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Become a Professional Gamer
introverted writes "An article in the Wall Street Journal covers events in South Korea, where, even more so than the U.S., there are increasingly highly paid professional teams competing in games such as Blizzard's StarCraft. The article notes: 'Last year, [pro StarCraft gamer] Lim Yo-Hwan made about $300,000 from player fees and commercials. Another top earner, Hung Jin-Ho, whose fingers are insured for $60,000, recently signed a three-year deal with telecom provider KTF Co. that will pay him $480,000 altogether.' So now you can claim your time gaming as 'job skills training'!"
Forgot this in parent post - I trained for the AMD PGL on my AMD K6-2 box.
http://www.cdmag.com/articles/015/112/pgl.html
Alternately, I could make a good salary working 8-5 in an intellectually challenging field and save the gaming for its true purpose: a hobby.
I was modded up and down on this very issue. Whether or not you should make your hobby your work. "What better job to have than something you thoroughly enjoy?"
I was a decent athlete in high-school. I got a scholarship to a D1 college. I enjoyed practice, meets, and the entire thing. Once I got to college I realized that this was a job and quickly found it to be more of a burden than a release.
I can't see doing something I love as my hobby for pay. It just takes all the fun out of it for me.
I guess everyone has their own obsessions. Mine is getting money to do what I love to do on the weekends. At least I have something to really look forward to. I really feel that it would bore me to do what I currently love everyday. It's probably why I love it.
> Doom is intellectualy challenging okay?!
It sure is if you write a map generator for it. Packing those SIDEDEF byte sequences... good times.
The Army reading list
How do I become a professional gamer?
Rob (Damn misleading headlines)
Online Texas Hold 'em is the ONLY way to become a professional gamer.
Why doesn't the Slashdot crowd consider this to be "gaming"? It has all the elements of a great game AND you win money. Isn't that what this article is all about?
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
Having supported myself for 2 years winning mechwarrior 3 tourneys, I can say you are way off base.
Gaming was exciting, fun, and rewarding. I still play games as a hobby, but I wish I could still play them for money.
Gaming is a great thing to do for money, if you can compete at the level to make enough at it.
The reason gaming is not popular as a sport, in the same way it is in Korea, is that there is not enough money to be made in the sport of gaming. You do have your success stories, the kid that made 100k playing Unreal Tourney for example, but for every one of those success stories, there are thousands and thousands of people who simply did not win, they got nothing.
In many sports, when you compete at a lower level, you can still make a good, solid, income. In gaming, its all or nothing, you are either 'teh big winnah' or you are jack shit.
There were many times in mechwarrior 3 when I would be in a tourney, and get shoved in the loser bracket because I made a mistake. Second place generally gets you nothing, or something so negligable it does not matter.
For example, in one of the major tourneys I participated in, called "Meltdown" the main prize was a Harley Davidson motorcycle, the second place prize was a 250 dollars + free trip to Seatle. Luckily, I won the cycle that time, but the second place person got to pay half of his car insurance.
I have often thought of getting back into pro gaming, but every time I sit down and try to, I realize that I can no longer compete. This only after 5 years of not participating in the scene.
You can not have a real life when the top prizes for many tourneys is worth maybe twice the cost it took to actually drive there, and the events only take place 3-4 times per year.
Pro Gaming could be HUGE in the United States, but we just haven't figured out a way to market it.
I look at South Korea and I wonder what is different there. My opinion is strictly on the fact of population density. When someone does well, they can get to tourneys relatively quickly, and can also have an easier time of promoting themselves without having to canvas such a large area. I am also sure it does not cost 300-400 dollars to fly to Seattle or Texas to compete in a major tourney.
I think your opinion that gaming should only be a hobby should really be presented to proffesional basketball, baseball, championship chess, GO, etc. etc. etc. On-line video games are just as legitimate.
If you don't vote, you don't matter, so don't waste your time telling me your opinion
I dunno. While it'd be great to get paid for gaming, playing one game 10 hours a day, every day, would get rather monotonous and dull after a while. I enjoy gaming because I can play whatever game I want for however long I want. I might play some UT2K4 in three game modes, or Viewtiful Joe, or NWN, or whatever suits my fancy. Any one game after a while gets to be rather boring. My initial UT2K4 craze (ie, spending every spare moment on it) lasted about 2 weeks - now, I play maybe 2 hours a week. I mix it up with Legendary Halo when I don't feel like competing online, or maybe Soul Calibur when my roommate's in the mood for an ass-kicking. I'm a gamer, no doubt - I've sunk hundreds into building a capable gaming machine, and the living room is jammed with consoles - but any one pursuit, especilly forced, would just get dull. Gaming is a hobby, a release, and to have to "train" for it would be rather unenjoyable, I think.
