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So you live in North America and you're thinking of taking a semester off of school to go play SC2 professionally?
Don't.
I've seen a lot of players/posts lately around the scene of kids considering taking a semester off of college university to pursue being a professional in Starcraft 2. I think this is a very poor decision at least for the current state of pro gaming in NA. It's not going to benefit you in the long run financially at all. Now first off I know the word 'Pro'/'Professional' is used lightly in SC2 ESPORTS. You could be a low-Grandmasters player on NA server making a few bucks a month off your stream and consider yourself a professional. For the sake of discussion, lets say you're taking a semester off of school to go pro to be a professional to ( = ) "Make A Living." I really feel that the majority of the people saying this "wanting to go pro" enjoy the idea of chasing this dream than actually doing it. In case you didn't know pro teams usually take a good 40-50% of your tournament winnings anyway. Remember you're an investment in their eyes, or should be anyways.
The data that I used for this discussion is from here: http://sc2earnings.com/?region=americas
I believe the data is accurate but slightly out-of-date and only includes winnings from major/minor tournaments. I'm not sure how accurate it is, however they do a better job than anywhere else. It's a good source to look at for the 12-18 months of SC2 winnings. I don't believe anything like training/stream revenue is involved as I'm pretty sure someone like Destiny is probably pulling in a nice amount of money every year with his stream.
Top 10:
1. HuK - 60K - Canada - Lives/Lived in Korea for a while now, been a serious RTS player for a long time. Has said many times he simply misses his friends/lifestyle. He's telling you its not worth it. Even with the money he makes it's not worth it. Here is the guy that will probably make over 100,000 in the next year, and besides the number 2 on the list, no other NA player is even in his league. Nobody works as hard as him to be a professional. He's fully right when he said everyone is lazy. Can anyone else think of anyone in NA who works as hard as him?
2. IdrA - 50K - United States - Former BW Korean b-team pro gamer. Lived in Korea for over a year. Probably makes 6 figs as well. Been a pro sc player for how many years now? Works extremely hard. I believe he gave up some scholarship for an engineering program or something like that at a university to continue playing professionally. Lived in an actual Korean pro gaming environment for years. Has anyone else in NA done this? Maybe Tyler? Not sure on anyone else. One of the true and few actual NA "Pro Gamers" in my opinion.
(huge money drop after this)
3. Fenix - 22K - Peru - Former BW pro. Now is on a Korean team living in a Korean house. Heard that story of him scamming out his teammate for a few grand after they agreed to split the finals winnings? True or not he's put in a lot of time to pro gaming in BW and SC2. 3rd place has only played 22k from pro events?
4. TT1 - 15K - Canada - Former BW pro, spent time in Korea, many many years of RTS experience.
5. Killer - 12K - Chile Don't really know much about him tbh.
6. Major - 11K - Mexico - I really feel bad for this kid. I don't know too much about him however I don't believe he is 18 yet. Did he drop out of high school? Attitude problems that nobody can disagree with. Has been on 3-4 different teams in the past year. Doesn't understand key aspects of pro gaming. Thinks its not a big team when team sends him to pro events and he doesn't even wear the team t-shirt. Not trying to make fun of him at all, however his English is extremely poor grammar. I know it's not his main language but you can tell there's a huge lack of communication and education with him. I'm not even trying to talk shit about him/criticize him. He will have a hard time finding a decent job if pro gaming doesn't work out for the rest of his life. That's fine if you have HuK's contract but he doesn't. I'm actually not sure how he makes money to be honest. I guess checksix salary or something?
7. Sheth - 11K - United States - I'd throw him into the 'actual SC2 pro gamer' section as well even though he hasn't made as much from tournaments. Been to Korea, I believe played BW.
8. Kiwikaki 10K Canada - Guy's rich from online poker, SC2 is just a hobby for him/side thing. Doesn't even do it for money. So he technically has a real job.
9. dde 10K Kor/Can/Us? - Not sure but I believe he is/was a university student? I believe born Korean, moved to NA.
10. qxc 7K United States/Spain? - In school while being a pro gamer. Remember someone saying he's actually from Spain? No idea at all. Been to korea.
Notables:
11. drewbie 5k United States & 12. CatZ 5K Peru - CatZ & drewbie. They get mad props for trying to do their own pro gaming team for so long. Not to many people truly realize how hard that is too pull off. They play a lot, former BW players, put in so much for the game. I'm sure they get decent money however only 5K each from tournament winnings? They stream a lot which should get them decent revenue coming in, however I don't think people realize how much SC experience that they have.
13. Slush 4K United States - How many top 16s of MLG's has this guy been in? Very talented player. One of the best in the U.S. and only 4K from tournament winnings? Not sure if he has other income or not.
21. rsvp 3K United States - Met him before, knows he has a real full time job.
23. Machine 3K United States - How long has this guy played SC for? Great player, however has only made 3K from SC tournaments? That doesn't seem like that number is correct however that's crazy for how good he is.
28. Gatored 2K Kor/US? - Not sure if he is a born NA player or not, but this guy has gotten really good at SC. He beat some big name players at IEM. Still, with him being a break out player, still not even.
45. TriMaster .5K US - I believe he did take a semester off of college, joined coL, got his name recognized and did extremely well at a MLG. Very talented NA player. Still so far away like the rest. Was it worth it?
Other Factors:
-Streaming. Someone like Destiny who might not have even made 1K yet on tournament winnings (just assuming could be 100% wrong) might make 100k just off Streaming. You're not Destiny. You won't get as popular as him. He started streaming very early in SC2. Before it really picked up/got popular. I believe for some other pros like CatZ/drewbie it helps them out a lot as well and is their primary source of income. (Once again just assuming, could be 100% wrong.) Also everyone knows IdrA/HuK get many 1000's viewers when streaming as well. I'm sure a few of these pros make a living off of streaming revenues. However unless you're some huge breakout star at a MLG like vileIllusion who I don't even think he broke 1k viewers yet, it won't happen.
-Team/Player contracts. I don't know all the details but besides maybe 4-5 players in the top 10 I can't image many other players getting more than 10K a year to play SC2. The biggest advantages for the player are probably when teams agree to fly/pay for you at big events. However there's not many NA gaming teams that can do this, and do this for all of their players.
-Training/Coaching. I'm sure players make decent money with their 25 dollars, 35 dollars, 40 dollars, etc coaching rates. However you can't always rely on this as consistent income. Also factor in that teaching takes away your time at getting better at this game.
