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So you were born, and that was a good day Someday you'll die, and that is a shame But somewhere in the between was a life of which we all dream And nothing and no one will ever take that away And someday soon my friends, this ride will come to an end But we can't just get in line again.
This song by Streetlight Manifesto sums up everything I like to do basically.
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Hot Bid and Huk basically made all the points I wanted to make. Why take a shot at us media types though? I do amateur event coverage and interviews. This year I flew to four MLG events, and attended seven LAN events this year in Arizona. I have only debt to show for it. Is this ok? Yes. This is prefectly fine. The people who play and the people who produce content do it because they like it and they want to support the things they enjoy. I don't doubt somewhere in everyone's mind is money. Money's an important thing, but if you go out looking for a job it's a harsh market. I've met the person you refer to when you mention IPL and he's a very nice guy. When I spoke to him at a bar after MLG Columbus he told me a lot of really cool things and gave me some great insight I didn't have before and he encouraged me to keep doing it if I like and told me it's a rough job. He's been right so far. It's tough to get interviews, and it's tough to encode all those hours of video. I've had to upgrade my machine twice. Once I paid out for the upgrade and the other upgrade was very generously donated by a player I'd met because that player wanted to see me succeed.
Would I like to be famous like DjWheat, AskJoshy, and SirScoots? Hell yes I would. Do I expect it? No, but every view one of my videos, threads or blog posts gets makes me smile because I know somewhere that someone was entertained. That the time I invested meant something. Some people were in the right place at the right time, but they deserve the spot they're in and if they weren't good they became good and improved until they fit that spot. At least those are my observations so far. I only have debt to show on paper, but a countless amount of smiling. I'll keep working.
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NB
You're speaking from the role of a victim. If you're being serious and really love e-sports as much as you say you do, then quit the bitching and self-pity and get your ass out there. What do you want to be in the e-sports world?
A pro player? A caster? The guy that handles the camera in-game for tournaments? A writer/reporter?
Make up your mind then get your ass in gear. While you're looking for pity-support here, pro players are training, casters are casting, camera-guys are handling the camera and writers are writing. If you don't want to fall behind then start doing something about it.
Nobody that ever got anywhere did so through self-pity and going about things with a feeling of auto-defeat.
The majority of your OP is just a big pack of excuses to justify the fact that you have under-performed and not given anything your absolute best.
Have you practiced 10-16 hours a day for 1 year straight to improve your game on the road towards pro-player status? Have you recorded and casted 1,000 games to improve your casting skills on the road towards pro-caster status? Have you written 1,000 useful articles for the TL community to improve your writing skills on the road towards pro-writer status? Have you helped with the liquipedia or any other volunteer-activity for TL on a constant basis for 6+ months?
I'd venture to say no. And that's perfectly fine...just don't blame it on 'the talent pool running dry', youtube being 'saturated' or the pro-arena being 'full'.
Quite the contrary, there's always room for talent, passion and creativity. So...where is yours? Show the world what you can do.
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Some very wise replies. It's been hard for everyone who has "made" it. The real challenge is holding on by yourself until you can get the ball rolling, and then still, there is no guarantee. Your friend was talented and he can't keep playing? No one became insta good with insta sponsors. Even a lot of pros you see today are barely making by when they're devoting everything they've got to the game. I tuned into MVPTails stream for a moment and saw he had made about 80 dollars in a month off stream revenue. This is a guy who came in second in the IPL 4 UK qualifier to stephano. The road is much longer, and harder than you could imagine. You're probably aware, but before SC2 these guys were fighting at the bottom of the barrel for years and years as amateurs living off very little.
I'm gonna be a bit harsh, but even once you've made it, nothing is secured. Probably only a handful of people will have a secure future ahead of them even if their names are well-known right now. Look at some of the BW retirees. The game is completely over for them even though they probably put in 10 years of nothing but sc1 day in and day out. 10 years was a good run, but eventually you have to find another way of making a living. Even legends like Julyzerg still struggle to maintain a proper living off esports. As it is right now, you're fighting for just a few years in the spotlight.
However, like others have said, if you love the game, then just being a fan should be good enough in the long run.
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I feel for man, but honestly, you've got no one to blame but yourself. Guys like Huk Idra and Joshy didn't get their jobs handed to them by some santa claus-eque figure. They earned it with hard work and sacrifice.
