professional video game players

I guess I could call myself a pro player, I play WoW at work, so I guess I get paid to play video games.
:D
 
figgie said:
a professional is definded as making a living off thier job. That would make every person working the factory floor making widgets or taking the thorns of the roses for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week a professional in that regards.
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I take exception to this......
Until You've worked those jobs and know what it takes to do them SHUT THE FUCK UP.

I am a Manufacturing Engineer. I am a Professional. PERIOD.
I work with a lot of PROFESSIONAL factory workers, machinists, toolmakers, machine operators, that perform just the kinds of jobs that you are are being an ass about.

Manufacturing is the single largest contributor to this country's Gross National Product.
It has fed and clothed everyone in the nation for a long time. If you don't believe that then check out Sara Lee's factory and the Cotton mills in the south.

You my friend are an egotistical prick.

Back on topic.
A sport is any thing that is done for recreation.
Football is a sport - it was that before it became big business.
Racing is a sport - If it isn't then tell ESPN to quit carring the races.
Fishing is a sport
Hunting is a sport
The long jump was done as a sport in the Olympic (orginal Greek) Games - see games = fun. As a test of altheticism.
The marathon is a sport because it is a game - to see if the runners can do as well as that lone messenger did - and if you don't know the reference then you need to read some greek/olympic history.

And the althectism refers to a skill. Hand eye coordination requires a physical skill.

And before you get all defensive about it.
I KNOW that I bench 300+ pounds, and do cable crossovers with 100lbs on each arm and I also competed in the CAL-Open division this year, and got my ass handed to me.

So yes I feel qualified to say that an athletic skill is involved.

As far as being a professional.....
figgie - you have a lot to learn about that.


 
You obviously don't play video games, chess, or checkers the way I do.

Full contact. You get rolled, the person doing the rolling get an empty bottle of bawls to the face.

You want an easy win... you throw your opponents monitor out the window. (this can be gauged for distance, and with its rising popularity may even be included in future olympic games).

Pieces are food. Chess, Checkers, and random parts off of your (or your opponents) machine, are all edible.

Anyone who has tried to digest objects that are quite undigestible knows that this can be very physically exhausting. This can be made competative by seeing who can make the pieces reappear in the quickest fashion. (many players have been put on probation and even disqualified due to excessive use of laxatives, which is obviously an unfair advantage. --we're still waiting for the rulings on prune juice-).

And now we see, with a few simple modifications to any gaming experience it can be turned into a sport.

Edit:
obvious typo removed, and I appologize for any I missed.
 
Look people they call themselves, or at least have been branded as "Cyber Atheletes", meaning they are atheletes in a game, much like many of you nerds should know that "cyber sex" is not real sex like someone who has a GF or pays for it does....

Mabey they should be electronic atheletes or something....I dont think that sounds as cool.
 
Sui said:
Think of your typical, "stereotyped," Athlete. Now put that Athlete behind a computer and ask them to adjust the video settings in a game to give them the best competitive edge.
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:rolleyes:

Seriously, you just implied that all athletes are jocks. That's absurd. Put your stereotyped gamer in an athletic competition and he'll be out of breath in thirty seconds flat. Facts and stereotypes are two very different things.
 
You have to keep in mind that the stereotypical gamer is changing everyday as gaming becomes more and more popular.

**movie announcer voice**
Now introducing, the athletic gamer.

--screen pans left showing one of those oiled up muscle guys sitting in front of a computer in spandex--

"Help our gaming community become STRONGER with <insert some random sports supplement here>"

"Just three easy payments of $45.99. Call now and we'll include this months issue of PCGamer Muscle for FREE. That's right folks, youre receiving this magazine, valued at $4.34 absolutely FREE."

**really fast voice**
"Side effects may include and are not limited to: Headaches, brain damage, various forms of ED, and spontaneous combustion."

"Shipping and handling not included"
 
Deity said:
Look people they call themselves, or at least have been branded as "Cyber Atheletes", meaning they are atheletes in a game, much like many of you nerds should know that "cyber sex" is not real sex like someone who has a GF or pays for it does....

