From the outside looking in, the life of a professional gamer may seem like never-ending fun and play. The reality is anything but. Here, Justin C. Williams laser enthusiast talks about some of the sacrifices and rewards of the full-time gaming professional.
It seems everyone is talking about professional gaming these days, but what exactly makes someone a pro gamer compared to someone who plays for fun? According to Lol Smurfs, a professional gamer is simply a full-time competitive player who is paid to play games. But Justin C. Williams laser enthusiast disagrees. “There’s a lot more to esports that just getting paid to play,” he says. Esports is short for electronic sports and includes such professional games as multiplayer battle arena games, first-person shooter games, fighting and combat games, and real-time strategy games.
There’s the nonstop practice, Justin C. Williams says. The average gaming pro practices anywhere from 6-8 hours a day, or more. Careermatch says, “What distinguishes a professional gamer from the hobbyist is the amount of time spent repeating drills over and over until you’re the fastest and the best.” In fact, in China, e-sports teams take their commitment very seriously by requiring the entire team to live together under one roof throughout the year. “Can you imagine just sitting in the same position for 8 hours straight?” Justin asks? A good practice strategy many of the top players use is to record themselves playing and then watching the replay, he says. This helps them see mistakes or opportunities they would otherwise have missed. “Practice until it’s perfect – that’s the very definition of esports,” Justin C. Williams laser enthusiast says.
As far as income, professional gaming isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, Justin C. Williams adds. “You have to love it since it doesn’t pay all that well.” The pro-gamer can make money by winning tournaments and prizes. Some top prizes are a million dollars or more. “Only the top few ever win,” he explains, but they can make a few dollars here and there with some of the more conventional methods like getting sponsored by some of the larger advertisers like Red Bull or Pepsi. Justin says some gamers set up YouTube or Twitch.tv channels in which they get paid for showing ads and streaming content, and some even collect donations from fans live as they’re streaming. He adds that some top players do paid reviews for gaming companies to help introduce new games to the public and says it’s not uncommon for the highest-level gamers to develop their own line of products and merchandise for sale to their fanbase. Other gamers work directly with the game developers to edit unfavorable gaming scenarios and suggest alternatives that otherwise wouldn’t have been considered without the pro-gamer’s assistance, but this is extremely rare, Justin C. Williams laser enthusiast says.
Overall, it’s difficult to get into the professional gaming system. “You have to really love playing,” Justin C. Williams laser enthusiast says, “but even so, I wouldn’t feel right recommending it as a career option.”
Justin C. Williams Laser Enthusiast Talks About the High Stakes of Professional Gamers
