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Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

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Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With

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Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hi, kids,

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Speaker 1: welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Polette and

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Speaker 1: I'm an editor at how stuff works dot Com. Sitting

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Speaker 1: across from me enjoying himself profusely since the topic we're

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Speaker 1: about to talk about is going to be fun, uh,

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Speaker 1: is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. It's all about the game

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Speaker 1: and how you play it, all about control and if

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Speaker 1: you can take it, all about your debt and if

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Speaker 1: you can pay it. It's all about the pain and

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Speaker 1: who's gonna make it. I am the game. You don't

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Speaker 1: want to play? Me? Nice? Thank you. I'm sure you

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Speaker 1: don't recognize that, and I'll tell you where it's from later, Okay,

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Speaker 1: But I will say that, I'm sure our long term listeners,

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Speaker 1: who know our propensity for quoting certain movies about video

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Speaker 1: games probably are very happy that you found a quote

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Speaker 1: that had nothing to do with certain movies, had nothing

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Speaker 1: to do with war games or tron or fighting for

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Speaker 1: the users. Today, however, we're going to talk about professional gamers.

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Speaker 1: That's one topic. That people have asked us to mention

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Speaker 1: many times in the past. We have talked about similar

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Speaker 1: topics though. Yeah, we talked about video game testers, the

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Speaker 1: play testers who as a profession actually uh work with

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Speaker 1: video game companies to test out video games in order

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Speaker 1: to make sure that they are playable and they don't

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Speaker 1: have any bugs. If you want to hear more about that,

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Speaker 1: we have a podcast about and we also have an

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Speaker 1: article on how stuff Works dot com about how video

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Speaker 1: game testers work. But in this case, we're talking about

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Speaker 1: a different kind of professional gamer, not someone who's testing

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Speaker 1: out a product that's still in the development stage, but

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Speaker 1: people who actually play games for a living. Yes, and

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Speaker 1: you would imagine that, uh, anything where you don't have

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Speaker 1: to sit at a desk and act will do typical work, um,

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Speaker 1: would be a lot of fun. But I think and

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Speaker 1: and and for video game testing, we talked about that

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Speaker 1: it's not necessarily you know, hey, I get to play

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Speaker 1: games all day. This is a lot closer to that.

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Speaker 1: But it's not necessarily fun either. I mean there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of work involved in this. Yeah. The for video

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Speaker 1: game testing, it's all about you know, checking every square

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Speaker 1: inch of a map to make sure there aren't any

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Speaker 1: spots that you would excellently pass through and you know,

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Speaker 1: and that players would discover, could that could be an

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Speaker 1: exploit or could just be a bug that makes the

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Speaker 1: game unplayable. It's not necessarily fun, uh now, professional gamers,

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Speaker 1: it also there's an element of fun to it. There's

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Speaker 1: an element of of competition obviously, but it's also a

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Speaker 1: lot of work in the sense that you have to

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Speaker 1: really put in a lot of time to get really,

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Speaker 1: really good at certain types of games if you want

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Speaker 1: to compete on a professional level. Yeah. I didn't some

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Speaker 1: reading on this since you know, I'm not a professional gamer. Um,

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Speaker 1: since most of these games you know aren't aren't you

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Speaker 1: know Tetris? Uh kidding. I do play other games besides Tetris,

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Speaker 1: but I don't play a lot of the types of

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Speaker 1: video games because I'm not really a first person shooter

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Speaker 1: kind of guy. I mean, I've played them in their fun,

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Speaker 1: but it's not the thing I tend to do. I

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Speaker 1: I tend to prefer strategy games. Um, there are some

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Speaker 1: real time strategy was tournaments. Yeah. I was gonna say,

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Speaker 1: don't pause the podcast and write to me and tell

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Speaker 1: me that that's not the case. So yes, I'm aware

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Speaker 1: of StarCraft is way up there. Oh yes, yes it is,

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Speaker 1: um but yeah, I mean for the most part, and

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Speaker 1: and things like civilization, So there's not they're not really

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Speaker 1: tournaments for this, but yeah, the people who are are

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Speaker 1: professional video gamers are really a very specific sort of

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Speaker 1: breed there. They tend to be young people, um, and

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Speaker 1: they they tend to be people who are uh for

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Speaker 1: a couple of reasons, but also tend to be people

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Speaker 1: who are really into uh techy and and uh scholarly pursuits.

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Speaker 1: I would say there are a lot of people who

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Speaker 1: are students, who are serious students who are really into

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Speaker 1: video games, and there are a lot of this level.

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Speaker 1: There are a lot of people who actually have a

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Speaker 1: pretty good amount of discretionary income as well, because in

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Speaker 1: order to be a pro gamer, you usually have to

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Speaker 1: have a pretty decent gaming rig so that you can

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Speaker 1: play a game at its at its uh best settings.

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Speaker 1: Because here's the thing about um about a tournament. So

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Speaker 1: let's say that you are used to playing a video game.

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Speaker 1: Let's just argue for argument sake, let's pick one. Let's

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Speaker 1: call it. Let's do Quake, because that was a really

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Speaker 1: popular one in tournaments all right, first person shooter game.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, you've got a first person shooting game. You've

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Speaker 1: got Quake, which you can play in competitive play one

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Speaker 1: on one against other people. Um, and so you've got this, uh,

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Speaker 1: you've got Quake and you're you're pretty good at it.

