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Hi all! I guess i'll explain who I am!
My IGN is Ark, and I've been playing sc2 for about 1 1/2 years now. Prior to playing SC, i played WC3, and was a competitive WoW player. I also currently play Chess competitively.
I started playing SC mainly because I knew people who played it and loved all of Blizzards games, I played the campaign, wasn't impressed and didn't play again for almost a year. Fast forward about a year, I witness a friend of mine play a few games. After his 3rd game, a symbol popped up on his screen! He was placed into GM league!
He informed me that this game had pro's, and at the time Terran's were dominating. This was just after MLG Anaheim, where Terran took the top 4 or 5 spots. After seeing MVP dominate both that tournament and GSL August, I chose terran! I started off in bronze and....
Fast forward some time and I'm now a high master Terran player. A dream of mine has been, for at least a short period of time, become a pro gamer, and compete at as high of a level as I possibly can. I've played some pro's on ladder, but up until this point, I haven't done anything major. This blog I guess will mainly just be updates on my path to being a pro ( possibly) for whoever chooses to read.
Over the year and a half, I've become completely obsessed with the former brood war pro gaming scene as well as the current KeSPA korean SC pro scene. So, i figure, now's the time to attempt to make a dream come true, and play my heart out and see how far I can go. =)
On a different note, I'd also like to hear people's opinions on the topic of the pro's/ con's of going pro. Is it worth it?
That's about all for now guys, CYA!
-Ark =)
 
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It definitely depends on your age.
If you're in high school/college, go for it, but at least try not to spend time playing Starcraft when you should be doing homework.
If you're out of school and employed, still go for it, but know that you have a bit of a setback because you probably don't have as much time as you used to.
Gl!
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only do it if you really enjoy playing the game
edit: my motto is prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
worst case scenario = you try and try and try but dont make it
best case scenario = you try and try and try and you make it
Would you regret trying and failing (worst case scenioar) later in your life?
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On May 28 2013 08:36 Race is Terran wrote:
Would you regret trying and failing (worst case scenioar) later in your life?
I think this question would best be revised.
What would you regret more, Ark? Trying and failing or never having tried? If the latter, try. If the former, think more carefully before you choose.
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On May 28 2013 08:41 Antylamon wrote:Show nested quote +On May 28 2013 08:36 Race is Terran wrote:
Would you regret trying and failing (worst case scenioar) later in your life? I think this question would best be revised. What would you regret more, Ark? Trying and failing or never having tried? If the latter, try. If the former, think more carefully before you choose.
ahh, thanks for the revision  better than what I meant
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Being a Pro Gamer is an extremely difficult career. Most pros do not make a lot of money, as shown with this link: http://www.sc2earnings.com/
Think about it. Only 14 people have made over $100 k in earnings over the entire span of SC2, and only one of them was a Foreigner. It is very unlikely that you will win a lot of money, so that route would be extremely difficult. Moreover, besides EG, pro players do not get much of a salary as well, so you won't make a lot of money doing that either. If finances aren't something that is important to you, then by all means, go for it.
Your best bet would be to become a streaming personality like Dragon or MaximusBlack. Both players are top master/gm players, but they use their personalities to earn a living off of twitch ad revenue.
Finally, can I get some more information about you, such as your age, your occupation, your country? If you are in your mid 20's with a degree in something but are currently out of work, it would be much more risky to become a pro gamer than to search for work in a more normal career path.
Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck. Just make sure you look at all of your options.
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On May 28 2013 09:49 TheBigO wrote:Being a Pro Gamer is an extremely difficult career. Most pros do not make a lot of money, as shown with this link: http://www.sc2earnings.com/Think about it. Only 14 people have made over $100 k in earnings over the entire span of SC2, and only one of them was a Foreigner. It is very unlikely that you will win a lot of money, so that route would be extremely difficult. Moreover, besides EG, pro players do not get much of a salary as well, so you won't make a lot of money doing that either. If finances aren't something that is important to you, then by all means, go for it. Your best bet would be to become a streaming personality like Dragon or MaximusBlack. Both players are top master/gm players, but they use their personalities to earn a living off of twitch ad revenue. Finally, can I get some more information about you, such as your age, your occupation, your country? If you are in your mid 20's with a degree in something but are currently out of work, it would be much more risky to become a pro gamer than to search for work in a more normal career path. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck. Just make sure you look at all of your options.
