One finds it hard to believe that a gaming career is possible. Individuals who enjoy playing video games are often looked down upon. People believe gamers are lazy or are not serious about their future, and that they are wasting their time. However, that is not true.
Gaming requires a lot of skills, it requires quick and tactical thinking, problem-solving skills, quick decision-making, and a lot of practice.
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Is Making A Gaming Career Possible?
In short, the answer is yes. It is quite possible to build a gaming career. Often people assume that gaming is a fun way to kill some time and relieve stress. However, only a few consider a career in it.
In the early 2000s, one may have not been able to imagine being a professional gamer. Thanks to streaming platforms such as Twitch, YouTube Gaming, Trovo, Facebook Gaming, etc, one can start their gaming career.
The gaming industry is quickly rising. While it is not recognized by many, being a gamer is an actual job that can pay you a lot. However, the field may be competitive and require a lot of time, patience, and commitment.
Understanding Esports
If you wish to be a professional gamer, you must have basic knowledge about esports. Esports refers to electronic sports. It is an act of playing competitive games professionally.
A professional esports person who plays competitive games on an electronic device is also known as a gamer.
The gaming industry is quite competitive for several reasons such as:
- Skill Levels
Professional gamers take hours to master skills and become the best at it. In order to stay relevant and earn well, one must be the best!
Doing so opens doors for more opportunities such as increased viewership, sponsorships, winning tournaments, etc.
- Large Player Base
Being a gamer means competing with more than a thousand people from all around the world. Many people aspire to become professional gamers from all over the world and most of them are masters of many different skills.
Hence, in order to get to the top, you must constantly try to upgrade your skills and work on new techniques.
3. High Expectations
People who become successful gamers have high expectations from the public to always perform the best, hence there is very little scope for mistakes. This also adds to the stress of always being the best.
4. High Investment
While the concept of mobile gaming is on the rise, most professional gamers have a full PC setup that can be very expensive. The initial investment for a gaming PC can be high compared to the chances of making it to be a gamer.
These were some of the challenges of being a gamer. Now, let’s take a look at how to be one!
How To Start Your Gaming Career?
Now that you have understood the challenges of becoming a gamer and are still determined to move forward, let’s look at how to make a successful career as an esports player.
- Choose Your Genre
There are different genres of games such as:
- Battle Royale
- Survival
- Building & Crafting
- First & Third Person Shooter
- Action
- Simulation and much more
Out of all these genres, you can select the one most suitable for you and work to improve your skills in a specific genre.
- Practice & Master Your Skills
Once you have decided which genre you are going to play, start practising it and master your skills. Ensure to spend sufficient time to practise, but keep in mind that balance your other tasks equally.
Nevertheless, it is important to be patient while practicing. Oftentimes, when you keep losing in a game, you tend to get frustrated. In this scenario, it is important that you don’t give up and work on improving your skills rather than getting frustrated.
- Find Networking Opportunities
Network with communities of gamers and gain their insights. Having people with similar interests and having their support can help motivate you. Moreover, you can also learn from them and ask for honest feedback in order to improve.
Additionally, your networks can inform you about different paid tournaments which will allow you to earn money! You could also team up with them and improve together as a team! The best part about this is that even if you live in different countries, you can still easily play and stream together.
- Try Out Streaming Platforms
One of the best ways to gain popularity as a gamer is to gain followers as a game steamer. There are many different streaming platforms such as Twitch, YouTube, and many more. Streaming helps people to recognize you and your gameplay.
Moreover, it provides opportunities to grow your audience which in turn results in monetization opportunities such as advertisements, sponsorships, and much more.
Ensure to keep your content unique in order to get recognized.
- Participate In Tournaments
Tournaments are one of the best ways to earn if you do not prefer streaming. If you are a beginner you can earn up to $500-$1000 depending on how well you play. Currently, the world’s richest esports gamer Johan “N0tail” Sundstein earns up to $7 million a year!
Other Gaming Careers To Consider
As mentioned above, starting a career and becoming a professional gamer can be challenging because of the high competition. Hence, here are some different gaming jobs you can try for:
- Quality Analyst
As a quality analyst for a gaming company, you will be responsible for ensuring that the game functionality is working smoothly and that there is no bug or glitch. There is no coding requirement to be a quality analyst although it can be helpful.
However, you will require skills like attention to detail, patience, basic technical skills, and a passion for gaming.
- Game Developer
Game developers are people who are responsible for the whole process of ideation till the completion of a game. Their job requires several roles in different stages for example coding, animating testing for quality, etc.
This gaming job is perfect for people who have a knack for games and a lot of knowledge about games.
- Esport Coach
As an esports coach, a person is responsible for guiding gamers and giving them insight into strategies, performance, and much more. The main responsibility is to coach a player to enhance their performance and improve their skills.
- Graphic Designer
If you have a knack for creativity you can work as a graphic designer for a gaming company as it provides you with the opportunity to create graphics for games. Graphic designers are responsible for creating high-quality graphic images for a game and creating 3D images if required by the company.
- Gaming Event Organiser
As a gaming event organiser, a person is responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing various gaming events including tournaments, meetups, expos, etc.
One should make sure that the event is going on smoothly without any disruption and should be able to quickly come up with solutions and be able to resolve any crisis that may arise. Moreover, they should also be responsible for setting a budget and working according to it.
- Professional Streaming Manager
A professional streaming manager is someone who plays a vital role and takes responsibility for ensuring the success of a streamer’s platforms on Twitch, YouTube, and other platforms. This allows
They are responsible for ensuring that the quality of the content is up to the mark and is enjoyed by the audience.
There are several different gaming jobs available for different streams. Hence, even if you may not make it as a gamer you have several other options to fall back on!
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Conclusion
Often gaming is looked down upon due to its negative aspects. However, the gaming industry is slowly growing and this has given opportunities to many people to make their careers in the gaming industry.
Anshuman