- Zach The One
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- Intrepid Mythic Member
Posted by: Jablonzo
Posted by: Navillus13
Posted by: Jablonzo
Okay if you are reading this than you are most likely a big fan of halo. You would LOVE IT if you could get paid to play, all of you. Jealousy is the only reason you could possible say otherwise. MLG has fans and people watch VOD and follow the league. That is how they contribute to society, just like any sports player out there. Someone said they have the same amount of dexterity as a card player??? Are you kidding me? They excel in the league because they have the fastest fingers and brains and the smarts to apply it at a very fast rate.
Guarantee whomever posted this is under the age of 16. You and all the other kids bring up "jealousy" in all of your posts. You guys DO realize there are other ways in this world to make more money than these guys do... don't ya? Got knews for you, 83k per year is not hard to achieve in many lines of work.
Oh... I guess moving my fingers fast makes me a good Halo player right? I move my fingers fast at a keyboard all day, does that mean I have this awesome level of dexterity? I believe 'brains and smarts' are also in poker tournaments as well, correct?
Thank you and drive through.
Yes there are more ways to make this much money, of course. There are also countless jobs out there that pay LESS than having a contract with mlg, even after going to college. Why don't you think they deserve the contracts, exactly? Because all they're doing is playing a game? Then why would, for example, a baseball player get paid MILLIONS every single year? They practice, compete, do well, and make a lot of money, just like ANY OTHER SPORT. So you must be against all sports?
Do you even like playing halo multiplayer? What career have you chosen that's so rewarding and contributes soooo much to society? You probably hate your job, sounds like it to me. Hence, the jealousy factor you make light of.
The general ignorance of the public towards the time, effort, talent, determination, and sacrifice to become a pro gamer usually pushes me towards anger. Let me explain something, it's called competetive drive. The will to win, and to push yourself to become better. At this point i'm basically qualified for the H2 Challenge, been in some of the top clan match clans, placed just outside pro bracket at MLG, have had sponsors ranging from LAN centers to family friends, and won around $500 in local and regional halo tournaments. I stopped investing so much of my time into this game because it just required too much of a risky sacrifice to make it into anything. This may sound cocky, but I know I could be a professional gamer. Between tournaments and giving lessons I could make enough. Especially since the "sport" is always growing as the general population accepts games more and more. Last summer i probably spent somewhere from 4-6 hours a day practicing for locals and MLG, and would spend a good 4 hours a week watching pro videos and studying what they did. Checking out their strats, double jumps, ledges to camp on, things of that nature. I also invested around $1,000 in my culmulative travel expences. At MLG Orlando my team got top 32 am, a team that was officially made about a week before the event. We spent a pretty damn good chunk of time practising and getting better. The sickening truth was that yes I had the potential, but I didn't want to risk the type of investment needed to get to that level. This is what i would've have to do to go pro.
-Drop out of highschool right before my senior year.
-Get a decent part time-job to supplement travel.
-Probably start giving gaming lessons for $15-$20 and hour.
-Practise 8-10 hours a day
-Devote a good chunk of time every week to sending letters to businesses for sponsorships. (like scholarships for college)
-Work my way into the community to get a better team together.
-Go for jogs, lift weights, keep my body and mind strong so I have that sustainable mental endurance. (If you don't understand why I'd do that, then you've never played under the pressure of MLG for hours on end.)
Overall I'd have to devote my time and efforts into it just like any other entertainer would have to do. We play a game that everyone else plays, but much better than them and at a level actually marketable to the general public. I have friends come over to watch me play in online tournaments, watch me beat randoms in matchmaking 4v1, things like that. If you have the golf channel then you've probably seen tiger woods and jim furyk doing some challenge things where they try to make impossible shots, which they make to everyones astonishment. 100,000+ people attend golf tournaments to watch. 70,000+ pack into fenway park to watch the redsocks year round. That's just locally. Think of how many people play halo, and they would all appreciate the sick consitency, accuracy, and moves/combos that the upper esholon so eloquently perform to win their matches. So yes playing halo professionally is very difficult because it takes talent, time, devotion, work ethic, and competetive spirit. From my experiences at the 6 events I've been to over the past few years, there's generally two types of people. Extremely competetive people who are generally good at everything and know how to work at being the best, and nerds who don't really have a whole lot to do, don't have social skills, and don't have much to sacrifice since they do nothing but play games anyways. But the nerds don't really make up the very top, they're mostly 5/6 and down. I'm not naming names, but some REALLY GOD FFA PLAYERS (hint meadlowlands hint), obviously don't have much of a social life. But don't get me wrong, IGotYourPistola is awesome, but I don't know how many people would associate with him socially at his age.
For anyone who thinks I maybe some fat kid ranting. I'm 6', 160lb, bench 170, run a 5 minute mile, usually do well at anything I compete in, anytime. For me halo started out as something me and some buddies got together to do for fun. I just pushed myself to win because that's just what I always did. It's never "just a game", it's a win or lose, either happy or disgusted. And that's how it is for most of the pros, teams disband from placing badly at one tournament based on pure frustration from losing and their competetive desire.
I hope this has shaped some sort of picture for those of you who havn't had the chance to have a good one on one chat with someone who does this. I try to share my experiences on occasion, i'm sure if you searched my username for created thread you could find my essay on what it took to be semi-ready for the competetive level and my sacrifices. Look it up if you like, and please excuse any typos or spelling errors i've made, I sort of shot gunned this post. I try not to exclude certain parts of vocabulary just because I don't know how the words are spelled.
<3 Zach
p.s. http://www.myspace.com/zachthecreator is my myspace for anyone who wants to see my fatass.
[Edited on 06.25.2007 2:59 PM PDT]