-Gaming houses. Not living in a gaming house in NA? Then your chance of going pro is probably very low. Sitting in the same place that you always played SC2 in with all the distractions is going to make it very difficult to even get better. Are you going to say No to your real life friends that want to go out and see a movie with you or something? Probably not. If you're considering going pro at SC2 and don't have a gaming house to live in with other dedicated gamers then you've already failed. Even still of the few pro gaming houses in NA, they might not have dedicated maids to cook/clean for you while you can focus. You only option is probably the next option:
-Korea If you're going to go pro, you might as well just move to Korea for the semester. I don't know all the details but I'm sure you can live in the GOM pro player house for cheap. Not sure if its cheap just assuming, but its probably your best option. Not for just 3-4 weeks, for months, maybe even a year. Ready to say good bye to all your friends/family? Also its between 800-1800 to fly to Asia round trip usually.
Why you don't need to stop/quit school to go pro:
There's a lot of great pro NA players that are still full time students and do very well in the SC2 scene. It's not going to be worth it in the long run to try and go pro for 99% of the kids that are trying it. I'm 24 years old, I recently just graduated after 5.5 years of college with my Masters degree. A month out of school I already have a decent job lined up with a respectable salary. A starting salary that has me making more than probably 98% of so called ' sc2 pro gamers' in NA and I'm very happy at the moment. I'm certainly not bragging what-so-ever. I greatly respect anyone trying to pursue their dreams in life.
However you have to factor in what's realistic in this world. I love hockey, wanted to be a pro hockey player, grew up in a low-income family, couldn't afford hockey equipment, let go of the dream early on. I've used up so much of my childhood playing SC, WC3, Diablo, SC2. I loved every fucking minute of it and don't regret it at all. I'm decent at all these games. (Mid-High Masters in SC2). However it's just simply not worth it to try and go professional at this game for the current state of NA esports. If 12 Koreans weren't coming to all the big NA events, then maybe, however they're still dominating most of the events. HuK, IdrA, Sheth, and maybe 2-3 others are the only ones that could consistently beat Koreans.
-Get a University job. I had a decent internship, and a side job at the university doing student tech support for 3 years. Minimum wage, around 15 hours a week just deleting spyware from dumb girls laptops. It brought me around 280-350$ a month.
-I only give up one day a week for homework/assignments/study. Went to a completely average university, but studied/worked my ass off on Saturdays and came out with a final 3.5 gpa. It's not hard, just takes time. Taking one day off for this and 15 more hours during the week for classes won't hurt your SC2 gaming that much. It's just the average NA sc2 player is lazy.
-If you can't do good in college then you're probably too dumb to be a great SC2 player. IdrA's just a smart dude. Engineering scholarship? SC2 takes a lot of fast decisions, multi-tasking, a lot of strategy and thinking. You're probably not smart enough to go pro. I could be a borderline pro, and I don't even think as a high masters player that I have what it takes to be a pro gamer. Its mental toughness too.
-Join the CSL team at your university. Hell there's like over 350 teams now. Join/make a SC2 club. Have other help you get better and critique your game together.
How many players on that list are actual NA players? Taking a semester of college to go pro at SC2 gives you really low chances to succeed in that lifestyle. You can even have a sick MLG run and still only make a few hundred from that event.
Good luck to anyone trying to do this, however for 99% of you, you will fail financially in the long run. Don't worry, SC2, and esports will still be there when you've completed college. To be honest now that I'm done with college and have a job I don't even have the desire/interest to go pro anymore. Now that a decent 'real job' and 'average american money' is looking me in the face, I have no problem just jumping on at night and just playing 2-3 solos then going to bed. Also, of course watching all MLGs, they're still fucking fun as hell.
TLDR: Stay in school, in the long run it will benefit you more, get your degree ASAP, I think you're making a big mistake. At the current state of NA esports you won't make enough to live on your own. There's still ways to go pro while being at a university. The only players that should even think about stopping school for this are ones that are already making thousands from SC2 and that's probably less than 10-20 North American SC2 players anyway.
No need to flame, just my opinion from my experiences/observations. Please feel very free to comment on anything that I might be wrong on/your opinions. <3<3
EDIT: To be fair I did want to add something. I actually started college when I was 19, 1 year after highschool. I was fried after HS, typical nerd who played blizz games until 3 am. I simply wasn't ready for college and also didn't have a major/career choice yet. I actually encourage people to take a semester/year off before STARTING college to make sure your ready/know what you want. I just can't stand it when I see people in this community who are 1-2 years in already and think taking a semester off to play SC2 is going to be a great move. Thanks for reading all.
  
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- IdrA was in Korea for over 2 years.
- Fenix does NOT live in Korea, he was only there for about a month, he's back in Peru now
- Gatored is as white as you can possibly get (his name is Ben Brewer)
- KiWiKaKi's main focus is SC2, Poker is his side hobby.. except that he makes more money from his side hobby than his main one
fact fixing!
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its more like 3.5k round trip to seoul from nyc as i understand, but yeah don't drop out of school for sc2
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51391 Posts
just have to quote this because this is perfect.
On September 03 2011 02:38 Chill wrote:Show nested quote +Chill becomes the prime minister of Canada
Hey guys. Today I decided I'm going to become the prime minister of Canada. Follow my blog to watch me try my best! This is what I think when I see people opening threads about becoming a progamer. It's not a switch you flip and then go "okay, now I'm dedicating my life to this." If you weren't already playing at the high masters / grandmasters level and winning tournaments and playing 20 hours per week, you aren't even in a position to attempt to become a progamer. If you meet those criteria then I apologize, but I haven't see anyone making these threads meeting them.
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I don't think anyone literally quits school with the goal of making good money, so your argument is sort of a missfire. While I personally agree that taking time off from school to play SC2 professionally unless you're already ridiculously good is a bad idea, I doubt your article will sway anyone who is planning to do it.
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On January 03 2012 18:22 GTR wrote:just have to quote this because this is perfect. Show nested quote +On September 03 2011 02:38 Chill wrote:Chill becomes the prime minister of Canada
Hey guys. Today I decided I'm going to become the prime minister of Canada. Follow my blog to watch me try my best! This is what I think when I see people opening threads about becoming a progamer. It's not a switch you flip and then go "okay, now I'm dedicating my life to this." If you weren't already playing at the high masters / grandmasters level and winning tournaments and playing 20 hours per week, you aren't even in a position to attempt to become a progamer. If you meet those criteria then I apologize, but I haven't see anyone making these threads meeting them.
Funny, I easily am doing Starcraft related things for 8-12 hours a day, and 4-6 on school days.
Now if only I could manage to be focused for that entire time, perhaps it is my tender age that gives me some sort of young-mans-ADD, because most days I get in <10 ladder games, >20 practise games only.
However with my purchase of the TW client I will be isolated from friends and I find that I'm getting 30+ ladder games a day.
Am I going pro? Maybe, but I'm just a highschool student with a lack of focus.
My memory doesn't go very far back, but these past few days, I wake up at 11:00, eat breakfast, starcraft till 15:00, lunch, starcraft till 19:00, dinner, starcraft until 1:00-3:00.
