They dreamed of esports glory. Then their bodies broke down

Stalkerware | Google Drive scam | Being a token hire They dreamed of esports glory. Then their bodies broke down   Esports is booming. Professional gaming is now a billion-dollar industry with an estimated global audience of around 500 million people, and tournaments where prize pools stretch to many millions of dollars. In some countries, including the UK, it's even possible to join an esports programme at school or get an esports scholarship to university. But for those pushing for greatness, the toll on their bodies can be high. Esports insiders, including players and coaches, are increasingly worried about the pressures that competitive gamers face. Player health varies widely, with issues ranging from hand, neck and back pain that sometimes requires surgery, to poor nutrition, bouts of insomnia and mental health issues including anxiety, depression and burnout.   Continue reading this story on WIRED The biggest stories this week Inside the fight to rid the world of abusive stalkerware Use of stalkerware jumped 83 per cent during lockdown. Now industry and law enforcement are working together to take on the abusers A new scam uses Google Drive to send out a deluge of dodgy links Scammers are luring people into Google Drive documents in an attempt to get them to visit potentially malicious websites The stress and frustration of finding out you are a token hire The Black Lives Matter movement pushed companies to bolster diversity targets. New plans to meet them are flawed The ultimate WIRED Christmas gift guide for 2020 Fashionably early, our 2020 Xmas edit has clever Christmas gift ideas for budgets from £14.50 to £9,000 Scientists found signs of life on Venus. Now they're not so sure Last month astronomers found a hint of microbial life in the atmosphere of Venus. As more data is analysed, doubts are creeping in All the ways Slack (and your boss) tracks you and how to stop it It's not that easy for someone to snoop on your Slack messages. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't take precautions As winter bites, employers need to cover working from home costs With offices shut – and the pandemic only deepening – workers are questioning whether they should be footing the collective £2 billion rise in energy bills The 2020 iPad Air is so good it almost makes the Pro obsolete The new iPad Air is so good there is very little to find fault with Watch Dogs: Legion hates Brexit. It also sucks at political commentary Ubisoft's new open world adventure is not subtle about its politics, but neither is it brave What we've been reading this week 🤔 For The Verge, Casey Newton tries to make sense of the latest Section 230 hearing. 💔 Writing in Rest of the World, Mariya Karimjee explains the very human impact of Pakistan's Tinder ban. 👥 The Huffington Post reveals the full extent of the Trump administration's assault on public data. From the WIRED long read archive Inside the high-stakes race to make quantum computers work Quantum computers could help explain some of the most fundamental mysteries in the universe and upend everything from finance to encryption – if only someone could get them to work what to do this weekend 😈 From killer sharks to murderous psychopaths, we've rounded up our pick of the best horror movies of all time for Halloween. 👻 Nick Frost and Simon Pegg's new horror show Truth Seekers is the spooky, dorky comfort TV we need right now. 👽 Looking for your next sci-fi must-read? Cyberpunk, space operas, dystopias – we've pulled together some of the WIRED team's favourite science fiction novels. On this week's podcast NEW ISSUE OF WIRED + Received this email from a friend? Subscribe to WIRED Weekender + Prefer a daily digest? Subscribe to The Email from WIRED FOLLOW WIRED Unsubscribe   |   View this email in your browser Queries about this email? Contact datacontroller@condenast.co.uk Condé Nast Publications 1 Hanover Square, London W1S 1JU © The Condé Nast Publications Ltd Our Privacy Policy