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Speaker 1: But you have, you know, just a decent machine. So

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Speaker 1: what you've done is you've turned the polygon count down

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Speaker 1: on and you know, you've turned off some of the

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Speaker 1: effects so that the game runs more smoothly on your computer.

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Speaker 1: And you've got, you know, a decent mouse and a

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Speaker 1: decent keyboard, and um, see, you know you're good. Well

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Speaker 1: pro gamer is going to be running that on a

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Speaker 1: really fast machine with a really nice mouse and keyboard

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Speaker 1: set up, maybe one that's almost customized for that gamer.

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Speaker 1: Some of them actually do have custom units where they'll

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Speaker 1: they'll play these games and that can give them the

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Speaker 1: edge they need in order to play at a professional level,

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Speaker 1: where you know, pretty good just doesn't cut it. Pretty

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Speaker 1: good means you're out in the first round. You have

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Speaker 1: to be astonishingly good. And one of the reasons you

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Speaker 1: need to have a really good gaming rig is that

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Speaker 1: you have to be used to playing at that setting

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Speaker 1: because if you're playing in a tournament, most tournaments, they're

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Speaker 1: gonna want those settings cranked up. And the reason they

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Speaker 1: want those settings cranked up is because it looks better.

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Speaker 1: If you're promoting a tournament, if you are trying to

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Speaker 1: get sponsorships, you want those games to look as good

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Speaker 1: as they possibly can. So you don't want to have

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Speaker 1: the polygon count turned down. You know, even if it

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Speaker 1: makes the game smoother, you would prefer to beef up

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Speaker 1: all the computers in the system rather than to have

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Speaker 1: the graphics suffer, because you don't want the cameras to

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Speaker 1: pick up some sort of low polygon count video game

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Speaker 1: because it makes it look more amateurish. Right, So you know,

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Speaker 1: you need to have that that money just so that

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Speaker 1: you have a gaming rig, and a lot of the

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Speaker 1: professional gaming leagues and tournaments focus on PC gaming. Console

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Speaker 1: gaming is also present, but it's not as big a

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Speaker 1: market as PC gaming is in the tournament's realm. So

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Speaker 1: you need the discretionary income for your rig. But you

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Speaker 1: also need it because you need to be able to

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Speaker 1: make travel arrangements because the way professional gamers, most professional gamers,

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Speaker 1: I should add, make money is that they go and

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Speaker 1: they play in tournaments, and if you want to make money,

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Speaker 1: you know, only just play in tournaments. You gotta win tournaments.

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Speaker 1: And those tournaments may not be just down this streak

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Speaker 1: from your house. They may be in another city, they

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Speaker 1: may be in another country, and you will have to

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Speaker 1: travel there. You might first have to travel to a

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Speaker 1: preliminary event so that you can qualify to go onto

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Speaker 1: the next round, which might be in a different country.

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Speaker 1: So you're talking about a profession where you already have

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Speaker 1: to have a certain amount of money in order to

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Speaker 1: really to really compete at a at the top level. UM,

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Speaker 1: and there are various pathways to get there. If you

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Speaker 1: are not, you might be saying, well, why so you're

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Speaker 1: citially telling me that professional gaming is for the independently

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Speaker 1: wealthy and really it's just a way to waste time.

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Speaker 1: Uh not, not quite. There are ways of getting there,

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Speaker 1: but we'll get into that. Yeah, it's UM. I was

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Speaker 1: trying to find a way to say this, but I

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Speaker 1: think the best way to say it is a lot

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Speaker 1: of people who are professional gamers UM fit into a

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Speaker 1: stereotype for gamers because of the things you mentioned, the

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Speaker 1: discretionary income, UM, and because also there are a lot

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Speaker 1: of people are are younger. So there are people who

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Speaker 1: are living in their parents basement because they don't have

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Speaker 1: to pay you know, not because they are they're fitting

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Speaker 1: into a stereotype, but actually they're probably fueling it. But

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Speaker 1: the thing is, um, you know they don't they don't

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Speaker 1: have to worry about paying rent. They are you know,

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Speaker 1: hanging out there. They probably have a job or you

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Speaker 1: know for the younger kids, you know, they're going to

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Speaker 1: school and have a job to to help pay for

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Speaker 1: these things. And um, so yeah, I mean I think

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Speaker 1: that's part of why there there is that stereotype, but

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Speaker 1: it's not it's a result of like I said, I

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Speaker 1: think this behavior fuels that stereotype rather than them being

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Speaker 1: us making the stereotype right right, It's just because a

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Speaker 1: lot of the people One of the reasons that young

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Speaker 1: people are such common competitors and in these tournaments is that, um,

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Speaker 1: you have to have really good reflexes. Yeah, really good

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Speaker 1: hand eye coordination and reflexes. I read some interviews with

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Speaker 1: pro gamers and um, I said, yeah, you know, at

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Speaker 1: a certain point, your visual acuity, your you know, your

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Speaker 1: dextery sorts to to drop and you really don't see

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Speaker 1: people over thirty, which of course rules me way out. Um,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean that's so that's why you see

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Speaker 1: a lot of kids and you know, younger twentysomethings in

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Speaker 1: in these tournaments. So generally these are people who are

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Speaker 1: not necessarily established already, or if they're established, they're tenuously established.

