EPTHello, my name’s Chad, and recently I was inspired to pursue the status of being a pro gamer in Starcraft 2. The start of my journey begins a long time ago, but I will get to that later. First I would like to share the event that fostered and strengthened my goal. A few weeks back, I traveled to Columbus, OH with my brother to help him with a broadcasting-school project on e-sports, and I had the privilege to speak with TLO, iNcontroL, LosirA, LzGaMeR, and TorcH. They were amazing dedicated people who gave me insight into not only what it’s like to be a pro gamer, but tips to get there. So, I’d like to first start this blog with a thank you to those players. Thanks guys! Your lives have been an inspiration to mine.
So, I’ll start off with a bit of back story. Like I said, my name’s Chad. I live in a small town in Connecticut, the population is a bit less than 12,000. Although small, Stafford has a lot of character to it. I was introduced to video games at a young age. I was about a year old when my parents – for their entertainment – bought a NES. It must have come as a surprise to them when a year later I discovered how to do the one-up bug in level 3-1, and according to them by age of two was the best at Mario in my house-hold. So to put it simply, I’ve been playing video games as long as I could remember.
As I grew, so did my electronics. I always seemed to have the newest consoles. After NES came SEGA, which I remember ordering over the phone, and it taking like 5-10 weeks to arrive. After SEGA, it was SNES. SNES was really the console that solidified my love for video games. A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy II & III, Super Mario World, Super Mario RPG, Earthbound … the list goes on. I loved SNES. Thanks, mom and dad you are the best!
I didn’t really get into PC games until Warcraft 2, which changed my household. My two brothers, my dad, myself we all got into it. It was a great time. And then, the games kept coming. Diablo, Command and Conquer, NoX. I loved them all. Besides RPGs and RTSes the next genre I fell in love with came from Namco with the Sony Playstation. The game was Tekken and for years it stole my life away. Lately however, with the lack of innovation in the series, I have moved onto Namco’s other fighter Soul Calibur. I love the full-movement in those games. Also props to the new Mortal Kombat game devs for creating a game that sort of reinvented the genre. It’s delightfully easy to pick up for even casual gamers. Anyways, onward!
Eventually, my passion for video games brought me to Starcraft, and later Starcraft: Brood Wars. Starcraft was the first RTS I got really into. I loved lurker drops and muta rushes, and of course massing Hydras on BGH. At the time, I thought I was good, but in SC2 terms I was probably only about silver league. Then came WC3. I enjoyed WC3 and if I had to guess, I would say I was closer to platinum level in those games. Although I had improved from my Starcraft days, age and experience held me back from reaching my full potential.
And that leads me straight into SC2, a game I was prepared to get into. While in the beta, I reached the top 2% of diamond fairly quickly. After playing furiously for some time, I took a break for about three months, and then tried to pick the game up. I was in for a shock. I was playing horribly, losing to platinums, and struggling to be competitive with very mediocre players. So, I stopped playing seriously but still kept up with GSL’s. At times, I still was hit with the feeling; I want to be a pro gamer someday. It was during this phase that MLG Columbus happened.
Although knowing about Teamliquid and the other various communities, I’ve never been active in them. Feeling a little intimidated, my brother and I didn’t try for interviews, for the first two days. Then, the third day came around. Jason and I were able to interview a handful of pro gamers, who were kind enough to give us their time. Thanks again, guys!
We spoke to LzGaMeR first, then iNcontroL, followed by TLO and LosirA, and lastly TorcH. They were all delightful to meet, and ready to answer whatever you asked. A few of the questions I wrote for my brother’s e-sports project were regarding becoming a professional gamer, and all of them had similar answers. Get out there into the community, market yourself, make a Facebook, etc. So, I suppose that sort of concludes what I’m doing here, but I wouldn’t feel as though this story is complete without giving a few more specifics on the event that inspired me to open up and write this. It’s difficult to know where to start, as I had great experiences from the moment I walked into the MLG, so I’m going to try to sum things.
First, I was immensely impressed by the staff at MLG. They were some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. Just really cool people to chat with. Second, it was great to see how few classic b.net trolls were there. Don’t get me wrong, I ran into a few … but the people at the event were amazing, willing to exchange Battle.net e-mails with you, just quality people who were having a great time. Then, the players and casters: The people most went there to see, or support. I got to experience being a part of a community that being in just for a weekend made me realize what I was missing. If I were to capture the moment, and my feelings in one idea, it was this: I realized that the only way I’ll truly ever be able to interact with these players and casters is by playing against -- or being casted -- by them. That’s when all my experiences that weekend culminated, and I knew what I was absolutely going to do.
So, this blog and Tumblr account (below) is the start of that journey for me. In it, I’m going to be making weekly posts about my progress from Diamond to Grand Masters. I hope you find it not only interesting, but also inspiring. To all of you out there with the same goals, there is no shame in pursuing what you’re passionate about! By the end of the year, I hope to qualify for the main brackets of MLG Providence. If anything, I hope that my experiences, my posts, and my games can be used by other people with similar goals. Thanks for reading, and until next Thursday, take care!
Tumblr: http://servatose.tumblr.com/