Of course, I'm very much not a powergamer, and I have an actual 9-5 that I work and come home to relax from, so my perspective is probably quite different from the younger crowd's.
Of course, this might be an interesting direction for games to go in. Unreal Tournament 2004 isn't too exciting to watch unless you're actually playing in it, so what types of games would do well on tv?
Another area that I find fascinating is the potential for people to do "useful" things in games. Could gamers solve potentially large problems by the fractal differential of the quantum encoding of their movements in a game of Doom? Will games move so far into the realm of virtual lives that people physically do work there?
I started programming as a hobby (years ago) and am now presently employed as a professional programmer / software engineer. I can honestly say that I still love it.
How is this any different?
Ummm... being a professional anything would require a level of responsability and dedication that for some reason I have a feeling you lack. Like professional sports, to make a living at this you have to be the best or at least in the top single-digit percentile. And there are always hundreds or more likely thousand of people busting their behinds to become better than you.
If you don't have the willpower or sense of purpose to put the game controller down long enough to get a passing grade at school, you might want to look into a career where being mediocre will at least put food on your table. My guess is that once StarCraft became a responsability, you'd find yourself sneaking a few rounds of some other game when you should be 'training'.
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy -Cat Stevens
666-607: 6th floor apartment of the beast
However, in the case of Fata1ty (again... WTF you put that 1)...
He's able to leverage his relative fame into endorsement deals. For instance, some new ABit motherboards are coming out will bear his name and his specs. They will expand from there to full computers.
It's important for these gamers NOT just to be good at the game, but to make a NAME for themselves. It's the name recognition that will bring the money.
Now, it brings up an interesting side bar... Game companies seem to cheer on individuals that PLAY, but not individuals that MAKE games. Yet, the gamers really want to connect with the game producers.
And yeah, this mode of operation works well for companies - after all, no company wants to hire a prima dona, and every company wants a faceless, replacable work force.
Video Game News, FAQs, etc
the starcraft league has become my usual pastime just like I enjoyed MLB when I was in US. It's very exciting and interesting to watch the games on TV. I see new tactics everyweek. Beating opponents using the tactic over battle net is a joy. Seeing my tactic used by another players makes me excited and more addicted to the game.( I created Raiders tactic in WC3 ;-) ).
These days, Gillette is sponsoring a league and their ad tactic is simply amazing such as one official map for the league is named "Gillette XXX".
Surely there is a very creative cooperation between game developers, pro gamers, CATV companies, and league sponsors behind the success of this somewhat experimental e-sports. Especially when it comes to "Ad in a game", I see a lot of chances through these leagues.
Your ego is Matrix!
I have a pro Counter-strike player that's a fan of my server and when he comes on the noise of the "cheater" screams from the kiddies is enough to make me take my headphones off and ignore the dialogs on the server.
BTW, I have to take my headphones off 'cause the kiddies start bitching on the microphone.
It's a real shame, the guy's a great player and he's a nice guy that helps out anyone that asks for it (including yours truly, I've learned a lot about rushing with him).
Ash nazg durbatuluk, ash nazg gimbatul Ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
1- Rush
pro: Catch enemies off gaurd
con: over commits early, if rush fails your screwed.
2- Tech
pro: Mid game or late game you will have a huge advantage of one kind or another.
con: if they rush you in trouble, if they knwo what your doing you may lose the advantage.
3- mass units
pr0: works against newbies
con: won't work well against anyone else
4- Balanced force
pro: hard to catch you off gaurd, you ready for almost anything, strong through out.
con: Not as strong early as rush, not as strong late as teching, vulnerabel to devious tricks.
5-oddball strategies
pro: the funniest games when it works
con: you look stupid if it doesn't
6-Tower
pro: done effectivly, it can cripple your opponent
con: a vast commitment of resources early and it's statics so you can't re-use this resource later.
These are some general ways to win at starcraft.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Sure, there is going to be some skill carry over- but even if you were an expert at quake does that give you any assurance that you will be at the top for starcraft?
A pro athlete on the other hand knows that his skills will carry him throughout his career. Derek Jeter doesn't have to worry that one day he's going to show up at Yankee Stadium and be given a pair of skates and told that he is the new center for the Rangers (though that probably would be an improvement for the Rangers).
So while I would agree with you that if a gamer played FPS for a 30 year career, then yes, even if he lost some reaction time he could make up for it with better understanding of the game. I just think games change too quickly for top players to remain at the top.
Why not do it like poker tournaments? Everybody puts up a certain amount to play, and the top n players split the money according to some percentage schedule. A common format in poker is first-place gets half the total take, second-place gets half of that, third gets halved again, and after that it drops off more gradually.