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Speaker 1: And here's the thing about being a professional gamer is that, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you can in theory make some big money if you

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Speaker 1: are really really good and you win some tournaments. For example,

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Speaker 1: one of the one of the go to references, one

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Speaker 1: of the ones most probably one of the most famous

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Speaker 1: professional gamers in the Western hemisphere anyway, is uh is

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Wendel, also known as Fatality UH. And that the

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Speaker 1: the eye and Fatality is the number one Uh. He's solite. Yes,

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Speaker 1: he actually won a tournament where the the grand prize

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Speaker 1: was a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Well for that year,

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Speaker 1: that means he won fifty grand on top of whatever

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Speaker 1: else he might have earned in other tournaments or other

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Speaker 1: other ventures. But there's no guarantee that that's gonna repeat

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Speaker 1: the next year. So you know, in order to in

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Speaker 1: order to be a professional game or you may not

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Speaker 1: be able to have a sustainable career in the sense

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Speaker 1: of you don't know that next year you're gonna make

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Speaker 1: that same amount of money, or even any money at all.

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Speaker 1: It may turn out that, you know, you just have

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Speaker 1: a bad day at the tournament, or or it may

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Speaker 1: be that the the next crop of players are just

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Speaker 1: that much better. It may be that the tournament switches games.

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Speaker 1: That's something that we really need to focus on, because

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Speaker 1: think about this. When you are a professional athlete, all right,

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Speaker 1: the rules for your sport rarely change in a huge way.

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Speaker 1: They normally change in tiny ways, and even then you

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Speaker 1: will hear players really complain. I remember back in the

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Speaker 1: Olympics that there was some discussion about the soccer balls

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Speaker 1: being used in the soccer games because they were slightly

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Speaker 1: different from a standard that have been used previously. And

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Speaker 1: I mean that sort of thing is a big deal

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Speaker 1: because that tiny, little change can affect how well an

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Speaker 1: athlete at that level can perform. But think about that,

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Speaker 1: you know, like, that's the tiniest change. But if you're

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Speaker 1: a professional gamer, the changes may be monumental. It may

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Speaker 1: be that one year they're doing quake and the next

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Speaker 1: year they've switched to counterstrike. Those are two totally different

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Speaker 1: games with different physics, different there's different frame rates, there's

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Speaker 1: different you're gonna have a different experience. You know, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna move at a different speed, the weapons behave in

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Speaker 1: a totally different way. Plus you know, it may be

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Speaker 1: that one game is a one on one style game

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Speaker 1: and the other game is a team based game, which

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Speaker 1: then affects not just the physics, but truly the strategy.

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Speaker 1: You have to learn new maps, you have to you know,

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Speaker 1: be able to really adapt to it. So professional gamers

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Speaker 1: may have some pretty big hurdles from one year to

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Speaker 1: the next, which means that it is really hard to

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Speaker 1: say that you're going to make a decent amount of

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Speaker 1: money year over year. Now you could do what Fatality did.

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Speaker 1: He was really really smart. He ended up making his

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Speaker 1: own brand, and he ended up partnering with uh various

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Speaker 1: component manufacturers things like video game graphics, cards, and gaming gear.

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Speaker 1: And because of that he's able to make money through

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Speaker 1: those means, not just as a professional gamer, but through

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Speaker 1: these licenses. So that's one way to continue to earn money.

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Speaker 1: Even if you were to have say an off year

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Speaker 1: in the tournaments, you would still have this other source

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Speaker 1: of revenue. It's also smart to do if you are,

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Speaker 1: you know, creeping up on that age thirty and who

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Speaker 1: knows when your your reflexes will start to just give

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Speaker 1: a little bit, because remember again, at this level, the

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Speaker 1: tiniest detriment can mean the difference between losing and winning.

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Speaker 1: The reflexes a lonely childhood all in the reflexes, And yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean there are there are other things too. Um

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Speaker 1: you were mentioning that that StarCraft is huge, it is,

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Speaker 1: It is monumentally huge. In Korea. Yes, South Korea, professional

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Speaker 1: gaming is actually viewed on a level that is probably uh,

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Speaker 1: approximately the same level as most professional athletes. Now that's

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Speaker 1: most that's pretty unusual. I mean most other countries, that's

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Speaker 1: just not the case. China is a little bit like that,

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Speaker 1: but not to the level that South Korea is at.

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Speaker 1: And in the United States, you know, there's an underground

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Speaker 1: professional gamer uh culture, but it's it has never reached

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Speaker 1: mainstream acceptance like it has in South Korean. South Korea,

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Speaker 1: they will televise tournaments and on major networks and you

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Speaker 1: you can tune in and watch as players play against

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Speaker 1: each other, and there are events that they hold have

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Speaker 1: thousands of spectators who will come in and watch the

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Speaker 1: gamers play. In the United States, it's mostly gamers and

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Speaker 1: other gamers who attend these things with you know, friends

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Speaker 1: and family that spill out beyond that, and then a

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Speaker 1: few fans, but only a few compared to what you

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Speaker 1: would find in South Korea. So there's there's that difficulty too.

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Speaker 1: Is just the fact that video games don't have the

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Speaker 1: same kind of level of uh, fascination and respect in

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Speaker 1: the United States as they do in South Korea. Right right, well,

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Speaker 1: I was I was reading an interview with Greg Fields,

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Speaker 1: who I'm really not sure how I would pronounce his handle.