There's nothing stopping you from winning tournaments. Or cultivating a massive channel on youtube. Or doing some freelance journalism. Those are things that will build up your resume so you actually have a shot at nabbing a job like that Quantic one.
Its not enough to just ladder. Theres thousands of people like you out there, you need to bring something unique if you want to stand out. Posting a jealous-skunding blog (even if you didn't intend this to be one) is not going to get you anywhere.You're just gonna be remembered as "that bitter fan" =(
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Calgary25951 Posts
So much entitlement. For 99.99999% of us, SC2 will never be more than a hobby. There's nothing wrong with that.
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On December 27 2011 14:49 Chill wrote: So much entitlement. For 99.99999% of us, SC2 will never be more than a hobby. There's nothing wrong with that.
I think it was a lot easier for people to accept this in BW when it was obvious that the Koreans were a million steps ahead. Now that SC2 has foreigners on a more even footing (I'll be honest, I don't watch SC2 but I just gather that there are more foreigners performing well at the higher levels) it must be harder for Joe Schmoe from out West to give up their progaming dream.
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I wouldn't be frustrated by not getting a position from an open recruitment thread on Reddit. IMO, the best opportunities in ESPORTS are the ones you stumble upon from your own projects, not the ones you apply for.
Have you ever considered doing ESPORTS work in your local community? Organizing BarCrafts, organize more meetups for the Waterloo club? Organize weekly tournaments? In my experience, these type of projects always lead to more and more awesome ESPORTS related activities, even if they don't get noticed by the major community. I am probably lucky since I live in Irvine, but I know Waterloo has a very active and skillful StarCraft community. You guys have already started doing those lecture series, maybe you can make a dedicated website and expand on that?
I think that trying to make a dent in the global community is much harder now because of how saturated the scene is. It's best to shift focus on more local communities, and it might be better this way because locally you're only doing it for the sake of your own passion and not so that any ESPORTS professionals will give you a pat on the back at the next event. I don't know your living situation, but just because you can't break into the "old boys club" of ESPORTS doesn't mean that ESPORTS is dead forever. At the very least, its still an amazing hobby and culture to be a fan of.
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I started browsing TL in 2007 after Bisu's famous MSL run against Savior, but didn't join TL 'til 2009. This means I was here, part of TL, part of the community in whatever small way when SC2 was released and exploded. I got to see esports happen. To me, that's just fucking amazing. Imagine in years if esports really takes off. You can tell people (or your kids) "I was there when it happened. I watched that shit go down." Maybe I'm just thinking small, but I think that's pretty sick.
Personally, I would love to be a part of esports; not just the community, but the guys who make it happen. I'm sure the vast majority of TLers have that wish. But I know I'm not charismatic enough, not talented enough, nor am I lucky enough to make it as a pro, caster, admin, whatnot. But I love esports. I love SC2 and LoL and DotA. It's a part of my life and I'm really happy to be a fan. Still, I want to get involved. So here's my plan. Kick ass in my last year and half in college. Get to a sick law school and kick ass there. Esports is growing, there's going to be many holes to fill with diligent, smart people, be it at a gaming company like Riot or Blizzard or an organization like MLG. I plan to be one of them. I most likely won't get the fame and the fans and the chicks or whatnot, but maybe, if I play my cards right, I can get involved. From there, you just work your way up to where you wanna be. In short, there's always more than one way to get to where you want to be. You just have to be realistic and creative about it. If you want it hard enough, if you work for it hard enough, you'll get it. If you don't get it, you simply didn't try hard enough. If you want something, you gotta go get it. The loftier your dreams, the harder you gotta try.
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On December 27 2011 14:49 Chill wrote: So much entitlement. For 99.99999% of us, SC2 will never be more than a hobby. There's nothing wrong with that.