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On January 03 2012 18:22 GTR wrote:just have to quote this because this is perfect. Show nested quote +On September 03 2011 02:38 Chill wrote:Chill becomes the prime minister of Canada
Hey guys. Today I decided I'm going to become the prime minister of Canada. Follow my blog to watch me try my best! This is what I think when I see people opening threads about becoming a progamer. It's not a switch you flip and then go "okay, now I'm dedicating my life to this." If you weren't already playing at the high masters / grandmasters level and winning tournaments and playing 20 hours per week, you aren't even in a position to attempt to become a progamer.If you meet those criteria then I apologize, but I haven't see anyone making these threads meeting them.
Hahhaha thankyou GTR for the quote and Chill for the post. I hadn't seen it before. Perfectly sums up the problem in these types of goals. When you read the highlighted part, you think to yourself 'how odd this needs to be stressed' and yet there you go.
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Actually clicked on this blog thinking it was another one of those blogs
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a lot of this is sad but true, dont give up on life to become a progamer basically, especially if you aren't already doing pretty well while juggling other things in life. I mean if its your dream and thats all you want in life, then go for it; but be wiling to pay the consequences when you sit and realize 10 years from now that it got you nothing. Up until about 2 years ago I bet thats how some BW players felt about it, but they played because they loved it and didn't care about money; then just luck boxed in sc2 and now can do it as a job ( idra).
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"however his English is extremely poor grammar." - Curious if that was a joke?
Not everyone is intelligent enough to be a University student, and perhaps they can't afford to either. This idea of yours "Fuck the dream, go to Uni" only works in an idealistic world.
And why can't they spend a year or two playing SC2 in their youth if it is their dream? You have like, 70 years on this earth. Spending 2.8% of that trying to chase your dream and make it a success is worth it. At least you can tell yourself you tried.
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qxc is not from spain. he is usa
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jesus suddendly we have people that know how i have been educated.... ya ok
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On January 03 2012 18:48 HuK wrote:
a lot of this is sad but true, dont give up on life to become a progamer basically, especially if you aren't already doing pretty well while juggling other things in life. I mean if its your dream and thats all you want in life, then go for it; but be wiling to pay the consequences when you sit and realize 10 years from now that it got you nothing. Up until about 2 years ago I bet thats how some BW players felt about it, but they played because they loved it and didn't care about money; then just luck boxed in sc2 and now can do it as a job ( idra).
also, no foreigners made money in BW, getting $50 per month to play was sick-awesome. Top foreigners like White-Ra and IefNaij were making a whopping $300-400 per month. DAMNNNNNNNNNNN
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but..... ESPORTS!!
... right?
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As realistic as this thread is and while the advice is sound, its still complete horse excrement. what if all the people you listtened to the OP's viewpoint. Yeah, obviously dont throw your life down the drain for a miscalculated dream of being a pro gamer. You should work toward whatever you think you'd be great at in my opinion.
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This is actually a nice blog to read, pros posting gives a lot of insight. I hope people think more before attempting to "go pro". 
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On January 03 2012 19:23 Xeris wrote:Show nested quote +On January 03 2012 18:48 HuK wrote:
a lot of this is sad but true, dont give up on life to become a progamer basically, especially if you aren't already doing pretty well while juggling other things in life. I mean if its your dream and thats all you want in life, then go for it; but be wiling to pay the consequences when you sit and realize 10 years from now that it got you nothing. Up until about 2 years ago I bet thats how some BW players felt about it, but they played because they loved it and didn't care about money; then just luck boxed in sc2 and now can do it as a job ( idra). also, no foreigners made money in BW, getting $50 per month to play was sick-awesome. Top foreigners like White-Ra and IefNaij were making a whopping $300-400 per month. DAMNNNNNNNNNNN
yea that was my point lol... ^^;
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On January 03 2012 19:23 Xeris wrote:
also, no foreigners made money in BW, getting $50 per month to play was sick-awesome. Top foreigners like White-Ra and IefNaij were making a whopping $300-400 per month. DAMNNNNNNNNNNN
White-Ra was quite good than. 237 € / 319 $, monthly being the average salary in ukraine.
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Totally disagree with your post. The thing about taking a semester off to "go pro" is that it is just that, one semester. Four to five months out of your life, where you will devote yourself to something you like. If you want to do something out of the ordinary, and you have the time and the means, go for it. You won't have many opportunities like that in life.
Replace "semester" with "five years" and I'd agree with the OP entirely.
Edit: And the reason I know five years is too long is because I spent five years in a phd program making 20k a year so that I could do what I (thought I) loved. So there's lots of ways to get into this trap.
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I agree with that. you can easily get to GM and win at least smaller tournaments while still pursueing an eduction. Then you can consider taking a break to play full time (thats what i did about half a year ago).
If you are midmasters or w/e , its super super hard to catch up to get to a level where you make a decent income. While this is not impossible to happen its just super unlikely, because the people at the top know better how to practise, ahve better practise environment etc. and probably play at least as much, so there is not much reason to think one will miraculously close the gap.
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I don't have problem for those who aims to become a progamer. If that is really your dream, by all means go for it. What I hate is 99% of those who write blog/post about it lost motivation/interest in like 2 weeks lol.
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i like this post a lot
there have been a crapload of "I'm going pro" posts/blogs, but really, if you can't make very high M/GM part-time, then even if you quit w/e you are doing, you probably still can't become "pro"
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Dreamcrushers! all of you! rawrrr.
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basically if you have to make a big decision to go pro then you're not good enough to go pro
unless you are an amateur prodigy you won't go far
reality is hard to handle when the people who play this game and post on this forum are barely 18
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I don't get the point of this post. No one obviously tries to be a progamer for the money, that goes without saying.
Secondly, I don't get this rush to get on with education that everyone seems to have. When you're retiring at 65 it doesn't mean shit if you've worked for 40 or 37 or 35 years. Seriously what's the hurry? There is no race. Blanket statements like in the OP are stupid an narrow minded. It all depends on the maturity of the person and how responsible he or she is.
I wish I had taken some time off before I started at the university, to mature and find out what I really wanted in life.
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On January 03 2012 19:23 Xeris wrote:Show nested quote +On January 03 2012 18:48 HuK wrote:
a lot of this is sad but true, dont give up on life to become a progamer basically, especially if you aren't already doing pretty well while juggling other things in life. I mean if its your dream and thats all you want in life, then go for it; but be wiling to pay the consequences when you sit and realize 10 years from now that it got you nothing. Up until about 2 years ago I bet thats how some BW players felt about it, but they played because they loved it and didn't care about money; then just luck boxed in sc2 and now can do it as a job ( idra). also, no foreigners made money in BW, getting $50 per month to play was sick-awesome. Top foreigners like White-Ra and IefNaij were making a whopping $300-400 per month. DAMNNNNNNNNNNN
That is because foreigns suck really hard compared to Koreans and never really had the chance to be on the same level. With SC2 everything is easier, so its easier to have a foreigner in the spotlight making (relatively) insane amounts of money.