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Speaker 1: I gotta put my glasses on capital I I'd say,

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Speaker 1: I'd yeah, I d r capital A. He's a he's

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Speaker 1: a StarCraft gamer and he's spent a lot of time

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Speaker 1: in Korea, and they were talking about, uh, they asked

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Speaker 1: him about StarCraft and why he chose StarCraft and uh,

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Speaker 1: not only is he StarCraft gamer, that's you know, his

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Speaker 1: game of choice, but he also specializes on one particular

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Speaker 1: faction and he was he was talking about you were

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Speaker 1: you were mentioning what happens at the tournament changes games.

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Speaker 1: Well right now, Well, at the time of the interview,

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Speaker 1: he was saying that Blizzard had made his faction of

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Speaker 1: choice UM sort of underpowered. I believe it was Zerg

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Speaker 1: that he preferred. UM and Terrence were stronger, and he

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Speaker 1: hoped that they would patch that, and they said, well,

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Speaker 1: why don't you just switch to Terrence or something else, Like, well,

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Speaker 1: if I do that, I'm going to have to learn

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Speaker 1: their strengths. And you know, once Blizzard fixes this, as

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Speaker 1: I think they will, then I'm going to be I'm

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Speaker 1: going to have to go back to my old faction.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I would have spent a lot of

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Speaker 1: time preparing for a faction that I really don't want

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Speaker 1: to be playing until they patch this one. So I'm

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Speaker 1: just gonna hang in there. And but yeah, the little

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Speaker 1: subtle changes to the games even, yeah, it can make

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Speaker 1: huge difference. Yeah, the professional gamers, you gotta keep in mind,

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Speaker 1: a lot of these guys spend hours each day playing games,

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Speaker 1: playing against other people, seeking out people who are, you know,

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Speaker 1: at least ranked better than they are, in order to

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Speaker 1: learn new strategies and to test their own skills and

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Speaker 1: make sure that the things that they're doing actually work

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Speaker 1: in a game setting. Uh, you know, they're they're treating

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Speaker 1: it like would a professional sport. You know, it's not

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Speaker 1: necessarily that they're playing for fun. They're playing to win

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Speaker 1: in order to win tournaments. And that might sound like

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Speaker 1: fun to you, but it really is a very competitive

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Speaker 1: and very high stress kind of thing to do, because

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Speaker 1: you know, once you get to that level, once you

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Speaker 1: get into the tournament, you know you pretty much have

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Speaker 1: the one choice, one one chance rather to to beat

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Speaker 1: out all the other competitors. And there may be thousands

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Speaker 1: of them. Now granted, you know you might beat them

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Speaker 1: out by proxy, like someone else beats and uh me

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Speaker 1: and I'm out of the tournament, and then later on

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Speaker 1: you managed to beat the guy who beat me, and

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Speaker 1: that means that, you know, by extension, you beat me

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Speaker 1: as well. You're very mean, both of you. Um. But

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Speaker 1: but still you have to be good enough to get

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Speaker 1: through all those multiple levels. And you gotta remember every

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Speaker 1: single other person out there is thinking that he or

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Speaker 1: she is just as good as you are or better,

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Speaker 1: or else they wouldn't be there, um, especially you know

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Speaker 1: if they had to travel quite a distance for that tournament. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: a lot of them do have that. I was reading

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Speaker 1: interviews with They do have quite a bit of swagger

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Speaker 1: going on. I gotta say, oh, yeah, no, there's some

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Speaker 1: there's some trash talking that that really is on the

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Speaker 1: level of of of beauty and art truly between these

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Speaker 1: guys um and and ladies. We should also mention there's

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Speaker 1: another way of making money by being a professional gamer

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Speaker 1: besides tournaments and uh and and sponsorships. Um you could

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Speaker 1: become an official well it's kind of a sponsorship. There's

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Speaker 1: a there's a professional gaming group called the frag Dolls.

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Speaker 1: They are sponsored by Ubisoft, and frag Dolls are it's

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Speaker 1: this group of ladies who are all very very strong

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Speaker 1: video game players, and they will enter tournaments as a

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Speaker 1: team or as as a member of the frag Dolls,

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Speaker 1: and they represent Ubisoft. They're they're also there to represent

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Speaker 1: the female gamer demographic and also just to kind of

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Speaker 1: be another voice in in the whole video game industry.

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Speaker 1: So they're kind of like spokespeople as well as professional gamers.

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Speaker 1: But they're getting paid specifically by a company to do

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Speaker 1: this sort of stuff. So it's a little different from

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Speaker 1: the people who either join as a lone wolf in

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Speaker 1: a tournament, or what's more common is that you'll see

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Speaker 1: teams or clans of gamers joined tournaments. So you might

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Speaker 1: have a clan of of gamers who are all you

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Speaker 1: know of the professional level, joined the tournament together and

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Speaker 1: uh and either play and team based games or they

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Speaker 1: may be playing one on one, but you know they're

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Speaker 1: all you know. By by having a group of them there,

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Speaker 1: they have a more likelihood of winning the big prize

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Speaker 1: as a clan. Um. And to join a clan, you

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Speaker 1: pretty much have to already show that you are a

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Speaker 1: really good gamer, and then you essentially get uh. You

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Speaker 1: gotta get lucky. You gotta have someone from that clan say, hey,