Mabey they should be electronic atheletes or something....I dont think that sounds as cool.
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"Cyber Athlete" is just a way to try to legitimize yourself as a gamer. Why not just call yourself a gamer? Is it something to be so ashamed of that you hide behind euphimisms?

There's no athleticism involved in gaming. Is it challenging? Yes. Can it be physically exhausting? Yes. Chess is challenging and anything can be exhausting over a long enough period of time.

For those saying gaming fits the definition of sport, this is from Webster's Unabridged, 2001:

Sport
1) an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
2) a particular form of this, esp. in the out of doors.
3) diversion; recreation; pleasant past time.
4) jest; fun; mirth; pleasantry; What he said in sport was taken seriously.
5) mockery; ridicule; derision The made sport of him.
6) an object of derision; laughingstock
7) something treated lightly or tossed about like a plything.
8) something or someone subject to the whims or vicissitudes of fate, circumstances, etc.
9) a sportsman.
10) Informal. a person who behaves in a sportsmanlike, fair, or admirable manner; an accomodating person...

I'll spare you the other 16 definitions.

Do you see my point, or do I need to explain it?
 
PopeKevinI said:
"Cyber Athlete" is just a way to try to legitimize yourself as a gamer. Why not just call yourself a gamer? Is it something to be so ashamed of that you hide behind euphimisms?

There's no athleticism involved in gaming. Is it challenging? Yes. Can it be physically exhausting? Yes. Chess is challenging and anything can be exhausting over a long enough period of time.

For those saying gaming fits the definition of sport, this is from Webster's Unabridged, 2001:

Sport
1) an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
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I agree with most of what you've said.......
As long as you realize that just about everything listed above is a GAME.
Baseball is a game.
Bowling is a game
Tennis is a game
Golf is a game

And even you admitted that there is something "physically exhausting" in playing games.
Physically exhausting - Physically challenging...... are 2 very close statements. You can't have one without the other, unless you are superman.

Even pool / billiards is classed as a professional sport - because it is a game that people are getting paid to compete in.
Now I want you to explain to me how "physically challenging" a game of pool is. It requires concentration, hand-eye coordination, a certain physical skill, a lot of knowledge about geometry and physics at an instinctual level, a high level of training, years of constant practice, and even endurance... for the tournaments....(play pool non-stop for 3 12-hour days).

So if it is a game and the guy is making money.....
It's a non-issue....they could call themselves "the Rotating Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwichs" and it still wouldn't change the fact that they are getting paid to play games.

And that makes a lot of people jealous.


If anyone wants to be a professional cyberathlete - more power to them.
Put the time in - just like Tiger Woods did with golf.
Spend the money for the best equipment.
Train constantly.
Compete in the tournaments (online and in person).
Go to the expos.
Get face time with the sponsers.
Develop a marketable image.
Approach everything that you do professionally.

And all of these steps are required for just about EVERY professional sport known to man.

Look at Dennis Rodman and Michael Jordan.
One is a professional embarassment and the other is a professional success.
Compare their endorsments and bank accounts.
Both are great players. But Micheal Jordan is the professional.
Dennis Rodman had great opportunities that he threw away.

So......
If you do the exact same things that Tiger or Michael did and apply them to the games that you play - then maybe you can have your name on a motherboard or soundcard.


 
I think its really pathetic that there are 128 posts trying to convince people of video games as some form of physical athletic endevor. Jesus its why there are obese hypertensive children in this country. They never see the light of day. They have no muscle mass. I wish that we would convince our children to exercise for as many hours a day as they play CS or WOW. This is truely sad. Ask also that same child what he/she got on their last spelling test??? based on the use of the English language in some of these posts I'd say it was barely passing. just think about it a bit.
 
magoo said:
I think its really pathetic that there are 128 posts trying to convince people of video games as some form of physical athletic endevor. Jesus its why there are obese hypertensive children in this country. They never see the light of day. They have no muscle mass. I wish that we would convince our children to exercise for as many hours a day as they play CS or WOW. This is truely sad. Ask also that same child what he/she got on their last spelling test??? based on the use of the English language in some of these posts I'd say it was barely passing. just think about it a bit.
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Online roleplaying games are designed to take over people's lives. Trying to compete in those games and having an active social life is next to impossible. Unless you didn't work, of course. Work 9-5, play 6-11, repeat mon-friday, go out on the weekend? Then again, the weekend is time for guild raids, events, etc.