If SC2 ever gets to the same level as BW (hahaha, doubt that, maybe in the next 20 years), we might see foreigns incoming decreasing considerably if players don't start taking Korean training standards soon.
And yeah, formal education is really important, no one should drop it.
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On January 03 2012 18:18 Xeris wrote:
- IdrA was in Korea for over 2 years.
- Fenix does NOT live in Korea, he was only there for about a month, he's back in Peru now
- Gatored is as white as you can possibly get (his name is Ben Brewer)
- KiWiKaKi's main focus is SC2, Poker is his side hobby.. except that he makes more money from his side hobby than his main one
fact fixing!
Thanks, totally forgot about Gatored. Guess you're right about Kaki too.
On January 03 2012 18:49 Jedclark wrote:
"however his English is extremely poor grammar." - Curious if that was a joke?
Not everyone is intelligent enough to be a University student, and perhaps they can't afford to either. This idea of yours "Fuck the dream, go to Uni" only works in an idealistic world.
And why can't they spend a year or two playing SC2 in their youth if it is their dream? You have like, 70 years on this earth. Spending 2.8% of that trying to chase your dream and make it a success is worth it. At least you can tell yourself you tried.
Wasn't trying to disrespect him at all. I've seen some of his posts on here when explaining his wrong doings and it sounds like he's a 12 year old. I don't believe he's 18, he should probably go back to school. I don't know what else to say?
"""Not everyone is intelligent enough to be a University student""" At some university's all you need is a pulse. If you're not, then you won't make it as a pro gamer. They need to know timings with their eyes/ears closed. Counters without thinking, many maps, building positions, etc etc. Basic stats and memorization. If you can't hack a University there's a good chance you're just not good enough at Starcraft.
Because youth = best time to educate. Your brain is still like a sponge soaking in all the information. You can go back to college when your 30, 35, 40. However if you don't have a career or any experience in the workplace by then, then good luck. Sure maybe he can get a job in esports. Oh wait, he gets kicked off or leaves every team for various reasons.
I see your points though, I think we both were looking at things some what differently. Thanks.
On January 03 2012 19:38 Sporadic44 wrote:
As realistic as this thread is and while the advice is sound, its still complete horse excrement. what if all the people you listtened to the OP's viewpoint. Yeah, obviously dont throw your life down the drain for a miscalculated dream of being a pro gamer. You should work toward whatever you think you'd be great at in my opinion.
Thanks for the response. Look at the stats/data again. Nobody besides the top 2 NA players could make a living on their own just with tournament money. A few others like CatZ, Drewbie, etc do with their stream. I'm sure some others can with coaching. However beyond that 99% of others will fail.
I'm not even mocking them like 'ha I went the school route and won' or anything dumb like that. It's just illogical with the current state of NA esports to attempt. Dreams can come true but NA esports isn't even set up in the way to make it possible yet. 2 years? Very possible. However there's never a negative side to finish your school.
On January 03 2012 19:47 munchmunch wrote:
Totally disagree with your post. The thing about taking a semester off to "go pro" is that it is just that, one semester. Four to five months out of your life, where you will devote yourself to something you like. If you want to do something out of the ordinary, and you have the time and the means, go for it. You won't have many opportunities like that in life.
Replace "semester" with "five years" and I'd agree with the OP entirely.
Edit: And the reason I know five years is too long is because I spent five years in a phd program making 20k a year so that I could do what I (thought I) loved. So there's lots of ways to get into this trap.
Was going to ask if you went to Uni or not but then I saw your edit.
For someone like me college was a huge stress. There's simply no way if I took a semester off that I could get right back into it. Taking a full semester off to me makes no sense. You could at least drop down to 6 creds (2 classes), take 2 blow off electives. This would do a few things:
-Keep your student loans frozen if you have them so you don't burn your 6 month period after graduating.
-Probably keep you motivated to continute the degree.
-Probably also keep your parents happier that you are still continuing you degree, but just focusing on something more atm.
It's not about taking off a semester to devote 4-5 months to "something" it's about how trying to go pro in NA right now is just a failure move. There's so many people trying to make it, and over the last 18 months only a hand full of pros have/are. Only 2 are really making 'super star' type money doing it. Well maybe a few more but... yeah.
To be honest with you. I bet if IdrA enrolled at any average college, he could pass while still being a top 3 NA player without a problem. You have it or you don't. Quitting a job, Stopping your education, getting another free 40 hours a week might help, however you're not going to be in GSL in 4 months. lol...
Thanks.
On January 03 2012 19:06 GosI[Terran] wrote:
jesus suddendly we have people that know how i have been educated.... ya ok
The floor is open to anyone and everyone in my blog. Please don't be scared to explain anything. I'm just at techie, I'm not even that great at English haha.
On September 04 2011 19:46 GosI[Terran] wrote:
ok, first of all the only wrong thing i remember i did was doing the SEA Event and the WBC insident of MLG was more because he started trash talking in a middle of an active game,even tough its wrong and i shouldnt had done it , i did it and i cant change it, it was a mistake and wont happen again. Also i want to clear up some stuff they said i been asking for being realesed for over a month maybe longer since the first day i signed with sixjax they promised they would send me to korea as fast as possible, they apparently had a deal with IM about 2 months ago but it felt down, so i was dissapointed by that but they tried to find a new deal with another team , aka TSL which they basically said were inches to complete and felt again , made me to start doubting about ever making their making their promise right , the thing that made me the most mad was Last MLG when they send 0 players to MLG i asked for a reason and Evoli(team manager) asked the owner of sixjax but he apparently responded with wait a few days we have an annoucment to do, so i was kinda piss at that time than by my self i got in contact with NshoseoSAGE and after test games i was accepted in NSH house so i asked sixjax if they would willing to send me to korea and me staying in NSH for free(no food to pay rent or anyhthing), they said no and at that point i decided to leave and dont play for them anymore i told em i wouldnt accept anymore payments.
On January 03 2012 21:39 Longshank wrote:
I don't get the point of this post. No one obviously tries to be a progamer for the money, that goes without saying.
Secondly, I don't get this rush to get on with education that everyone seems to have. When you're retiring at 65 it doesn't mean shit if you've worked for 40 or 37 or 35 years. Seriously what's the hurry? There is no race. Blanket statements like in the OP are stupid an narrow minded. It all depends on the maturity of the person and how responsible he or she is.
I wish I had taken some time off before I started at the university, to mature and find out what I really wanted in life.
You don't get the point of this blog post?
Well I disagree with your opening line. I don't know HuK at all, even though I believe that's really him that posted in this thread. I have to imagine from his interview tones that he really does miss his family/friends to the point that the money is the only reason he's still going as hard as he is. Might be a total assumption, however mind you he's the 0.0001% making that much from NA.
