If someone came up to you, and told you that they make massive amounts of money each year by playing video games, you would probably laugh at them, all the while trying to imagine how great it would be if that were actually true. Well, for a number of people, it is.
Some video gamers have turned their passion into profession, and while some simply use it to make a little extra money, many use it to fund their college education, some even taking it on as a full time job.
Most who play games for a living earn money through websites like YouTube and Twitch, by monetizing their channels, and uploading regular content. They allow their sponsors to add advertisements to their channels, in return for a cut of the generated ad revenue.
While that may not sound like much, keep in mind that most of these people receive over 50million views per video, with Pewdiepie, a popular YouTube, having over 19 BILLION views in total on his channel.
Many games like League of Legends, Starcraft 2 and DOTA 2 have international tournaments, with prizes crossing 60 crores in rupees, attracting thousands of competitors from all over the world. Many of the world’s male gamers are from South Korea and Sweden, while many of the top female players are from the United States and the United Kingdom.
The MLG or the Major League Gaming association even offers contracts to top players, worth around $250,000 each.
Many other tournaments are organised by players or game developers themselves.
Player-organised tournaments are often crowd-funded, with multiple people contributing to the prize pool; while developers can either just offer a special copy of the game, or a larger cash prize.
While India has its own gaming tournaments, from Gears of War and Counter Strike to Tekken, the prizes and presence are still quite small, when compared to those held internationally.
One popular tournament is the Street Gamers Tournament, which attracts people from all over India, and is open to anyone who wishes to play.
What makes this profession unique is that there are no actual courses for it. The only way to learn is to play video games. Which, as learning methods go, isn’t so bad, is it? As long as you have the passion to play, you learn.
However, video gaming as a profession is very time consuming. It requires a lot of practice, dedication, and hard work. You have to be serious, and you have to work and practice A LOT to succeed.
If you wish to be a professional video gamer, you must first decide if it really is a viable choice for you. Ensure you have the real skill needed for this, and that you can realistically earn money through your videos, because it can be very difficult for you to have balanced life and be a ‘pro gamer’ at the same time.
Just remember that, exciting as it sounds, there is some very tough competition waiting for you, should you wish to pursue this as a career. It is advisable to have a fallback plan, because very few people make it in this line.
But if they do, they can make it big, doing something that they love.