So...it's about a professional gamer named Ye Qiu (played by Yang Yang) who was the captain of a team called Excellent Era. The game is called Glory. Through various circumstances, he is ousted and replaced with a young hotshot (who so far hasn't actually figured all that much in the story, other than being a complete wanker to Su Mucheng).
Since he officially resigned, he has to take a year off. He immediately and coincidentally falls into working as a Network Manager at an internet cafe literally across the street from where he was before. So...literally in the shadow of his former home/office. How can he do this when he was SO famous before and even the Internet Cafe owner is a huge fan of his? Because he always wore a mask before and never participated in fan gatherings.
But being "unofficial" doesn't mean he can't still play...which he does, on the newly added tenth server. He's soon breaking records and making enemies. Some people soon figure out who he is...others have no clue.
There are a number...a PLETHORA, if you will...of other important characters so far (we're up to the 9th episode out of...gulp...40):
Su Mucheng, who was on the Excellent Era team with him and also seems to be the sister of his deceased best friend from when he was younger. She would've followed him when he quit, but he told her to stay. She soon winds up playing with him again whenever she can. Possible romantic connection, but also maybe just the whole childhood friends thing. No idea how or when her brother died.
The Internet Cafe owner Chen Guo, who has some baggage of her own about her dead father (who had started the cafe and also instilled his love of Glory in her). She's a huge fan of Ye Qiu but so far she still hasn't figured out who he is and is constantly haranguing him (granted, he's slowly getting better at his job...he had no clue to start with). Totally waiting for when she finally figures out who he is.
Her best friend Little Tang, who makes her study (I'm not totally sure what for or why), and who soon makes up one of the first members of Ye's new team. She's very very persistent and dedicated and one of those never crack a smile characters.
Bao Zi, who sports the ridiculous in-game name of Steamed Bun, and is the goofy sidekick who winds up playing with Ye by sheer joy and geekery. He might be my favourite character. He'd like to be a professional player, but he works in some kind of stock room. He hasn't yet learned who Ye is either, but somehow I don't think he'll treat him any differently once he does.
Huang Shaotian, a professional player on another team (er, I forget which one...the blue one?) who is a friend of Ye's and periodically comes in to fight/play with him on the 10th server. He's the mouth of the South type and would rival Stephen Chow with his patter.
Yifan, who was on Tiny Herb's (I know, I know, the names are ridiculous) professional team but was always ranked last and got kicked back to training camp. He winds up playing with Ye and does actually know who he is because the guild leader figured out VERY quickly that it was Ye kicking everyone's butt from his playing style. He had no confidence and is slowly blossoming under Ye's tutelage.
And...you know what, that's enough. If I go anymore, I'll be starting to create whole team rosters.
Anyway, there are a few things going on driving the plot -- Ye is trying to find rare materials to build a weapon that his now dead friend created (the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella...and no, I'm not kidding, that's actually what it is called) back when they were teens. How that happened, I dunno, but that's what he's doing. This has lead him to complete missions/set records and all the guilds are competing for him because he's got mad skills.
And there's this asshole dude that he'd fired from the team that's trying to make his life miserable.
And machinations by guild leaders to try and utilise his mad skillz.
The game sequences are really well done, which I think is what attracts little dude. But there's a fair amount of humour (I put most of that on the lead actor, who's doing a great job) to balance things out. Some stuff makes no sense -- like why the guy is basically broke after being a professional gamer for 10 years (he should have been making some buck the whole time, no?) and exactly how the guilds / farm teams are connected with the professional teams.
But, at any rate, it's a pretty good show. Maybe that's the key to my enjoyment level of Chinese dramas...just need to find the ones that are predominately NOT romance and have other story drivers. I've had next to no luck on ones that include romance.
And great to find something to watch with little dude. :-)
Edit: We're now more than half way through and even the hubster has watched some of the episodes (sucked in enough to put it on pause when he has to take a break, so he is paying attention...though he says it's "the most Asian thing ever" ... to which I say, haha, have I got some shows for you...). Still holding our interest and it's been introducing even more characters as Ye is now putting his new team together. It's a fun show. Not groundbreaking but just the right amount of humour and low-key drama. Entertaining but not overly angsty.
Edit: We finished it and really enjoyed it. I can't say that any part of it was surprising, but overall it was just an enjoyable underdog story with a good blend of everything except romance (of which it had basically zip, zero, zilch). Would love to find another thing like this to watch with little dude because it was perfect for us to watch together.
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