F andom of C elebrities and E sports: A C omparative S tudy of F an B ehaviors and P articipation

With the rapid development of mobile internet and social media, fan culture is no longer a niche subculture, but a common mass‑cultural phenomenon online. Apart from the well‑known celebrity fandom in the entertainment industry, professional esports leagues such as KPL have given rise to a new fan group called "esports‑chasing fans". This paper takes celebrity fandom and KPL esports‑chasing fans as research subjects. Celebrity fandom refers to fans of entertainment idols, and "esports‑chasing" means followers of KPL esports matches. It sorts out how these two fan communities come into being, and makes comparisons from community operation, fan consumption and group conflicts. It analyzes how the idol entertainment industry and competitive events influence fan thoughts and behaviors respectively. Nevertheless, large amounts of capital and traffic have flowed into the esports circle. This paper mainly relies on existing literature and publicly‑available online materials, without questionnaires or interviews. Future research may collect first‑hand survey data to better understand the psychological changes of esports‑chasing fans. It also hopes to offer more objective insights into these two kinds of online fan cultures.