|
So today I got my housing information about college in the mail, and found out my roommate, the suite I will be living in, and my parking pass. Turns out my roommate is the type of person who gets trashed everyday and smokes a ton (i requested non-smoking..). I however, am nothing like this, in fact, I see no similarities.
Before I continue, I should provide you with some information about myself..
I am an 18 year old guy that has begun to take gaming extremely seriously within the past 4 or 5 years. I spend some time with friends and such, but most time is spent with my younger brother and family. I am only a platinum league zerg at the moment, but i can say with 100% confidence that if my parents gave me a year or so to prove to myself and them how great I can become at SC2, then maybe they won't send me off to hell for 4 years..However, my parents won't allow that..
Since I have become active in the Starcraft 2 community, (i used to play WoW.. yes, i know..) I have always had this extreme passion and motivation to become a pro gamer. Now please hear me out.. I am not just some nerd sitting in a room dreaming to himself, I know with about a year's worth of extreme practice and hard work I can make it happen (I'm nearly diamond right now as it is).
The thing is...
I really don't want to go off to college.. my social skills aren't terrible.. but they are not that perfect either. I am very outgoing but only around people whom of which are like myself, and it seems in today's society everyone is just concerned about drinking and having sex (college - aged kids of course). I am not like that at all and feel uncomfortable in these situations..
So I guess what I'm asking here TL is, what the hell should i do? 
Regards,
Joe "MASSivez" Perello
 
|
Go to school, play sc effectively in your spare time.
I'll just be really honest here, if you are a platinum zerg now, you require an absurd amount of practice if you wan't to be even close to "pro" level, and honestly its not worth it compared to going to school. As for your roommate, try to get a transfer?
|
I won't be able to find myself like any time for gaming within the 4 years of college.. and by the time I'm out, everything I've done so far will be useless..
|
I can't transfer my roommate for at least 2 weeks into college, and I know how much practice would be involved.
|
If one thing is true college kids will always find time for doing the stuff they want to do.
But in general just try and make the best of it perhaps join a gaming club at your university and meet some fellow gamers.
|
On July 08 2011 04:29 MASSivezTV wrote:
I won't be able to find myself like any time for gaming within the 4 years of college.. and by the time I'm out, everything I've done so far will be useless..
If you are as anti-social as you say you are, then yes you will find time to play sc.
|
If I go to college I would have to force myself to be social, otherwise I would feel like an outcast, the college i would be going to is Division1 in sports and theres like no gamers there..
|
On July 08 2011 04:32 MASSivezTV wrote:
I can't transfer my roommate for at least 2 weeks into college, and I know how much practice would be involved.
Don't stress so much about it just because he like different thing then you doesn't mean you won't have anything in common with him
|
Go to college and play SC2 in your spare time. Anybody can find 2 hours per day to play (or do something else). It is very important that you don't commit to being a pro before you are effectively winning LANs and online tourneys. College is a great place to meet like minded people, and you will certainly be able to find some people to practice with. This could be a great place for you to hone your SC2 skills, and it's also going to give you the skills and qulaifications to deal with the 99% chance that you aren't going to be a rich and famous SC2 pro.
|
On July 08 2011 04:33 MASSivezTV wrote:
If I go to college I would have to force myself to be social, otherwise I would feel like an outcast, the college i would be going to is Division1 in sports and theres like no gamers there..
LOL now you're just being silly, EVERY COLLEGE IN THE FUCKING WORLD has its gamers breh, where are you going?
|
What college are you going to?
|
the gamers at Monmouth University are Xbox nerds....
Have you been to a d1 school lol?
|
When did you start playing SC2? Have you played BW before SC2 came out? Even then, as an ex-BW player you definitely shouldn't be in Platinum. I don't see how one more year with the 4-5 years of competitive gaming you have experienced can make a difference if you are only in Platinum.
|
On July 08 2011 04:36 edc wrote:
When did you start playing SC2? Have you played BW before SC2 came out? Even then, as an ex-BW player you definitely shouldn't be in Platinum. I don't see how one more year with the 4-5 years of competitive gaming you have experienced can make a difference if you are only in Platinum.