My friend bought a character in DAOC which had something like 160 days played. His other friend bought an ORIGINAL EQ account registered 3rd day it was online and one of the characters has nearly 500 days played!!!!


I called BS on the EQ character, but I saw the DAOC character in person.
 
Big Worm said:
I will never buy a Fatal1ty product... ever...

I think its moronic how these companies put his SN on them.
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+ MF +

i fill with rage whenever i see a fatality labeled product
 
"Ten most feared people in sports" - FoxSports.com
http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/5013876

Among the odd list: Rafer Alston, hotdog eating guy, pool player, poker player, Mike Tyson... and at NUMBER 2!!! We have Fatal1ty :)

2. Johnathan Wendel, aka "Fatal1ty"

Sport: Video Games

Career Highlights: A member of the Cyberathlete Professional League (yes, this exists) since 1999, Wendel won two world Quake III championships in a month, earning him a total of $44,000. According to his website, "(Wendel) presently reigns as the only three-time CPL Champion of the Year, winning each, annual title in a different game, a feat never before accomplished." Cool.

So, why are his opponents so scared of him? Believe it or not, there are thousands of professional video game players around the globe. Known as "cyberathletes," these characters earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year doing what hungover college kids do on Sunday mornings for a living. Wendel, whose "handle" is "Fatal1ty," is the nastiest one of all. In an October 10th article in Business Week, we learn, "In this new world, Johnathan Wendel is the undisputed star. Over a period of five years, he has won more tournaments and pulled in more prize money than any other player, a total that has now topped $350,000. Girl gamers buzz about him at matches, like a group of Swedish players in Barcelona this summer. And boys idolize him. "He's so good," says Iisakki "Beam" Ahonen, an up-and-coming 17-year-old Finn player. 'I want to be like him — to travel and compete in tournaments and make a living at it.'" He's pretty much the Matt Leinart/Derek Jeter/Jason from "Laguna Beach" of the video-game world. Girls want him, and guys want to be him. And yet, no one wants to face him one-on-one.
 
infiniti029 said:
He's pretty much the Matt Leinart/Derek Jeter/Jason from "Laguna Beach" of the video-game world. Girls want him, and guys want to be him. And yet, no one wants to face him one-on-one.
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LOL this last little bit really made me laugh. Comparing a guy who plays videogames, to professional athletes is laughable.

The girls want him ? wow must be scraping the bottom of the barrel for the girls. All the power to ya, if you like butter faces, and paper bag princesses.

Guys want to be him ? I don't think I would want to promote that I was possibly the biggest nerd in the world. I for one don't feel the need to broadcast that I am a nerd, that's something you ease the girls into, so they think its cute, not repulsive.

I dont think I would ever use a story written by fox to back arguments. Fox is perhaps the most bias and worst news agency in existance.
 
figgie said:
correct

sweating because you are nervous does not = physical excertion therby it is not sport. Just like chess is not a SPORT. And neither is CHECKERS!!
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Jesus christ...

You dont sweat playing an intesive video game because you are nervous, you sweat from increased heartrate and tensed muscles. Your body gets loaded with adrenalin and you go into a physical fight mode. (even though you are sitting in a chair operating a computer :p)
 
urbsnspices said:
See, all this crap is why I got out of professional gaming. :rolleyes:
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You "got out" of professional gaming because people were questioning the definition of athlete??

That requires an eyeroll :rolleyes:
 
-shrug-


Anything you compete with anyone for could be considered a sport. It's a sport to pickup women at a bar, because you are competing with other people.
 
