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Gaming as a Career?

Updated: Oct 15, 2020

Maybe the dream of every teenager out there, professional gaming is a career most of us have thought about at least once in our life. Fortnite, PlayerUnknown's Battleground, League of Legends, Call of Duty are just some of the popular games at the time of writing.

Now to the big question, gaming as a career? Now, for all of the parents reading this, many of them would be against the idea, where as all of us children would be probably dreaming about playing in front of millions of people on some of the best gaming equipment. How feasible this plan is? No one knows for sure.


Gaming is one of those careers where you have to go all in for getting results. Some players have the 'game' within them, whereas others learn through experience & practice. Gaming is requires a lot of time given to it. If you take a look at streaming platforms, you can see that streams range all the way from 2 hours all the way to 9 hours or more! The health effects of this is well, let's have a look of some common side effects of long gaming sessions:

  1. Can cause neck pain

  2. Academic Issues

  3. Exposure to Wrong values

  4. Damage to vision

  5. Can make gamers Socially Disconnected

  6. Aggressive Behaviour

  7. Carpal Tunnel

  8. Hearing damage

However, Gaming isn't all that bad. Gaming, in fact, can have many positive effects on a child as well, if it is used judiciously. Some of the positive effects of Gaming are:

  1. Improved Problem-Solving Techniques

  2. Enhanced Critical-Thinking capabilities

  3. Better Motor Skills

  4. Amplified Coordination

  5. Helps in de-stressing from work/school/college

  6. Sharpened Hand-Eye Coordination

Now that we have seen the positive & negative effects of Gaming, let's look at it as a career & how feasible is it. According to TheStreet, eSports offers regular salaries to team players, with the average salaries ranging from $3000-$5000 (monthly) in the gaming hotbeds like USA & China. In INR, this is approximately 210,000-350,000, which is a pretty decent salary. However, with population growth rates increasing around the world, we will soon start seeing inflation rates going up in countries. This means that cost of living will slowly keep increasing & the value of currency might decrease.

However, this is a 'maybe' situation, but the 2 biggest reasons why Gaming is said to be a bad career choices are:

  1. It's HIGHLY COMPETITIVE: No doubt that whichever career you go into, you will have competition. You will have to rise above those challenges. However, competition in Gaming is beyond our imagination. At time of writing, there are 2.5 BILLION Gamers around the world! Just imagine competing against just 1 million for a cash prize (I'm pretty sure you're already scared). However, 1 million is not even close to how many players games like Fortnite & Call of Duty have. Fortnite had 250 MILLION players in March 2019 & Call of Duty: Warzone had reported 50 MILLION players in just a month of its release.

  2. NO CONSISTENCY: What this means is that video games are continuously being developed. With the short attention spans common nowadays, games continuously are evolving & changing. Games have the spotlight for a month & the next month, some other game takes it. Also, games need to have constant updates. They need to have continuous updates or content creation for that specific game will decrease. We can see this in the case of Apex Legends. When released, it was one of the fastest growing games. However, now that there have been no content updates, the game is said to be 'dying'. However, some changes can have a negative effect. Being an ex-Fortnite player, I can say the overall quality of the game has decreased. I know many people may disagree me with me & many might side with me, but that is my personal opinion. Many negative updates to the game have created a negative experience for both players like me & streamers.

Now as to why you should take Gaming as a career. For the most simple reason, IT IS FUN. Many people complain about their jobs, their irritating bosses, their offices or all of 'em. In Gaming, you have your own setup, your own GPUs, your Mice & Keyboards. You can have your own streaming platform (Google's YouTube, Amazon's Twitch & Microsoft's Mixer are just some examples). You can build your own content, your own community & that's what makes it so great. Almost everything in a gaming career is customisable by you.

Another reason is that it offers the young generation to make money for THEMSELVES. One thing you have heard almost all teenagers complain is about how they don't have money to go to the supermarket nearby, going to the mall with your friends, or even taking your significant other out on a date. With the ease of sitting at home, you can earn REAL CURRENCY!

Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf is a 16 year old from Pennsylvania, USA & won USD 3 MILLION by just playing 6 rounds of Fortnite in front of thousands of people. This just shows the capability of how much money a person can make playing Video Games. Also, keep in mind that he is valued at around USD 2 million!

Now should you choose Gaming as a Career? It's up to you. It is up to you to assess the risks, the gains from it & then take an informed decision.

However, one thing I think you should ask yourself while taking the decision is, 'is it worth the risk?' Many people who have taken the road to Professional Gaming have come back & said, 'Don't do it!" It all comes down to the fact how bad do you want it. If you want it that bad & are ready to face the negative consequences, then you can go ahead & take Gaming as a Career.

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