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EDIT
For some reason I am getting a lot of people thinking I am going to neglect schooling or working. I have to wait a year regardless because growing up nobody actually talked to me about the ACT, and that I was suppose to study for this way in advance. So, I just wasn't prepared. I expect to fail at becoming pro, I understand that odds are I WILL NOT be making pro in a short year. And, btw I probably should have mentioned this, but I have been Gold for about 2 seasons.... This whole wanting to be a pro thing didn't become a thing until after I found out I wouldn't be able to go to the college I need to.
I know that the odds are massively stacked against me, but that doesn't me since I have to wait a year anyways I can't just try.
So, I am honestly going to bust my ass, but still have my back end covered. But, after reading through it a couple of times and I get why people would think this, but I refuse to let this attempt fuck me over. I am still going to bust my ass to get to progaming level, cause I love playing sc2 regardless, but I will be covering my ass
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I am pretty much the only gamer in my family, only person who believes in a higher power, only person who enjoys working with and on computers, you can kinda see how this is going. So, a problem I have is my parents not really understanding of what I enjoy in life. I am not saying they don't understand me and don't help me with life problems, but my parents and I are complete opposites. My Dad (step-dad, real dad is a sack of shit) is ex-army, fought in the Middle East, extroverted, loves working outside, and works on a towboat. My Mom has a lot of military background, loves working outside and extroverted as well, has been around the world and back, and has been through so much shit I have met nobody that is even in the same league. Me, well, on top of everything I already mentioned, I have been playing games so long my first memory is playing games, I am very introverted, outright afraid of people, and has been a homebody for almost 18 years now.
As you can see there is a major difference in just experiences and interests. Well I have been wanting to maybe do a few different things for a career. I am turning 18 soon and I am graduating high school about 2 weeks afterwards. I was short two points to attend the college I needed because I had just recently moved in with my Mom, and nobody had really pushed the fact I should be preparing upwards of 6 months prior. I made a 22 without studying so I could easily get a 24 if I study. I was going to go for computer engineering, but then I found Starcraft. I got WOL in January of last year, and HotS for my 17th birthday. I have been playing ever since and I have been playing more and more.
My parents told me that I can take a year, live at home while working full time, and get a higher ACT score and try agian to get into the college I need to go to for my chosen fields in 2016. They had a sit down with me trying to get my ideas and plans for a future down. The conversation lasted 5 hours and didn't end until almost 1am. Reason being is because I had some fairly normal topics at first. The first 3 were computer engineering, IT, or video game programmer. There was a fourth... that was to become a progamer SC2. My Mom thinks I am wasting my time with this game. So, bringing that up she pretty much turned her nose to it. I talk about Starcraft a lot because it's what I do a lot and all but one person I know do not play Starcraft. I only know him through the game too, so nobody I know irl plays. Well, my dad is on the boat two weeks at a time, so he only hears about it every once and a while, and was willing to listen
That was pretty much the majority of the conversation. All things considered my Dad is an extremely open minded person. So, I explained a little bit of the game was, esports, how it works - or at least how I understand it does. We talked about its viability as a career, how I would be able to pull off, and some other things. Well, he told me that if I could pay rent and still be involved with the family - ei not going to my room and only leaving to eat, shit, and go to work- he wouldn't mind me trying to do that. This was a flat out surprise. My Mom I honestly thing will in the end support me in what ever I do, but she seems to be fairly skeptical or is afraid SC2 will just consume me, which is understood. My real father ate, shit, played MMOs and CoD and went to work. Let's just say I either learned what I know from everywhere else, but him. I think she is afraid that will happen to me, which makes me happy she is looking out for me, but I wish she would just believe in that I won't let that happen.
Now, back on track this was just huge. My Dad plays a few games, mostly BF4 on a blue moon on his off week, I honestly thought he would have just flat out told me, " Fuck that shit, your gonna go get a real job!" in those words. So, this is something that I know while I try this I can have a place to live. But, I did give myself a limit. I am afraid of chasing this to much. Sounds done, but I understand that it is very possible I could not make it past diamond or low masters in the next year. I don't want to fuck myself. I have lived in hard conditions for 18 years and I am tired. I want to chase this thing to moon, but time will tell if this is worth pursuing or not. But, I am still going for, because I have wanted very few things this badly.