Ugh this thread just made me puke :mad:

All the kiddies who think thier penis is related to the number of 1st place finishes they have, will sadly be mistaken when thier pubes grow in. Wake up! No one has ever been laid because of gaming stats!

Now some may say fatal1ty is just another one of those kiddies, but look at the $$ he's making off it! GJ! Money talks and sh#t walks!
 
<yawn> all he does it makes me yawn. I cant stand hearing about him or seeing him everywhere I want to buy a decent product. Jealous you think I am? Fuck no! I dont want my name on a motherboard, gfx card, sound card etc.. whatever the hell he has out there (that I really dont care about and will NEVER buy) Id rather have a good companies name on, not from some idiot or his picture. I think the term 'professional video game players' is stupid. Im not saying LAN parties are stupid, but people who do it for a life need to get one. Im sorry thats just how I feel. Disagree with me if you want, I dont care. Sure he may be good, so what? But when you start to put your name and picture on products out there, Cmon already. Enjoy your arthritis or carpal tunnel in a few years.

how is getting laid and gaming related?
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If you were a girl, would you rather do the guy who is the top fragger in his lan party? or the top football star who just won the championship?
 
QuakerOatz said:
Ugh this thread just made me puke :mad:

All the kiddies who think thier penis is related to the number of 1st place finishes they have, will sadly be mistaken when thier pubes grow in. Wake up! No one has ever been laid because of gaming stats!

Now some may say fatal1ty is just another one of those kiddies, but look at the $$ he's making off it! GJ! Money talks and sh#t walks!
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I agree with the puking part.

I have no problem with professional gamers, they are making money doing something that alot of us wouldn't mind doing. I don't consider them celebrity, and they aren't gods.

There are literally thousands of great players out their, that with the right time and practice with the right people they could easily become professional. I'm confident of this, think how much time professionals devote to gaming, and they always stay on top because they are always competing and practicing with the best. Some people do have the knack for these games naturally, they might not have to practice very much to be good at them. However, I don't know any professionals that don't practice their asses off, because you can't install a new game and turn into a champion overnight. This "You have it or you don't" shit is rediculous, if you can play video games you can get damn good at online shooters with practice.

The endorsements of hardware is a little much for me handle honestly, the Abit fatal1ty mobo is a good example, why would anyone pay HIGH dollar for that board because his name's on it? The board isn't superior to it's competition, unless you consider red led's and little otes fans an improvement. You are paying for this kid's name, he is not an engineer, he couldn't build a motherboard if his life depended on it. I can see him now, "well, put some LED's on the board, and give it some fans for the caps up top. EXTREME AWESOME!" squirt.
 
DangerIsGo said:
Id rather have a good companies name on, not from some idiot or his picture. I think the term 'professional video game players' is stupid. Im not saying LAN parties are stupid, but people who do it for a life need to get one. Im sorry thats just how I feel. Disagree with me if you want, I dont care. Sure he may be good, so what? But when you start to put your name and picture on products out there, Cmon already. Enjoy your arthritis or carpal tunnel in a few years.
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Sports jerseys.

Didn't the LeBron jersey sell a ton? Haha, that guy is already a father at 18 years old. Some chick got boned by him on purpose to get pregnant and get a piece of his $$$.

If you were a girl, would you rather do the guy who is the top fragger in his lan party? or the top football star who just won the championship?
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Depends on the girl, a dumb chick will want to get knocked up by whoever can make the $$$ to support her. A good looking, smart chick will just pick whoever looks better, has more style, and treats her good.
 
QuimZ said:
The endorsements of hardware is a little much for me handle honestly, the Abit fatal1ty mobo is a good example, why would anyone pay HIGH dollar for that board because his name's on it? The board isn't superior to it's competition, unless you consider red led's and little otes fans an improvement. You are paying for this kid's name, he is not an engineer, he couldn't build a motherboard if his life depended on it. I can see him now, "well, put some LED's on the board, and give it some fans for the caps up top. EXTREME AWESOME!" squirt.
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That's because if you goto a basketball court in the inner city, everything is about looks and style. People kill for shoes. "Bling bling" is just urban, inner city poor culture and jerseys and shoes are a part of that.

