WEBVTT - TechStuff Classics: Professional Gaming 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:12.960 Get in touch with technology with text Stuff from dot Com. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:16.200 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:18.960 and today I'm going to bring you a classic episode 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:23.640 of tech Stuff about professional video gamers. And the reason 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.480 I'm doing this is because actually the stories evolved quite 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:33.160 a bit since Chris Plett and I originally recorded this episode. UH. 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:39.000 E sports have become a huge business, whether it's from 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:42.680 Twitch streams where people are making money because of subscribers 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:46.279 to their program and they've got sponsorships, or if you're 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.879 talking about gaming tournaments that have actual prizes attached to them. 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.120 There's a lot of money to be made playing video 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:57.680 games if you're good enough. According to the website e 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:03.680 Sports Earnings, UH, how Chen tops the list of highest earners. 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.319 This is based off of information that is found on 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.600 the Internet, so it's quite possible that there are other 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:13.360 sources that this site is not familiar with. However, they 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:17.679 say that Chen has made nearly one point two million 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:22.240 dollars and earnings from playing video games professionally, with the 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.200 game that has made the lions share of that being 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.600 Doda too. And that's really kind of why I wanted 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.639 to do this rerun is first to talk about how 0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:34.480 things have changed, and one of the things that have 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:38.920 changed is this emergence of games that are in the 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:45.640 mobile category, and mobile stands for a multiplayer online battle arena. 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:49.040 This is a relatively new type of genre. It's kind 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.080 of a subgenre of real time strategies, but it has 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:56.120 its own sort of quirks. So back in the day, 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.760 E sports was all about really two main genres real 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:02.960 real time strategy games or RTS games or first person 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:07.800 shooter games or FPS. Mobile is now a real contender 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:12.480 with those. UH. It involves teams playing against each other, 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:16.160 so you have teammates, but each player controls a single 0:02:16.240 --> 0:02:20.080 character rather than a collection of units. So in a 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.800 game like Warcraft or StarCraft, you know you're managing lots 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.360 of units and you're commanding them to move and attack 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.560 and engage with other units throughout the game, and this 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:33.480 one you're playing a single character. So winning strategies rely 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:37.080 on lots of different factors, including a familiarity with the 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.560 arena layout, which is incredibly important. You need to really 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:44.160 be familiar with all the different areas. UH. You also 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:48.000 need a balanced team that plays to each player's strengths. 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:52.399 While simultaneously providing a good mixture of skills and abilities. 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.360 So not only do you have to be really good 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:59.480 at working with your teammates, your character's abilities need to 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:03.320 compliment at those teammates abilities. Uh, if you have a 0:03:03.360 --> 0:03:07.200 whole bunch of brutes just rushing in and you don't 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:11.000 have anything that could heal any damage, you might find 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:13.960 yourself on the losing end of a game, Whereas if 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:17.320 you have a really well balanced team that works well together, 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:19.639 you might find it you know that you're just rolling 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:23.839 straight through the competition. Teams will often use their own 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:27.799 terms in the game to communicate without giving their their 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.240 plans away to opposition, So you hear a lot of 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:33.480 folks kind of develop their own code names for different 0:03:33.480 --> 0:03:37.680 areas of the arena or different strategies. Um, it's not 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.800 always the case, but it's it's fairly frequent, especially if 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.480 you're playing in a tournament where the various teams are 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:45.520 essentially with an earshot of each other. You know, if 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:48.040 it's not across an arena and there right next to 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:51.200 each other, then you don't necessarily want the opposing team 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:53.040 to know, Hey, we're all going to concentrate on this 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:55.520 one part of the map. Some of the popular games 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:59.280 the mobile genre include Dota two, League of Legends, and Smite, 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.240 So I'll really have to do a full episode about 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:04.720 mobi's sometime in the future. And I know people who 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:08.320 work on Smite in different areas, uh and some of 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:10.600 them are doing voice work for Smite, some of them 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:15.080 are working on the marketing for for tournaments. So I 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.839 could probably pull one or two of them on for 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.640 an episode of tech Stuff and really talk about mobile's 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:24.280 in general and Smite in particular. But today I really 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:26.880 wanted to take a look back on that classic episode 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.040 of tech Stuff where Chris and I talked about what 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.640 it takes to become a professional gamer, and as it 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:38.320 turns out, it's not all fun and games. It's all 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:40.839 about the game and how you play it, all about 0:04:40.839 --> 0:04:43.120 control and if you can take it, all about your 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:45.119 debt and if you can pay it. It's all about 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:49.320 the pain and who's gonna make it. I am the game. 