In South Korea StarCraft is the countries’ biggest source of entertainment. It is much like football is here in America. StarCraft professionals will spend as much as 14 hours a day practicing. They have around 100 competitions a year and no off season which makes this a very tough career choice. In South Korea computer nerds are the sex symbols for the 21’st century. Fan clubs are made for these gamers which have more than 100000 people. These pro gamers are the top celebrities of the country.
The professional StarCraft teams are sponsored by large companies. The largest team called KTF is sponsored by a South Korean cell phone company. These players make six figures each year. Days before the competition KTF goes into isolation to practice for many hours.
The tournament goes on in a big expo center like area and the combatants are locked up in a small glass room with a computer and headphones. The participants then play 1 v 1 and the matches usually take around 15 minutes. There is a huge crowd and they cheer for their favorite team .The teams take turns going 1v1 and whoever wins the most games comes out the champion.
How good the player is based on his / her actions per minutes. A good gamer that plays StarCraft a lot may get up to 50 actions per minute. The professionals get up to 350 – 400 actions per minutes.
Recently a professional gamer won $100,000 and shared his success story on a popular forum.
We posted some of the best questions:
My name is Nadeshot, and I've been a pro gamer since 2008. I also have built a pretty big following on youtube. Here is a picture of my championship team from CoD XP - I'm 2nd from the left.
How long have you been gaming for? I've been gaming ever since I can remember. I played all the classics: super nintendo, sega genesis, N64...all of that.
How did you get into competitive gaming? I'm a very competitive person so eventually while playing CoD4, my friend turned me on to a website called gamebattles, and it all started from there.
What is your favorite game of all time? Favorite game of all time is tough, and I do love all the classics. Probably will get a lot of hate for this one, but I'd have to say Halo 2. I'm a very competitive person, and multiplayer is huge for me in games. My best memories of gaming all stem from Halo 2, so I have to go with that.
Honestly, do you ever get tired of COD (call of duty)? Right now in my gaming career, I'm pretty burned out and unmotivated. Kind of have to kick my own ass just to get on the game and practice.
I must also ask, what kind of reaction do you get from family with regards to your career/hobby choice? My parents always used to yell at me to get off the game, and didn't believe me when I told them there was money involved. I think this definitely changed their minds if they still had any doubts. I was in L.A. when it happened, but my parents were jumping up down from what I heard. I actually won $5,000 a couple weeks beforehand online, and that made them go nuts, I can't imagine what they were doing when I won 100k!
How old are you? 19
What kind of training regime regiment regimen do you and your team follow?
Mostly, we just get on around 6:30 everyday and play for a couple hours against other pro teams. Haven't been playing as much as I should though as of late.
How does your standard of play compare to overseas leagues?
We actually beat out a European team in the finals to win the $400,000. There is a slight skill gap, but its not obnoxious.
Do b****** go wild for pro-gamers?
There are "pro hoes" in our league while were at events, you'd be surprised...
How would you say professional gaming has affected your personal life? To be honest, I've always been pretty shy. I had plenty of friends in high school, but personally I enjoyed staying in on weekends and just staying up late and gaming. I would play all day and night, unless I had work. I started working at McDonalds when I was 15, and recently just quit due to the $100,000. I'm also in college. Either way though, the friends that I've made in this industry, and all the relationships I've built with other players over the years is honestly stronger then I have with anyone in real life. I basically grew up with a lot of these other pro players.
How do you "make it" in MLG? It all takes time and experience.
What's you contract like with MLG? Do they pay you enough to play full time if you didn't include your winnings? (I know nothing about professional gaming) This is pretty much it. We still sign contracts with MLG, but they don't do much for us except for stipends when we go to events. Prize money is MLG's basic duty as a league.
What do you think the future of professional gaming looks like? eSports is getting bigger and bigger everyday. I think we're gonna surprise a lot of people in the future with how big competitive gaming will get.
Do you consider gaming to be a job, or do you still enjoy it as a hobby? This is my job, also a lifestyle. Not many gamers can make this their career, I guess I just played my cards right throughout the years.
How much does your controller cost? Or do you just use the standard controller? Standard controller.
How many hours per day do you practice? And how to find people to practice at this competitive level? Not as often as I should nowadays. Usually, back in the day, I'd be playing atleast 20 hours on the weekdays, and then all day on Saturday and Sunday. Gamebattles is where most pro call of duty players started, and it all stemmed from there.
Who's the oldest pro gamer that you have met, either in your genre/league or outside of it, that's still active? In the competitive scene, there are people of all ages whether it be sponsors, spectators, or players.
Do you have anyone you really respect/look up to in the pro gaming world? I'm a huge fan of gaming in general. I used to idolize pro halo players, and now that I'm pretty good friends with some, it's a pretty cool feeling. I also have my fanboy moments with some SC2 players, haha.
How respectful is the pro CoD scene? Is there much trash talking, or is it more polite, or just mixed based on who happens to be involved at the time? Pro CoD scene used to be very immature, but most CoD pros are pretty good friends just because we've known each other for so long.
----------->Generalize about the conversation here!!!!