I began playing RTS about 8 months ago, extremely casually.
|
On July 08 2011 04:35 MASSivezTV wrote:
the gamers at Monmouth University are Xbox nerds....
Have you been to a d1 school lol?
I do go to a d1 school, granted it does have over 40k students, but If you think your school of 5k+ students has NO sc2 players, you are quite mistaken. They are probably just casuals, but most casuals are plat/diamond anyway, which is perfect for you.
|
my school is extremely small, and I've looked around I'm telling you there is none.
not to mention its like a 3:1 girl to guy ratio
|
Katowice25012 Posts
How do you know your roommate gets trashed every day and smokes "a ton"? You're being pretty mean to a guy you have never met.
On July 08 2011 04:29 MASSivezTV wrote:
I won't be able to find myself like any time for gaming within the 4 years of college.. and by the time I'm out, everything I've done so far will be useless..
There is no other place in the world you are going to find more time to game. I don't know where you get this idea that college is hell, but its totally wrong. You sound like the kind of guy who is going to benefit a lot from living around other people your age on your own.
|
We spoke about it Heyoka.
|
I'll be honest here dude, there are people who are in high masters spending 4-8 hours everyday trying to be decent enough to even think about going pro and they are NOT gonna cut it.
Stay in school, learn some social skills and grow up a bit. It's the better route.
|
On July 08 2011 04:27 MASSivezTV wrote:
I am an 18 year old guy that has begun to take gaming extremely seriously within the past 4 or 5 years. I spend some time with friends and such, but most time is spent with my younger brother and family. I am only a platinum league zerg at the moment, but i can say with 100% confidence that if my parents gave me a year or so to prove to myself and them how great I can become at SC2, then maybe they won't send me off to hell for 4 years..However, my parents won't allow that..
And rightfully so.
Since I have become active in the Starcraft 2 community, (i used to play WoW.. yes, i know..) I have always had this extreme passion and motivation to become a pro gamer. Now please hear me out.. I am not just some nerd sitting in a room dreaming to himself, I know with about a year's worth of extreme practice and hard work I can make it happen (I'm nearly diamond right now as it is).
I don't want rain on your parade but I play roughly 10 hours of SC2 a week and I'm a high Masters player. Granted, anyone can become pro with enough practice but you should take a step back and look first, at how saturated the player base is already. Second, even the best of the best, players like IdrA, make relatively little compared to motivated college students who apply themselves.
The thing is...
I really don't want to go off to college.. my social skills aren't terrible.. but they are not that perfect either. I am very outgoing but only around people whom of which are like myself, and it seems in today's society everyone is just concerned about drinking and having sex (college - aged kids of course). I am not like that at all and feel uncomfortable in these situations..
That's what college is all about. That is, growing up and learning how to live with people of all backgrounds. And no, not every college student is concerned solely with drinking and having sex.
To put it nicely, you sound like a very sheltered person and this would do you loads of good.
|
United States7481 Posts
are you the same massivez from wow? who did 3s w/ brogo & snutz
|
Funny enough my roomate last year (my first year), was also a mad stoner (although we each had our own rooms so I never smelled it much, and I'm a non-smoker), he was also a really nice dude, so at least wait till you meet him.
|
Calgary25981 Posts
I think you need a little bit of a reality check. You are extremely outgoing? You can become a progamer? You just said most of your time is spent with your family and you are Platinum.
I think you should honestly try having an open mind and embrace living with someone who will show you another side of life. 
|
Let me lay out how much time college will take you.
Arts program:
15hrs/week classes, maybe 5hrs/week other work.
Science program:
~20hrs/week classes, about 8-10hrs/week other work.
And that's if you do every bit of reading or problem sets etc and attend every class, which just about no one actually does.
You'll have time to play SC2, don't worry about it.