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:54.960 You don't want to play me? Nice? Thank you. I'm 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:56.960 sure you don't recognize that, and I'll tell you where 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:00.520 it's from later, but I will say that I'm sure 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.760 our long term listeners who know our propensity for quoting 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:08.200 certain movies about video games. Probably are very happy that 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.279 you found a quote that had nothing to do with 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.120 certain movies, had nothing to do with war games or 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:18.960 drown or fighting for the users. Today, however, we're going 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.920 to talk about professional gamers. That's one topic that people 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:25.719 have asked us to mention many times. In the past. 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.279 We have talked about similar topics, though. Yeah, we talked 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:32.039 about video game testers, the play testers who as a 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:36.560 profession actually work with video game companies to test out 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:38.480 video games in order to make sure that they are 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:40.640 playable and they don't have any bugs. If you want 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.560 to hear more about that, we have a podcast about 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:44.240 and we also have an article on how Stuff Works 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:47.400 dot Com about how video game testers work. But in 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:50.159 this case, we're talking about a different kind of professional gamer, 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:54.400 not someone who's testing out a product that's still in 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.680 the development stage, but people who actually play games for 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:03.000 a living. Yes, and you would imagine that, uh, anything 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:04.960 where you don't have to sit at a desk and 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:10.480 actually do typical work, um would be a lot of fun. 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.320 But I think and and for video game testing, we 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.719 talked about that it's not necessarily you know, hey, I 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:19.640 get to play games all day. This is a lot 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:23.040 closer to that. But it's not necessarily fun either. I mean, 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:26.240 there's a lot of work involved in this. Yeah, the 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.120 for video game testing, it's all about, you know, checking 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.480 every square inch of a map to make sure there 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.920 aren't any spots that you would excellently pass through and 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.560 you know, and that players would discover could that could 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:41.440 be an exploit or it could just be a bug 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:45.279 that makes the game unplayable. It's not necessarily fun, uh now, 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.719 professional gamers, and also there's an element of fun to it. 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:52.120 There's an element of of competition obviously, but it's also 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:54.440 a lot of work in the sense that you have 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:57.320 to really put in a lot of time to get 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:01.040 really really good at certain types of games if you 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:05.440 want to compete on a professional level. Yeah, I did 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:07.599 some reading on this, since you know, I'm not a 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:11.680 professional gamer. Um, since most of these games you know 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:16.200 aren't aren't you know Tetris? Kidding? I do play other 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:18.560 games besides Tetris, but I don't play a lot of 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:23.240 the types of video games because I'm not really a 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.520 first person shooter kind of guy. I mean, I've played 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:27.600 them in their fun, but it's not the thing I 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.920 tend to do. I I tend to prefer strategy games. Um, 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:35.120 there are some real time strategy was tournaments. Yeah. I 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:37.040 was gonna say, don't pause the podcast and write to 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:39.240 me and tell me that that's not the case. So 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.040 I'm where StarCraft is a way up there. Oh yes, 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.600 yes it is, um, but yeah, I mean for the 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.360 most part, and and things like Civilization, so there's not 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:50.680 they're not really tournaments for this, but yeah. The people 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:56.000 who are are professional video gamers are really a very 0:07:56.040 --> 0:08:00.880 specific sort of breed there. They tend to be young people, um, 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.440 and they tend to be people who are uh for 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:06.280 a couple of reasons, but they also tend to be 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:13.320 people who are really into uh techy and and uh 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:15.440 scholarly pursuits. I would say there are a lot of 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:17.880 people who are students, who are serious students who are 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:19.560 really into video games, and there are a lot of 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:21.160 this level. There are a lot of people who actually 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.880 have a pretty good amount of discretionary income as well, 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:27.480 because in order to be a pro gamer, you usually 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:30.280 have to have a pretty decent gaming rig so that 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.440 you can play a game at its at its best settings. 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:37.760 Because here's the thing, about um, about a tournament. So 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.199 let's say that you are used to playing a video game. 