eSports needs to be subject to appropriate safeguards and risk management measures.The potential risk of harm to children is a sad everyday reality, and the importance of child protection issues in sport has been highlighted by high profile allegations of historic5historic = past过去的。child sex abuse in football6指英国足坛性侵丑闻。2016年，英国多名退役球员称幼年参加足球训练时曾遭到俱乐部教练等业内人士性侵，引起社会广泛关注。—something which the FA’s chairman described to the BBC as “one of the biggest crises in the history of the Football Association”.

[3]然而，要取得真正意义上的成功，还须为涉足电竞的青少年提供妥善的安全保障与风险管理。儿童可能遭受的种种侵害不仅现实存在，而且屡见不鲜，令人扼腕。英国足坛曝出多起针对性侵儿童旧案的指控，足协主席在接受英国广播公司采访时称之为“足协有史以来最大的危机之一”，事件不仅引起了社会各界的广泛关注，也凸显了体育界儿童保护问题的重要性。

The importance of robust child protection measures

采取强力措施保护儿童的重要性

[4]One positive aspect of the recent attention in this area is that it has highlighted the critical importance of sports bodies having sufficiently robust child protection measures in place7in place就位；就绪。to prevent such abuse from the outset, and responding effectively if and when it does.In fact, most organised sports in the UK—not least8not least = especially特别；尤其。the FA—do now have highly developed and sophisticated child protection measures in place.

[4]社会近来对该领域的关注产生了积极效果，其中之一就是使人们更加明确地意识到以下举措至关重要：各体育机构必须事先制定足够强力的儿童保护措施，从一开始就对此类侵害加以防范，并确保侵害行为一旦发生，即能有效地作出反应。事实上，英国大部分有组织的体育运动机构——尤其是足协——现在均已制定了高度完善与成熟的儿童保护措施。

[5]Stakeholders in the eSports industry have been proactive in their approach to integrity threats such as doping and corruption.The creation of the ESports Integrity Coalition is one example of the industry’s proactive approach to address these issues.

[5]电竞行业相关人士已在积极采取措施应对兴奋剂和腐败等有损诚信的行为。电竞诚信同盟的成立即是电竞行业积极行动解决问题的一个例子。

[6]Having adequate child protection measures in place is a requirement of public funding for sport governing bodies, so the British ESports Association will possibly need to address this further if it is to realise its stated ambition of obtaining public funding.

[6]拥有充分的儿童保护措施是体育运动管理机构获得公共资助的必要条件，因此，英国电竞协会要想如愿获得公共资助，可能还需要更深入地解决这一问题。

Risks in eSports compared to traditional sports

电子竞技有别于传统体育运动的独特风险

[7]There are a number of reasons why the risk of harm to children might be a greater risk in eSports when compared to traditional sports, including: the number of children and young people participating and engaging in eSports; the lack of regulation (alongside the pace of growth of eSports); the online environment; outdated laws relating to video game age restrictions (which is obviously an eSports specific risk); and the lack of an entity to take a firm lead in relation to child protection matters.

[7]相较于传统体育运动，电竞运动中儿童遭受侵害的风险可能更大，其原因包括：青少年参与电竞、投身电竞的人数较多；监管相对不足，跟不上电竞运动发展的速度；网络环境较差；有关电子游戏年龄限制的法律法规过于陈旧（显然，这是电竞运动特有的风险）；以及缺少在儿童保护方面发挥引领作用的强力机构。

[8]Especially in the absence of an entity that can lead on the issue, each eSports organisation should consider whether there is any foreseeable risk of harm to children arising from its activities.These risks most obviously arise—online or offl ine—where adults have direct and unsupervised access to children.“Harm” should not be thought of as limited to sexual abuse, but also to include physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect,bullying, and any other behaviour that may be harmful to children.

[8]所开展的活动是否存在致使儿童受到侵害的可预见风险，是每个电竞组织都应考虑的问题，在当前引领性监管部门缺失的情况下尤应如此。无论线上还是线下，这些风险在成年人可以不受监管地直接接触到儿童的情况下尤为突出。所谓“侵害”，不应单纯理解为性侵，还应包括身体伤害、精神伤害、不理不顾、欺侮霸凌等可能对儿童造成伤害的一切行为。