Taiwan's president just congratulated a video game player - here's why it's special

For the better part of our lives, we’ve been told video games are a waste of time. Even now video gaming is frowned upon, even if there are tournaments around the world and it’s a lucrative profession and the top gamer in the world brings home a staggering $ 2,720,623 (Rs 173,63,20,706).

Even then it’s still something that remains frowned upon and rarely gets praise from say government officials. That however changed on Tuesday, when the Taiwanese Tsai Ing-wen praised Chen Wei-Lei, the new world champion of Hearthstone.

The Hearthstone's world championship took place in Amsterdam and Chen Wei-Lin defeated US player to win a prize money of $250,000.  Chen’s win hasn’t come easy and he has been trying to win since it started in 2014.

Chen's profile name on Hearthstone is 'tom60229,' which apparently is his registration number from his old grade school in Taiwan.

He defeated thousands of players and made it to the top in World Championship in 2014 only to lose in the final round. “The last two years all I’ve been trying to do is get back to this stage and try to do good,” Chen said. The match was best three out of five. Chen lost the first two games right in the beginning of the championship. However, the third game turned in Chen's favour as he defeated his opponent with attack of Voidform cards.

Hearthstone is a competitive free-to-play online collectible card video game which is developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It is a turn-based card game played by two opponents where you construct decks of thirty cards. Players also select a unique hero and a power for the game. A great theme-based game built on simple principle of attack and defence. Players use their cards to attack opponents' cards and then attack their avatar directly, to win the game.  

Chen Wei-Lin is now the fourth champion of Hearthstone and first winner from the Asia-Pacific region.

Perhaps, the Taiwan president's congratulations will be a reminder to everyone that video games can be more than a waste of time.