Also why are you sure you could be a pro in a year if you're in platinum right now? I play casually maybe an hour or two every couple days and I'm in masters, I'm also pretty much certain that there's no way I would be good enough to be a pro in any reasonable timeframe. To be a pro a year from now you'll have to be better than most Koreans, which means not only do you have to close the already huge skill gap between you, but you'll have to do so at such a pace that you improve faster than these already incredibly talented players who are practicing 10hrs+ per day. I'd try to be a bit more realistic if I were you.
|
Go to college, it isn't just about the social scene, it's about improving the quality of the rest of your life.
As for your roommate, set down some rules at the start of the year in writing. Make one copy for safe keeping and post one copy in the room. If he starts breaking them go to the Dean of Students with the extra copy and a write-up of how he broke the rules you two set. You'll get a room transfer no problem (this happened for me, but I was the party person constantly being lockrd out and passive-aggressively attacked by my more conservative roommate).
However, I think you'll find college is not like high school and that your social life will flourish and you'll make tons of friends, try your first drink, and get your roomie to watch sc2 games with you. Just give him, college and yourself a chance
|
I had more time to game going to a top big10 school than I ever did before... If you can't game while going to school, you have a lot of time management issues on your hand and it wouldn't really matter what you do.
If you decide to game instead of go to school, you'll end up regretting it 5-10 years down the road and we'll be in tough spot to change it.
You also have college all wrong... It's like you're only idea of it has come from an american pie movie. You should really go see what it's like for a year or two. College is 100% what you make of it.
|
I don't want to seem to be beating a dead horse, but seriously, go to college.
In the end, the experiences you have in college will be the best of your life. However, it will be a negative experience if you go in extremely pessimistic (as you seem to be). Perhaps use college as a way to break out of your shell, and put yourself in new, and even awkward situations, nothing terrible will come of it, and who knows, you may even have some fun.
Take it from me, I'm a senior in college and went into it scared. I was sheltered, and pretty much a huge video game nerd. I had the same pipe dreams of being "pro". It wasn't until college that I realized you could have fun outside of a game, and that the real world is in fact pretty fucking awesome. So, as Riku suggested, talk to people, have a drink, and most of all, just enjoy yourself.
|
Well it has all been mostly said, but you can literally just sit in your dorm, do well in school and have quite a bit sc2 time. Its a little selfish of you to not consider your parent's dreams to not even consider studying a bit.
From my personal life: I have a small delusion that I can go pro at sc2. Like yea that possibility is always there, what won't always be there is the support from my family/parents, so I'm hitting the books and making sure I learn the material and receive sufficient grades, and the rest of my time goes to sc2. Life is about balance no?
|
I'm at an extremely hard/prestigious college in the UK, with a reputation for having an unreasonable workload including Saturday lectures, and even doing all the work I should be plus revision I still had a few hours a day for SC playing and VODS. I used the time that other people would go out drinking or on social events/sports/clubs with. The college even has a policy against cooking for yourself or part-time jobs even during vacations.
Your college workload will be much less than mine so you will have correspondingly more time.
|
I admire your sentiments, but you will have much more time then you realize in college. College is all about time management, if you can work effectively enough, you'll have plenty of free time for SC2, especially if your not interested in being social outside of the internets (sorry if that's the wrong impression).
+ Show Spoiler [story] +
An old roomate and I live fairly close to one another, I asked him if he wanted to go to concert a few weeks ago, his response, "I donno man I'm busy as hell between work and all my other shit". I told him the concert wasn't until Sept, well into the semester; his response, "Oh then good chance I'm in, I should have plenty of free time". If I had to guess, it would appear you may not have held a full-time job yet, but that is much worse then any "lack of time" you'll have in college. (This of course speaks only to undergrad, grad school is a completely different animal)
My freshman year had me paired up with someone who was mostly the complete opposite, myself being more akin to yourself and he being more similar to your soon-to-be roomate. As long as he respects the choices you make and you respect the choices he makes, you shouldn't have much of a problem.
Maybe try compromising with them by asking them to let you pursue gaming for a year if you think that's all you would need in order to get results that would allow your parents to be ok with you not attending college, and if you aren't successful then accept their wishes and go. In the grand scheme of things, going to college a year later is not going to ruin your life, and it may actually help you in the long run.
