Leveling up to professional gaming

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Senior Brandon Postu plays a match of Call of Duty at his house. Postu practices gaming for about four hours a day, but only after he finishes his school work. Practicing entails participating in tournaments that professional gamers are also playing. Photo by Emma Kawasaki.

Twenty-seven million people tuned in to watch the final of the 2014 season last October, an event that sold out the arena in which it was held, according to ESPN Magazine. However, this was not the World Series of baseball, which attracted 13.8 million viewers. This was the League of Legends Championship.

Professional video gaming, or “eSports,” has drastically grown in the last decade, according to Kurt Melcher, associate athletic director of Robert Morris University.

“ESports are organized, online video game competitions,” said Melcher. “[The industry] has evolved massively through technology and high speed internet. It’s made games much more sophisticated and challenging. … [Competitive gaming] requires a different skill set: a strategic mind, technical ability and [an] ability to be a good teammate.”

Robert Morris was the first university to offer a scholarship for competitive gaming when it recruited Adrian Ma to play for its League of Legends team. However, this is not the only outlet for players looking to play at the next level, according to Melcher. Some players go on to play professionally.

According to senior Zody Levin, a lot of the money professionals make comes from winning tournaments. Last year, the four Dota 2 international champions collectively took in over $5 million, according to the Dota 2 website.

“The pros love what they’re doing,” said Levin. “They kind of don’t care how much they’re paid. When you love your work, it doesn’t feel like work.”

Some Glenbrook North students have already made money through gaming. Senior Brandon Postu said he wins money from gaming tournaments.

“[On] weekdays … I come home from school and do whatever I have to do,” said Postu. “[Then] I hop on and play a tournament. … Basically, when you’re good at a certain game that you play … there are websites where you can enter tournaments.”

Postu said he does not like telling people his earnings, as to not send out the wrong message of why he got involved in gaming. On Gamebattles, a site Postu regularly visits, he is 10th on the all time tournaments leaderboard with 251 first place finishes, as of Oct. 29.

Success in the competitive gaming community can come unexpectedly, according to Postu. His favorite win was against professionals in a tournament he signed up for two minutes before it started.

“We ended up beating them, which was really exhilarating,” said Postu. “When the finals came, we ended up playing two of … the top players on Call of Duty, and we ended up beating them. … The feeling of beating players that are considered better than you, or that are in the spotlight, definitely was a big win [for me].”

Many companies have started to take interest in the realm of eSports. The top teams for some games have sponsorships from Red Bull and Samsung.

“One time I watched a fighting tournament and saw it was sponsored by Totino’s Pizza Rolls, and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s really weird,’” said senior Bryant Zhao. “But people are interested in [these events]. They get [millions] of viewers, and it’s [a] great advertising opportunity.”

Becoming a professional is no easy task, according to senior Chris Lee. He has been training since he started playing League of Legends five months ago. He plays 2 to 4 hours on weekdays and 6 to 7 hours a day on weekends. The longest Lee has ever played was 18 hours.

“You can’t keep playing [continuously], it’s tiring,” said Lee. “I was playing with my friend who plays the game. He and I were just winning. If you’re on a winning streak, you keep on wanting to play.”

According to Lee, his typical schedule consists of getting his schoolwork done, cleaning his room and then playing. To him, League of Legends is not just about winning. It is about relaxing.

“I play it because it relieves my stress,” said Lee. “It’s fun to play. I’ve always liked video games. If I could become pro, I would do it, but I am not that good yet. … I’m practicing to become that good.”