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How does one become "pro"?

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
1 2 3 4 5 14 15 16 Next All
Idmaif
Profile Joined September 2010
United States42 Posts
December 10 2010 04:58 GMT
#1
ok, i know this sounds crazy to a ton of people, but i am halfway through my Jr year in highschool, and im working on getting good enough to be able to become pro right after highschool. and i know there are going to be tons of people who say "dont do it! its too risky!" or "your wasting your life" but this is what i am dedicated to do.

let me start off by saying how good i actually am right now. so i have been playing for about 8 months, (since beta) and i have improved from pretty low bronze newbie to pretty high diamond because i am a very fast learner. but if i made that much of an improvement in 8 months, another year and half will get me a lot higher. so i am constantly working my way up to get closer to the top 200 where a few of my friends are. here is my profile
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/339086/1/iDreamadroid/
so i am not the best in the world yet, but probly around rank 4000 in the US. and of course i will work my way up.

so how do people actually start to make a living off of it?
do you have to move to korea like IdrA and just find every little tournament plus GSL?
cant you join a clan and get sponsored or something?

i am just a little unfamiliar of the whole process of how this works.
so any productive responses are appreciated, just try to leave out the criticism. but i know that Team Liquid is awesome enough to have less trolls than any other forum.

also maybe remember the name iDreamadroid for future years ;D everyone starts somewhere
AAHHH PLAGUUU!!! PLAGUU AAAHH!! PLAGUU!! YA PLAGUGUU!!
MusiK
Profile Joined August 2010
United States302 Posts
December 10 2010 05:00 GMT
#2
Go to open tournaments, win many games, get notice by teams, and there u go.

Now, that sounds easy, but you can ask the pros if it was or not. The answer might scare u
BOOM!!! ~ Tasteless
Defacer
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada5052 Posts
December 10 2010 05:00 GMT
#3
ummmm ... let's try and go easy on this guy.
Socke
Profile Joined November 2002
Germany451 Posts
December 10 2010 05:02 GMT
#4
the problem is that most of the really good guys have been playing rts competitively for many years.. its really hard to catch up to that being new to rts.
best way to get better is to be focused on improving while grinding many many games.
then do well in tournaments and get sponsorship
CanucksJC
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Canada1241 Posts
December 10 2010 05:03 GMT
#5
You don't simply walk become a pro
UBC StarCraft Club is official @ UBC Vancouver campus! Your first eSport community on campus. Welcomes players of all levels at UBC. Follow us on facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=155630424470014 or IRC @ irc.rizon.net #ubcsc
Galaxy77
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Hong Kong256 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-10 05:05:55
December 10 2010 05:03 GMT
#6
Really you need to start off by getting recognised.

Get to the top of ladder.

Win some online tourneys.

Win some offline tourneys. (Yes I realise SC2 is technically always online)

Apply to top teams with examples of why they should pick you up, (all the tourneys you've won etc.)


Once you are on a top team, that pretty much makes you pro, then put in the training hours with the team, and enter even more big events.


edit: judging by your rank, im not sure if you are capable of getting there, most pros have years experience in sc1 or other games (such as war3 etc.) Theres being good, and theres being pro. Theres a distinct difference. Any "very good" ladder player could occasionally take a game off a pro. But in a BO7, the pro will come out infront everytime.
compscidude
Profile Joined December 2010
176 Posts
December 10 2010 05:05 GMT
#7
i'll be realistic here.
you will have a greater chance if you stop school and play games from a younger age.
This was the case for Flash, one of the dominant player in SC history.
He started when he was 15, and big portion of his time went to practices.

If your motivated to succeed in e-sports, i recommend having your priorities changed.
Gaming would have to be your first not school, and by all means, this doesnt mean you
must drop out. But rather, you have to understand that doing good in school is not what you
would be expecting, given that you are motivated to succeed in gaming.

So my point is, set your priorities.
How are you going to spend you time?
Waking
Profile Joined October 2010
United States46 Posts
December 10 2010 05:06 GMT
#8
I doubt there are many players in the US that don't have some kind of other job. Playing sc2 in the US full time is just not an option (I am sure there are exceptions).
Defacer
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada5052 Posts
December 10 2010 05:06 GMT
#9
I don't know about Starcraft 2, but a lot of Starcraft 1 pro's barely made a living.