With all that said, if you really don't want to go to college, you may want to sit down and try to have a discussion with your parents as to why. Honestly, saying you don't want to go to school to attempt to become a progamer sounds like a terrible argument, but I'm not going to judge you on your aspirations, if you think you can do it more power to you. If this is the case, you need to approach the discussion not from the angle of gaming. Most parents won't be receptive to this kind of reasoning. I'll leave you to decide the way you want to approach it, but college is certainly not for everyone, and although the US perpetrates the belief that you must go to college to be successful or survive in the real world, this isn't the case.
+ Show Spoiler [Side note] +If your parents are going to be paying for your education, I would take it. If for nothing else, just for the experience and learning you will do as a college student in general can be invaluable. On the other hand, if you'll be taking out loans and paying them back yourself, then as an adult (assuming your over 18) it's your decision as to whether or not you should be undertaking debt for something you're really not interested in doing in the first place. Be aware though, taking the angle of my loans, my decision can also result in parents feeling like it's then their decision to kick you out of their house. I've seen this happen to more then a few people who don't follow their parents wishes once they're of age
|
I think it was on State of the Game where Tyler said it best - going pro isn't for everyone. The best way to tell is to look at where you stand while gaming only in your free time. So go to school, and game on the side. Ignore your social life, for the sake of SC2 for a little bit. If you can hit North American Grandmasters gaming part time (~20-30 hours a week), you can probably afford to devote more time (40+ hours, a full time jobs worth) to it and truly "go pro." If you're only platinum, and you say you've been working hard, pro-gaming probably isn't for you.
Go to school man, take some classes, find what you like. There are ways to contribute to esports that dont involve playing - take journalism classes, broadcasting, business, whatever, and see what you like best.
|
On July 08 2011 04:42 Antoine wrote:
are you the same massivez from wow? who did 3s w/ brogo & snutz
I am not lol
|
Don't want to crush your spirits or anything, but I think trying to make a professional career out of gaming (let's say it's SC2 for now) when you're at levels below thousands of others who play it semi-casually is a bad idea.
Just get over that hump, stay open-minded to new ideas/career paths, meet new friends, and play games too - and you'll have a good time in college.
|
This blog made me lol.
I think you have a very skewed view of what college is, and of yourself. Some time experiencing the real world would be excellent for you. Your parents are doing you a favor-- go 'suffer' through college and become a better person.
You will have plenty of time for gaming.
You will hopefully develop some useful life skills.
You will hopefully develop some useful job skills.
You will learn to get along with other people, and/or negotiate getting away from other people.
You will hopefully develop a more accurate sense of self.
(edit) P.S. If you actually have the skill and dedication to become a progamer, going to college is certainly not going to prevent that. If you don't going to college will hopefully remove these illusions from you.
|
On July 08 2011 04:42 Chill wrote:I think you need a little bit of a reality check. You are extremely outgoing? You can become a progamer? You just said most of your time is spent with your family and you are Platinum. I think you should honestly try having an open mind and embrace living with someone who will show you another side of life.
Im outgoing with the people I am comfortable around, like in high school i had no problem at all because i was with those people for around 13 years of my life.
As far as me being able to become a pro gamer, yes. If you know me you would know that I have achieved greatly in the things I do in life when I put a lot of time into it. I do believe that I could apply the same mentality and skill into starcraft.
|
You'll be fine in college. everyone's nervous, but they usually have cheesy frosh-type events where you can find people. Just walking around and talking to randos, I can say there was a lot of variety. Even with that, later in the year came loads of opportunities to join clubs and meet people. If your roommate is like you said, definitely try to get a new one. I just hope your RAs aren't as bad as mine. As for the gaming, you can easily play a lot in university. As long as you're smart about the time you spend, it'll be fairly easy. I picked up BW around then and got to D+ on my spare time as well as playing lots of WC3, Civ3, AoE1, etc...and still had time to go to a music club and hang out with lots of people.
But yeah. To be terse, just try to experience as many things as you can in college.
|
lol. going to college ay. Trust me, u will love college life!
|
Your roommate is probably a cool guy. Don't dismiss him for such minor thinks as him drinking alcohol or smoking. By so casually dismissing people who have different interests than you, you REALLY limit your chances to have some AMAZING experiences.