You don't have to be a pro gamer to make the big money, however you still have to eat, live, etc.
The rush on education is simple. I didn't understand it either but my accounting professor told me the faster you finish the faster you get a ROI. A return on your investment which is you.
When your 65 and it does matter if you've worked 35 or 40 years. Those extra 5 years when your older, and deeper into your career, could be 100,000's more. Bigger beach villa, retire few years earlier. All this is dumb talk and we are getting away from the point.
The point I was trying to make is there's no long term benefits right now for some 18-21 year old to stop college to try and go pro at this game. Define PRO however you want. Everyone in like the top 20 of that list was already really sick before the game even came out.
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nvm, prolly shouldve read the whole thread before posting.
didnt think it would be neccessary to make a whole blog about how stupid it is to try go pro when ur bad, but i didnt know about all these threads ;D.
my thoughts: when ur really good theres no problem taking a year/semester off to try go big.
when ur bad dont make false hope.
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On January 03 2012 22:17 Nizzy wrote:
You don't get the point of this blog post?
Well I disagree with your opening line. I don't know HuK at all, even though I believe that's really him that posted in this thread. I have to imagine from his interview tones that he really does miss his family/friends to the point that the money is the only reason he's still going as hard as he is. Might be a total assumption, however mind you he's the 0.0001% making that much from NA.
You don't have to be a pro gamer to make the big money, however you still have to eat, live, etc.
The rush on education is simple. I didn't understand it either but my accounting professor told me the faster you finish the faster you get a ROI. A return on your investment which is you.
When your 65 and it does matter if you've worked 35 or 40 years. Those extra 5 years when your older, and deeper into your career, could be 100,000's more. Bigger beach villa, retire few years earlier. All this is dumb talk and we are getting away from the point.
The point I was trying to make is there's no long term benefits right now for some 18-21 year old to stop college to try and go pro at this game. Define PRO however you want. Everyone in like the top 20 of that list was already really sick before the game even came out.
I can almost guarantee you, money was not a (big) factor when HuK decided to give progaming a shot. It could be now in his decision to stay as a progamer or not, but that's not what we're discussing now is it?
And sure, you should rush your education if you wish to maximize your income and retirement fund. You should also never have kids or take vacations. There is more to life than the size of your beach villa.
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On January 03 2012 22:23 teddyoojo wrote:
i strongly disagree. whats the big deal pausing ur study for half a year/a year to try follow your dream/passion? what can you lose? the worst thing that can happen is you fail and continue studying. if you really want to do it and believe in yourself you can keep up practicing 8+ hours a day i say go for it.
of course saying "im plat but if i play serious i easily get imba!!!!!!11111" is just plain stupid. you have to be real. ask other people what they think (not your parents but friends that also play sc2/are good at it) and if they think you can do it. better try and fail than ask yourself your whole live what wouldve been.
prime example: grubby.
he was really talented in wc3, in his christmas holidays he found at that hes really really good if he does this fulltime. so after he finished school he didnt go study but took a year off to see if he has what it takes. now hes married and lives off esports. if he failed he wouldve just went studying. i dont see any problem.
Your example, actually proves my point more. You brought out Grubby on me bro? Grubby is either 1A or 1B with Spirit Moon in WC3. I guarantee you 100% before Grubby actually sat down and said, 'wow I'm fucking good at this, I'm making a ton of money' that he was ALREADY WINNING A TON OF MONEY before pausing his schooling.
You're talking about Grubby who is about one out of ten? Who truly made a large amount from WC3, and is now carrying over into his own brand name. He's the only one that it happened to.
There's so many former WC3 players that took off school to try and go pro and now you can't even remember their names.
I don't think people realize how hard it is to just "take a semester off" and pick it right back up. You kind of need the right attitude and mind set. Can you image some 19 year old kid who fought with his parents to allow him to take a semester off, fail at SC2 hard, then try to go back to school with the mindset of you just failed at your dream? It would be tough.
Thanks man.
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On January 03 2012 22:34 Longshank wrote:Show nested quote +On January 03 2012 22:17 Nizzy wrote:
You don't get the point of this blog post?
Well I disagree with your opening line. I don't know HuK at all, even though I believe that's really him that posted in this thread. I have to imagine from his interview tones that he really does miss his family/friends to the point that the money is the only reason he's still going as hard as he is. Might be a total assumption, however mind you he's the 0.0001% making that much from NA.
You don't have to be a pro gamer to make the big money, however you still have to eat, live, etc.
The rush on education is simple. I didn't understand it either but my accounting professor told me the faster you finish the faster you get a ROI. A return on your investment which is you.
When your 65 and it does matter if you've worked 35 or 40 years. Those extra 5 years when your older, and deeper into your career, could be 100,000's more. Bigger beach villa, retire few years earlier. All this is dumb talk and we are getting away from the point.
The point I was trying to make is there's no long term benefits right now for some 18-21 year old to stop college to try and go pro at this game. Define PRO however you want. Everyone in like the top 20 of that list was already really sick before the game even came out.
I can almost guarantee you, money was not a (big) factor when HuK decided to give progaming a shot. It could be now in his decision to stay as a progamer or not, but that's not what we're discussing now is it? And sure, you should rush your education if you wish to maximize your income and retirement fund. You should also never have kids or take vacations. There is more to life than the size of your beach villa.
You have some good points. We kind of took that kind of far in the opposite direction, as the point is kind of just right now.
In theory, if some kid just takes off just 1 semester, does "ok", and goes right back in the long run its just a hiccup or less. However does that really happen like that? It's usually a lot worse of an outcome. Its usually longer than 1 semester off. There are rare cases though were players/kids have the discipline.
thanks.
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I'd like to see a teamliquid/EG/other SC2 80's style public service announcement, with a cheesy vanilla ice beat, and each player posing and delivering one line a time.
Jinro: You want to be cool?
Sheth: Stay in school!
TLO: you may think you have it all figured out
Idra: But reality might make you angry
Huk: when sometimes your dreams turn out to be hallucinations
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Calgary25969 Posts
On January 03 2012 19:47 munchmunch wrote:
Totally disagree with your post. The thing about taking a semester off to "go pro" is that it is just that, one semester. Four to five months out of your life, where you will devote yourself to something you like. If you want to do something out of the ordinary, and you have the time and the means, go for it. You won't have many opportunities like that in life.
Replace "semester" with "five years" and I'd agree with the OP entirely.
Edit: And the reason I know five years is too long is because I spent five years in a phd program making 20k a year so that I could do what I (thought I) loved. So there's lots of ways to get into this trap.
Taking a semester off for a hobby is dumb. You can play Starcraft and go to school at the same time. It's really not that difficult.
Edit: I think that's my summarizing statement: Starcraft is your hobby, not your career - Treat it like you would any other hobby.
