How to become a cyber athlete - a guide without water and pathos

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The gaming market is growing very fast, according to RBC, this year its total budget will be 10 million dollars. And that’s just in Russia. That 10 million means the amount spent by advertisers to promote their products during tournaments and championships. And some of that money goes to the competitors, teams, and organizers.

Agree, it would be cool to win a CS: GO or Dota 2 tournament, get your million dollar prize money and become a famous player. But it succeeds only one of hundreds of thousands of people. And in this guide, we’ll tell you how to become one of the hundreds of thousands and make it to the top. It’s all business, here we go.

Cyber athletes – who are they?

From the perspective of the average person who goes to work every day and earns money, a cyber athlete is some person who plays the computer day and night and doesn’t know what they do for a living. Most people think this way, and they think negatively and do not pay attention to arguments when it comes to big prizes.

And from the perspective of someone who actively plays those very same KS GO and Dota 2, a cybersportsman is a very cool gamer who does nothing but play and do something there. But if this gamer trains properly, he will win tournaments and earn a lot of money.

The life of a cyber-sportsman isn’t really as good as it may seem at first glance. You have to constantly sit in front of the computer, spend 10 to 16 hours a day on the game, constantly train, learn and memorize new information. And what’s in return?

While a person sits and plays, life passes him by. Others study, go to the movies, go out and have an interesting time. Gradually the gap increases, because real life is very different from what you have in your computer. Yes, and who will be interested to hear how you’re there zaraschili plank B for contras, or did minus 5, giving a full roll on the Invoker.

What’s the result? The man closes himself up, sits at home and spoils his health on the computer, does not develop and stops to learn. It’s kind of a bleak picture, isn’t it? But many high school and college students continue to live this way anyway, trying to become pro-gamers, losing their health and their chance at a successful life.

Statistically, one in hundreds of thousands becomes a successful pro player. So what to do if you want everything at once? We’ll give you a rough plan of action, and here’s what to do in the beginning:

Are you sure you want it?

If you think that all you need to do is play all the time and you google phrases like “how long does it take to become a pro-player” and watch Twitch-channels, you are doing it all wrong. You’re wasting your time that way and you’ll never get anywhere.

First, try to calculate your money you’ll spend on improving your computer, the amount you can make in a year, and the amount you could make in the same year if you took a job at night.

It is true that a player may have a contract and a fixed monthly salary, but this is very individual and depends on the level of the organization and its sponsors. Usually the sponsor pays for the flight, accommodation and other tournament-related expenses, and the team in return advertises the brand itself on clothing and/or by writing its name in the nickname, for example.

Separately, let’s note the example of Topson (Topias Taavitsainen), a professional Dota 2 player who won The International 2018. This guy wasn’t known before The International 2018 at all until he was invited to the team by n0tail (Johan Sundstein) – the captain of the OG. Why did he invite him? Because Topson played publicks day and night and did it apparently well. OG ended up winning the tournament and earning the team $11,234,158. How much money do you think Topson got? Very, very much – it’s a story about how yesterday you play a publick, and today you win The International and become a millionaire.

If you want to become a pro player not for money and career, but for something else, I don’t know what, get that crap out of your head. That way you won’t be motivated enough, you’ll just waste your time playing the game and end up broke.