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:43.800 Let's just argue for argument sake, let's pick one. Let's 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:45.880 call it. Let's do Quake, because that's a really popular 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:49.760 one in tournaments, all right, first person shooter game. So yeah, 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:51.640 you've got a first person shooting game. You've got Quake, 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:54.360 which you can play in competitive play one on one 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:57.800 against other people. Um, and so you've got this, Uh, 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:00.760 you've got Quake and you're you're pretty good it. But 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:03.240 you have, you know, just a decent machine. So what 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:05.800 you've done is you've turned the polygon count down and 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:07.640 you know, you've turned off some of the effects so 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.040 that the game runs more smoothly on your computer. And 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.719 you've got you know, a decent mouse and a decent keyboard, 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.920 and um see, you know you're good. Well pro gamer 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:19.480 is going to be running that on a really fast 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.520 machine with a really nice mouse and keyboard set up, 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:26.720 maybe one that's almost customized for that gamer. Some of 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:30.200 them actually do have custom units where they'll they'll play 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:33.240 these games, and that can give them the edge they 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:36.199 need in order to play at a professional level where 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.520 you know, pretty good just doesn't cut it pretty good 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:40.720 means you're out in the first round. You have to 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:45.040 be astonishingly good. And one of the reasons you need 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.400 to have a really good gaming rig is that you 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:49.880 have to be used to playing at that setting, because 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:52.480 if you're playing in a tournament, most tournaments, they're gonna 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:55.000 want those settings cranked up. And the reason they want 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:58.440 those settings cranked up is because it looks better. If 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:01.439 you're promoting a tournament, if you are trying to get sponsorships, 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:03.720 you want those games to look as good as they 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.480 possibly can. So you don't want to have the polygon 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.560 count turned down. You know, even if it makes the 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.079 game smoother, You would prefer to beef up all the 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:16.199 computers in the system rather than to have the graphics 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.280 suffer because you don't want the cameras to pick up 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:23.400 some sort of low polygon count video game because it 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:27.839 makes it look more amateurish. Right, So you know, you 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:30.520 need to have that that money just so that you 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:32.960 have a gaming rig. And a lot of the professional 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:38.440 gaming leagues and tournaments focus on PC gaming. Console gaming 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:42.600 is also present, but it's not as big a market 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:47.240 as PC gaming is in the tournament's realm, so you 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.800 need the discretionary income for your rig, but you also 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:51.760 need it because you need to be able to make 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:55.720 travel arrangements. Because the way professional gamers, most professional gamers, 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.160 I should add, make money is that they go and 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.600 they play in tournaments. And if you want to make money, 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.040 you know, only just play in tournaments. You gotta win tournaments. 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:05.720 And those tournaments may not be just down the street 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.800 from your house. They may be in another city, They 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.600 may be in another country, and you will have to 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.280 travel there. You might first have to travel to a 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.880 preliminary event so that you can qualify to go onto 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:20.319 the next round, which might be in a different country. 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:24.320 So you're talking about a profession where you already have 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:26.760 to have a certain amount of money in order to 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.800 really to really compete at a at the top level. Um, 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.520 and there are various pathways to get there. If you 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.559 are not, you might be saying, well, why so you're 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:38.800 centually telling me that professional gaming is for the independently 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:40.640 wealthy and really it's just a way to waste time. 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:43.480 Not not quite. There are ways of getting there, but 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.040 we'll get into that. Yeah, it's um, I was trying 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:48.920 to find a way to say this, but I think 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:50.720 the best way to say it is a lot of 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:55.560 people who are professional gamers, um fit into a stereotype 0:11:55.640 --> 0:12:00.360 for gamers because of the things you mentioned that discretionary income, um, 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:02.439 and because also there are a lot of people are 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.880 are younger. So there are people who are living in 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.800 their parents basement because they don't have to pay you know, 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.000 not because they are they're fitting into a stereotype, but 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:16.120 actually they're probably fueling it. But the thing is, um, 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:18.160 you know, they don't they don't have to worry about 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:22.280 paying rent. They are you know, hanging out there. They 0:12:22.360 --> 0:12:25.079 probably have a job or you know, for the younger kids, 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:26.960 you know, they're going to school and have a job 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:30.560 to to help pay for these things. And um. So yeah, 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:32.440 I mean I think that's part of why there there 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.400 is that stereotype. But it's not it's a result of 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.119 like I said, I think this behavior fuels that stereotype 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:41.400 rather than them being us making the stereotype right right, 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.079 It's just because a lot of the people One of 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:48.120 the reasons that young people are such common competitors in 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.520 these tournaments is that, um, you have to have really 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.720 good reflexes, yeah, really good hand eye coordination and reflexes. 