Fool's mate

Recently, someone told me that he wanted to be a progamer.

So often that teenagers stop going to school because “I want to be a progamer”.

Sometimes it just sounds naive to me. And yes, I know there are so many inspiring stories of top progamers who go against what most people told them and succeeded. Sky is the typical example. Many people invest much of their youth on games to be progamers but not all make it. For those who just don’t make the cut, their lives are pretty much “off-balanced”. They can only either get back to school or look for other jobs. Neither seems optimistic.

Even among those who really successfully become progamers, most aren’t among the top tiers. Their pay aren’t anywhere close to being attractive and the only way to improve that is to win. They know how hard that is more than anyone in the world. The online community usually only mention about the good side of perseverance of gamers, but not the bad side. The sad fact is that most fall on the bad side. Sometimes when they figure out that they are in the middle of no where in society, it is too late.

I like Grubby’s story. He wanted to be a progamer when he was young. He gave himself one year to prove himself before going into University. Eventually, he won 2 world championships and the rest is history. The key thing is that he did a reality check. He has a plan B.

In contrast, Sky just fell deep into the hole of no return. Although I’m a big fan of him, I consider him lucky to make it this far. Take no credits away from him, he is a very hardworking player. However, what if he didn’t make a name for himself by winning WCG2005? Furthermore, the industry was new (still is, in my opinion), whereby uncertainty is high. The want-to-be players have everything to lose, and little to win.  (more…)