This 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!
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!
Your vote: Would you watch GML P First Person VODs?
(Vote): Yes (Vote): No (Vote): I hate Protoss (Vote): Why am I here?
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!
See, I can respect this "going pro" post. He already has a reputation, already coaches people, and is at least in GM league. Unlike all these, "I'm #3 diamond US after 8 months of playing, I think if I spend more than 8 hours a day playing I can be a pro easily" posts.
Congrats on making that decision, and I hope you stick with it and make it big.
Here I was expecting another "hi i am rank 4 platinum, i want to quit my job and go pro," but it seems like you're already well on your way to your (actually feasible) goal. Go all the way, man. Much respect for you for pursuing your passion.
Up until now I've only played some small playhem cups and alikes, nothing too exciting to tell from that yet ^^ (I hate listing non meaningful stuff like "Finished second/third place in online cup nobody cares about").
But this step obviously also requires me to participate in tournaments and I will start to do so as much as it fits my schedule.
On October 20 2011 23:12 Felo wrote: Up until now I've only played some small playhem cups and alikes, nothing too exciting to tell from that yet ^^ (I hate listing non meaningful stuff like "Finished second/third place in online cup nobody cares about").
But this step obviously also requires me to participate in tournaments and I will start to do so as much as it fits my schedule.
Well if you want to get into a good team, or get picked up by a good team rather, that's the way to get your name out there. ^^ Good team = sponsors = more money so you don't have to worry about streaming and coaching.
You seem like a very thouhtful and self reflecting (??) person. I wish you best of luck for this step which sure requires a lot of courage and discipline.
Bookmarked your stream and will try to check it out every now and then
Really nice post! I agree with everyone else saying its refreshing to read one of these posts with the author actually putting in the effort to attain goals. I will definitely tune in to your stream and watch you grow as a player. Goodluck dude~
Very refreshing to see someone who actually understand the risks and how much work it takes and has some skill at the game make a 'going pro' post.
I will watch when I see you on for sure, good luck - you are braver than I am!
If you don't mind me asking, what type of career do you currently have? Is it something that if you fall out of for a year or several years to play you can get back into if need be?
You should probably make a conscious effort to save as much as you can at your current job before doing anything, because I think you're overestimating how much you can make through gaming, even when you include coaching and streaming. You're gm at least, so youre already better skillwise than 95% of the dumbasses who make blogs like this, but there's still lots of hurdles (but you seem to be fairly aware of them)
tourny winnings are not much outside of the top 50, definitely not enough to support yourself exclusively on gamign. You'd obviously want to get on a team with a salary, but unless you're very, very good or extremely well known in the community as a whole (not just germany, but that does help), your value is not terribly high.
even though there's a lot of english streams and coaches already and you're more comfortable in german, the fact is that there is a MUCH larger pool of potential viewers and customers if you start doing some english stuff. dont abandon the german stuff entirely, because you can carve a nice little niche there (it seems like you have already and that's a definitely plus as far as marketing yourself, which you seem to understand), but there's just far more english speaking people than german.
the ulimate question, as far as streaming and coaching, etc, is what do you offer that the everyone else doesnt? How do you differ from those guys, and how do you plan on letting people know you exist?? This is almost always the hardest question to resolve (it's the same exact thing for small business too!)
It's probably best to treat it as a 2nd job until you're absolutely sure you can support yourself 100%, and even then youve gotta think, how long can you run with it?? It's probably not worth quitting your job entirely, but you sound like a smart dude and you've got potential. goodluck
Hey Felo good blog! You can really get noticed by placing high in Online Tourneys and then on nearby events for you, like Dreamhack and ESL. I hope everything goes well in you progaming attempt, you got everything to get there! Good luck!
Extremely well written. I've read a few "going pro" posts before but yours seems more realistic. I wish you the best of luck! I will most certainly tune into your stream
@mizU - absolutely true! I will try to put some results together that actually represent that I'm capable of doing something.
@Harrad - Thanks a lot!
@Tbone - I honestly don't get what you want to tell me with that. I've watched it, I got to GML with ~800 games played in total and decided to take the next step, so basically I'm not even interfering with the guidelines he gave.
@Tyri - Thanks a lot! I hope you enjoy what you see on my stream ^^
@eXigent - Thank you! I really hope my growth keeps up to your expectations.
@ReachTheSky - I will just stick to your name, okay? ^.^
@thesideshow - I'm flattered!
@Matkap - I hope so as well, fighting~!
@Charger - Being brave has a lot of faces, I'm sure that you excel in things that I wouldn't even dream of doing! Thanks for your kind words. I'm currently working as an Applications Engineer, so one or two years off can be tricky. But as I'm planning to get into tutoring in rl as well, I got a backup plan for that as well.
@mbr2321 - I'm staying a free agent as long as I'm not getting the offer by a team that can actually help me with my goals, so no worries! (Call me selfish but I have a lot of stuff going on, so I want my time in SC2 fully focused on my growth as a player).
@Hawk - Thanks for your well thought out response! I'm not really overestimating it, as long as I can pay for my small flat and food I'm actually fine (And my girlfriend is really supportive when it comes to my goals), so I just hope to "pay the bills" without getting rich.
As said, I'm currently evaluating if I'm able to support me this way - if not, I will live with SC2 as an hobby and give up my hopes of competing on the highest levels - reality isn't always what we want it to be ^^
@Shuray - Thanks for pointing that out! I will definitely try to post some good results on online cups to solidify my vita.
I like it! When I saw the blog title I thought "-_-' here we go again..." but turns out you're actually a good player already, which is great news because it means you can actually do well! Hurray for Felooooo!!!