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:59.040 I read some interviews with pro gamers and um, I said, yeah, 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.720 you know, a certain point, your visual acuity, your you know, 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:05.920 your dextery sorts to to drop off, and you really 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:09.560 don't see people over thirty, which of course rules me 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:14.600 way out. Um, but yeah, I mean that's so that's 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:16.680 why you see a lot of kids and you know, 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.920 younger twentysomethings in these tournaments. So generally these are people 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.360 who are not necessarily established already, or if they're established, 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:27.240 they're tenuously established. And and and here's the thing about being 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.080 a professional gamer is that, yeah, you can in theory, 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:32.720 make some big money if you are really really good 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.360 and you win some tournaments. For example, one of the 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:37.640 one of the go to references, one of the ones 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.760 most probably one of the most famous professional gamers in 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:45.600 the Western hemisphere anyway, is uh is Jonathan Wendel, also 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:49.360 known as Fatality. Yeah. Uh, and that the the eye 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:54.200 and Fatality is the number one. Uh, he's solite. Yes, 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:58.880 he actually won a tournament where the the grand prize 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:01.400 was a hundred and fifty thous and dollars well for 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.880 that year, that means he won grand on top of 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.559 whatever else he might have earned in other tournaments or 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.439 other other ventures, but there's no guarantee that that's gonna 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:15.160 repeat the next year. So, you know, in order to 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:17.280 in order to be a professional game or you may 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.640 not be able to have a sustainable career in the 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.200 sense of you don't know that next year you're gonna 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:24.800 make that same amount of money, or even any money 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:26.800 at all. It may turn out that, you know, you 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:29.760 just have a bad day at the tournament, or or 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:32.600 it may be that the next crop of players are 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.600 just that much better. It may be that the tournament 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:39.240 switches games. That's something that we really need to focus on, 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:41.760 because think about this. When you are a professional athlete, 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:46.560 all right, the rules for your sport rarely change in 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:50.000 a huge way. They normally change in tiny ways, and 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.760 even then you will hear players really complain. I remember 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:58.240 back in the Olympics that there was some discussion about 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.640 the soccer balls being used in the soccer games because 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:04.640 they were slightly different from a standard that have been 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:07.560 used previously. And I mean that sort of thing is 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:10.600 a big deal because that tiny, little change can affect 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:14.880 how well an athlete at that level can perform. But 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:17.480 think about that, you know, like, that's the tiniest change. 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.880 But if you're a professional gamer, the changes may be monumental. 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.840 It may be that one year they're doing Quake and 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.160 the next year they've switched to Counterstrike. Those are two 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.840 totally different games with different physics, different there's different frame rates, 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.680 there's different you're gonna have a different experience. You know, 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.240 you're gonna move at a different speed, the weapons behave 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:39.160 in a totally different way. Plus, you know, it may 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:41.840 be that one game is a one on one style 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.120 game and the other game is a team based game, 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:48.560 which then affects not just the physics, but truly the strategy. 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.280 You have to learn new maps, you have to you know, 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:55.120 be able to really adapt to it. So professional gamers 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:58.480 may have some pretty big hurdles from one year to 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.320 the next, which means that it is really hard to 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.200 say that you're going to make a decent amount of 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:08.120 money year over year. Now you could do what Fatality did. 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.360 He was really really smart. He ended up making his 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:16.200 own brand, and he ended up partnering with uh various 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:23.000 component manufacturers, things like video game graphics, cards, and gaming gear. 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.160 And because of that he's able to make money through 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:29.560 those means. Not just as a professional gamer, but through 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:34.600 these licenses. So that's one way to continue to earn money. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:36.800 Even if you were to have, say an off year 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:39.520 in the tournaments, you would still have this other source 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:42.840 of revenue. It's also smart to do if you are, 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.000 you know, creeping up on that age thirty and who 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:49.400 knows when your your reflexes will start to just give 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:51.400 a little bit, because remember again, at this level, the 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:55.760 tiniest detriment can mean the difference between losing and winning. 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:03.280 Reflexes a lonely child all in the reflexes. And yeah, 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.200 I mean there are there are other things too. Um 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.399 you were mentioning that that StarCraft is huge, It is 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:14.000 monumentally huge. In Korea. Yes, South Korea, professional gaming is 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:19.639 actually viewed on a level that is probably approximately the 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:24.640 same level as most professional athletes. Now that's most that's 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.439 pretty unusual. I mean most other countries, that's just not 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.080 the case. China is a little bit like that, but 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.399 not to the level that South Korea is at. And 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:36.480 in the United States, you know, there's an underground professional 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:41.800 gamer uh culture, but it's it has never reached mainstream 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:44.399 acceptance like it has in South Korean. South Korea, they 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.959 will televise tournaments and on major networks and you you 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.760 can tune in and watch as players play against each other. 