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Speaker 1: you know there's this guy's an up and coomer. He's

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Speaker 1: showing real promise. Um, I think you'd be a good

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Speaker 1: addition to our team. And then you know, each team

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Speaker 1: has its own way of determining whether or not they

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Speaker 1: want to bring someone else new in. But then you

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Speaker 1: might be able to join a clan. And the nice

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Speaker 1: thing about clans is that they can sometimes get sponsorships

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Speaker 1: as a group, and sponsorships can sometimes help pay for

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Speaker 1: things or at least offset costs like travel costs and

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Speaker 1: lodging and all that kind of stuff. So it's one

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Speaker 1: way that players can pursue a professional gaming career without

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Speaker 1: putting as much a personal investment into it as as

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Speaker 1: they would otherwise. Yeah, it's still not easy, but it's possible.

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Speaker 1: So so what do you want to What do you

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Speaker 1: do if you want to become a professional gamer? I

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Speaker 1: think the simplest you got to start out, as you said,

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Speaker 1: with some serious hardware. I mean, if you're using your

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Speaker 1: two year old PC, it's not gonna I mean, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you can get started, you can, you can learn how

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Speaker 1: to play the game. I think that, uh is probably

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Speaker 1: a primary importance, really is um, you know, if you

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Speaker 1: look at it at the manuals for games like this.

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Speaker 1: Then going on my personal experience, when I remember playing

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Speaker 1: Warcraft three a few years ago, I never bothered learning

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Speaker 1: the key combinations to make my troops form up on

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Speaker 1: one another, to you know, make squads. And I didn't

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Speaker 1: bother learning about the bill orders that a lot of

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Speaker 1: people were using. So then I'd go on battle dot

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Speaker 1: net our battle now. I'm sure a lot of people

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Speaker 1: admit the dot um and I you know, basically get later. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and it wouldn't take any time at all because for me,

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Speaker 1: I like figuring out. I was like okay, so what

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Speaker 1: will I do here. Meanwhile, my opponent was sitting there going, Okay,

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Speaker 1: I build this, I build this, I build that, I

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Speaker 1: build that, and I'm ready to go, and you're gonna

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Speaker 1: go find him and I'm gonna kill him. And that's

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00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,199
Speaker 1: pretty much what happened every single time. Because you have

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Speaker 1: to learn the commands, and you have to learn these things,

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00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:54,600
Speaker 1: you can move very very quickly. Speed is of the

390
00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:57,359
Speaker 1: essence in these games. There's some great videos online that

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Speaker 1: show professional gamers using those those keys, strokes and UH

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Speaker 1: and the commands um at a crazy rate, especially the

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Speaker 1: Korean players who are playing StarCraft. They they are particularly

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Speaker 1: known for that, where they are using a crazy number

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Speaker 1: of commands per minute. I mean it's it's it's easily

396
00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:20,679
Speaker 1: more than a command per second. For a lot of

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Speaker 1: these players where they are are are they've already got

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Speaker 1: their strategy before they've even started the game. And they've

399
00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:30,399
Speaker 1: just started they just start implementing it as soon as

400
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Speaker 1: the game says go. So it almost becomes a contest

401
00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:36,960
Speaker 1: of not just whose strategy is better than than uh

402
00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:39,880
Speaker 1: who's but who can type the fact or who can

403
00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:43,440
Speaker 1: execute commands the quickest. Um. It's a combination of those two.

404
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:45,080
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously, if you don't have the strategy, it

405
00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:49,399
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter if you can execute commands more quickly,

406
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:51,680
Speaker 1: because someone with a better strategy may still be able

407
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:54,840
Speaker 1: to take you down. You have to have both. But yeah,

408
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,720
Speaker 1: the speed at which these players put those commands in

409
00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:01,159
Speaker 1: is pretty frightening in a way. Yeah, you gotta you

410
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:03,719
Speaker 1: gotta learn all that stuff and practice all that stuff

411
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:05,760
Speaker 1: and you can start playing things like There are a

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Speaker 1: lot of online tournaments. Now, online games are always going

413
00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:13,640
Speaker 1: to be a little different from most tournament based play because, yes,

414
00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:17,480
Speaker 1: online introduced latency. It also has an element where it

415
00:22:17,520 --> 00:22:21,680
Speaker 1: makes it harder to prevent cheating. Uh, there are various

416
00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:25,119
Speaker 1: modifications out there for games that allow players to to cheat.

417
00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,760
Speaker 1: So there are times where you may run up against

418
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Speaker 1: someone who's running that and you know, a mediocre player

419
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,679
Speaker 1: with a cheap program may be able to defeat a

420
00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:39,199
Speaker 1: professional who's playing legitimately um based depending upon what the

421
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,000
Speaker 1: cheat allows that that mediocre player to do. Now, what

422
00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:44,679
Speaker 1: kind of satisfaction does someone get out of using a

423
00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:47,640
Speaker 1: cheat program to beat someone. I don't understand that, because

424
00:22:47,680 --> 00:22:51,640
Speaker 1: that's not really you beating another person, you know, But anyway,

425
00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,399
Speaker 1: that's beside the point. I'm sure that you know the

426
00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:56,879
Speaker 1: anonymity that we've talked about that goes along with the internet,

427
00:22:57,560 --> 00:22:59,880
Speaker 1: um has something to do with it for some people.

