I was able to get ahold of some of the professional players as they stepped out the door to head to Dallas for this year's QuakeCon event. Check back later for more.
8 hours per day getting annoyed at repeatedly losing to top opposition while earning no salary from it only to crash and burn at the only opportunity of a cash prize as you still lose to the top opposition. those 5 days holiday where you're stuck in a room losing unable to treat it like a real holiday sure make up for £0 income.
It is indeed a dream and i think its about time some of them wake up
Think marcus... think. Look at the first sentence:
"8 hours per day"
Where did he get this from? His ass? Shall we just throw random untruths around to support our already broken case?
"getting annoyed at repeatedly losing to top opposition"
Where did he get this from? His ass? How does he know. How do you know? Maybe HE gets annoyed? Either way, unsupported.
"while earning no salary from"
No. But this is besides the point. I don't get a salary from fucking either. But I do it. Oh gee, the horror.
Marcus, don't be a sheep. The entire thing spews bitter angry, nonsense.
We need not worship these people, and we need not hate. Someone plays a game. That someone is good enough to place decently at international competitions. End of story.
its a general number that many pros have claimed to train in the build up to tournies. 6-8 would be more fitting and look to american player QL accounts for evidence with 30 games played per day and that not including the games they spectate in between and the demos watched.
for the losses look to the QL matches where rapha consistantly beats the other americans. the annoyed was kinda thrown in but the fact is if youre trying to get to a certain level of success but repeatedly faulter (i.e. lose to rapha 6 times in a row) then chances are they wont be happy. look for z4's comeback pracs vs kgb and alike to see whine
no money is not besides the point. sex is recreation, so is gaming to most. but to these its beyond recreation and they treat it as a 'career' hence the label of being pro-gamers. if you're a pro and its your sole source of income (like most; dkt is the only ive heard to have a normal career now) then the fact that you get £0 should be pretty significant. do i criticise grubby? moon? no because they make money. did i criticise toxic or vo0 during their golden years in q4 & pk respectively? no because they made money.
yeah why do that when instead I could be sitting alone at home surfing the internets and losing to other players online. And maybe in the evening go out and get wasted at the same old pubs with the usualy guys like every other weekend. hooray.
Well, I guess there are those who like seeing different places and meeting new people and those who don't.
But I for one would take that flight even though the worst player there would probably beat me senseless :)
please its a lan...i hardly call a big hall with computers an exciting place to visit. and you can meet new people in your own city if youre so desperate to chat to strangers for a few hours...just go to a new pub or go to your local sports hall (similar to quakecon except gaming aint a sport [point aimed at fanboys])
moreover judging from that quakecon video a few years ago i wouldnt want to meet a load of those fucking weirdos...who the fuck watches porn in front of a load of strangers (guys nonetheless)
edit: and my main point was the money. jamerio was making it sound like they had a dream job there but spart1e will get just over £3000; but some of it gets taxed i believe and his sponsors might claim a %. as this is the only 'big' tournament in the near future (no talk about esl prizes but it looks like its taking a back seat to the other games) then I'd say thats a pretty shit annual salary
its not as if im anti-lan; i just find it sad that they make peanuts and people are acting like theyre living the dream. if i was anti-lan id flame dkt and alike but im not. hes got a normal job & just takes paid leave and goes to play and compete. also hes american so its not as far to travel
a yes, because you disagree my reasoning is bullshit. good logic.
Look I already said that it depends on someone's personality. But claiming meeting strangers in one's own town is the same as getting to know people from another country on another continent just shows a lot about your personality.
And I would say you have never even been to Dallas, so how the fuck could you evaluate what you can do there?
Well, having been there I can say it's not that great, but I would still chose it over visiting Liverpool or something like that.
And going to the biggest event for your chosen hobby for free is an experience one should always take. You can still bitch about how bad it was later.
But I for one am 100% certain that it was better than what you experience on an average weekend...
Your reasoning is that of a guy who travels once every two years and always looks for the most extravagant. And that he dwells on that discarding all smaller experiences as worthless.
