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EDIT This may set people off I'm not sure, but the email is more geared to becoming "pro" in LoL than SC2. I should have said this above I apologize.
What would you say to your son if he emailed you this, and you have known about this for a long time but shoved it aside?
"Mom, Dad,
I need you to pay attention. We haven't really ever had many serious conversations before, but, we have to right now. So please, if you will, take the time to read this and get back to me, but don't email me back, talk to me in person. Thanks....
I've known you for 20 years. I haven't known you before you had me, all I've known is who you have been since I was your son. I will never know how you experienced life up until that point. The hardships you faced, the moments you had, or the personal feats you conquered. I don't know if you have ever been brought to tears by something amazing you have done, or the feeling of rot in your stomach when you have failed. I don't know if you turned out to become what you truly wanted to be, or if the ideas and decisions of others prophesied your life and turned it into a reality. I don't know what your dreams were. Did you truly dream to be an architect, accountant, or school teacher? Why did you end up where you are today? Did you chase those dreams, or leave them forfeit?
I'll tell you this. I have dreams. I have dreams and I have promises. As you know, when I was young and Anthony was born, I said I would be the greatest older brother in the world to him. Now, I don't know if I was the greatest in the world, but I hope I am up for running. I devoted my conscious to him. Every move I make in life, depends on if it will negatively impact him or not. I have told speeches of him. In school, in Mrs. Bolger's class, I spoke about our relationship and how I made that promise. You know that story, but what you don't know, is that it brought that entire class to tears of joy. The same tears that streamed down my face when I won that Little League championship, with Dad as my coach. The same feeling that has been pushing me forward for years, knowing that I have to be the absolute best I can be.
However, those tears have fallen, and new tears have replaced them. These tears are not so kind. They are not accepted. These tears want to fall, but they don't know where to collide. They are lost. I know that in life, when I put my full effort to something, I succeed. This is not secret, you have seen it first hand. However, these experiences have been my choice and lately, I haven't been living my life. I have been watching it from a third party perspective. I haven't had the privilege of being able to make my decisions. I have been living a life that has been laid out before me that others have decided what occurs. I have been given an empty book with no pen.
Mom, dad, listen. In the eyes of many in this country, success is not measured by one's happiness or experiences. It is measured in currency. I do not use the same system. If you haven't noticed by now, I'm just not the same as other people, and I'm extremely proud of that. I believe that if a person has a chance to fulfill their dreams, and to chase their dreams instead of the Almighty Dollar, then they should do so. I am not thinking irrationally, although you may believe it to be the case. I know you think you believe you have found the solution, the pathway to success for me that will lead me to live a greater life than you, but that just isn't who I am. The pathway to success does not have its bricks laid out by others, but rather, the owner of the pathway, the successful person, lays them down himself, one by one.
I am not throwing my future to the wayside like you believe. I have a rational plan, and if that plan fails, life will continue on perfectly as if it never even existed. However, this plan cannot be executed alone. My plan is as follows: I spend one year from tomorrow.chasing my dream to become a professional gamer. 365 days, no more, no less. A once in a life time opportunity to create my pathway, to be truly successful. I would have to stay here with you though... the reason is not my laziness, but rather if this has to be done, it has to be done right. That means my 110% focus and commitment. If the plan fails? No problem. I continue life as if it never existed. I go back to college and simply merge to the path you created. If the plan succeeds? I continue living out my dream, and when that dream begins to diminish, I go back to college and get my degree.
Either way ends up with me holding a degree.. I know you are reading this, appalled shaking your head, thinking I must have taken some drug and how I could be crazy enough to offer such a proposition that you two get no beneficial return on. The fact is, I can't chase this dream alone. I need your support. I love you guys, and I know you want what is best for me, but if you love me so much, and you say you believe in me, and on every card you give me you write how proud you are and how I have a bright future, then why aren't you willing to roll the dice on your own son? The dice will never fall off the table, they won't hurt anyone. Beneath the dice is a safety net in case the numbers you were looking for in the roll don't show up. All you have to do, is put them in your hand, and throw one last pitch...
I love you both, and I hope you read this and just step into my shoes for once. They may be a little big for your feet Mom, but just try them on. I have given my whole life to giving Anthony a wonderful childhood, now please, give me one single year to give myself a wonderful future.....I could really use it...
Sincerely, your son,
Joseph"
 
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If this isn't a troll go-pro blog then~
I think more background would be useful, but if I were a parent I would be very against it unless 1) your family is rich enough to support this or 2) you're a good student. Plenty of people take breaks off of college but getting back into the studying mode is really hard, and what's to stop you from going over the 365 days? Look at Suppy (and I'm sure other semi-pros) - he plays for EG and goes to Berkeley. I think if you haven't really done anything by now then going full-time won't make you magically better. You won't have a backing of an actual team or anyone for that matter (I assume). Maybe try to get in one of those pro-team academies and then think about what you really want to do.
The argument of dreams of being an accountant, teacher, etc. is a little different from a gamer because gamers have typically very short professional careers due to injury or even new games that come out. So while it may be a dream, it's not a stable career choice when compared to the others.
On another thread it said that you're in Software Engi., I doubt you should get a year break from a major like that but I'm not in college yet so heh.
If you do some how become pro (on a team with legit sponsors), what will happen to college? Not too sure your parents will like the answer to that question.
On another blog in Nov. you said you were diamond, what are you now?
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I like the way it's written, but without context it would be very hard to write a sincere hypothetical response. If I were to respond to this as a parent in general I would support whatever your choice is.