428
00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:02,120
Speaker 1: But because you can't, no one would really be able

429
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:05,320
Speaker 1: to prove that you didn't do it right. So so

430
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:07,280
Speaker 1: you want to do things like you want to have

431
00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:10,040
Speaker 1: land parties where you can play against other people. You

432
00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:12,840
Speaker 1: want to make it more realistic. You want to look

433
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,800
Speaker 1: into any sort of local tournaments that are being held.

434
00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 1: Sometimes their tournaments being held by companies that are just

435
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,199
Speaker 1: doing as a promotional event, where you know, you might

436
00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:25,159
Speaker 1: see like Microsoft is holding a game tournament nearby, and

437
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:26,880
Speaker 1: that it's a game one of the games that you're

438
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,199
Speaker 1: really interested in and that you really know, then by

439
00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:32,440
Speaker 1: all means you should go and enter that tournament. I've

440
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:38,040
Speaker 1: actually played in a tournament once. Yeah, it was total

441
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:41,000
Speaker 1: fluke that I got in and uh and I was

442
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:42,879
Speaker 1: I was eliminated in the first round, but it was

443
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,880
Speaker 1: really close. I almost got to the second round, but

444
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:50,240
Speaker 1: my my opponent defeated me. Um. But it was literally

445
00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:52,480
Speaker 1: within the last like thirty seconds of play that it

446
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:54,119
Speaker 1: came down to and I was I was going to

447
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 1: win until this last three second, so it just shows

448
00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:57,920
Speaker 1: that I choke at the end of the game, kind

449
00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:01,560
Speaker 1: of like the Braves, so um, yeah, hey, you know what,

450
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,880
Speaker 1: they've broken my heart anyways, not like the Thrashers though,

451
00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:10,160
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I want anyway. Anyway, discussions professional sports,

452
00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:14,000
Speaker 1: not professional gaming. So yeah, you wanna compete in these

453
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:16,240
Speaker 1: local events as much as possible and then start looking

454
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,200
Speaker 1: into maybe some of the you know, if if you're

455
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,600
Speaker 1: actually winning these events, if you're consistently doing well, then

456
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:25,840
Speaker 1: it might be time to start looking at larger tournaments

457
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:28,439
Speaker 1: and see if there are any preliminary rounds there are

458
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,040
Speaker 1: within you know, a reasonable distance of where you live,

459
00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:34,680
Speaker 1: and try and enter those as well. It might not

460
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 1: quite be time for you to book a flight to Korea,

461
00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,840
Speaker 1: but you can at least start playing on on a

462
00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,199
Speaker 1: higher level and test your skills out against other professionals.

463
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:48,480
Speaker 1: Keep in mind that a breakaway success, like a brand

464
00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:51,800
Speaker 1: new player just entering the video game world and taking

465
00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,560
Speaker 1: it by storm, is the thing of legend. It really

466
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:57,920
Speaker 1: doesn't happen. Most professional gamers will tell you. It can

467
00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:03,720
Speaker 1: take a couple of years of dedicated, hardcore practice and

468
00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:06,200
Speaker 1: tournament play before you start getting to a level where

469
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:10,280
Speaker 1: you can actually compete. I think though that um, you

470
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,919
Speaker 1: probably as an actor will agree with me when I

471
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:17,159
Speaker 1: say that that doesn't mean that you shouldn't enter a

472
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,679
Speaker 1: tournament and and give up, because having even if you

473
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:26,760
Speaker 1: honestly fail miserably, you get the experience of having an

474
00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:29,159
Speaker 1: opportunity to see what the environment is like and and

475
00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:32,760
Speaker 1: sort of audition in that world. Um, you know, you

476
00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:35,520
Speaker 1: might not you might, and my actor analogy, you might

477
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:36,960
Speaker 1: not get the part, but you see what a non

478
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,240
Speaker 1: addition is like, and so you can get an idea

479
00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 1: of how people behave at a tournament and what you

480
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:45,200
Speaker 1: can expect from other people and what the conditions are like.

481
00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:48,960
Speaker 1: So you know, don't go in expecting to win, don't.

482
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean you shouldn't try your best, but might

483
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,960
Speaker 1: who knows become that legend it is. It's not that

484
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,880
Speaker 1: it's impossible, it's just that it's really improbable. And if

485
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 1: nothing else, you'll learn, you know, different tricks that you

486
00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:04,320
Speaker 1: may never have thought of for the game and see,

487
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,840
Speaker 1: like you know, seeing how you were defeated can teach

488
00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:09,960
Speaker 1: you how to play better the next time. And I

489
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:12,119
Speaker 1: mean that's really what tournament play is all about is

490
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,440
Speaker 1: learning all the different tricks of the of the maps

491
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:18,920
Speaker 1: and the physics of the game and the various uh

492
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 1: shortcuts you can take in order to really get the

493
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,040
Speaker 1: edge on your opponent. And uh, you know, learning that

494
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,560
Speaker 1: by yourself is is pretty difficult. You pretty much have

495
00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:29,760
Speaker 1: to learn it through experience unless you're just you know,

496
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:31,960
Speaker 1: some sort of prodigy on video games, which you know,

497
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,840
Speaker 1: you could be, who knows, which is different from video

498
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,480
Speaker 1: games on prodigy, which no longer. Um, I was just

