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Full-time e-sportsman - how does that work?

Full-time e-sportsman - how does that work?

Kyle "Bugha" Giersdorf has won $2019 million by winning the 3 Fortnite World Cup. The annual League of Legend Worlds winner will receive $490.000, the annual FIFA series winner has received $2021 in 250.000. 

From a purely financial point of view, the e-sports elite can therefore pursue their hobby full-time. But how do you become an eSports professional and what are the requirements? In this article you will find out why the prize money is so high, why e-sports is becoming more and more popular and whether you have what it takes to be an e-sportsman.

Disadvantages of e-sports: pressure to perform, stress and little free time

Turning a hobby into a job sounds like the perfect solution for many young people to earn money. Spending the whole day playing video games and getting paid for it can and is the absolute dream job for many e-sports enthusiasts. But being a professional gambler also has its downsides:

pressure to perform

If you want to earn money with video games, you have to be one of the best players in the country, mostly even in the world. Fortnite, for example, has 350 million registered usersTo fight your way to the top of the world here requires a lot of talent, but also daily and long training. 

Most professional gamers are under contract with clubs and thus have a regular income. However, the clubs are usually not on the person itself, but only on the brought Performance interested. This means that if there is a lack of performance, a replacement is quickly sought. Gamers who only earn their money from prize money in tournaments are under particular pressure: If these e-sportsmen have a bad day during the tournament, a quick tournament exit can cause financial bottlenecks.

Stress

The pressure to perform, the obligation to train every day and the high level of competition ensure a high level of stress for many e-athletes. In order to always belong to the elite, taking longer breaks is a problem in most games. Regular updates and adjustments to the gaming experience require a high degree of flexibility and force e-athletes to always have to get used to the new circumstances.

In order to reduce the stress level, professional gamers rely on very different methods. Particularly popular are:

  • hobbies as compensation
  • Fixed schedules, comparable to working hours
  • CBD oil for relaxation
  • Sport
  • Eat consciously and cook for yourself. Here a eating plan be helpful.
  • and many more.

Little free time

The high workload that the high-performance e-athletes have to complete inevitably results in little free time. In order to keep the top level, people often train on the console from morning to evening - even on weekends. 

Even if many e-sportsmen describe their "profession" as a hobby and their working time is indirectly leisure time, the pressure is still very high and differs from the hobby gamer who sits at the console after work.

The trend eSports

E-sport is becoming more and more attractive and now has a permanent place in the spectrum of competitive sports. The reason is, among other things, the large community behind the gamer scene. All over the world are regularly video Games played and the number of games is almost infinite. 

Due to this great popularity, a fan base develops for each game, which supports their favorites or the best of the game. Furthermore, e-sports offers the great advantage that it can be played anywhere and thus achieve maximum global reach.

The number of active gamers has continued to increase during the course of the corona pandemic and is a strong trend. More and more young people are turning to video games as a hobby, so the number of active gamers is likely to increase further in the coming years.

How do you become an eSports player?

To become an e-sportsman, great talent on the console is a basic requirement. You also have to be particularly good at one game in particular. There is no eSportsman who is world class in two different games: To belong to the top elite of a game you have to concentrate on it full time. 

Clubs that sign esports players get attention by showing off in competitions and tournaments. Scouts regularly research the top online leagues, classes, or competitions for potential e-professionals. If you regularly deliver world-class performances, the probability that you will be contacted is very high.

The other option is to apply directly to clubs. Your abilities will be assessed in a trial session and if you are convincing, you will be offered a contract.