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But as time goes on, we all ways start to see new professions. But there is one that is in the early stages that I never thought I would see. Professional Gamers.
Now, for the first time ever, I actually did some research for this topic. It turns out that there is a whole world that I never new existed given over to professional gamers. There’s a Pro Gamers League, there are Pro Gamer World Championships... Of course I knew there were championships before I looked into this, I played in one, but what I never knew was that people could actually earn quite a decent living from gaming.
Take i8 for example. One of my sources (Err... that’d be Reaper then) informs me that there was a £2500 prize for the winner of the Quake 1v1 Tournament. I don’t care what footballers earn, that is quite a substantial amount of money. Especially considering that that can be won just by playing computer games.
After going roving on the web I found out more. There is a Tournament that offers prizes of $7500 to the winner. That’s roughly £3000. That’s a hell of a lot of money up for grabs. And it can be won for only 3 or 4 days play.
Think about it. You could earn a pretty decent amount by playing games professionally. Competitions are going on all the time. The i-Series, the Pro Gamers League, the World Championships, the UK Championships… There is a lot of money to be earned just by playing and winning on computer games... Which I do nearly every night.
If a gamer is good enough and can get to these events he could well be earning more than your average car salesman.
But of course it doesn’t end there. Companies can’t leave anything alone if there’s a chance that they could make money from it. Peripheral makers can, will and DO sponser gamers to use their products at events for some quick’n’easy advertising. This provides another source of income for the professional gamers.
Of course, it wouldn’t all be Easy Street. Oh no. I know how much I had to practice to get as good as I am at Excitebike. These people don’t just have their sister to beat, they have other gamers that probably practice as much as they do to contend with. I’d imagine you’d have to practice for roughly 14 or 15 hours a day to get to the stage when you can take on and beat your opponents.
This kind of lifestyle CANNOT be healthy. Stuck for 2 quarters of the day in front of a PC or console eating junk food is not good for your body. It would also destroy your social life. Your local social life that is. Of course you could go online and socialise with other gamers, maybe join a clan and meet up with your fellow members for matches every night.
My dream job would without a doubt be a Pro gamer, but that just aint gonna happen. For one I don’t have the amount of skill required. Sure these people practice and practice but that isn’t going to get you ANYWHERE unless you have some natural skill or talent. The people who make it big in the Pro gaming world are very skilful players, no one can doubt that.
As well as the fact that I don’t have enough skill to go into the profession, I couldn’t bring myself to sit in front of my computer for a huge part of the day. Sure, I enjoy playing my games and coming online to talk, but to do that for the whole day is something that I could never do.
With Pro Gamers becoming more and more common, and the companies picking up on it and pumping a huge amount of money back into it, this could one day become a recognised profession. It could one day, break out of the other world that it’s in at the moment. It could even be taught in schools. You train to be a journalist, so why not a gamer? Could children in the future really get taught how to play video games?
Hey! Anything’s possible! And this certainly is.
RBS
> In response to your topic,
> what if you don't eat anything at all while playing games for half
> the day??
Then you'll slowly starve and end up a blubbering mess in a chair in front of a computer.
Social life, Pah forget it.
It could take off and maybe become an olympic sport or somthing like that. I did think that I might go to i8 or something and enter into one of these leagues and become a profesional gamer but now, those points you have brought up have made me think quite diffrently.
I dont think i would enjoy being a professional gamer anymore, the career looked intresting at first but now, No thanks.
Maybe I will just be a casual gamer like enerybody else even though I am already, maybe I could become a super casual gamer or somthink.
> Great! you're gonna go win GAD again! Excelent post though, another
> idea that hasn't een done much! (:)
Thanks. I probably should thank Reaper for giving me the idea... So I will.
Cheers Phil!
But as time goes on, we all ways start to see new professions. But there is one that is in the early stages that I never thought I would see. Professional Gamers.
Now, for the first time ever, I actually did some research for this topic. It turns out that there is a whole world that I never new existed given over to professional gamers. There’s a Pro Gamers League, there are Pro Gamer World Championships... Of course I knew there were championships before I looked into this, I played in one, but what I never knew was that people could actually earn quite a decent living from gaming.
Take i8 for example. One of my sources (Err... that’d be Reaper then) informs me that there was a £2500 prize for the winner of the Quake 1v1 Tournament. I don’t care what footballers earn, that is quite a substantial amount of money. Especially considering that that can be won just by playing computer games.
After going roving on the web I found out more. There is a Tournament that offers prizes of $7500 to the winner. That’s roughly £3000. That’s a hell of a lot of money up for grabs. And it can be won for only 3 or 4 days play.
Think about it. You could earn a pretty decent amount by playing games professionally. Competitions are going on all the time. The i-Series, the Pro Gamers League, the World Championships, the UK Championships… There is a lot of money to be earned just by playing and winning on computer games... Which I do nearly every night.
If a gamer is good enough and can get to these events he could well be earning more than your average car salesman.
But of course it doesn’t end there. Companies can’t leave anything alone if there’s a chance that they could make money from it. Peripheral makers can, will and DO sponser gamers to use their products at events for some quick’n’easy advertising. This provides another source of income for the professional gamers.
Of course, it wouldn’t all be Easy Street. Oh no. I know how much I had to practice to get as good as I am at Excitebike. These people don’t just have their sister to beat, they have other gamers that probably practice as much as they do to contend with. I’d imagine you’d have to practice for roughly 14 or 15 hours a day to get to the stage when you can take on and beat your opponents.
This kind of lifestyle CANNOT be healthy. Stuck for 2 quarters of the day in front of a PC or console eating junk food is not good for your body. It would also destroy your social life. Your local social life that is. Of course you could go online and socialise with other gamers, maybe join a clan and meet up with your fellow members for matches every night.
My dream job would without a doubt be a Pro gamer, but that just aint gonna happen. For one I don’t have the amount of skill required. Sure these people practice and practice but that isn’t going to get you ANYWHERE unless you have some natural skill or talent. The people who make it big in the Pro gaming world are very skilful players, no one can doubt that.
As well as the fact that I don’t have enough skill to go into the profession, I couldn’t bring myself to sit in front of my computer for a huge part of the day. Sure, I enjoy playing my games and coming online to talk, but to do that for the whole day is something that I could never do.
With Pro Gamers becoming more and more common, and the companies picking up on it and pumping a huge amount of money back into it, this could one day become a recognised profession. It could one day, break out of the other world that it’s in at the moment. It could even be taught in schools. You train to be a journalist, so why not a gamer? Could children in the future really get taught how to play video games?
Hey! Anything’s possible! And this certainly is.
RBS