499
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,680
Speaker 1: gonna say that, you know, the best part is probably

500
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:44,639
Speaker 1: going to be the practice, you know, because you that

501
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,400
Speaker 1: means you have to spend you know, two to ten

502
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,600
Speaker 1: hours a day working on your favorite video game, perfecting

503
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 1: your moves and your your controls and your strategy for

504
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,560
Speaker 1: winning the game. But um, you can also use a

505
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,440
Speaker 1: tournament for an opportunity and just like an other types

506
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:04,240
Speaker 1: of jobs with conventions and other get togethers, as an

507
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,879
Speaker 1: opportunity to network with other people who are good at

508
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:10,160
Speaker 1: what they do. Um, if you can meet some other gamers,

509
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:13,679
Speaker 1: maybe learn some tips and tricks from them, uh you know,

510
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,240
Speaker 1: maybe even get in you know, if you get a

511
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:20,040
Speaker 1: relationship going with them. Perhaps when you're uh, really good

512
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:22,639
Speaker 1: at your craft, you can you can join up with

513
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 1: their group. Um that's how how alliances are formed in

514
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,320
Speaker 1: these worlds. And and you know, not all of the

515
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 1: tournaments are single player versus single players sometimes their teams

516
00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:34,800
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, if you can get other good

517
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,199
Speaker 1: players around you, that's an advantage. Yeah. I've seen the

518
00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,320
Speaker 1: frag Dolls play in person, and they were playing a

519
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,800
Speaker 1: team base game and uh, in their case, they had

520
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,720
Speaker 1: really um work. You could tell that they worked really

521
00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:50,280
Speaker 1: well as a team together. For one thing they had, uh,

522
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,600
Speaker 1: they had code names for different areas on the map

523
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 1: which did not immediately give the location away to the

524
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,600
Speaker 1: other teams. So they could tell tell each other, I've

525
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,440
Speaker 1: got Sector A covered, and they know what what which

526
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,960
Speaker 1: sector is Sector A because they have personally gone through

527
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,359
Speaker 1: and divided up the map and given it names. So

528
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:10,800
Speaker 1: the other players would say, all right, well sector is covered,

529
00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:13,280
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go move over to the the sector B and uh,

530
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:17,359
Speaker 1: you know, and meanwhile their opposing team has no idea

531
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:20,440
Speaker 1: what these sectors mean where they are. They have no

532
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,560
Speaker 1: clue which areas of the map are being covered which

533
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:25,879
Speaker 1: ones aren't. And uh, and they were at a real disadvantage. Now. Granted,

534
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: when I was watching it, it was at C E

535
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:30,399
Speaker 1: S and the opposing teams were made up of random

536
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:32,399
Speaker 1: people who wanted to step up and play against the

537
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:35,360
Speaker 1: frag dolls. And it was four random players versus three

538
00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:38,120
Speaker 1: frag dolls. And you might think that that's an advantage,

539
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 1: that the numbers game is an advantage, or you might

540
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 1: think that, hey, that means the frag dolls have one

541
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,680
Speaker 1: extra target to aim at. How long did it take

542
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:50,320
Speaker 1: on average? Well, now, the games were played out, and uh,

543
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:52,120
Speaker 1: I think it was that they were played up through

544
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:54,080
Speaker 1: a time limit. It wasn't that you're killed and you

545
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 1: were out. You would just keep playing and then But no,

546
00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,640
Speaker 1: the frag dolls would pretty much you know, the number

547
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:01,360
Speaker 1: of kill is on the frag doll side versus the

548
00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:03,720
Speaker 1: number of kills on the opponent's side was usually a

549
00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 1: round five to one ratio. Was like the frag dolls, well,

550
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 1: get five kills to the other team's one kill. In general,

551
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:12,880
Speaker 1: it's pretty efficient. There were some where you'd see the

552
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:17,720
Speaker 1: frag dolls really mop up on the on the opposing team,

553
00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:20,200
Speaker 1: and that that was showed the value of teamwork. It

554
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:22,680
Speaker 1: wasn't just that the frag dolls were really good players,

555
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:24,960
Speaker 1: which they are. It shows that they work in a

556
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 1: very well coordinated, organized way. So both of those components

557
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:33,520
Speaker 1: were very necessary to be able to be that leaked. Also,

558
00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:39,239
Speaker 1: they were quite lovely and they still throw like girls. Uh.

559
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:42,960
Speaker 1: They tossed out T shirts to the crowd afterwards. Don't

560
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:49,960
Speaker 1: don't insult them quickly, they will poon me. Um. So yeah,

561
00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:53,440
Speaker 1: I mean the professional gaming is kind of an interesting,

562
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,600
Speaker 1: uh route to take. It's it's one that very few

563
00:29:57,600 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: people can make work just because the odds are really

564
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 1: against you. I mean, you have to be really good

565
00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:02,720
Speaker 1: and you have to be willing to put in a

566
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:04,520
Speaker 1: lot of money, in time and effort in order to

567
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,479
Speaker 1: get there. Uh. It doesn't mean it's impossible. It's just

568
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:11,240
Speaker 1: really tough. And the economy, uh changed in the economy

569
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 1: over the last few years, really cut down on the

570
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 1: number of professional gaming events. Yeah, there were many. Couple

571
00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:21,720
Speaker 1: of years ago, several leagues folded and some tournaments ended