I'm assuming we're defining 'professional' as a guy that can play SC2 and survive, which I imagine requires a player not only to win, but win consistently and often.

Even top 'pro's' like InControl -- who is really, legitimately good -- subsidize their income by coaching.

CanucksJC
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
Canada1241 Posts
December 10 2010 05:08 GMT
#10
On December 10 2010 14:05 compscidude wrote:
i'll be realistic here.
you will have a greater chance if you stop school and play games from a younger age.
This was the case for Flash, one of the dominant player in SC history.
He started when he was 15, and big portion of his time went to practices.

If your motivated to succeed in e-sports, i recommend having your priorities changed.
Gaming would have to be your first not school, and by all means, this doesnt mean you
must drop out. But rather, you have to understand that doing good in school is not what you
would be expecting, given that you are motivated to succeed in gaming.

So my point is, set your priorities.
How are you going to spend you time?

You can't really use Flash as en example here... Considering how many ppl apply to be progamers, go through Courage, try to become at least semi-pro; all those people have basically given up their education for very little success in the scene. Flash is one-of-a-kind, 8 months and 2000 points, that's really nothing impressive.
UBC StarCraft Club is official @ UBC Vancouver campus! Your first eSport community on campus. Welcomes players of all levels at UBC. Follow us on facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=155630424470014 or IRC @ irc.rizon.net #ubcsc
Talin
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Montenegro10532 Posts
December 10 2010 05:09 GMT
#11
You would need to practice methodically and systematically to improve your game rather than just haphazardly playing on ladder. Start getting some tournament experience as early as possible (online opens to start with). Meet people and talk to them, you don't want to be an isolated anonymous ladder player no matter how good you are.

There's no secret recipe to it, the process is mostly common knowledge, actually getting there is the genuinely difficult part. Don't commit to anything until you know you've got a decent shot at it.
iloveoil
Profile Joined June 2008
Norway171 Posts
December 10 2010 05:10 GMT
#12
On December 10 2010 14:08 CanucksJC wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 10 2010 14:05 compscidude wrote:
i'll be realistic here.
you will have a greater chance if you stop school and play games from a younger age.
This was the case for Flash, one of the dominant player in SC history.
He started when he was 15, and big portion of his time went to practices.

If your motivated to succeed in e-sports, i recommend having your priorities changed.
Gaming would have to be your first not school, and by all means, this doesnt mean you
must drop out. But rather, you have to understand that doing good in school is not what you
would be expecting, given that you are motivated to succeed in gaming.

So my point is, set your priorities.
How are you going to spend you time?

You can't really use Flash as en example here... Considering how many ppl apply to be progamers, go through Courage, try to become at least semi-pro; all those people have basically given up their education for very little success in the scene. Flash is one-of-a-kind, 8 months and 2000 points, that's really nothing impressive.


I thought Flash finished school aswell? Or was that JD?
aimaimaim
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Philippines2167 Posts
December 10 2010 05:10 GMT
#13
On December 10 2010 13:58 Idmaif wrote:
ok, i know this sounds crazy to a ton of people, but i am halfway through my Jr year in highschool, and im working on getting good enough to be able to become pro right after highschool. and i know there are going to be tons of people who say "dont do it! its too risky!" or "your wasting your life" but this is what i am dedicated to do.

let me start off by saying how good i actually am right now. so i have been playing for about 8 months, (since beta) and i have improved from pretty low bronze newbie to pretty high diamond because i am a very fast learner. but if i made that much of an improvement in 8 months, another year and half will get me a lot higher. so i am constantly working my way up to get closer to the top 200 where a few of my friends are. here is my profile
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/339086/1/iDreamadroid/
so i am not the best in the world yet, but probly around rank 4000 in the US. and of course i will work my way up.

so how do people actually start to make a living off of it?
do you have to move to korea like IdrA and just find every little tournament plus GSL?
cant you join a clan and get sponsored or something?

i am just a little unfamiliar of the whole process of how this works.
so any productive responses are appreciated, just try to leave out the criticism. but i know that Team Liquid is awesome enough to have less trolls than any other forum.

