Robin Williams didn’t place at Evo and Vin Diesel wasn’t running some big time D&D ring while doing nothing else with his life. Your examples prove the point.
There are plenty of dudes that casually play video games. I think most of us on here casually play video games. But to be a hardcore player, to make a living off of playing games? To consistently place in the top spots at big money tournaments? That’s not a lifestyle you can keep because of the time commitment.
I basically also agree with fishjie’s post.
As human beings we really are very limited in both time and ability. It’s a very rare person that can be elite in multiple areas. For us lesser/normal human beings, of which I include myself of course, we can’t even be really good at too many things at once. Even when playing fighting games, I’ve found at most I can play maybe 3 different games at a time, and even then I am getting stretched a bit thin over it and will have trouble with someone that only plays that one game, regardless of talent level at it if we both focused just on that one game.
A lot of things we do in life are skills. Academics are a skill. Fighting games are a skill. Sociability is also a skill! When you focus on one thing you are giving up on something else. Again for us normal humans.
A genius can come along and sure they can do lots of different things. But why would a genius even waste their time on fighting games, honestly? They can be so much more productive in other endeavors. And it still will take time for them to build muscle memory and experience.
I’ve met a lot of successful people in life so far. And one thing that is apparent is that whatever they are successful in, it’s usually their entire life. They eat, sleep and breathe it. From yes fighting games, to sports like basketball, to medicine, to law, to politics, to anything else you can think of. I would have conversations with big time lawyers making 7-8 figures a year and it was obvious they didn’t watch movies, they didn’t follow sports, they didn’t watch TV and they barely had time for family, most were divorced several times. That’s a price these guys were paying to get to the top.
The question is, do you want to give everything up to maybe succeed in that one area? No guarantee even if you give it up that you make it, but it is pretty much a guarantee that you have to put the work in. Women are very good at figuring that type of thing out, not even consciously, I think they subconsciously do it. And they realize something like video games is not worth the sacrifice. In general women aren’t willing to make that sacrifice for anything, instead choosing to take advantage of affirmative action or to latch onto a man that is doing whatever that thing is to bring home the bacon.
A lot of people will focus on something when they’re young and make a lot of money, and then start pulling back and living life. But you’re not going to get that out of fighting games. Your skills won’t carry over into anything else. There’s no coasting on past success or past skills and then supervising or whatever. You get that one shot in your teens and twenties and then that’s it.