Also, you'll have SO MUCH spare time. Last year was my junior year. I worked 25-30 hours a week, took 18 credit hours per semester, and still have more free time than at any other point in my life.
You'll be bored to tears if you go into it expecting school to take up all your time.
|
having shitty roommates comes with being in college.
My first roommate had rather extreme anger issues. I learned to love the CS computer lab that year...
My second roommate got trashed quite often and would fight with his girlfriend in the room all the time.
3rd year I finally got to live off campus, and am living in an apartment with friends, mostly fellow comp sci majors.
I've had tons of time to play video games. My grades arent amazing, and they probably could be if I studied my ass off instead of gaming it off, but you certainly will have the time to play sc2 and have a social life, (and study  )
|
Wow...just from the post you have that jaded view of college that people who are not very well to do socially seem to get from...movies? Tales? The internet?
Where exactly did you decide college is all sex/drinking?
Because if you're that inept (as you seem to claim) then believe me...those will not be concerns with you.
Also, considering how e-sports isn't a guarantee. I would highly suggest you not just shove college under the belt and act like your only interest should be gaming at a not even finished game (Two expansions and greedy corporate policies from Kotick could easily drive that game into the ground)
I'm sorry but you sound insanely naive.
I took 6 years after high school and traveled the country, partied, attempted to be a full time writer and then one day it clicked in my head how badly I wanted to get back into college. I spent my time between then learning from Khan, reading textbooks, and MIT courses online.
If you're seriously considering in the mindset college = "hell" (lol, try the military champ)
then you need some priority checks
|
There are people like you at your University. When I started college I seriously aspired and worked towards becoming a millionaire through developing multiple sources of income, and I found people like me. Trust me, you will be able to find gamers and people who aren't addicted to drugs, alcohol, and getting laid. A good thing to do is to find a group at your college that participates in an activity you enjoy. There might even be a group that plays Starcraft. There will probably be a day where all the groups go somewhere on campus with poster boards to recruit people. Check it out when that happens.
Also, study something that you love. If you are going to college as undecided or studying something you don't like your probably wasting your time. When you study something you love homework shouldn't be an issue and you will meet people with similar interests as you in your classes.
|
I'm coming in really late to the debate, but let me give you a few pieces of advice:
1) Talk to your roommate. I am very much like the way you describe yourself, and a lot of my best friends are relatively hardcore into the partying scene. I distance myself from it. Just because he loves to smoke/drink/etc doesn't mean he isn't a nice and reasonable guy. Heck, maybe that's just the persona he puts on to seem cool. It might be possible to send up some ground rules and keep that section of his life out of yours.
EDIT: I should mention that I did get somewhat into the partying scene because of my friends...and guess what? I loved it. I used to hang out with 5-6 friends every weekend, now I have 3-5 different places to choose from on a Saturday night. I enjoy a few drinks every now and then, and the situations that follow make it worth it every time. Partying looks bad from the outside, but trust me man, you'll find your way to do it and you will ENJOY it. The phrase let your hair down from time to time is cliche but so true.
2) The scenario above is admittedly unlikely. If he does turn out to be a dick, ask for a roommate transfer. Private colleges definitely tend to help out their students like that, especially opposed to public 40k people universities.
3) In regards to going to college, GET OVER IT! I don't care if it's "not for you" because the degree isn't for you either - it's for your parents and society! If you don't have at least a college degree - let alone masters - it is incredibly tough to get anywhere in this world without a genius IQ and a helluva lot of luck. College provides a TON of time for other activities - you can spend at least a couple hours a day gaming if you wish. Plus, you can socialize, pick up women, and basically find your niche in life. Who knows, maybe you'll end up getting a Ph D in German Classics because you find out you love them so much.