572
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 1: because they just the sponsorship money dried up and there

573
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:27,440
Speaker 1: was no money for rewards, and you know, without that,

574
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,280
Speaker 1: you don't have the you know, the bragging rights only

575
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:35,240
Speaker 1: go so far. So a lot of these tournaments have

576
00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,160
Speaker 1: have sprung up and collapsed within the time frame of

577
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: professional gaming really getting started. And you know, also you

578
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:43,800
Speaker 1: should keep in mind that if you are really good

579
00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,680
Speaker 1: at a particular game, let's say Counterstrike. Let's say you're

580
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,200
Speaker 1: really good at Counterstrike, keep in mind that the version

581
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:51,920
Speaker 1: of counter Strike that some tournaments play maybe a moded

582
00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:56,400
Speaker 1: version that give you different options than the standard version.

583
00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:58,560
Speaker 1: So that's something else you gotta look at. Is, like

584
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:01,440
Speaker 1: we were saying, there's not necessar early a standardized platform

585
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:04,720
Speaker 1: for any particular game out there. Um, so when you

586
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:06,800
Speaker 1: enter a tournament, it may turn out the surprise, it

587
00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:09,360
Speaker 1: doesn't behave exactly the way you expected it to because

588
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,640
Speaker 1: they're running a modified version. Um. You know. It's again,

589
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:15,720
Speaker 1: it's one of those things that professional athletes normally don't

590
00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 1: have to worry about. You don't usually have to say like, hey,

591
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,200
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do the pole vault, and the pole here

592
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,880
Speaker 1: is eleven inches shorter than what when I've been practicing with,

593
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:26,560
Speaker 1: what's up with that? You know, that's usually not going

594
00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:28,520
Speaker 1: to be the case. But you do have to take

595
00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 1: into account things like weather conditions and temperature and sure,

596
00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:35,000
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, there are other elements that can home

597
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:41,080
Speaker 1: field and changes. So anyway, it's fascinating doesn't really mean

598
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:44,760
Speaker 1: it's it's um, you know, not something that I think

599
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,200
Speaker 1: the general populace thinks of is something you could do

600
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,840
Speaker 1: for a living. And as as you said, it's there

601
00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 1: are very few people who really can make it work,

602
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:54,840
Speaker 1: make it work, just because they're not as many opportunities

603
00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,520
Speaker 1: in that in that realm. But uh, you know, it's

604
00:31:57,560 --> 00:31:59,760
Speaker 1: it's really cool to watch and and to see people

605
00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:03,920
Speaker 1: at level play is incredible. I mean, it's so much different. Yeah,

606
00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:06,080
Speaker 1: especially especially if you ever, like I said, go to

607
00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:08,400
Speaker 1: YouTube and look at some of these tournament videos and

608
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:11,680
Speaker 1: you can watch them. Uh the players watch their hands

609
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 1: on the keyboard and they never stop. They never it's

610
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 1: never like even a pause to think about what to

611
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 1: do next. You just see those fingers just flying over

612
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 1: the various commands while uh while the you know, there's

613
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:26,880
Speaker 1: this one I saw where it was I think, um,

614
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:33,760
Speaker 1: four reporters for some some gaming website versus one professional gamer,

615
00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:37,360
Speaker 1: or maybe it was three three, three of the writers

616
00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 1: versus one professional gamer, and the three writers got to

617
00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:43,320
Speaker 1: gang up on the professional gamer, and one by one

618
00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:48,200
Speaker 1: you'd see the writers say oh no, until finally there's

619
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:50,800
Speaker 1: just one left. He's like, I'm so alone and just

620
00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:54,240
Speaker 1: getting completely wiped out by the pro and and the

621
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:56,280
Speaker 1: pro talked about how many commands he was able to

622
00:32:56,320 --> 00:32:59,400
Speaker 1: execute per minute, and he said, compared to the Koreans,

623
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,000
Speaker 1: this is this is still slow, which to me was

624
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:06,600
Speaker 1: insane because I thought he was flying. Um. And if

625
00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 1: you guys are interested in the big tournaments, there are

626
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,720
Speaker 1: two really big ones that happened every year, a World

627
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:15,600
Speaker 1: Cyber Games and the Electronics Sports World Cup. Um. I

628
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 1: believe both of those are still running. Uh. There are

629
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 1: other ones that I was going to name off, but frankly,

630
00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:22,640
Speaker 1: some of them just don't exist anymore, so I'm not

631
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:26,400
Speaker 1: gonna go through the whole list. But yeah, it's interesting stuff.

632
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,680
Speaker 1: And if you guys have any questions about other topics

633
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,080
Speaker 1: you would like us to talk about, you should send

634
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:35,720
Speaker 1: us an email. That address is tech stuff at how

635
00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:38,280
Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com, or you can contact us on

636
00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 1: Facebook and Twitter are handle there is tech Stuff hs

637
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:43,920
Speaker 1: W and Chris and I will talk to you again

638
00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 1: really soon game on. Be sure to check out our

639
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:53,800
Speaker 1: new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join How Stuffwork

640
00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:57,360
Speaker 1: staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities

641
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:01,280
Speaker 1: of tomorrow. The House Stuff Works iPhone app has arrived.

642
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:08,520
Speaker 1: Download it today on iTunes. Brought to you by the

643
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Speaker 1: reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you