0.00001% of the ESPORTS community can actually make a living off SC2. WE ARE THE 99.99999%
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everybody wants to be a somebody, it's human nature, but if guys like ostojiy have a hard time making it, why do you think you would make it, the community is too small, the money is too small
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On December 27 2011 13:17 VATO_Gandair wrote: Hot Bid and Huk basically made all the points I wanted to make. Why take a shot at us media types though? I do amateur event coverage and interviews. This year I flew to four MLG events, and attended seven LAN events this year in Arizona. I have only debt to show for it. Is this ok? Yes. This is prefectly fine. The people who play and the people who produce content do it because they like it and they want to support the things they enjoy. I don't doubt somewhere in everyone's mind is money. Money's an important thing, but if you go out looking for a job it's a harsh market. I've met the person you refer to when you mention IPL and he's a very nice guy. When I spoke to him at a bar after MLG Columbus he told me a lot of really cool things and gave me some great insight I didn't have before and he encouraged me to keep doing it if I like and told me it's a rough job. He's been right so far. It's tough to get interviews, and it's tough to encode all those hours of video. I've had to upgrade my machine twice. Once I paid out for the upgrade and the other upgrade was very generously donated by a player I'd met because that player wanted to see me succeed.
Would I like to be famous like DjWheat, AskJoshy, and SirScoots? Hell yes I would. Do I expect it? No, but every view one of my videos, threads or blog posts gets makes me smile because I know somewhere that someone was entertained. That the time I invested meant something. Some people were in the right place at the right time, but they deserve the spot they're in and if they weren't good they became good and improved until they fit that spot. At least those are my observations so far. I only have debt to show on paper, but a countless amount of smiling. I'll keep working.
That's a very admirable position, in eSports and in life.
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I've been guilty of this type of fallacy myself a few times throughout my life (especially about 6 years ago when I was probably around your age). For me it was: 1. I'm graduating soon and will need to get a real job.(I was also computer science) I have no idea what I want to do and nothing excites me. 2. I love playing, analyzing, reading about, writing about, etc. all things related to chess and I'm pretty good at it. Conclusion: Why not make chess my career.
I'd say the difference between you and me here seems that I could have probably made it work. I could have done the things I love: study chess, read chess books, write about chess, and play chess.
In exchange for doing some things I enjoy, but slightly less: teaching other people worse than me how to play chess.
And some things I didn't particularly want to do: spend a lot of time self-promoting to get students, working my ass off to play weak tournaments to get a few extra bucks, and ultimately figuring out what I really wanted to do with my life as I didn't expect I could sustain myself for 30+ years doing this and have money for retirement / family someday.
What I've learned since is that even if you take a job you hate, if it gives you the ability to do things you enjoy, it can be pretty great. I eventually found a job I love and I do quite well and I've kind of grown away from chess a little due to wanting to spend my time doing some other things (although I fully intend to come back some day).
I get it, it's tough, you're at a point in your life when you've never had anything to develop that you could call a "career". I suggest doing a lot of reaching about things, if you're smart and you put in the work you can probably find something you'll enjoy in an "established" field.
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This all seems crazy to me. A year or two from now, the "Esports Bubble" burst that DJ Wheat was talking about some months back may actually happen; Huk, Day[9], and everyone else could be out of a job. All of the RTS newcomers may get bored and move on, plunging the entire scene back to the BW days. Then what?
It's crazy to act like the Esports scene is some well-developed career path. It's not. No one knows what will happen with MLG (which is still losing money by most accounts); HoTS may be awful and ruin the game. HuK may be flying high right now, but he may be out of a job and broke in two years time (hopefully not, but it could happen). So you can't assume like you are missing out on something amazing.
Day by days I know that soon i will have to leave and start a real job, work and support my family.
Why is this bad? Does living in a 20'x20' room with 11 other guys for barely any money (compared with the salary of someone with a degree in the private sector) really sound that good to you? Or if you're lucky and live in the Star Tail house, what only 5 people crammed in a 10'x10' room sharing two bathrooms with 20 other guys? Even BW pros in Korea, when you put it into context, don't make that much money. 60+ hours a week worth of practicing--imagine if you transferred that time to working a job and working on your education. In ten years time you could have two graduate degrees and great job experience, poised to make good money. And likely much more job security.
There's a reason that so few people make it to a top level pro--the amount of crap you have to put up with for so little return. To overcome that, one has to have an unbelievably passion for gaming. To want to do nothing else in life.
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Why did you choose to make a reference to Destiny? You do know he was pretty much a nobody and played 2v2s and now he has switched to 1v1 and is probably one of the most popular streams featured on TL. So that kind of counters the point you are trying to make that a nobody has no shot of being well known in the community.
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You can always have a hobby that allows you to contribute to what you love. I can only offer these words of inspiration,
"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on". - Roosevelt
Most importantly, "eSports" needs support from the fans in order to succeed, who knows what the future has in store... Here's hoping for the best
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