also maybe remember the name iDreamadroid for future years ;D everyone starts somewhere


just do what you want .. fuck everyone who tells you what to do ..

you just need 90% dedication and the 10%, leave it to Luck ..
Religion is a dying idea .. || 'E-sport' outside Korea are nerds who wants to feel like rockstars. || I'm not gonna fuck with trolls on General Forum ever again .. FUCK!
Waking
Profile Joined October 2010
United States46 Posts
December 10 2010 05:10 GMT
#14
Also, sorry to be a dick but I started playing late in the beta (had never really played an RTS before) and went from low silver to ~2500 diamond in about 7months.
reprise
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada316 Posts
December 10 2010 05:11 GMT
#15
Being good at anything is easy. Being great is something else.
for graphs of passion, and charts of stars
s4m222
Profile Joined March 2010
United States272 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-10 05:11:38
December 10 2010 05:11 GMT
#16
How hard does one need to practice to go PRO, for Basketball, Football, baseball... Make it your life and you can do it (the above also sort of have a physical requirement in some ways SC2 not so much as long as you can work a mouse)

Win tourneys, and make friends with big clans and get in. Same way for alot of talents and careers. Be good(*edit be AMAZING), get noticed.
Flying_Cake
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada117 Posts
December 10 2010 05:11 GMT
#17
As is it right now, you can't make a living out of it right now. You have to spend 10h+ per day practicing to have a minuscule chance of winning a couple bucks.. NOt really worth it right now.

Sure theres the top guys from the gsl (idra, boxer, jinro, etc...), but these are exeptions.. They make a bit from their sponsers but not very much.. To get to that level is almost impossible when you take in account all the good starcraft II players in the world.
jinorazi
Profile Joined October 2004
Korea (South)4948 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-10 05:15:22
December 10 2010 05:12 GMT
#18
i'm no gosu level in sc2 but i've had competitive experience in counter-strike and i've met alot of people through Cyberglobe. the team is dead now, i used to manage the cyberglobe cafe and ran a team sponsored cyberglobe cafe.

best thing for you to do is to goto tournaments. it might be difficult depending on where you live but, for example: there's a tournament comping up about ~1 hr from where i live in mountain view. http://www.meetup.com/santacruzgam3r5/calendar/15585521/

i was told about it, it says "invite" so i'm not sure if you can still enter. anyways, its about making connections. you can perform well in a tournament and chances are, someone might be there with connections within the pro community (daynine, hd, husky or some other known person in the sc2 community that has ties deeper into the pro scene). this will help with your game as you can practice with top tier players more often. talk whatnot and make more connections. from there if you perform like a pro, you will be noticed and have a chance to be invited to a tournament(s).

you can also do online tournaments just to get your name out and be noticed.

if you really want to do it, do it, no one can stop you. i've tried with cs and called it quits after failing to enter into cal-i for two seasons. it can't happen to everyone that tries but you'll never know until you try.

of course, this is after all the improvements you need.
age: 84 | location: california | sex: 잘함
Drizz
Profile Joined August 2010
25 Posts
December 10 2010 05:14 GMT
#19
ur not going pro, you suck

User was temp banned for this post.
ssi.bal-listic
Profile Joined October 2010
United States568 Posts
December 10 2010 05:15 GMT
#20
if you are really dedicated, no one can stop you.
i would really recommend testing yourself before you truly decide. From your profile, your win rate isn't very impressive, no offense.
Noone is stopping you (maybe except for your parents?) and I really want to wish you a good luck as I'm in same age range as you.

Back to the point, you probably have to get noticed by teams. I guess this can happen by winning tournaments and being clanless at the top of the ladder. Maybe you can win one of the TL Opens? or craft cup?

If you really want to make money out of the game, then Korea would probably be the best choice.
If I'm not being productive (which im sure im not), I'm sry but i just want to give you best wishes and gl in the future.
Like day9 in his #100 daily, as long as u love something and ur happy, thats good for u and the rest of the world.
^too f*cking corny but w/e


anyway GL and HF
"It's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you" "The strong one doesn't win, the one that wins is strong"
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