Suit yourself, but luckily not everyone is like that.
oh the "it says a lot about you" weightless comments come out. is everybody not different as people like to chant? then surely you have something to gain from meeting anybody. and youre from a major city like berlin; if you tried im pretty sure you can find people from whatever country you like there (or the worthwhile ones anyways)
i can evaluate dallas because they arent going as if it is a holiday, they're going to play computer games in a windowless hall. gamers going to the event from europe didnt leave until the day before and i assume will return on the day after because their sponsors are paying for them to compete, not to take a vacation. this means that they will have had no time to see whatever shit sites dallas offers in day time and could only go out at night which is the same as going out at night in most other places i assume i.e. a bar or a club except that it would have idiot americans. my criticism wasnt about dallas & its tourist opportunities it was about the fact that most of the people going wont even see them as theyll be stuck in a sweaty room with 3000 geeks watching porn & playing quake.
my reasoning is of a guy who doesn't see spending 7 hours each way on a plane to spend 3 days in a sports hall as such a wonderful thing. if the players asked their sponsors to book their return flights for 3 days after the event and then covered their room for the extra days & did some sight seeing then ok; but otherwise i just see it as a pointless bit of traveling and a wasted opportunity.
and congrats on making weightless assumptions just because i only bother making a journal when visiting somewhere like china. next year ill also go to rome & cyprus so thats 3 'extravagant travels' in 2 years. not including the various day trips to themeparks etc
i dont even see why youre arguing with me. if youre so pro-travels then surely you should see that when people go 1 day before and come home the day after (while having to spend the time in between at the event) then its been a wasted opportunity for them
first of all, I'm not in Berlin, though my parents are. I just use it because of timezone.
I live in a 250.000 people city big enough, but not really anything new.
About the personality.
I'm a person that always wants to try out something new when an opportunity arises. And then see how it is. While your comments on this matter clearly give the picture that you don't want to try something because think it might be bad...
I've also been good at enduring long travels, especially flying as opposed to driving since I can read, watch movies, listen to music, sleep, etc. Stuff that I do anyway. So that 8 hour travel argument is somewhat nil, imo. Just book a flight for the morning and go out the evening before, nothings wasted then ;)
But you are right I would definately take the opportunity the make the trip longer and go see some stuff. But having to play games at some part of the day wouldn't really stop me from going into the town during the time-off. I can't really believe that the team will or even can force the player to never leave the "windowless hall". So it's really up to the person what he makes of it.
And last but not least gaming some people is a hobby (czm for example), many people have one and it is alwas time consuming. Many people spend money on them, while he actually has the chance to make money. So why not go and see what it gets you?
differently put if an unemployed amateur soccer player (who trains 5 hours a day by himself) gets the offer to accompany his team to a tournament in the US. Would you also say it's a waste of time, because all they'll do is sitting around on a lawn kicking some ball?
yes i know. the kind of people who want to go everywhere and do everything because otherwise they feel the life is meaningless and have no form of complacency. i have no problem with trying things; i went on holiday and tried jet skiing and scuba diving. the thing is im no desperate to do every other thing in the world because im ok with the way things are and seem to be going and so have no desperation do go do x, y & z because its a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity or in a few years it'll be 'too late'
you also have the tedious waiting in the airports
the players would need to be within a certain amount of miles to the event in order to make it back in between games. chances are the lans wont be close to major tourist attractions due to the increased cost of property rent. if the sponsors have a both then they might be needed there even if they lose early in the tournie
already said i have no issue with the likes of dkt who have a proper job & then take time out to pursue a hobby. an amateur footballer would have a normal job as they dont make a living from it so just like dkt id have no problems. even the semi-pros getting £100~ p/w still have a normal job
"yes i know. the kind of people who want to go everywhere and do everything because otherwise they feel the life is meaningless and have no form of complacency."
nope, not really.
it's called being curious,
and also optimistic.
sure there are people who are like what you described, but from my experience they are quite rare. They are also usually 40+.
i tend not to like people who are:
a. traveling nonstop, backpacking wherever just for the sake of it
b. people learning nonstop
people going OTT in shit basically. i was talking to another placement student at work & he said his hobby was "just trying to learn as much as he could"...not the kind of thing im gonna suggest we do together 1 of the days. he then went on to point out how he didnt take part in any clubs/societies at uni; lost interest in gaming after high school and watches no tv/movies...just the occasional manga (:X)
Great answers, esp. on the pro-gaming thing and the advice to noobs...it seems that a lot of folks at that level of playing seem to forget that the community won't just level off, but implode, with attitudes that are anti-noob :)
honestly why do ppl care about either of these "pros". nineX is a fgt who helped run NA vq3 into the ground with his private server(s) for his select "pro" buddies so they can advance themselves for tourneys, now he's interviewing a couple of those select "pro" buddies...who gives a shit if these guys were sponsored and got free tix to the tourney, that doesn't make them pros and it definitely doesn't make these interviews worth a shit to read. fuck this.
You need a hug man, just open your heart and you'll realize that you're better than this.
Let me tell you something, as a man who has come through the dark and into the light - I can assure you that the will of the lord is not limited to just me. If you need me then I'm here for you, and not just as a friend but also as a brother in Christ.