Then look at computers, I don't think name brands will catch on as much because who is going to Lanparties and getting accepted socially based on the name brand of their video card?
 
Huggles said:
That's because if you goto a basketball court in the inner city, everything is about looks and style. People kill for shoes. "Bling bling" is just urban, inner city poor culture and jerseys and shoes are a part of that.
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It is not just an urban, inner city, poor culture thing. I seem to see a lot of middle class "gangsters" where Im from, and im willing to bet that its the same in every town in north america. Its popular culture, that proliferates these stereotypes.
 
Well if it is indeed their profession, then i don't see anything wrong calling them professional gamers.
 
rodsfree said:
I agree with most of what you've said.......
As long as you realize that just about everything listed above is a GAME.
Baseball is a game.
Bowling is a game
Tennis is a game
Golf is a game
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Those are athletic games, which make them sports (well...I don't think bowling and golf are sports...but that's a personal definition).

rodsfree said:
And even you admitted that there is something "physically exhausting" in playing games.
Physically exhausting - Physically challenging...... are 2 very close statements. You can't have one without the other, unless you are superman.
Click to expand...

Watching TV is exhausting. Don't believe me? Do it for sixteen hours.

rodsfree said:
Even pool / billiards is classed as a professional sport - because it is a game that people are getting paid to compete in.
Now I want you to explain to me how "physically challenging" a game of pool is. It requires concentration, hand-eye coordination, a certain physical skill, a lot of knowledge about geometry and physics at an instinctual level, a high level of training, years of constant practice, and even endurance... for the tournaments....(play pool non-stop for 3 12-hour days).
Click to expand...

Some people call poker a sport. Just because someone calls it that doesn't mean they're right.

rodsfree said:
So if it is a game and the guy is making money.....
It's a non-issue....they could call themselves "the Rotating Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwichs" and it still wouldn't change the fact that they are getting paid to play games.
Click to expand...

That makes them professional gamers. Not athletes.
 
Isaacav2 said:
Professional Video Gaming is no joke in South Korea. America will follow.
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Profesional gaming IS no joke.

Computer gaming athletes.. that is A HUGE joke.
 
I would love to be the best gamer in the world, I think it would be cool.
Hand people your business card

Majin
Professional Gamer
"I wILl Pwn Jo0"
 
Majin said:
I don't know about that.

Some people just suck.
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buahahahaha. You're right. Some people can pick up a game and be OK with it. Some people can even get better with some practice. But there are definately a lot of people with no hope of ever achieving "professional gamer" status.
 
Does anyone know where to download some videos with Fatal1ty playing? I would like to see how good this guy is.
 
rodsfree said:
Define .....
"practice correctly"


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Well, that changes based on the game youre playing. There are far too many inconsistancies to create a generic list of good practice habbits. If you're practicing to become a professional gamer... though, I'd say its a pretty safe bet to say that playing in pubs.... is a no no.
 
rodsfree said:
Define .....
"practice correctly"


Click to expand...

you want to practice 1 on 1 dm if that is what you are trying to be a pro at.

Not practice on 12 person free for all dm. Remember. armor timing, weapon timing all can be practiced on a 1 on 1 practice match. In a free for all no way in god green earth that you will time none of that.
 
magoo said:
I think its really pathetic that there are 128 posts trying to convince people of video games as some form of physical athletic endevor. Jesus its why there are obese hypertensive children in this country. They never see the light of day. They have no muscle mass. I wish that we would convince our children to exercise for as many hours a day as they play CS or WOW. This is truely sad. Ask also that same child what he/she got on their last spelling test??? based on the use of the English language in some of these posts I'd say it was barely passing. just think about it a bit.
Click to expand...

I said nothing about it being physical. I said it was an intellectual sport.
 
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