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School's way more important and honestly, even if it's just one semester, you shouldn't do it. I personally am going to uni first, for my bachelor AND my masters & then just going to work & play starcraft as much as I can & if I see the opportunity then I might consider giving it a chance but still, rather have my bachelor & my masters degree under my belt before trying something like that.
I personally know I'm capable of waking up at 6am, start practicing 'till 10/12pm, it's basicly what I do during vacations & yeah okay, being a pro gamer might be really fun but it might also turn out to be completely repetitive & boring & blablabla, basicly just not what you hoped for so.. That's why I personally think that kids should give priority to school & college/uni after high school and then they can try whatever they want to try.
If it doesn't work out, you still have your bachelor & masters degree to fall back on so.. At least, this is how I think about it.
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On January 03 2012 23:27 Lw247_ wrote:
School's way more important and honestly, even if it's just one semester, you shouldn't do it. I personally am going to uni first, for my bachelor AND my masters & then just going to work & play starcraft as much as I can & if I see the opportunity then I might consider giving it a chance but still, rather have my bachelor & my masters degree under my belt before trying something like that.
I personally know I'm capable of waking up at 6am, start practicing 'till 10/12pm, it's basicly what I do during vacations & yeah okay, being a pro gamer might be really fun but it might also turn out to be completely repetitive & boring & blablabla, basicly just not what you hoped for so.. That's why I personally think that kids should give priority to school & college/uni after high school and then they can try whatever they want to try.
If it doesn't work out, you still have your bachelor & masters degree to fall back on so.. At least, this is how I think about it.
Total side note, but I think its really smart of you to continue to grad school as well. Bachelor degrees are becoming the new HS Diploma and a lot of people in some majors can't even get jobs with a BS.
Even in 5 years or whatever WC4 might be out, SC2 might be a way better game with all the expansions out, could be so much better. So much time.
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On January 03 2012 23:16 igotmyown wrote:
I'd like to see a teamliquid/EG/other SC2 80's style public service announcement, with a cheesy vanilla ice beat, and each player posing and delivering one line a time.
Jinro: You want to be cool?
Sheth: Stay in school!
TLO: you may think you have it all figured out
Idra: But reality might make you angry
Huk: when sometimes your dreams turn out to be hallucinations
The last two lines would have me in tears laughing.
I agree with the sentiment that if your not already almost there; quitting to take the last step wont work.
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Canada13386 Posts
On January 03 2012 23:26 Chill wrote:Show nested quote +On January 03 2012 19:47 munchmunch wrote:
Totally disagree with your post. The thing about taking a semester off to "go pro" is that it is just that, one semester. Four to five months out of your life, where you will devote yourself to something you like. If you want to do something out of the ordinary, and you have the time and the means, go for it. You won't have many opportunities like that in life.
Replace "semester" with "five years" and I'd agree with the OP entirely.
Edit: And the reason I know five years is too long is because I spent five years in a phd program making 20k a year so that I could do what I (thought I) loved. So there's lots of ways to get into this trap.
Taking a semester off for a hobby is dumb. You can play Starcraft and go to school at the same time. It's really not that difficult. Edit: I think that's my summarizing statement: Starcraft is your hobby, not your career - Treat it like you would any other hobby.
Agreed. But if SC starts taking up way more time than it should get some help there might be something underlying causing you problems.
Im coming out of depression and I did no work on my thesis for about 6 months because I was masking my problems with SC2. Didn't even do well on ladder just watching streams and youtube and movies etc etc. Filling time to distract myself and what not.
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On January 04 2012 00:25 ZeromuS wrote:Show nested quote +On January 03 2012 23:26 Chill wrote:On January 03 2012 19:47 munchmunch wrote:
Totally disagree with your post. The thing about taking a semester off to "go pro" is that it is just that, one semester. Four to five months out of your life, where you will devote yourself to something you like. If you want to do something out of the ordinary, and you have the time and the means, go for it. You won't have many opportunities like that in life.
Replace "semester" with "five years" and I'd agree with the OP entirely.
Edit: And the reason I know five years is too long is because I spent five years in a phd program making 20k a year so that I could do what I (thought I) loved. So there's lots of ways to get into this trap.
Taking a semester off for a hobby is dumb. You can play Starcraft and go to school at the same time. It's really not that difficult. Edit: I think that's my summarizing statement: Starcraft is your hobby, not your career - Treat it like you would any other hobby. Agreed. But if SC starts taking up way more time than it should get some help there might be something underlying causing you problems. Im coming out of depression and I did no work on my thesis for about 6 months because I was masking my problems with SC2. Didn't even do well on ladder just watching streams and youtube and movies etc etc. Filling time to distract myself and what not.
You're last paragraph is how I got through my last 18 months of college dude. Fuck, I enjoy watching streams, forums, youtube vlogs of pros, more than even playing the game now.
It was all: do a question, watch a rep, write another paragraph, watch a stream, MLG weekend? Sweet, doing homework slowly, study this chapter, check the forums, etc.
Its so great to have something that your interested in like Chill said, a hobby, to take your mind off of the riggers of college. SC2 really helped me get past it.
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What I don't understand is why people can't just make this effort during the summer. I guess all the pretty weather makes it hard to practice at a computer for 12 hours straight. That's why Huk and IdrA spent last summer in the Bahamas. Oh wait....
This blog should be sent to everyone that makes a thread about taking time off of school.
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Nice post Nizzy I agree with almost everything. Looks like you did a lot of research for this.
Like Huk said, most of this is sad but true. Money in general in the scene is top heavy I feel. Tournaments usually only pay out the top 3 or top 8. If something like IPL3 origins (32nd got 1k) was more regular I think things might start to change a bit. But that was an exception, a one time thing. That kind of event isn't happening once a month.
I consider myself someone who invested enough time to get to a fairly competitive level (clearly at least a tier below average top foreigner) but I never actually put sc2 ahead of school or work in my life to really try to close that gap. Now sc2 is purely a hobby which I love playing/being part of, but I work a regular job and make quite a bit much more money than I would be had I tried to close the gap and be an average pro.
Some people who know me better or see the level I'm at ask me why I never wanted to "go pro." pretty much for reasons I just said.
Dignitas.Merz spoke about it recently in a really nice blog he posted, living the life of an sc2 pro isn't all fun and games either. It's actually REALLY hard work and you could be putting in a ton of time without getting much results. Which is the case for many average pros like him aren't top top foreigner (huk/idra/nainwa etc). My "real job" is much MUCH easier in my opinion than having to practice sc2 to compete consistantly with top players or koreans.
I have huge respect anyone who legit tries for it in sc2 though (guys like Merz) It takes an insane amount of dedication and work.
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When I played poker, I used to laugh at those who'd say they were going pro. At least in poker there's money to be made, but the same cannot be said in SC2 outside of the top 0.00000001% of people.
