EPTThis basically are my reasons and the things that I'm planning for progaming. Maybe you want to follow me, maybe you want some input for your own decision to delve into progaming or maybe .. you just like blogs? Have fun with the rather lenghty read!
![[image loading]](http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/4475/avasmallz.jpg)
Who I am
My Name is Julian, I'm currently 23 years old, living in Berlin, Germany. When Starcraft II got released (I haven't participated in the Beta), I instantly placed into platinum and ~20 games later into Diamond - with my Brood War Background helping me out, I made swift improvements and decided to do something that I found really interesting at that time - writing guides about Starcraft II in the german language.
They got quite popular (You might argue that thats only because of the lack of competition back in the days :-P), Blizzard made me an MVP in the Forums and I continued to play, write Guides and teach Starcraft II - after I've placed in the GML I felt quite comfortable, thinking that I had achieved anything I need and want to achieve, until I decided that ... well ... I want to build up on that solid foundation and try to get into fulltime SC2.
Currently I'm a Protoss Player in the Grand Masters League.
Why?
A lot has happened in the last couple of months, most importantly, a good friend of mine commited suicide. A heavy blow. In the aftermath of that Event I started to ask myself the questions that are probably haunting everybody that comes into touch with something like that. "Am I happy with my life?", "Could I ever do something like that?" and more importantly "Assuming I would die ... would I be happy with what I have achieved?". Surprisingly, that last question lingered in my mind for day after day, torturing me with the question how I see my life. Sure, I have a job, did well in school and are in a safe environment for the next couple of years, but is that really something, that ignites my passion? Is my Job something that I can dedicate my heart and my soul to?
The answer to that question - after long nights of thinking - was "No, I cannot".
I'm comfortable doing it, but when I have the opportunity to taste something extraordinary, something that truly is my passion, then I should give it a shot, at least for a year or two, don't you think?
Why I love the Idea of Progaming
Alright, the juicy part - as I've tried to reasonably think about my future, I was also thinking about why I want to do this and here is a small list of things that gave me this feeling of "Yes, I want it".
Being competitive is something that is often overlooked by people who aren't really playing games. For them its only clicking the mouse, hitting buttons and playing Chess on crack, but the true fascination comes from the fact, that there are two humans involved. Playing a game of Starcraft II is mental warfare - your own skill, intelligence and endurance is put to a test against the same attributes of your enemy. Carefully analyzing his strenghts and weaknesses you are forced to make meaningful decisions in the blink of an eye, trying to outsmart and outthink your opponent - this is what truly keeps me playing.
Crossing borders is the best way to talk about the next point on my list - whenever I browse TL I'm amazed by the fact how many people are brought together by a game. Regardless of age, nationality the school you've attended or anything else you get in touch with the world and are able to experience a lot of different cultures. Gaming is global and being global is amazing.
Teaching is another huge part for me - you see, when I was younger I always wanted to become a teacher, but because the world doesn't always work out as you want it to, I started to suffer from a serious speaking disorder which made me unable to speak for a couple of years - good luck becoming a teacher this way. As I'm still recovering I start to be able to speak normally and with that I was able to establish myself as a known coach in germany who's not only able to play the game but also to teach in a useful manner.
Preparation may sound odd at first, but its actually important - it is absolutely entertaining for me to prepare for certain matches, maps or - regarding the ladder - at least match-ups. Finetuning strategies, carefully evaluating what should be made when is something that I really like and something that really keeps me thinking about Starcraft II basically fulltime.
Being exposed is something thats important for me and was also one of the reasons why I wanted to become a teacher. Being in front of an audience is fun for me - be it a room full of people or a stream, thus I feel that I will be able to fulfill the things that are neccesary to support myself with joy and ease.
Allright Felo, what are your plans?
Currently I'm under a contract of employment until march of next year and as I'm reasonable most of the time I decided that I will take the timespan until then to decide if things can work out for me as a fulltime player or not. The two most important things for me obviously are "Can I support myself?" and "Can I maintain the drive neccessary to survive in the world of progaming?". Those are the two things that I want to put to test in the future and heres how:
Playing is something obvious, duh.
Streaming is one of the greatest ways to get your name out there and known, so its absolutely natural for me to give that a more serious shot than before. I currently started to stream about 3-4 Hours per workday and as much as possible on the weekend - if you are interested, give it a shot! (More about that later). (Oh, just to be save - I'm practicing more than 3-4 hours a day, but I'm not streaming all of that, because when I really practicing and improving, then I want to focus on that ^^).
Coaching is another way for me to fulfill one of my needs - teaching people - and make some money to create funds for my startup in the progaming scene, if it should happen. Up to now I have only coached german people, but in the near future I plan to raffle away some free coaching hours to english people to get showcases for the international community (More details about those raffles will be given in the next couple of days).
My Youtube channel is something that I'm not sure about. Up to now I have only made videos and guides in the german language, on top of that my speaking disorder is still noticeable, so I'm not sure where I want to go with that. As there are already a lot of english guide makers, commentators and a like I think that its unneccessary to go into that direction, but I was thinking about making First Person VODs from my GML Protoss Games with english commentary about what I'm doing and why. Is that something that people would watch? Have a poll!
+ Show Spoiler [Give me your opinion, please!] +
So yeah, thats basically everything thats going on right now - I want to continue playing, aiming for tournaments and a like to get competitive, want to stream as much as possible to get my name out there, giving me options to get into negotiations and some other stuff, thats based upon how the community reacts to it.
Ways to support me?!
Onwards to the part that I'm a little bit ashamed of. As making a living off of SC2 is a lot about being known (aside from being a good player) I would be really grateful if you would try me out, watch my stream and see if you can bear me!
My Stream can be found here and will be on for about 3-4 Hours a day with english commentary, music and user interaction. I'm always very open to answer question, show replays again and explain what happened and generally making the stay as enjoyable for you as possible.
I got my hands on an US-Account, so I will be able to do things like Team Games, Viewer FFAs and similar things on both EU and US, so there should be no national barrier
If you are interested in following me and getting notified when things are happening, then there are two obvious tools for that: Twitter and Facebook. Please bear in mind that there is a lot of old content in german, but everything new will be posted in english - so don't surf away in agony when there are strange, german words on your screen!
Something else?
No, not really. I want to play the game, I want to share it with you and if everything works out and I have the chance to, then I want to go full time - if you want to join me on my journey and are interested in helping me to achieve that goal, then please feel free to do so - every little message, view on my Twitch.tv-Channel or anything else you can come up with is appreciated.
I'm always open for discussion, suggestions, flames or a little chat, so send me a PM if you feel like it!