+ Show Spoiler +As a forum poster on the internet who doesn't know you I would recommend against the idea because the success rate is so low, but if you want to chase your dreams that's completely up to you.
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Katowice25012 Posts
I don't understand why you would give them something in text and then tell them to talk to you in person. Surely is the kind of speech that would go over better face to face and it seems a little odd to expect a courtesy from them that you aren't putting forward yourself.
If you do go the email route take out the ellipses, writing "Thanks...." has a really condescending tone to it.
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United States22883 Posts
I have a couple thoughts on this:
1. Even as a student, you should be able to make it pretty far on the ladder in your free time. You don't need 12 hours a day to make high masters or GM, especially on NA.
2. If you really believe you can do this (and won't give up in a month), you can talk to them face-to-face as real human beings, without emailing this cringeworthy mess. Speak directly and confidently with clear achievable goals, a time table and probably a fully developed backup plan ("I'll go back to school if it doesn't work" isn't a plan - you need checkpoints, dates for re-enrollment, etc.) and also what you hope to gain.
3. Shoot for a semester, not a year.
4. Don't become a poet.
EDIT: I don't know the difficulty or time frame of LoL, but I think the points still apply. You should still be able to get far as a student, and Brian Piccolo/Jimmy Stewart speeches don't get you very far irl. You gotta have more substance than that.
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This may set people off I'm not sure, but the email is more geared to becoming "pro" in LoL than SC2. I should have said this above I apologize.
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Does anyone know how to get recognized in LoL to even become pro? It doesn't seem as linear as in SC2 because you can't just solo join a tournament.
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On January 22 2013 15:13 DragonflySC2 wrote:
Does anyone know how to get recognized in LoL to even become pro? It doesn't seem as linear as in SC2 because you can't just solo join a tournament.
Afaik teams/clans have multi-stage tryouts every so often
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On January 22 2013 15:29 LeafMeAlone wrote:
How good are you at LoL?
I've played for not a long time at all, im 1500 right now though
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Netherlands45349 Posts
To get recognized you need to have a team going, then you need to do high level scrims with that team and lastly participate in cups/tournaments and beat high level teams.
Not easy.
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I would turn to my wife and say "You know dfly inherited his theatricality and drama queen tendencies from you, right? It sure as hell didn't come from my Y-chromosome."
Stay in school. LoL is not a game so complicated that you need to devote 110% to get good at it. You don't need to make some grand gesture and try to turn your life into a Disney movie. Just play as much as you can in your free time and see where it takes you. Then, if you actually get real concrete results, consider putting in 110%. Only a fool would make a massive investment in something that has so far shown a zero return.
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On January 22 2013 16:22 DragonflySC2 wrote:I've played for not a long time at all, im 1500 right now though
Sorry, but taking a year off to play LoL when you're just 1500 doesn't sound like a very good idea. If you're serious about this, stay in school and work on your freetime to get to at least 1800 (stable). If you leave college for a game, you HAVE to be at the point where you can say "I've gotten as far as I can without playing fulltime, I'm now forced to do this fulltime if I want to get farther" and IMO, 1500 is quite far from that point.
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I would ask you how many people actually make a living off of esports, then i would ask you how many of these people you know / play with / are on par with at your level of skill.
Then i would hear your answer of "well none, im actually bad, but practicing 9 hours a day instead of 4-5 will let me get there in no time!"
And i would say no, hell no. A million times no. Come back when your actually pushing the boundaries of "semi-pro".
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1. That letter is pretty wordy. I don't know if your parents like that, but it took you quite a while to get to your point. A build-up is nice, since you're attempting to elicit strong emotion and you want to show your parents you *really mean it*, but I probably would have gotten a little impatient reading it since the vast majority of your letter was fluff.
2. I think it sounds like a relatively reasonable idea if you're a top tier player, but you have to tell your parents why you need to be a pro-gamer this year, rather than *after* you actually receive your college degree. After all, the latter is certainly safer from a financial and educational perspective (which is what your parents are most likely- and should be- prioritizing). If you put off your education for a year, that means you forget previously learned material, tuition will go up, and you may be in danger of losing certain financial aid, scholarships, and any other support. You should talk to your parents about these kinds of drawbacks, as the college degree will be harder to get in that extra year that you want to tack on for yourself. (I assume you'll tell them something about how, as you get older, you'll become less good at the game because your hands will get slower. I assume they won't care.)
3. Are you good enough to go pro? You actually need to be realistic about this, and nearly every pro-gamer who answers the question of "What do you tell someone who wants to drop everything- including school- and chase their dream of becoming a pro-gamer" says something like "DON'T DO IT". Unless you're already good enough to be on a team, you shouldn't be doing this anyway.
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i decided not to take a leave of absence, but just drop my micro class and continue onward. i dont want to make a mistake
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Canada5155 Posts
Ask yourself these questions:
What pro has ever "decided to go pro" before putting up any kind of notable results?
Has anyone ever, with amateur skill, said "Okay, I'm going to go pro" and succeeded?
What makes me different from all of the others who have attempted this and failed?
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On January 23 2013 14:50 DragonflySC2 wrote:
i decided not to take a leave of absence, but just drop my micro class and continue onward. i dont want to make a mistake
Honestly, that sounds like a very mature, responsible, and smart decision.
Best of luck in the future! 
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'That's nice son. Rent's due on the first of the month. Oh and please shower. Your room is starting to smell like stale Doritos, cheap energy drinks and BO.'
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EPT
