How Do You Think You Would Do In A Game Competition Career Discussion

[oldgamerz]

Imagine you have or had a Video Game Career where you play an online game and earned money for winning and lost money or your job for by losing.

First off I know nothing about online gaming careers. Other than I don't think I ever want to play a game for a living anyway. because I am not really good at most video games. If I considered myself good enough and I lost my job over not winning in some online tournament I probably would be raged like some of the gamers do.

Other words I don't think i'm game enough to compete in anything for real money. Or to put my career on the line by trying to win at some kind of tournament.

What do you think about gaming careers? I think it would be stressful trying to compete among the best. day in and day out. but most jobs are stressfull to begin with though, so what are your thoughts on this

[bikingjahuty]

I play games for fun. Always have, alway will.


The idea of making my job revolve around having to be the best and tirelessly playing a game for thousands of hours, studying every aspect of that game down to its programing, and then knowing my entire livelihood hinges on whether I'm better then the next guy sounds like the antithesis of fun and why I love gaming.


Now, if I'm in friendly, consequence free competition with others, that's another story. That can be very fun since all you'e doing is trying to beat one of your friends or even some stranger. It can be very fun and exciting, but I sort of draw the line there when it comes to how far I go with taking gaming seriously.


As for other careers around gaming such as game design, programming, professional reviewing, or doing youtube, that's something I'd be way more comfortable with.

[sworddude]

the problem with competition as a career option especially as far as gaming goes

you need to be a top 10 player in the world. or at least in your side of the continent as far as 2d fighting games goes.

Japan europe USA.

if you don't get those top 2 spots your going to end up being hungry at home and lose your sponsorships even to tournaments with around a 1000 enties for most tournaments only top 2 spots get a decent income. super big tournaments or heavily sponsored ones for a small group of peope are the exception but they are rare

It's a bit more comfortable with them bigger esports such as Lol and dota but even than getting to those top 100 people it's not easy.

regardless competition is fierce everyday. not a stable income unless your godlike and always win against 10.000' 100.000s of people who are hardcore aswell.

tons of work and tons of stress. not to mention that people will cheer against you if you win to much.

[ferraroso]

Back when I was a college student, I remember someone telling me that "you should never turn your hobby into a profession as, even in the best case scenario, you'll end up losing a hobby".

[wolff242]

Back when I was a college student, I remember someone telling me that "you should never turn your hobby into a profession as, even in the best case scenario, you'll end up losing a hobby".

This is so true. When a hobby becomes work, it's no longer relaxing. To me, gaming is just one of a few hobbies I have to help me unwind during my free time. That's also why I'm not a "Completionist" when it comes to games. I just play and enjoy, the best I can.

[oldgamerz]

the problem with competition as a career option especially as far as gaming goes

you need to be a top 10 player in the world. or at least in your side of the continent as far as 2d fighting games goes.

Japan europe USA.

if you don't get those top 2 spots your going to end up being hungry at home and lose your sponsorships even to tournaments with around a 1000 enties for most tournaments only top 2 spots get a decent income. super big tournaments or heavily sponsored ones for a small group of peope are the exception but they are rare

It's a bit more comfortable with them bigger esports such as Lol and dota but even than getting to those top 100 people it's not easy.

regardless competition is fierce everyday. not a stable income unless your godlike and always win against 10.000' 100.000s of people who are hardcore aswell.

tons of work and tons of stress. not to mention that people will cheer against you if you win to much.

I really don't know how those extreme online gamer's do it! to be honest, the only way I would think that they would need to be high on something stronger than caffeine to win.

 But if not.  they would also need to be need to be in top mental and physical health conditions. and maybe even some brain enhancement drugs. But they should also be careful I heard a story of a teen or a child dying of a heart attack in an arcade once. But I don't remember where I heard it mentioned before.

Also even for a genius's  mind they may or may not need to worry about a brain crash. If also heard somewhere
(not exactly sure how to prove this) if anyone pushes their mind beyond a the limit can have their mind freeze up or crash.

One time when I was a teen and playing NHL 2002 on PC for hours and hours and then started to play Ghost Recon by the time I started to play Ghost Recon for the PC, I had an anxiety attack and I could not breathe one of my family members told me what to do as far as to regular my breathing she walked me through an anxiety attack I used to play for 12 hours on weekends sometimes, plus I was going to school during the week.