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On January 03 2012 23:16 igotmyown wrote:
I'd like to see a teamliquid/EG/other SC2 80's style public service announcement, with a cheesy vanilla ice beat, and each player posing and delivering one line a time.
Jinro: You want to be cool?
Sheth: Stay in school!
TLO: you may think you have it all figured out
Idra: But reality might make you angry
Huk: when sometimes your dreams turn out to be hallucinations
This did it for me : ) hehe
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This is a really good post, 5/5.
I think what really shocked me was a thread some weeks back was a video showing off the StarTail gaming house. Like 20 guys sharing one apartment and two bathrooms, 5 guys to each tiny room. In the same thread someone posted a video of the MVP gaming house, 11 guys sharing one 20'x20' room, beds literally side by side, end to end the whole area oof the room. After seeing that, I've never been able to understand why anyone would want to be a progamer. People see the lights and cameras and don't think about everything that goes into getting to that point. Years of tireless hard work, living in a foriegn country far from family and friends, living situations that would make college students unconfortable, low income, and lots of international travel. And for what? For a small chance to end up getting an average salary for 60+ hours of work a week?
For foreign players HuK is really the only cinderella story, went from unknown to super star (if you can call 60k a year a super star, that's like the salary of an accountant) in two years. Sure Idra's making a decent salary now, but only after years of toiling away in BW and hard, hard work in SC2.
I can't fathom the resolve it takes to actually endure all this, especially for only 20k a year. I can only imagine that comes from immense passion for this game. The kind of passion that motivates people to ladder endlessly instead of making blog posts about "going pro". If you have to make a blog post asking whether you should go pro, you don't have that passion; go back to your regular life.
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On January 04 2012 00:39 LuckyFool wrote:
Nice post Nizzy I agree with almost everything. Looks like you did a lot of research for this.
Like Huk said, most of this is sad but true. Money in general in the scene is top heavy I feel. Tournaments usually only pay out the top 3 or top 8. If something like IPL3 origins (32nd got 1k) was more regular I think things might start to change a bit. But that was an exception, a one time thing. That kind of event isn't happening once a month.
I consider myself someone who invested enough time to get to a fairly competitive level (clearly at least a tier below average top foreigner) but I never actually put sc2 ahead of school or work in my life to really try to close that gap. Now sc2 is purely a hobby which I love playing/being part of, but I work a regular job and make quite a bit much more money than I would be had I tried to close the gap and be an average pro.
Some people who know me better or see the level I'm at ask me why I never wanted to "go pro." pretty much for reasons I just said.
Dignitas.Merz spoke about it recently in a really nice blog he posted, living the life of an sc2 pro isn't all fun and games either. It's actually REALLY hard work and you could be putting in a ton of time without getting much results. Which is the case for many average pros like him aren't top top foreigner (huk/idra/nainwa etc). My "real job" is much MUCH easier in my opinion than having to practice sc2 to compete consistantly with top players or koreans.
I have huge respect anyone who legit tries for it in sc2 though (guys like Merz) It takes an insane amount of dedication and work.
Thanks LF. Yeah man we've met at a few events you're definitely a level above me, you could have done pretty well in the NA scene. I think you're someone around the same age/situation as me and understand this better.
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On January 04 2012 00:54 TheToast wrote:
This is a really good post, 5/5.
I think what really shocked me was a thread some weeks back was a video showing off the StarTail gaming house. Like 20 guys sharing one apartment and two bathrooms, 5 guys to each tiny room. In the same thread someone posted a video of the MVP gaming house, 11 guys sharing one 20'x20' room, beds literally side by side, end to end the whole area oof the room. After seeing that, I've never been able to understand why anyone would want to be a progamer. People see the lights and cameras and don't think about everything that goes into getting to that point. Years of tireless hard work, living in a foriegn country far from family and friends, living situations that would make college students unconfortable, low income, and lots of international travel. And for what? For a small chance to end up getting an average salary for 60+ hours of work a week?
For foreign players HuK is really the only cinderella story, went from unknown to super star (if you can call 60k a year a super star, that's like the salary of an accountant) in two years. Sure Idra's making a decent salary now, but only after years of toiling away in BW and hard, hard work in SC2.
I can't fathom the resolve it takes to actually endure all this, especially for only 20k a year. I can only imagine that comes from immense passion for this game. The kind of passion that motivates people to ladder endlessly instead of making blog posts about "going pro". If you have to make a blog post asking whether you should go pro, you don't have that passion; go back to your regular life.
Thanks for the response man. To be fair with a few points:
-The korean gamer lifestyle at least produces better results, its set up to produce better results. There's culture there in south korea for pro gamers that isn't here yet in NA.
-Totally right about the 'dream' aspect with the lights and glamour.
-To be fair in regards to the money, that is just the estimated tournament winnings. They say HuK won 60K since sc2 has been out, and its rumored that he got a 100k contract now. With stream revs, and other things he probably will get well over 100k for the next year.
-Players like CatZ I believe make way more from Streaming that tournament winnings but I know he wins a lot of mid-pro level online cups and such.
It's still a stressful lifestyle right now any way you look at it.
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you can take a few months to try and go pro and see how it pans out, and even if you're successful you should still have a backup plan after your pro-gaming career is over.
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As someone with zero illusions about his skill and knowing I will never ever be anything more than a hardcore ish casual player, the Korean house seems like a dream to me. The opportunity to live with people with the same passion for the game, discuss the game (albeit in broken english/korean  ) and put 100% of myself into the game seems like the ultimate SC2 experience. I guess having spent essentially 1 year away, pretty much alone working in Vancouver (as far away as SK from Ireland) has kinda given me the perspective needed to know that I could make that change. As for bedding/privacy, as long as I have a bed and a clean shower I couldn't care less.
All that said I am likely never to see the inside of one IRL ever
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Blogs telling people not to go pro seem almost as numerous as blogs about people going pro these days...
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Nice post, this wasn't what I was expecting.
A lot of people relish the idea of being a pro gamer because they think that it is an easy job that will be easy money. If you can invest 12 hours a day into something, then learning a real world skill would be quick, easy and more rewarding. I play video games for fun, I have had the thought of trying to be a pro, but I am too old for that and would rather have a job(Not StarCraft) and a fun hobby(StarCraft). Balance is great in life.
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On January 04 2012 01:38 Hakker wrote:
Blogs telling people not to go pro seem almost as numerous as blogs about people going pro these days...
It's good. I'm sick of hearing from Johnny the gold leaguer who's telling us he's going pro only to never hear from him again after 2 weeks or so.
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On January 03 2012 22:17 Nizzy wrote:Show nested quote +On January 03 2012 19:47 munchmunch wrote:
Totally disagree with your post. The thing about taking a semester off to "go pro" is that it is just that, one semester. Four to five months out of your life, where you will devote yourself to something you like. If you want to do something out of the ordinary, and you have the time and the means, go for it. You won't have many opportunities like that in life.