Then you hold a bunch of different tournaments, with different entry fees. If you're poor, just start at a cheap tournament, if you're good you'll quickly earn the cash to go for the big money. After a while it's mostly top players at the big-money tournaments, but if some loser rich guy wants to put up the cash to give it a shot, he's welcome to...that's just more money for the winning players.
No b.s. about sponsorship deals, no weird rules to avoid offending your sponsors, just raw competition for money. Though of course you might end up losing money.
The only drawback compared to poker is that in poker, the luck factor makes it possible for a less-skilled player to do well. He might lose over the long term, and he needs to have a certain level of skill to have any shot at all, but he has a chance to go the distance without actually being a world-class player. In a game without the luck factor, it might be difficult to get enough players to generate the really huge prizes you can get in poker. Maybe worth a try, though.
I'm 24 and my "reflexes" have actually gotten better over the last two years.
This is in part due to a change in mice - the Intellimouse 3.0 never really clicked for me, the Logitech MX700 [yes, cordless] works great, in part because it's heavier, which keeps it from going flying.
It's also due to a change in focus and mental approach.
I don't think you can truly judge your reflexes based entirely on whether you're aiming better than your opponents.
Especially if you've been out of it for 5 years. Gamers all over the world have gotten a LOT better at FPS games, because they've been around longer and they've started at younger ages. The reason your reflexes aren't as good is probably more related to the fact that you haven't played in 5 years (it takes a long time to get your aim back in playing shape even if you've only been playing another game, let alone nothing at all), and the fact that the rest of the world is better than the flops we were used to picking on lo those years ago. For the record, I've been gaming competitively since Quake in 1996 or so.
Moo
Another top earner, Hung Jin-Ho, whose fingers are insured for $60,000, recently signed a three-year deal with telecom provider KTF Co. that will pay him $480,000 altogether.
Shouldn't he be insured for his maximum potential earning income, rather than a small amount?
There was a pretty good movie, called Rounders - with matt Damon and Ed Norton. They were compulsive gamblers, but had really good skills. Well, Damon did. Norton was the slippery loser who kept getting him in trouble.
In the end, Damon plays a high stakes game with a Russian, played with the usual over the top acting of John Malkovich, and gets him and Norton out of debt.
That move needs to be re-written as compulsive gamers. Guys who are showing up at LAN parties with 4-day stubble and a stinking t-shirt, pulling out a wad of Benjamins, throwing it down on the keyboard...
"K, lamer, Zerg vs. Protoss. Five thousand."
"Ur on..."
(Cut to that cheese music that played whenever Elvis was competing in one of his action movies)
The big difference between pro gaming and professional sports is that because professional sports are physical, you can only practice for so many hours before it becomes counter-productive (or impossible) to continue. In competitive gaming, to be competitive you have to spend a TON of time playing. Since it isn't physical you can spend every waking hour practicing. This is why a lot of pro gamers burn out after a while, because playing the same game every waking hour for 4 years gets old fast.
Programming will always be a fun challenge. I've been playing games at an amatuer competition level online for the past 5 years. Something like this includes online ladders, leagues, tournaments, etc. Last winter I went to the CPL, the premier professional gaming tournament in the US, and attended as a competitor. The 4 months of spending 4 hours a night practicing my ass off made the game anything but fun. I could program night and day and come back to it with the same energy and vigor (.. as much as anybody could have towards that sort of thing, anyway), but with playing games on a professional level it really becomes a job and there is no fun left.
Steal This Sig
Don't you think you can both enjoy and work at the same time? A lot of professional athletes out there still love what they do, and professional gaming.. well, I don't see the huge difference from that and a "regular" sport (apart from the obvious).
The difference is professional athletes get paid even if they lose the game. Playing solely for prizes is a much dicier proposition, and I think it stands a good chance of sucking the fun out of your job.
I wonder what it is about Korean culture that lends itself so well to social videogame obsession. My wife is Korean and she had an addiction to Tribes that seriously interfered with her real life. She eventually had to quit gaming completely.
I remember some story about a Korean guy playing until he actually died (of dehydration or malnutrition or something). And although data is not the plural of anecdote as they say, there seems to me to be evidence that gaming as a culture is sweeping Korea faster than almost anywhere else. When I visited there two years ago you couldn't walk 20 yards in Seoul without passing a PC Bahng (internet cafe/gaming room). People were there 24/7.
I've talked about it with my wife but she doesn't have a particular theory. Though she grew up there she's not very traditional so she doesn't seem to have any insight to it beyond her own obsession.
Any Koreans out there who have thoughts on this?
Cheers.
In gaming, its all or nothing, you are either 'teh big winnah' or you are jack shit.
