On December 10 2010 14:05 compscidude wrote: you will have a greater chance if you stop school and play games from a younger age.
Ok first of all go to college. Qxc and Day9 both going to college and have plenty of time to play games at very high levels and be active members in the sc2 community. The reason I say this is most pro gamers do not make a lot of money. Prize money from tournaments, sponsors and coaching is your source of income. Don't do it, go to college and work towards getting a long lasting career. You dont see 40 year old sc2 gamers for a reason. In the mean time keep improving playing tournaments and getting better because that is just fun and awesome. Do not make it your life focus like compscidude suggests. Instead go study computer science at a college and design your own awsome rts game.
at the same time you have to consider that unless u take some easy mode major the games will most definitely cut into your grades and/or social life. I think if you really want to be a pro, taking a year off(if your parents support you and can afford it) between highschool and college might be the way to go.
If I was your mom and you told me you wanted to skip college and be a progamer, I'd beat you senseless. Honestly if you never played BW your chances of actually getting to professional level are slim to none. Those guys just have years of practice and experience that you'll never have.
Edit: But I do want to add that if you do go to college, you can join your school's CSL team. I'm on the team for the school I go to and we have tons of fun hanging out playing starcraft and of course playing against other schools. The beauty of CSL is that the people you're playing against are also busy students who don't have a ton of free time to practice. Both qxc and Liquid'Tyler play in it, though I don't think Tyler came over for the new SC2 season this year.
The best ways to go pro are to join good tournaments and win. This will get you noticed and people will be like "oh man this guy nobody heard of beat (insert well known sc2 player here) at the finals of (insert important tournament name)". After youve demonstrated you are highly skilled teams will probably try to pick you up. Get on a good team that plays in alot of tournaments. Teams want good players and to do well to pick up sponsors and prize money. If you demonstrate strong play and crush everyone else, these teams will pick you up because winning picks up sponsors, sponsors bring in money, money keeps the whole ball rolling.
With that said, the odds of you becoming a pro are slim. There are alot of great players out there and you need to be even better. practice your ass off, and play hard. You cant play just for fun you have to sit down and just pound away game after game after game. Im pretty sure ret or IdrA or NoNy (I cant remember which) had a blog on here about life for a korean pro gamer in starcraft 1 and its not very glamourous in my eyes. But to each his own...
you gotta show people how good you are in tournaments, not ladder. ladder rankings separate the good players from the bad players, and the really good players from the good players. to become a pro (making a living off of it) you better be the mother fucking best because opportunities are hard to come by
On December 10 2010 14:02 Socke wrote: 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
/thread.
And that was actually the 3rd reply or so. Why do you keep talking?
If you got a lot of time on your hands, just start laddering like a madman. 400 games since release isn't really much tbh. Try to play at least 20-30 games every day for one month and see how much you can improve by then and post the results here including your latest reps. I'm sure some people here will be able to tell you if you have the potential to go pro.
Edit: I'm not kidding, you should really do this. It is the quickest way to tell you if you've potential or not. Furthermore you will see if you have the dedication it takes to be a pro. 20-30games per day is close to nothing when you're a pro. Of course you also have to watch a lot of reps, try to develop effective strategies on your own, analyze a lot of stuff, etc. In short, take one month and just give it all you got. Put everything you have into Starcraft. I'm pretty sure afterwards you will know whether you even want to become a pro and if you got what it takes.
On December 10 2010 14:02 Socke wrote: 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
/thread.
And that was actually the 3rd reply or so. Why do you keep talking?
well there are numerous other possibilities, like we're just thinking maybe the key to being a pro is to be a giant asshole
The only best answer I could give you is LAN take top5 and im pretty sure you will be get notice. Perfect example of this will be MLG where you will be facing all top SC2 players.
On December 10 2010 14:05 compscidude wrote: you will have a greater chance if you stop school and play games from a younger age.
Ok first of all go to college. Qxc and Day9 both going to college and have plenty of time to play games at very high levels and be active members in the sc2 community. The reason I say this is most pro gamers do not make a lot of money. Prize money from tournaments, sponsors and coaching is your source of income. Don't do it, go to college and work towards getting a long lasting career. You dont see 40 year old sc2 gamers for a reason. In the mean time keep improving playing tournaments and getting better because that is just fun and awesome. Do not make it your life focus like compscidude suggests. Instead go study computer science at a college and design your own awsome rts game.
Day[9] and Qxc both went to Harvey Mudd too. That shit does not stink. You can definately accel in school and starcraft as those two have proved.
It seems to me there's many misleading tips in this thread. Going pro is not a decision one makes; it's more a situation one finds oneself in. The thought process is NOT: "Hey, I'm a diamond Protoss, I'm going to skip school, give up on a normal career, because the idea of being a pro player appeals to me." It's more like, "Hey, I've been top 10 on the NA ladder for a while, and have won $500 in tournament prizes this past month, maybe I should start lookin for sponsorships and take this (even) more serious." (Nothing person here, just being realistic.)
Reading OPs like these made me want to punch babies. > : You came off sounding like a immature overly eager young boy. Sorry. but you really need to carefully reword ur posts next time.
That depends on what you call a "progamer". Do you want to be in a team playing in tournaments while you are still in college pursuing a traditional career? Entirely reasonable, just keep practicing and improving. Do you want to make progaming your career and focus on making a living off esports alone? Much more difficult. Only a few non-Koreans in the world are able to achieve this and even then the money is less than stellar. If you are really serious about making a career out of starcraft I'd finish high school then find a means to support yourself while you focus on Starcraft. Get yourself known on the ladder and in local tournaments. Join a team, start competing in bigger tournaments. Find the money to either move to korea yourself or be part of a team based in korea. Seems to be the basic outline of what you are talking about.
You will never be a pro gamer. Going from never played an RTS to a top 4k( only in the US......) in 7 months is not even remotely impressive from a pro gamer standpoint. Not saying anyone could do that....but that doesn't mean you are pro material. I came from never having touched an RTS...ever. Didn't even play the campaign. And placed platinum...and climbed for a while before I just didn't have time any more. But lets assume you play, work extra hard, and make top 5.....That would be a ridiculous goal to try and meet..... think about it, a top 5 player in the whole country...full of people like you who want to go pro at a video game. But all that would still mean NOTHING as far as going pro is concerned. Top US SC2 ladder player means NOTHING. You have to win a bunch of tournaments to get recognized, and even then.....top US players just don't make enough to go pro. You need a backup plan, and Korea isn't it. There are just too many ridiculously good players NOW over there. And they're only going to get better. Put in another way, I'd say top 5 ladder over here compares to gold as the real SC2 pros compare to that top 5 ladder player. I watch top 200 ladder players like mini, destiny, qxc, etc and think they are ok, but then I watch professional games, and its just a league or two above even them.
In short, get a real job. Hate to be a dream crusher....but don't throw your life away for something that basically has no real positives to it even if you were to make it to the pro level. At that level, its not a game you play for fun, its a job.
Edit: All that being said.....man, just put your 100% into it. Be the best you can be at it. If you really are pro material, and studying and analyzing games is what makes you click, then go for it. JUST DON'T GIVE UP THE REST OF YOUR LIFE ON THAT GAMBLE. Make top 5 ladder in the US, win some LANs, make money on the side giving lessons. Just have a real job too.
EPT
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