I have one year. That's it, I will decide then if I should keep going or just go onto college. I will be taking another ACT to get that 24 at least. But, the thing is I want to be this best. I want to win a WCS, a Redbull, a Blizzcon, a GSL Code S. I want to be the best. I don't know if that's possible. I am NA and for some reason we just aren't normally as good as Koreans. I read the behind the name with MMA. He said, paraphrasing a bit, that if foreigners could live like Korean progamers we could catch up. This is what I want to do. I will be doing my best to get just to competing level in the next year. I don't expect to be the best, but I can start getting into qualifiers, and winning some smaller tournaments, then I will continue. Again, only time will tell, but I am gonna work my fucking ass off to get there. Thanks for reading and I will see you guys around.
 
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Well best of luck I guess, not much harm in trying just to see where you might end up!
If it doesn't end up working out, then I wish you good luck in your ACT 
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Hey, revalence123. I'm sure you can get that ACT score!
About going pro... I don't want to ruin your spirit, but chances are you're not gonna make it, considering you are still in gold after playing for a year. Here's a post from a Dota 2 pro player, EternaLEnVy, who quits school to play full-time. He's trying to give advice on someone's brother who wants to go pro by explaining his experience.
http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/325ek3/my_younger_brother_wants_to_quit_education_and/cq8l9v9
Note: 5k mmr is around master.
Good luck on whatever you plan to do though!
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Dude just don't, please. I've been reading these blogs for -years-.
If you can't get out of gold playing as often as you are now, you aren't going to realize any significant changes playing more over the next year. Every decent foreign SC player always played in their off time and after school/between school, that's just the way it is.
idk how much you are playing now, but if you're playing 2-3 hours a day (for example), nothing's going to change if you bump it to 6-10.
Chasing pro-gaming as a career for an entire year is utterly foolish. Think about everyone else in gold, plat, diamond, masters, and GM. Every single one of them is better than you and will continue to get better.
I don't want to sound like a dick or a naysayer, but get real man. you're in gold. In SC2. And you want to become a pro, to make a living off it? There's like what.....70 full time sc2 korean pros? Maybe like...what,...20 full-time, salaried SC2 foreigners? What tiny percentage of those actually make anything resembling a decent salary?
Why do you think matchfixing happened in BW and is happening in SC2? You've got an insanely competitive game where the financial reward is reserved for a tiny tiny tiny select few, and the vast majority of "pros" scrape by with abysmal earnings when you compare the amount of time spent to the financial reward.
Alright, I think I'm done. Again, I don't want to shit on your dreams, but I've been lurking on this site for most of my adult life now, well before I registered this account, and the number of "low level player to pro" blogs is discouraging to read year after year.
Don't waste a year of your time on this.
Yeah, boon's link is spot on.
"Saying that you'll go pro when your 3k MMR whether your in school or not is underestimating the HELL that is pro gaming. He will never become good enough no matter how hard he tries and he should just stop now. Pro gaming is not for him".
Hard to understand and believe, but it's the fucking truth.
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If you're in gold right now, you have a lot to work on.
You need to have a rotation this year while you prepare for everything you might do:
- Study for ACT
- Study a practical or academic subject of your choice on your own direction
- Job to contribute to your family / support yourself
- Practice socializing. If you think I'm joking it just shows how much you should. (Tip: it's an adventure.)
- Figure out who you are. This requires doing things outside your normal purview.
- Improve at SC2.
- Find a form of exercise you enjoy. This will make you better at SC2, I promise.
If SC2 is your dream, let it be your home port while you sail out onto the other parts of life. You want to explore and see what's out there right? By all means, elevate your passion and hold to what is affirming in it. In doing so, make sure it teaches you more about yourself and what you need, because your dream is part of you, but you are not your dream.
Be honest, earnest, and open, and you can't go wrong.
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if you're gold you might have 1 in 10,000 chance or less of making it to pro level; and even then you wont make enough money to live on
if you want to try; then go for it, but make sure to focus on your ACTs & getting into the college you want as well as other parts of life
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Italy12246 Posts
Elegy's post is spot on.
The people you see competing at the top are incredibly few and ridicolously talented; enjoying the game alone just isn't enough. These are people that can beat estabilished, full time pros without dedicating significant amounts of time to the game. If you are anywhere below the top of GM on any given server (and even then, it's not nearly as meaningful for NA because there are so few good players at the top of the ladder), without going full time and while still maintaining a job, going to school or whatever, you do not stand a chance and you are making a mistake. And if you do happen to be top GM, the jump from that from actually winning tournaments and making a comfortable living is way bigger than just getting there.
