Pro Gamers Can't Scrape By?

An anonymous reader points to a Wired News article discussing the harsh nature of professional gaming. According to the piece, "Professional gaming is in its infancy, providing few players with the means to live without any other job. Still, the competition for those sponsorships is cutthroat." Even for the elite team covered in the article, there are issues: "Game Point lost in QuakeCon's Wolfenstein finals, which cut their prize money down to $12,000. It was disheartening for the team, particularly since five members said the time constraints necessary to maintain this high level would most likely force them to retire." So, is pro gaming really semi-pro gaming? A player points out: "If you work for eight months and you divide up your hours, the amount of money that you make is minimal."

Comments

Re:Marketing...

[irc.goatse.cx troll]

Watch a good counterstrike match. If you're open minded, search for the videos:
Hard Clan - Die Hard.avi
ElectronicWarfare.wmv
ADRENALINE2-divx. avi
sunmanfinal.avi
(Try google)
These are just a few CS Movies that really show off how fun it can be to watch a pro play(some call it machenima or something.. I hate that name).

"And what about the players themselves. Can you see yourself (or anyone) worshiping someone for their their ability to click really fast for endless hours in front of a screen?"

I do worship some of them, not just for their ability to play, but for their ability to put up with all the stress and publicity.

"It's all about personalities and their ability to promote products."
Theres plenty of people doing that now. Lots of clans are sponsored by companies that make mousepads and other things like that, and in turn they constantly promote it on irc, in interviews, and on their website.

Re:professional gaming..

[BrookHarty]

professional gaming.. (Score:2, Insightful)
by Tirel (692085) on Sat August 30, 10:57 AM (#6833876)
an oxymoron.

Maybe Funny or Troll, but not Insightful.

There are people who dabble in games, then there are teams who practice, go over stratagy, tactics, roles, etc. They devote hours every night to play in online leagues.

Hell, even the Armed forces uses videos games, but they call them Simulation training. Pilots train for hours on virtual aircraft.

Blame it on the LAG!

Re:Are you on crack?

[Mike Mentalist]

You are very ignorant.

Why would someone competing in a single olympic sport be under more mental stress than someone playing a computer game proffesionally?

Chess does not require a great deal of intelligence to play (you can be good at chess, without being Dr Brainbox). Your comments about intelligence are redundant because a top athlete does not need to be particulary clever to compete with the best.

To play a computer game at the top of the league requires a great deal of strategy. Something like Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Planetside are more than just about shooting people. And then you have all the RTS games, and also games like Civilisation.

Pro gaming is more than here

[bdsgeekboys]

SK (Schroet Kommando) was founded 1997 in Germany. From 1997 to 2003 SK has developed to become the biggest and most famous eSport team in the world. With divisions and players from a multiple of countries. During the last 12 months, we have earned over 150 000 Euro in cash prices from tournaments around the world, that is a lot more than any other team out there. We are competing in games such as Counter-Strike, Warcraft III, Unreal Tournament 2003 and FIFA. In the last year we have also expanded to becoming one of the biggest communites in the world, with over 130 000 members.

Our players have had salaries for over a year. We have also had great success in selling access to special futures on our web site (called SK Insider). Last but not least we have a merchandise concept which also works great.

Pro gaming is more than here.

Andreas "bds" Thorstensson
Schroet Kommando - Winners of the $200,000 CPL Pentium 4 Summer 2003 Championships.
http://www.schroet.com