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Paid to Play Video Games

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the pay-me-to-play-the-sims dept.

acehole writes "This would have to be every gamer's dream, to get paid for playing games. In South Korea gaming has taken off to an extent that companies sponsor gaming teams (some earn up to $100k per year) to play games up to 12 hours a day."

11 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. ill pass... by i88i · · Score: 5, Insightful

    there's no way i'd like to earn my money playing games. I play em for fun, not to pay the bills.
    Imagine getting evicted just because you missed that headshot in the tournament playoffs. That sort of pressure would stop me enjoying the games, which sort of defeats the purpose of playing them in the first place.

    1. Re:ill pass... by cowscows · · Score: 4, Insightful
      You don't even have to be a professional to stop having fun, it's just when these things become such a huge part of your life that when they don't go well, you're depressed.

      I went bowling yesterday with a couple friends, and we all suck, but we had lots of fun. A couple lanes down, there was a teenager there all by himself, scoring 230+, but getting all pissed off at himself whenever he missed a strike. He didn't look like he was having a good time.

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

    2. Re:ill pass... by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful
      People always say this about computer shit and I never get it, I guess they're not geeks. They say that they work on computers all day and don't even want to look at one when they get home. Well, okay, I can see not coming home and doing your systems administration shit, which is why there's perl and cron etc etc etc, but avoiding extracurricular websurfing, playing games, or downloading porn, because you spent the day fighting with lookout express? That's just madness. In my opinion, it's the mark of someone for whom computer geekery is not an adventure, it's just a job.

      I think it's safe to say that the same goes for games, whether it's computer games, or pro sports. You just probably wouldn't typically play the same shit in your off time as you do for money. (Though I know that pro football (no, not soccer) players who don't hate each other will play on the beach or whatever as well as for money.

      Besides, any decent manager of any team in any sport, on or offline, knows that it's not one person who makes or breaks a game, it's a whole team. If it comes down to that one headshot, then the rest of the team hasn't been doing THEIR job. If you're missing all your shots all day, then that's one thing, but if it's just one miss, it could happen to anyone. Video gaming has one thing in common with auto racing (besides that you might be playing a racing game) in that there is a lot of hardware between you and your goal, and it has to cooperate with you as well. In soccer you might blow out a shoe, but in racing you might lose any one of many critical parts, and in the case of a computer there are just as many things which could go wrong, on both sides of the hardware/software barrier.

      The definition of a great job is one in which you do what you love.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. Games for money.. by JavaLord · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When you start playing this seriously it isn't fun anymore, and you realize how limited the rule-set/skill level needed for most games is.

    1. Re:Games for money.. by GodHead · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Not fun when you play for money? Tell that to any pro-athlete. Sure it's work, but it's the best work you could hope for.

      Honestly, do you think they are doing some double entry accounting at night to blow off steam from playing games all day?

      --
      Just wait till some crappy band steals your nic.
  3. Job wanted! Will make games, not play, for $100K by mustangdavis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They get paid $100k/yr to PLAY games .... Hell, I wish I could make $100k just programming them!!!

    I'd be willing to provide something tangible for my salary!!!!

    --
    HallmarkOrnaments.Com
  4. That's nice and all... by Mysticalfruit · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Playing video games all day long would get very old very quickly...

    It's that old addage. Never turn your favorite hobby into your job. It'll stop being your hobby and it'll stop being your favorite thing todo.

    --
    Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
  5. Not all it's cracked up to be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    (slightly OT)
    I was a game tester before moving on to programming (out of the game industry). Playing games becomes much less fun when it's your job, and you're essentially FORCED to play. It's not the amount of playing, but the fact that you have to play when they tell you to, on their schedule. When you're playing for fun you can always take a break, watch a movie/tv, go outside, surf the net...or whatever...it's your time you're spending. (Disclaimer: Of course some companies are better than others, but I know quite a few people who were testers that share this experience)

    This may be a bit different because of the competition element, but it's still being forced to play game(s) for pay. This can be stressful, especially if it's your only form of income.

    I thought I was completely hardcore into gaming, and it broke me. When I finished my stint as a tester, I didn't play another video game for almost a year. I'm probably a bit more normal now because of it.

    Hey, maybe this can be used as some type of therapy for the severely adicted gamer.

  6. Re:Possible limits on future career choices... by IWorkForMorons · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How will it look on your resume "Nov 2002 - April 2005: Played computer games." Doesn't really give the impression of a hard worker, does it?

    This depends all on what kind of job you're going for. I'd love to be able to put "Professional Game Player" on my resume. That way, when I apply to EA Games or id Software for a game testing job, I'd have had a professionally documented position with a company known for sponsoring good game players. And I'd definately have an advantage over the MIT guy who's wasting his life on math and algorythms...

  7. I bet by dar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I bet once you have to play it's not nearly as much fun.

    --
    My other Slashdot ID is much lower.
  8. Re:What's interesting is the difference in culture by Chitlenz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Witty slam, but is it true?

    I'd so no. To clarify, everquest and games like it (MMORPGS) require a great deal of time to get anywhere (I'll give you that), but the true skill of playing is more an exercise in social organization and strategy (what I presume you are alluding to.. as in Warcraft/starcraft which seem to prevail on the korean circuit atm). By strategy, I mean the ability to progress beyond where the average gamer can go, gamers I might add that many times are able to and do sink as much time as powergamers into achieving success yet still never get to the would-be endgame for any particular expansion.

    For instance, on our Everquest server (rodcet nife), there is approximately ONE plane of time enabled guild. They are there when many people are not because of solid tactics in engaging in specific encounters (oober mobs if you will), while other guilds who spend as much or more time playing catch up cannot seem to ever completely ...well catch up. In truth, Everquest is so damn competitive that often times the GMs are called in to settle disputes about camp rights/training/etc.

    But, let me return to the topic at hand a bit. To say that a warcraft match between two human players is any harder or easier than an encounter between a guild in everquest and an epic mob (creature) is simply wrong. That's why it's a game people play constantly in order to be able to compete in. If it was as easy as you seem to think it is, everyone would be at the top, while most are not...

    Lets look at it this way, how about I say that warcraft sux as a strategy game because all the players have to live within the rules of the game the programmers created. Human opponents aside, you have to play within the realm of strategies created by the development team, so technically every move is predicatable at some level. For that matter, what about chess?

    The difference with everquest is minute at best. RTS fans who may think that such rpgs have to do with roleplaying may be a tad shocked to discover said endgame is much more like a cooperative version of warcraft than anything else. Strategy and tacitcs are in fact closely guarded guild secrets in many cases, and may involve up to 60 people working in synchronicity over time in their 'roles' as classes to accomplish whatever the goal is.

    I, personally, play warcraft as well, and I like the game, its just not my thing. Oh and btw, we have MANY Korean guilds (openly, as in recruit members only in their own time zone) on our server, so to say its purely an American fetish is a bit on the unjustifiably elitist fringe eh?

    I post infrequently, but do follow up on the posts I make, so I'll wait for your response.

    Regards - Chitlenz

    --
    Imagination is the silver lining of Intelligence.