Also, you are underestimating just how taxing progaming is; again, enjoying the game isn't enough to be able to put in that much practice. During the summer of 2012 i had just gone through a really rough breakup, and to sort my ideas out i decided that i'd save money for a new computer instead of going on holiday, and try and see just how good i could get at Starcraft by playing almost full time for a couple of months, since i wanted to be by myself for a bit and it didn't interfere with my university schedule. I didn't want to go pro, i was just curious to see whta it would be like.
I would play 3 sessions a day of 3 hours each, and over those months i went from being a pretty mediocre low master player to keeping two accounts at top master with zero bonus pool; i played by far the best Starcraft i ever had, and it wasn't even close to what is needed to be a pro. Even then, i couldn't really beat gm's consistently outside of going full protoss on them in a BoX or whatever. After a few weeks i just realized i couldn't keep going, as much as i loved the game and how much fun i had (and believe me, coming up with the pvz tasteless build was really, really fucking fun). The sheer time you need to put in is absolutely insane, and something that i believe the vast majority of people (myself included) are just not capable of doing.
You can try to make SC2 the focus of your life for a bit, as long as it doesn't interfere with your real life it is in fact a great experience, but putting your future on the line and hoping to go pro from ANY skill level, but most especially yours, is silly.
Finally, i know all about being an introverted 18 year old that can't socialize to save his life and sits at home playing games, i've been there. Believe me when i say the way to go is to try to open up, at least a bit, instead of closing yourself further. I'm not saying to try to be a party animal, but i don't think anyone can expect to truly find a balance with themselves if they are completely on their own, at some point you need to reach out. It's hard as fuck, but really, really worth doing.
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On April 17 2015 15:37 boon2537 wrote:Hey, revalence123. I'm sure you can get that ACT score! About going pro... I don't want to ruin your spirit, but chances are you're not gonna make it, considering you are still in gold after playing for a year. Here's a post from a Dota 2 pro player, EternaLEnVy, who quits school to play full-time. He's trying to give advice on someone's brother who wants to go pro by explaining his experience. http://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/325ek3/my_younger_brother_wants_to_quit_education_and/cq8l9v9Note: 5k mmr is around master. Good luck on whatever you plan to do though!
5k is more like high masters or GM, but non pros.
around 4k would be general, random masters players imo.
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I think it is super cool, how revalence123 didn't even ask TL's opinion on wether or not he will make it, yet everyone feels the need to tell him it is impossible :D
Random motivational quote "You don’t beg average people to be phenomenal. [...] You just are phenomenal[...]".
Jaedong played in the courage tournament to get his Pro liscence how many times? Most people got talent, few people actually are hard workers. Maybe you need more time to improve, but as long as you are willing to pay your dues, who's got the right to stop ya? (I am watchin to many motivational videos)
Honestly, the only thing I found that stops people from becoming successful in esports is a lack of passion, not talent. Prime example would be artosis, just getting by all year long to quit his job a few month prior wcg qualifiers each year to train like a mad men and he still wasn't good enough. Back at a time when esport was at it's infancy and not nearly as many great players were around as there are today, yet he still turned his passion into a career, one way or the other. If you want it real bad, I'll be your first fan, if you find your passion die down at some point, by god, please, please, please focus on college. Pro gaming might be the worst financial decision you can make in your life :D
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Italy12246 Posts
Im not saying to give up and that he will never make it (even though it is extremely unlikely), but that he shouldnt sacrifice things like school or jobs for it
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With enough dedication and good coaching you might make it to master/GM.
Hell even MaximusBlack made it to GM.
But please understand that there are still WORLDS between being a master/GM and being a pro player that wins tournaments worth winning.
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it took me a week to become gold, took me a month to become master. And i played casually 3-4 hours a day. So you played a year and are gold. But its good that your terrible then you can quickly focus on stuff that you should be doing instead.
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School goes first, always.
Manage your school while playing ánd ranking high (low masters is not, compared to the goal you're going for). If you can do that, you might give it a chance. If it didn't work out, you still have some alternatives, while you'll just lose years when you give everything up for something that has a 1% chance of succeeding; and 1% is véry optimistic.
It might work out for you, but it's not a wise decision by any means.
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On April 17 2015 15:50 Elegy wrote:
idk how much you are playing now, but if you're playing 2-3 hours a day (for example), nothing's going to change if you bump it to 6-10.
