Plenty of top players have shared that they have Monday - Friday jobs on stream and in interviews, and I know plenty of good players who work that schedule as well, but only go to a few majors to since they can request time off ahead. But how do players make it to WNF, TRB, etc etc 3 out of 4 weeks with a steady job? Right now I only do school and part time work, but it’s something that seems important to me since my free time won’t be, well, free forever.
How do you guys do it? How do some of the well known players do it???
It is pretty easy to have a hobby on the side. Most dudes out there do not play fighing game for a living. The dudes playing smash or stiv sleeping in cars or crashin at the house. Playing money matches because “they are hype as fuck and want to be taken seriously” usually have no jobs and rely on mom and dad to foot the bill
There is no money or sense in learning to master a video game as a career path. That one guy who won like 10 quake 3 arena tournies used his winnings and went to school and all that stuff.
You can’t make playing video games a career, you can however have a career to support your habbit
Considering those tourneys start at like 8PM, I don’t get the mystery. If you live in a 50 mile radius of the venue and have a 9-5 job, it’s not that challenging. Even with school and a PT job, most reasonable places will let you say “hey, I can’t work Wednesday nights” or whatever.
From a business perspective, most of them get paid shit so you should focus more on your future rather than being a bum working a shit job and being “LOL GG” at a video game.
From a personal perspective, you have your own time to do whatever the hell you want so if you want to play games then do it.
You really CAN’T have a regular job and be all that competitive. Most people who are a top player level are pretty much sponsored. Before sponships became widespread, a lot of times a group of people from a scene travelled together (generally via bus) to tournaments. This could be pulled off since there were like 5 majors a year. Today where there seems to be a major every weekend, you need sponsorship dollars behind you.
At a local level, it’s really easy. I know I don’t personally attend weekday tournaments, although I could. But for the most part people at my age (I’m 33) don’t attend many tournaments anyway. I will attend a monthly, or a weekly if it’s close, but I in general don’t have time. I may spend an hour a day training, and I can go weeks or a month without turning on my system. It happens. Guys like Wong, F. Champ and others really don’t represent the average working tournament player. It’s mainly the college kids and sponsored players putting in that time. I mean doesn’t Latif have like 30k BP on XBL. I can’t fathom how much personal time he’s putting into the game.
If you want to win majors, a full time job with no type of sponsorship isn’t going to win you one. I know I’ve never won any meaningful money from fight games. The most I’ve won was a $10 money match and $12 when I got 3rd at a MVC2 arcade tourney back in the days. So it’s not worth my time to sacrifice work for tournaments. Some people can do it, but they ALSO have sponsorships.
Right now I only do school and part time work, but it’s something that seems important to me since my free time won’t be, well, free forever.