[tripredacus]

if you don't get those top 2 spots your going to end up being hungry at home and lose your sponsorships even to tournaments with around a 1000 enties for most tournaments only top 2 spots get a decent income.

It is the same as with pinball. As popular as the "sport" seems to be, there just isn't enough money in it to make it a singular profession.

[oldgamerz]

Has any ever got to participate in local gaming tournaments?. Because back when I lived in Detroit. I would sometimes go to a local store called "Game Headz" and although I never saw anyone competing vary often. They had a retro console setup and a couch where locals could play other locals in a classic game competition,

that franchise store called "Game Headz" I goggle says their still open but at one point I could have competed in one of the tournaments but never did, I never even asked the store I just sometimes would see some children and or teens playing a game together.

I think I asked the store worker once and he mentioned the tournaments that is how I knew about them

[necrosexual]

i'm not one to mix hobby and career either, which is why i dropped out of art school and didn't strive to be a concept artist past the age of 18.
that said i have entertained the idea to be a professional grinder lmao. y'know, people give me their saves, i do the mundane level grind, i get paid, they get a lv 80 paladin, win/win.
but never seriously. maybe if i was in a tight spot and needed quick cash for something.

Back when I was a college student, I remember someone telling me that "you should never turn your hobby into a profession as, even in the best case scenario, you'll end up losing a hobby".

This is so true. When a hobby becomes work, it's no longer relaxing. To me, gaming is just one of a few hobbies I have to help me unwind during my free time. That's also why I'm not a "Completionist" when it comes to games. I just play and enjoy, the best I can.

tbf some of us enjoy doing the whole grind and completing everything offered. i mean, for me it depends, but i have some platinum trophies and i enjoyed the games i platinumed.
that said i'm not gonna grind smth i hate, like 200 lightning dodges in FFX. and there is no new game +? sorry lulu, i'm never getting your celestial weapon.

[pzeke]

Never mixing pleasure with business is one thing, but making a career out of a hobby would be a dream come true for me. Granted, I understand everyone thinks differently in this regard, it certainly is demonstrated here, but truth be told, I wouldn't mind making a career out of playing video games. Unfortunately what's hip these days isn't necessarily what I find worth of my time or money, so I don't even entertain the idea. Were I to have a Twitch, my content would probably be something akin to Peter Dorr, just to name an example since I'm not up-to-date with Twitch streamers. I'll most likely play Pokémon a lot, rotate between PS1 and PS2 games and talk about gaming stuff all the while playing a game. Then again, I don't like showing my face, and I don't have the equipment either, so there's that. Come to think of it, maybe if I hadn't stopped playing Pokémon competitively I could've maybe made something out of it. Who knows...?

Outside of the Internet I've had serious talks with my mother about opening a video game store, she wanting to be one of my investors. It's an idea I've left up in the clouds, though; I don't think I'm ready yet for such...a gamble if I'm being honest. But overall what I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't mind making a career out of this hobby. I wanted to be a comicbook artist until my mother *bleep*blocked me. Careers based around art apparently are the devil for most parents.

The idea of making my job revolve around having to be the best and tirelessly playing a game for thousands of hours, studying every aspect of that game down to its programing, and then knowing my entire livelihood hinges on whether I'm better then the next guy sounds like the antithesis of fun and why I love gaming.

Yeah, I have to agree with this sentiment.

Has any ever got to participate in local gaming tournaments?.

One of the arcades I used to go to the most as a kid used to hold monthly tournaments, but most were for fighting games, which I was crap at (not like I'm any good now, anyway). Some Blockbusters around my area also held competitions from time to time, but I usually learned about them halfway through, so I never participated. There was a local TV show that would do some amateur competitions where the winner would win a game or something game-related. And lastly Time Out and Stop N' Play would also hold competitions from time to time.

[tripredacus]

Has any ever got to participate in local gaming tournaments?.

If we are going to count pinball, I played in 16 IFPA ranked tournaments in 2019.

[oldgamerz]

Has any ever got to participate in local gaming tournaments?.

If we are going to count pinball, I played in 16 IFPA ranked tournaments in 2019.

thats cool

[Warmsignal]

Broke and homeless fast.