Chasing pro-gaming as a career for an entire year is utterly foolish. Think about everyone else in gold, plat, diamond, masters, and GM. Every single one of them is better than you and will continue to get better.
Just thought I should point out, it I wasn't already in a position where I couldn't do anything for a year, then I WOULD NOT be doing this. Your right, if I already wasn't in a position to not be able to get into college do to my ACT being a little to low, this would be out of the question. But, the only thing I can do is just try. I have a year to kill, accept for the time I will be studying, so why not.
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On April 17 2015 20:49 revalence123 wrote:Show nested quote +On April 17 2015 15:50 Elegy wrote:
idk how much you are playing now, but if you're playing 2-3 hours a day (for example), nothing's going to change if you bump it to 6-10.
Chasing pro-gaming as a career for an entire year is utterly foolish. Think about everyone else in gold, plat, diamond, masters, and GM. Every single one of them is better than you and will continue to get better.
Just thought I should point out, it I wasn't already in a position where I couldn't do anything for a year, then I WOULD NOT be doing this. Your right, if I already wasn't in a position to not be able to get into college do to my ACT being a little to low, this would be out of the question. But, the only thing I can do is just try. I have a year to kill, accept for the time I will be studying, so why not.
And there goes the passion. Shame on you for using the word Dream in your title, I don't expect anything will come out of this then.
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On April 17 2015 17:06 Teoita wrote:
Elegy's post is spot on.
You can try to make SC2 the focus of your life for a bit, as long as it doesn't interfere with your real life it is in fact a great experience, but putting your future on the line and hoping to go pro from ANY skill level, but most especially yours, is silly.
Finally, i know all about being an introverted 18 year old that can't socialize to save his life and sits at home playing games, i've been there. Believe me when i say the way to go is to try to open up, at least a bit, instead of closing yourself further. I'm not saying to try to be a party animal, but i don't think anyone can expect to truly find a balance with themselves if they are completely on their own, at some point you need to reach out. It's hard as fuck, but really, really worth doing.
This is something I defiantly gave some thought. I don't know a lot, but I do know that doing this and nothing else will probably screw me in the long run if I am not careful. And, I know closing up isn't a great idea, I am trying to work on it, and its going ok-ish. More than likely I will end up at college in the end - which is perfectly fine with me - so if that ends up happening that is where I will probably get a chance to work on it the most.
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On April 17 2015 20:34 Yorbon wrote:
School goes first, always.
Manage your school while playing ánd ranking high (low masters is not, compared to the goal you're going for). If you can do that, you might give it a chance. If it didn't work out, you still have some alternatives, while you'll just lose years when you give everything up for something that has a 1% chance of succeeding; and 1% is véry optimistic.
It might work out for you, but it's not a wise decision by any means.
Trust me when I say I plan for failing this, I plan to end up being in a college in a year, but I am still gonna try to do this.
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On April 17 2015 20:55 revalence123 wrote:Show nested quote +On April 17 2015 20:34 Yorbon wrote:
School goes first, always.
Manage your school while playing ánd ranking high (low masters is not, compared to the goal you're going for). If you can do that, you might give it a chance. If it didn't work out, you still have some alternatives, while you'll just lose years when you give everything up for something that has a 1% chance of succeeding; and 1% is véry optimistic.
It might work out for you, but it's not a wise decision by any means. Trust me when I say I plan for failing this, I plan to end up being in a college in a year, but I am still gonna try to do this. Then I'd say it's ok. It wouldn't be my choice, but as long as you have perspective onto alternative it should be fine.
Best of luck either way
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well, since you are not even 18, there is a big chance your worldview is still missing some big puzzlepieces.
My advice would be, to read some books about success, psychology and especially "how to learn stuff quickly".
There are many worse ways of spending a year, than playing Sc2 to the fullest. You will learn a lot about mindset, endurance and yourself.
Going from highschool to college without ever thinking about your life and what you really want, is just as well a very risky road; cause if you dont like your studies, then you have wasted several years and in USA a big load of money for nothing. and that happens to people a lot too.
I dont really see a prob. most likely you are gonna give up after 1 month anyways, even giving up after a year would give you valuable lessons and some fun memories and some nice replays where you beat pros. but maybe maybe maaayyyybeee you are the next stephano ))
gl
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if you're just gold playing casually you're not gonna get anywhere man. Focus on studying, learning about the viable careers you mentioned, and get a real job to start paying bills rather than playing a video game 40+ hours a week without generating any income.
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EPT