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.679 And there are events that they hold have thousands of 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:56.639 spectators who will come in and watch the gamers play. 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.000 In the United States, it's mostly gamers and other games 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:03.719 who attend these things with you know, friends and family 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:06.000 that spill out beyond that, and then a few fans, 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:08.800 but only a few compared to what you would find 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:13.000 in South Korea. So there's there's that difficulty too. Is 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.600 just the fact that video games don't have the same 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.399 kind of level of uh, fascination and respect in the 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.480 United States as they do in South Korea. Right right, Well, 0:18:22.520 --> 0:18:26.520 I was I was reading an interview with Greg Fields, 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.679 who I'm really not sure how I would pronounce his handle. 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:34.520 I gotta put my glasses on capital I I'd say Idra, Yeah, 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.679 I d R capital A. He's a he's a StarCraft 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:40.320 gamer and he's spent a lot of time in Korea 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.240 and they were talking about, uh they asked him about 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:47.080 StarCraft and why he chose StarCraft, and uh, not only 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:51.000 is he StarCraft gamer, that's you know, his game of choice, 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:54.760 but he also specializes on one particular faction, and he 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:57.520 was he was talking about you were you were mentioning 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:01.560 what happens at the tournament changes games. Well right now, Well, 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:04.000 at the time of the interview, he was saying that 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:09.919 Blizzard had made his faction of choice UM sort of underpowered. 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.520 I believe it was Zerg that he preferred UM and 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:15.760 Terence were stronger, and he hoped that they would patch that, 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:18.000 and they said, well, why don't you just switch to 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.399 Terrence or something else, Like, well, if I do that, 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.439 I'm going to have to learn their strengths. And you know, 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:28.400 once Blizzard fixes this, as I think they will, then 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:30.560 I'm going to be I'm going to have to go 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:34.320 back to my old faction. And you know, I would 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:36.359 have spent a lot of time preparing for a faction, 0:19:36.400 --> 0:19:38.359 and I really don't want to be playing until they 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:40.240 patch this one. So I'm just gonna hang in there. 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.320 And yeah, the little subtle changes to the games even, yeah, 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:45.600 it can make huge difference. Yeah, professional gamers, you gotta 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:47.879 keep in mind a lot of these guys spend hours 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:52.000 each day playing games, playing against other people, seeking out 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.760 people who are, you know, at least ranked better than 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:58.040 they are in order to learn new strategies and to 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:00.360 test their own skills and make sure that the things 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:03.600 that they're doing actually work in a game setting. Uh, 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.199 you know, they're they're treating it like you would a 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:09.200 professional sport. You know, it's not necessarily that they're playing 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:12.000 for fun. They're playing to win, in order to win tournaments. 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:14.520 And that might sound like fun to you, but it 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:17.959 really is a very competitive and very high stress kind 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:20.520 of thing to do, because you know, once you get 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:22.760 to that level, once you get into the tournament, you 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.760 know you pretty much have the one choice, one one chance, 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:30.439 rather to to beat out all the other competitors, and 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:32.879 there may be thousands of them. Now granted, you know 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:35.960 you might beat them out by proxy, like someone else 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:39.760 beats uh me and I'm out of the tournament, and 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:41.800 then later on you managed to beat the guy who 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:44.480 beat me, and that means that, you know, by extension, 0:20:44.480 --> 0:20:49.080 you beat me as well. You're very mean, both of you. Um, 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:51.280 But but still you have to be good enough to 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:53.639 get through all those multiple levels. And you gotta remember 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:56.359 every single other person out there is thinking that he 0:20:56.440 --> 0:20:58.400 or she is just as good as you are, or better, 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:02.199 or else they wouldn't be there, um, especially you know 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:05.520 if they had to travel quite a distance for that tournament. Yeah, 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:07.120 a lot of them do have that. I was reading 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:09.360 interviews with they do have quite a bit of swagger 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:11.359 going on. I gotta say, oh, yeah, no, there's some 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:14.639 there's some trash talking that that really is on the 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:18.640 level of of of beauty and art truly between these 0:21:18.640 --> 0:21:21.960 guys um and and ladies. We should also mention there's 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:24.840 another way of making money by being a professional gamer 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:28.640 besides tournaments and uh and and sponsorships. Um, you could 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:31.960 become an official Well it's kind of a sponsorship. There's 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:34.840 a there's a professional gaming group called the frag Dolls. 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:39.760 They are sponsored by Ubisoft and frag Dolls are it's 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:44.719 this group of ladies who are all very very strong 0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:47.879 video game players, and they will enter tournaments as a 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:51.359 team or as as a member of the frag Dolls 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:54.679 and they represent ubi Soft. They're they're also there to 0:21:54.840 --> 0:22:01.480 represent the female gamer demographic and also just to kind 0:22:01.520 --> 0:22:05.320 of be another voice in in the whole video game industry. 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:09.920