Becoming an e-sports athlete may seem like a dream to many. After all, turning your hobby into a career (which can be very profitable and guarantee a comfortable future) is the best possible scenario, right? Well, more or less.
That’s because, when fun becomes a profession, the way of looking at it changes. As it is a professional occupation, there is a lot of demand for performance and results. The player needs to be prepared not to be frustrated, especially when he deals with something like esports betting website.
For us, a good e-sports athlete should have fun with the activity – after all, nobody wants to spend 8 hours a day in an activity he detests. So, if he doesn’t find it fun, the profession is not ideal for him.
In addition to resilience, it is essential that the athlete has a focus to continuously improve their performance. On the other hand, he must not fail to live with family and friends or to do other activities: balance is paramount.
Have you outgrown football?
Perhaps the cliché that says that the most popular sport is football is taking on other shapes. The audience for e-sports championships is infinitely greater than that of football. The electronic game has already overcome it. This year, there should be 453.8 million people in the world connected in related competitions.
The athletes’ routine, however, remains very similar: some teams make sieves (selective processes to hire new players), the daily training is intense, the practitioners have multidisciplinary monitoring (which includes, in addition to the coach, doctors, psychologists and others) and prominent players are sold at high prices.
Acquiring such a professional can cost more than US $ 1 million – nothing comparable to the € 222 million paid by PSG to Barcelona by Neymar Jr. in 2017, but something unimaginable in this market five years ago, for example.
15 years ago, we played “Counter-Strike” at a semi-professional level, but had to choose a more traditional profession. At the time, there were no structures like the current ones. We had to leave competitions because we didn’t know if there was a future for e-sport.
Today, it has become clear that the occupation is, in fact, an interesting option for talented and dedicated athletes. Many parents already accept that choice well, but cultural barriers prevent this attitude from being unanimous.
The change, however, has been rapid. In the USA, for example, four years ago, in 2016, only seven universities had e-sports teams. Last year, there were already 63 institutions. That is, in two years, the number increased nine times. As an incentive, players receive scholarships.
This movement is very important and makes parents more secure, since their children have to dedicate themselves to their studies to remain in the team.
How do you enter this universe?
It is common for gamers to start playing as children. Even when they do it just for fun. After some time, however, there are those who become more engaged in the activity and start to stand out.
Whoever plays “League of Legends” (LOL), for example, can be noticed when reaching high levels in the ranking and, thus, start playing with professionals. From that, invitations for professionalization may arise.
For “Counter-Strike” practitioners, the process is similar: they organize themselves into teams (often just friends) and when developing the group they can be perceived. Hence for professionalization it is only a matter of time.
In many competitive games, each athlete has a role and acts in a specific position. Then, they are evaluated based on their performance. It is very similar to what happens in traditional sports: players in different positions are needed for a match to be successful.