Most importantly, it's not like the best years of your life are behind you once college is over...you can hone your skills for 3-4 years, use summer as basically 3 months of sanctioned "nothing but SC2/games" time, and become a progamer when you graduate. Most progamers HAVE college degrees...Destiny, Incontrol, and Catz all mentioned they have degrees on their streams. Ever heard of the CSL? Tons of progamers such as DarkForce and Antimage are in college right now! Are you Idras skill level, so that you can ditch college and go straight to Korea? Well you're Platinum, so probably not...not to mention I have heard Idra plans on going back to college after his progaming career dies down. NesTea is what, 30? Going to college doesn't give up on your dreams, it hardly even delays them.
|
are we supposed to feel bad or something?
toughen up a bit.
|
I guess you guys are right, nevermind.
|
i guess you guys are right, nvm.
|
On July 08 2011 05:43 AwkwardGuy wrote:
I guess you guys are right, nevermind.
sorry this was me, didnt know i was on my other account
|
Good, he's going to hopefully teach you some things. Cherish it!
|
I think you are too worried. If your roommate always wants to be partying, then let him. If you aren't joining in then he is less likely to want to spend time hanging out in your dorm/suite with you anyway. He'll be off doing his own thing, and you can stay in and do your thing. You will have a lot of free time in college, especially if you aren't doing any extracurricular activities. You should have no problem getting all your school work done and still having time to play games for at least 5 hours a day. Class is only 3-4 hours a day, maybe 5 some days if you are only taking class 4 days a week. Unless you are attending a very difficult school or program, it will be a lot more relaxing than you are expecting. You don't need to socialize if you don't want to, go to class, come home, do work, play. Maybe you can even find some other SC2 players on campus that you can hang out with. talk about SC2 with and play with.
Edit: I didn't read anything besides the OP.
|
I find it funny that your other account's name is awkward guy.
|
On July 08 2011 04:52 MASSivezTV wrote:Show nested quote +On July 08 2011 04:42 Chill wrote:I think you need a little bit of a reality check. You are extremely outgoing? You can become a progamer? You just said most of your time is spent with your family and you are Platinum. I think you should honestly try having an open mind and embrace living with someone who will show you another side of life. Im outgoing with the people I am comfortable around, like in high school i had no problem at all because i was with those people for around 13 years of my life. As far as me being able to become a pro gamer, yes. If you know me you would know that I have achieved greatly in the things I do in life when I put a lot of time into it. I do believe that I could apply the same mentality and skill into starcraft.
I think most people are outgoing with people they are comfortable around...
This pro gamer infatuation on TL is really disturbing, every single pro ever asked the question always answers play in your spare time and if you can't get really damn good part time, going full time won't magically grant you crazy skills. The fact is that you won't become a pro gamer, you clearly aren't outgoing, and going to college is easily the best thing for you to do career wise and in terms of social life.
There will be plenty of kids just like you who are reluctant to become socially active in college and it's not difficult to figure out who they are. You're setting yourself up for failure with such an attitude, to be honest.
|
|
|
also socially active in college =/= drinking and one night stands, although its certainly one way to go about it
|
maybe you should be above platinum before thinking about going pro...
|
maybe you shouldnt post here?
|
On July 08 2011 07:46 MASSivezTV wrote:
maybe you shouldnt post here?
Why ask for advice if you are going to refuse to take any?
You're acting like a spoiled child that clearly has no idea what supporting yourself in the real world is like. I think you need to suck it up and grow up before you find yourself spending the rest of your life trying to become a "pro" in your mom's basement.
Sorry if that's harsh, but it seems like you need a serious wake up call, kid.
|
You'll have time to try to get "pro" in college lol. Try to get an off-campus apartment though, dorms aren't fun for anti-social people.
|
My roommate was a "typical fratboy" like you're describing and we didn't have a single fight the entire year, just give the guy space and he'll give you yours. And be sure to not make presumptions judgements, you REALLY don't want to get in a fight with your roommate or get on bad terms with them. Also, you can leach off of his social tendencies to make friends with his friends, I met 90% of my friends who didn't play Starcraft through my roommate in university. It's really not as bad as it seems, and plus you'll meet awesome girls. Chin up!
|
just play sc2 for fun and get a real job that can support your hobbies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
