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Can You Become a Professional Gamer?
The first computer in our neighbourhood was standing in an old cabinet in my old family home. Young me, growing up with two brothers and one tech-savvy father, came into contact very early on with technology. Ever since I became fascinated by it, turning it into a career, a passion my lifeline throughout my life. During these early years of growing up, gaming became a prominent activity on the family computer. I was starting with games like Prince of Persia and Command & Conquer: Red Alert. However, as my avid readers might already know from my first post, my attention was grabbed and kept by Unreal Tournament. I became skilled in shooters over the following years, moving on to games like Quake and the first editions of Call of Duty. Soon thereafter, a new marvel was introduced to me: LAN parties! I had only played with my father, brothers and friends until then. It blew my young boy’s mind that you could play with so many at one physical location. During these LAN events, I was introduced to eSports. And like most young gamers that grow up today, I wanted to become a professional gamer!
The opening is a story not unfamiliar to many gamers. The desire to get paid for your hobby and to build a career in a (still) young industry is fantastic. But how do you go about doing it? What does it take? Going pro in anything takes lots of effort, hard work and sacrifice. But is it attainable?
The road to professional
So what does it take? For most, starting on the natural progression path is just enjoying the game, learning all the ins and outs and understanding the mechanics. However, at some point, you reach a tipping point. Where you want to go deeper than your friends are willing to go. You start to live and breathe the game. During school, work or parties, all you think about is the game, strategies, optimisations or specific actions you want to try out. You remember timings and abilities; you read up on the latest patches to the game. You are literally at the forefront of the game. At that point, you can flip a switch and go pro. But how does one flip that switch? You need a great deal of factors to align in your favour. Think education, family, friends and sheer luck are among the factors. The thing is that becoming professional is firstly your own choice, but not all things are within your…