:)
I think the problem is in the sponsorship. Normally in tournaments you have only a handful of companies forking over money... Intel, AMD, NVidia, ATI, um... I'm sure there's others. The point being that the companies offering sponsorship are really only doing it because the products they sell are relevant to gamers.
With sports, you have all kinds of companies. Everybody wears clothing, so Nike forks over huge amounts. People like to drink liquids, so Gatorade hopes you'll drink theirs. The point here is that all these companies sell products that the people *watching* would buy. After all, when was the last time you saw an ad for great shoulder pads during an NFL game? Or when watching an NHL game, have you ever seen an ad for a super-great hockey stick? The only exception to this that comes to mind is golf, where you will see golfing equipment marketed. I think that's likely because first: a set of clubs is a high-ticket item, and second: a lot of people *do* play golf enough that it makes financial sense.
Find some clever promoter who can pitch this successfully to companies and, at the same time, overcome the stigma of a good gamer as "that nerd in his mother's basement" and it'll be successful. But it is an up-hill battle. The only good athletes are generally the ones who are in physically good shape. So the average athlete is *better looking* than the average person. The average gamer, on the other hand...
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Not Zork. XYZZY is the magic word from Adventure.
I was playing "adventure" on various DEC systems along time ago. This is so old that it was only "finally" ported into C in 1976!
Props where they're due:
Colossal Cave by Will Crowther, extended by Don Woods and ported to C by Jim Gillogly.
I just love people who think they are going to win a lot on online video poker against other players. You know who you are playing at those hold-em tables? 3-4 people who know eachother and are on the phone waiting for a sucker like you to come into their room. I know, I participated in a group like that once. You are playing against 2-4 people at what you think is an "open" table. In reality, they all bid up and then fold to the best of their four hands. Video poker is a fool's paradise. If you want to gamble for a living, make sure you can see the people you are gambling against, cause the online games are where marks get fleeced dude.
"Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
I really think that with the arising cinematic gaming experience, a broadcast of a video game match could be every bit as compelling to watch as any action movie; perhaps moreso...in fact, I'm pretty sure moreso.
And I don't mean broadcast in stickly the television sense. John Carmack has theorized that eventually there will be "THE graphics engine". A standard engine which can be just as integrated into operating systems as any GUI server is today.
Couple that with more robust human interface devices and you could browse to a full-scale war; resplendent with all the physics and sights one would expect from the real world (and quite a few extras I'm sure). In a world of gigabit connections and clockless CPUs it's not hard to imagine a Game world so immense and immersive that people would spend thier lives in it; and just as our world, there will be celebrities.
However, as opposed to our celebrities, these virtual stars will have to fufill a noteably different set of criteria then our current rock, movie and sports stars. In many ways, I think they will have to have something of all of these.
But not only will these celebrities make thier livings online, but I foresee a plethora of people simply working full time jobs inside these worlds. Some of these workers will be like amusement park employees (perhaps making sure the AI behaves within parameters; like the guy that makes sure the automatonic pirates keep singing "yo ho"), others will make money the same way current workers inside MMORPGs do - via sales of virtually-gained commodities.
With a photo-realistic graphics engine, bandwidth galore and CPU to burn what can't you see in the virtual world that you can in ours?
Last time I checked, all the Ruby-Doom stuff did was allow you to create maps through a Ruby interface or from text/bitmap files. A decent map has never been made to date using any of these methods.
So it's really not a map generator. More like a bitmap-to-Doom level converter (which isn't even a good idea in my opinion).
While I don't necessarily disagree, I have to wonder how people would react if you said "football" or "basketball" instead of gaming. I don't see how, given a suitably strategic and interesting video game, professional gamers would be any different than professional athletes who get paid grotesque sums of money to engage in what is, for most people, a "hobby."
People don't get paid for how well or how hard they work, but for how much other people value their services. It now so happens that a very large number of people very much like to see top athletes perform, hence the gotesques sums of money.
Not that many people are very interested in seing others playing video games. Perhaps not very surprising, considering that the games were never made with spectacors in mind. Who knows about the future though?
Tor
I'm gonna have to agree with the parent here, but touch on a different aspect.
In Korea there is a big thing about "I must have something better than that guy." I say this because I'm Korean (South, this may not apply to North) (note- not all Koreans will necessarily agree with me, but most that I've spoken with have). I personally believe that this and the population density had a major part in making Korea the most broadband connected country in the world (too lazy for links). Other factors played a role (like government money), but again I think the main thing is that "Hey my neighbor has broadband? Well I should get some better broadband!"
This carries over directly to gaming. First off, they can use the broadband for gaming. Second, they must become better than the guy who just beat them. If you look at Lineage gamers, they'll even murder each other over events in game. I got a link for that.
The society plays a huge role in how gaming has risen in Korea. Moreso than you may think.