
Things have changed significantly in the last few years and pro gaming has gone from being considered a very small and unlikely career choice, to a huge opportunity for gamers that want to take things to a whole new level. In this article, we are going to be exploring everything related to living life as a pro gamer. What it takes, what you need to know and some harsh realities that you might want to consider before you decide to take that step forward.
What is the life of a pro gamer like?
That is a question that has a large number of variables before you can answer it because there are many gaming genres out there and some of them are more profitable than others at this point. The fighting game community is growing quite fast and you can see that some gamers are making a decent amount of money from sponsors and tournaments, but most of them still have day jobs, while other gaming genres like the MMORPG are so popular that there are professional teams making full time income from their efforts and well over minimum wage on their monthly pay checks.
You also have genres like the First person Shooters that have very popular players such as Johnathan Wendel Aka Fatal1ty, who has earned close to half a million dollars in his professional career from many tournaments and that is without counting sponsorship deals. It’s important to note that most professional gamers that have reached those digits are playing MMORPG’s.
There is no question that the money is there for those who are skilled enough to reach that level of gameplay, but most of them commit entirely to gaming in order to achieve that.
MMORPG tournaments are huge in modern times.
The sacrifices
Most people would argue that playing video games is a job, but when you are playing at the highest level of skill in some of the most popular games, you need to be able to play at a much higher level and this means that you have to practice at least 5 to 6 hours a day.
Some of the best paid teams and individual gamers have mentioned that they practice 7 to 8 hours a day and then they spend another 2 to 3 hours watching high level gameplay to see if any improvements can be made. This is something they do on a daily basis and they even have coaches that make sure everything is being done properly.
Some gaming leagues are pretty much the same as a music band.
They have their manager, they have their schedules and they all have to work as a team in order to succeed. Pro fighting gamers are a bit different in the sense that they don’t need to team up with people. They just try to get as many matches going with the largest number of skilled opponents possible and that is the involvement they have with other people in the fighting genre.
Money changes everything
One of the first things that people need to understand about professional gaming is that once money is brought into the equation, you are going to have to adapt to a completely different level. You need to commit to video games in a way that isn’t just about fun anymore and you have to learn to schedule your time for training.
The biggest problem with this approach is that it kills the fun factor for some people. It’s like those guys who dream of becoming game testers and spending their entire day playing video games, but once they do it, they start to feel saturated by it and it becomes a job instead of a way to relax and have fun. It’s like loving pizza and working in pizza place. You are going to get tired of eating that pizza daily regardless of how much you love it.
Evo 2016 was an impressive event that set a new standard for fighting game tournaments.
The competition
Every time that something becomes profitable, you will see a huge increase in the number of people that get involved. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, the pro gaming community was all about bragging rights, but the financial gain was minimal to non-existent. That has changed now that there are pro gamers making so much money and everyone with a decent level of skill wants a piece of the pie.
If you want to have a shot at being a pro gamer, you need to test your skills with as many national and international players as you possibly can. The internet gives you the chance to do that in ways that would have been impossible before, so start doing this in order to see how much you need to improve before you even consider becoming a pro gamer.
Conclusion
Modern media and technology allow for a larger number of people to be able to get involved in pro gaming. The sky is the limit for this industry, but the important thing to remember is that pro gaming is not all fun and games. You need to have discipline and you need to be able to stay updated in regards to what is happening all over the world with other competitors.