Replace "semester" with "five years" and I'd agree with the OP entirely.
Edit: And the reason I know five years is too long is because I spent five years in a phd program making 20k a year so that I could do what I (thought I) loved. So there's lots of ways to get into this trap.
Was going to ask if you went to Uni or not but then I saw your edit. For someone like me college was a huge stress. There's simply no way if I took a semester off that I could get right back into it. Taking a full semester off to me makes no sense. You could at least drop down to 6 creds (2 classes), take 2 blow off electives. This would do a few things: + Show Spoiler +
-Keep your student loans frozen if you have them so you don't burn your 6 month period after graduating.
-Probably keep you motivated to continute the degree.
-Probably also keep your parents happier that you are still continuing you degree, but just focusing on something more atm.
It's not about taking off a semester to devote 4-5 months to "something" it's about how trying to go pro in NA right now is just a failure move. There's so many people trying to make it, and over the last 18 months only a hand full of pros have/are. Only 2 are really making 'super star' type money doing it. Well maybe a few more but... yeah.
To be honest with you. I bet if IdrA enrolled at any average college, he could pass while still being a top 3 NA player without a problem. You have it or you don't. Quitting a job, Stopping your education, getting another free 40 hours a week might help, however you're not going to be in GSL in 4 months. lol...
Thanks.
From your perspective, I see why you would say not to take a semester off. For my part, I took a lot of semesters off in undergrad. Did research, worked for software companies... I had a great time. Of course, my experience is not exactly analogous, since I got paid for those things, and used the money to pay for school. But as I said in my original post, if money is not an issue, then I don't think it hurts to take a semester off, if you have the right kind of personality.
You're also right that no one is going to become competitive at the highest levels after 4 months of training (or if they could, they could probably do just as well while staying in school). However, my personal opinion is that it's OK to put time into becoming better at something, even if you don't become one of the very best. I've had a few things like that in my life. For example, in high school I played chess very seriously for a few years. I got pretty good, enough to do well in lower level tournaments, but at some point I realized how much better the really good players were, and gave it up. I don't think of the time I put into learning the game as wasted... I consider myself fortunate to have some (small) insight into what it takes to get really good at the game. And it's fun to be able to completely trounce any casual player. I imagine a lot of people on this forum feel the same way about SC2.
On January 03 2012 23:26 Chill wrote:Show nested quote +On January 03 2012 19:47 munchmunch wrote:
Totally disagree with your post. The thing about taking a semester off to "go pro" is that it is just that, one semester. Four to five months out of your life, where you will devote yourself to something you like. If you want to do something out of the ordinary, and you have the time and the means, go for it. You won't have many opportunities like that in life.
Replace "semester" with "five years" and I'd agree with the OP entirely.
Edit: And the reason I know five years is too long is because I spent five years in a phd program making 20k a year so that I could do what I (thought I) loved. So there's lots of ways to get into this trap.
Taking a semester off for a hobby is dumb. You can play Starcraft and go to school at the same time. It's really not that difficult. Edit: I think that's my summarizing statement: Starcraft is your hobby, not your career - Treat it like you would any other hobby. I think your summarizing statement is good. But it depends on personality... I've met people with high paying jobs who will take a large part of the year off to, say, sail around the pacific, or learn how to build a log cabin. I could imagine someone going through life thinking, "Hey, video games are my passion. I'm probably not good enough to be a pro, but I wonder what it would be like to play video games full-time". If that person wanted to take a semester off to satisfy their curiosity, and their circumstances (financial, etc.) allowed them to do so, I'd say more power to them. It only gets harder to take time off as you go along in life.
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better off going on holiday in korea for one semester than going pro or going to korea to go pro.
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On January 04 2012 03:16 binski wrote:
very good blog
damn binski, keep it shorter next time brah.
OH NO ITS BINSKEE, DAT BINCHANTRESS DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
On January 04 2012 03:37 OopsOopsBaby wrote:
better off going on holiday in korea for one semester than going pro or going to korea to go pro.
Sorry not sure what you mean exactly.
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I'LL DO YOU PROUD NIZZDAWG, I PROMISE
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i stayed in korea for one and a half week..
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yoyo manner I hit 1.2k viewers 
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On January 04 2012 04:40 mTwTT1 wrote:
i stayed in korea for one and a half week..
Aw okay thanks. Was just trying to show that your a very talented and former BW pro that played SC for a long time. I'm sure you make decent money but you have the experience that a lot of these kids don't.
On January 04 2012 05:00 vileIllusion wrote:yoyo manner I hit 1.2k viewers
Sorry Chirs <3 Watch your stream a lot actually, nice job man. You're like a great example. High school students probably have less time than most full time college kids and you're doing very well. Even with you doing very well it's still would be difficult for you to make a living on your on. If you were a few years older anyways.
thanks
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On January 04 2012 05:00 vileIllusion wrote:yoyo manner I hit 1.2k viewers
The only thing you should be hitting are those books to get a free ride in college.
The only thing I regret in HS was completely not caring/trying. You can save yourself and/or your parents a lot of money by doing well in HS to get into a college that will pay for your tuition.
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I agree to some extent - though I don't think people should be too discouraged from trying to achieve goals they may have. If you have a natural talent and love for something like programming, then maybe give it a shot. I had to make a similar decision with myself and music.
I have a natural talent for music. I can pick up virtually any instrument, and my learning curve and how quickly I pick that instrument up is unreal. When I was younger I was a prodigy on the trumpet; within a year of picking up that instrument I was playing in honor bands with kids who had been playing since they were little. My best teacher told me I had a gift and I should stick with it. Many people have told me I have something to share with the world with my talent. Many teachers and friends have told me it's my calling.
When I thought about what I wanted to do in life though, I realized that if I dedicated all my time and my life to music that would take the joy out of it for me. I truly love it, but I'm not sure I would have the passion and hardwork to devout myself to it at every point in the day. This is probably how many people feel about programming. In the end, I decided to do something I find both intellectually stimulating and emotionally rewarding and become a Registered Nurse, and in the future I may potentially go on to Med School (we'll see what I feel like in a couple of years) and get my GP. When I go to work in the Nursing field I come home and feel great about myself.
The reason why? Music will always be there for me. When I'm stressed out because of school, I come home and sit at my piano for a couple of hours or bang out a tune on my guitar. It calms me down and it makes me happy. I write songs, and I go into my own little world for a couple of hours. I can go to social gatherings and surprise people with my talent. (Serious chick magnet!) I love every moment I'm playing music, but I think I'd lose my love for it if I made it my job.
So, above all, whether it's the money or what not, that's the reality of making hobbies into occupations. I think people have to make that distinction between a beloved hobby, and what they want to pursue in terms of their life ambition. If the two match somehow and there is a raw talent there, then perhaps you should pursue that avenue and try become pro.
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EPT