I was surprised at how well thought out your post was Kinda refreshing to see something like this that's well grounded in reality. Good luck with your endeavors. I'll make sure to give your stream a go
@marttorn - Thanks a lot, hopefully I can make that work ^^
@Probe1 - I'm very grateful for that, thanks for stopping by, it means a lot to me.
@Anuzi - Aww, thank you! Hopefully it is something for you!
@Swwww - Actually I'm done with the "get a job" thing and sitting in one - but I would like to try out something else. I'm still grateful that you are caring for me! :-P And if you consider enjoying life to the fullest as a waste, then, well, our concepts of life simply differ.
Rock it Felo, and keep on the good work you did all this time... ppl like you made me get deeper into SC2 and stay with it. (on a waaaay lower level :-) )
Thanks to you two! I'm doing my best to get to that goal, I promise!
And apart from that I'm currently practicing to talk while playing to give you guys some insight into how I play - hopefully that makes my stream more attractive!
It's good to finally see someone of substance attempt this. Most people who blog about this are generally between bronze and diamond and honestly have no shot.
It's a big decision to make, what do your family think about this? Do you have any backup plans just in case this doesn't work?
It's a big decision to make, what do your family think about this? Do you have any backup plans just in case this doesn't work?
he has a job until march by contract.
GL! Felo fighting! As much as I hate "going pro" blogs, you're not misguided, you're making responsible choices (not quitting a job, etc), and you're GM already. Best of luck.
@inbox24 - My Father is really supportive about this, he literally told me that I should do it, because if the chance has passed, getting back into normal life is quite easy, whereas its incredibly hard to get another chance for something that you really want. My Mother is really simple in the way that she says that I should go for it, when theres money to support myself ^^
My Backupplan is that I will keep my job when things don't work out, so I have a span of nearly 6 months to see if I can achieve what I'm hoping for .. or not.
@N.geNuity - Thank you very much! I know that there are a lot of those blogs out there, thats why I actually made an effort to explain everything that I think about it (...maybe to inspire other people to overthink their own choice? ^^)
@John Madden - Thank ou! I'm trying my best to be that guy for you (and myself, obviously).
This is a great read, going through all the "i wanna be pro" posts around and still seeing where I could be. I'm only 17 (18 next month) still in college and I don't believe I'll be able to make it pro anytime soon. I only rake in about 4-5 hours a WEEK. But StarCraft is something that excites me, just like when I was into football. I played for 5 years and I even tried out for Nationals (Philippine team). The main thing I wanna ask about is, would you think it viable to actually spend time in playing StarCraft to strengthen my play when I wanna actually invest time into the game, which is right after college in a year and a half? Like securing my spot for later on and all that.
I'm sort of known to show a great hunger and passion to learn when it comes to things that excite me (football and StarCraft), over time I get better but then the hard work area tops off. For football, it was probably because I wasn't playing with better people, just the same set of people every other day.
Might have more to say I guess? But I'm sorta writing a research paper about esports and I took a break reading all these stuff. Haha.
At first I was like, "Oh, so these blogs are still floating around"; but, after skimming through everything you wrote there is some actual credibility for once. A welcome change.
Anyway, good luck because you are definitely going to need it.
HotS is right around the corner and judging from the new units. Blizzard did it again. Everything we once knew is obsolete.
The main thing I wanna ask about is, would you think it viable to actually spend time in playing StarCraft to strengthen my play when I wanna actually invest time into the game, which is right after college in a year and a half? Like securing my spot for later on and all that.
Honestly I'm not really sure what you really want to ask - if you want to pick up SC2 more seriously, then yes, you should definitely invest more time into it ^^
A lot of people overestimate the time thats neccesary to practice SC2 or just duck away from the time that they could spend on SC2. If you sit at the computer 2-3 Hours a day, then you already have a lot of time at your hands, that you could use to get up into masters league or even GML, depending on how resilient you are with your practice schedule (In which league are you now?
At first I was like, "Oh, so these blogs are still floating around"; but, after skimming through everything you wrote there is some actual credibility for once. A welcome change.
Anyway, good luck because you are definitely going to need it.
HotS is right around the corner and judging from the new units. Blizzard did it again. Everything we once knew is obsolete.
I would say that a new environment should even make it easier to get into the competition, because theres a new set of rules that helps you not playing against strategies that have been done and practiced for weeks and weeks.
@similie: yeaah, i finish barely before 19. haha. grade school + high school = 10 years here. and then my computer science course is 3 years and 3 months. and i'm already second year college.
@Felo: well, i'm Computer Science, i spend around 6 hours a day. not just playing SC2 though. but most of my time is spent off-game, reading and watching. i just got into applying things, i'm a silver hoping to jump to plat (been winning against alot of them). and i'm getting a new account, so i really hope i'm plat worthy. something I need right now though is a razer BW (saving up for one) and i'm on a mac, so the best i can play without lag is on lowest. but i hope to hit plat anytime soon. haha.
@thundrshock - Well then just go for it and keep playing! <3 As you are not sacrificing anything you should just play as much as you feel like and see where it brings you. SC2 is a great game even without breaking through the roof immediatly.
Small update: I played in the Dreamhack Qualifiers today and things went quite well. I've beaten a couple of high GML guys and a couple of pros, also met several known guys in the ladder these days <3
I really hope I make it to Dreamhack, less sleeping, more practicing! (I feel like dying, working 8 hours a day, playing 7-8 hours per day and sleeping the spare hours XD but damn, I love the progress I'm making and its so worth it ...)
EPT![[image loading]](http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/4475/avasmallz.jpg)
Kinda refreshing to see something like this that's well grounded in reality. Good luck with your endeavors. I'll make sure to give your stream a go 