Becoming a streaming personality is almost as hard as becoming a progamer, however in some regards it also doesn't offer as much in the long-term. For instance if you win a big tournament just once before going into streaming, casting and other content/esports work it's usually way easier with that big win under your belt to transition between games and keep succeeding in different areas. However if you never have any competitive achievements people find it easier to forget you. So you need to work incredibly hard at keeping your content relevant and constant. Either way you're in for a lot of work!
My advice would be to do what you love but really be ready to live off no income for periods. If you're truly dedicated to getting to the top and doing well at big events then there will be times where all you are doing is practicing, watching replays and vods and planning builds or exercising for preferably months at a time. You won't have much time to work part-time on the side and so will have to live very cheaply. If you're attached to an expensive lifestyle it doesn't go too well with being a progamer! Pro salaries will usually be enough to help you get by but won't cover even a minimalistic cost of living unless you're top 30 player in the world. So you have to work for a time on little income to get to the top! It can be done though and I hope you follow your dream.
My own impressions from my experience as a (lowish level) pro are that it's more work then you can ever imagine, but the feeling whenever you win a meaningful tournament, or when your fans reach out to you, make it so worthwhile. You learn a lot about the industry and meet many cool people. I would also say that experience and learning are integral to progression as a pro. Most players advancing are incredibly inefficient and so reaching out to players higher than you constantly seeking to learn other viewpoints is so important to getting to the top. It has taken me so long just to get my understanding high enough to feel that my practice is actually efficient (ish) and I wish I reached out to more players that are better than me, earlier.
gl hf!
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Yeah, as for occupation and such, Im just a High School student atm.
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On May 28 2013 08:14 ArkSC wrote:
On a different note, I'd also like to hear people's opinions on the topic of the pro's/ con's of going pro. Is it worth it?
if your only responsiblity is high school and all you have to your name is that youre masters with no torunament wins or anything youre probably lacking skill or lacking dedication or both. high school is a joke. lets say youre home by 3, at max you maybe have 3 hours of homework a night. if you are really serious about being pro, you should be able to easily log 6 hours a day every day right now without changing a single thing about your routine. that kind of playtime a week easily puts you into the top 10% as far as time played, and should be enough that you would have some notable wins or something. you dont. going pro isnt a magical try hard switch that you can just flip on and all the sudden stomp ass. for pros in every sport, it is clearly evident that someone has the skill at a young age, long before they totally drop all other responsibilities to focus on their sport for 12 hours a day.
even if you did have the skill and dedication, it's still silly to waste time that can be used towards learning about yourself, your interests, learning social skills etc rather than sinking thousands of hours in a game that you have like a 2% chance of making it to at least jobber status, much less someone who can earn an income. and on top of that, sc2 isnt getting any newer. if you drop out today and take a year to get ready the game will already be over three yeras old. that's old as far as esports games are concerned, and your opportunities will be limited as such
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On a different note, I'd also like to hear people's opinions on the topic of the pro's/ con's of going pro. Is it worth it?
If you've got access to LAN tournaments in your country then definitely give those a shot beforehand.
If you're grinding your way up to GM and spend the majority of your time playing Terran then competing with them against some talent in your area/country is probably a good place to start to eye up how good of a player you really are.
If you tend to win at tournaments then theoretically you'll start getting some recognition and might even get approached by somebody to join their team (dream big like EG etc  ..)
Either way, if you do plan to go for it, best of luck.
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Wow, in essence, I created a thread like just like yours last week. Simply introducing yourself and letting people know about your ambitions and plans for the future is a big first step!
If you want we can help to promote eachother a little bit to get the ball rolling, link me to your Website/Twitter/Facebook-page and I´ll see if I can´t get some of my followers (only ~100-200 so far) to check you out as well.
I don´t want to hijack your thread so I´ll send you a PM with more information 
Love hearing more players making a huge leap of faith and believing in themselves and their abilities.
You have my sword...!
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EPT
