For many, whenever they hear the word “gamer”, the picture that comes to mind is of gaming addiction being an unhealthy habit.
However, in reality, it’s another matter. Gamers are much more equipped to handle any challenges that come their way and can achieve professional success. That is mainly because the games that they play are usually replicated versions of the same trials that we face during our careers. These games are designed to test our logic and intellect. Some companies have even found that gamers who play games during work often boost productivity.
Is Online Gaming A Viable Career Option
So much so that it can even be considered a skill that you just might need to develop your career. That’s right, we think that your gaming skills can even be instilled to make a flourishing gaming career. We have listed the reasons why that is so, in this article.
Make Some Money
Although it shouldn’t be your main factor for adopting online gaming as a professional career, you can get paid for it.
You can participate in tournaments to earn huge sums of money. These can bring about life-changing consequences for you. One might say that tournament winnings are just starting to rival traditional sporting tournaments, in terms of monetary rewards.
And the best part is that these tournaments are not just limited to one regional market; it’s all over the world and the US and China happen to contribute majorly to the global esports revenue.
Moreover, you don’t necessarily have to always be the number one to win some rewards. In fact, cash from the tournament is being filtered down to lower-ranking competitors as well. This is a great way to support online professional gamers who are making it a career.
Stay Independent
Choosing online gaming as a professional career can be great for someone who is independent-minded. If you are focused and driven to succeed, rewards are definitely there.
People who find it difficult to follow orders are the ones who want to play by their own rules. Hence, as an online professional gamer, you can be self-employed. Being your own boss means being responsible for your own successes and failures. This especially works out if you are self-critical and can evaluate your own performance without being biased.
You also get to dictate your own hours, including choosing to work from home.
Not Limited to Just Tournaments
There are a lot of factors to determine how you can earn your salary as an online professional gamer. It’s not just by taking part in tournaments.
Most online professional gamers have a wide range of options for earning their income. It varies for each gamer but usually consists of streaming on YouTube or Twitch, sponsorships, or income-gathering websites like Patreon.
Having a large following on YouTube means you get to have a reasonable revenue through advertising methods. Twitch, on the other hand, relies on a subscription model. Any active online gamer can build a following and then gain finances through that.
Hence, this option also takes the pressure off tournaments, where you can just focus on gaming as something you enjoy.
Social Networking
Being an online professional gamer doesn’t mean that you give up on your social life.
Depending on what online game you are dedicating your professional career to, you may need to join a team of other enthusiasts also interested in the same game. This will be your group and together you work like a squad, with a good level of communication and interaction.
There are a lot of ways through which social interaction within the gaming community is possible. You might find your social circle through your YouTube channel or gaming groups on Facebook, Reddit, Discord, etc.
Location
Even though China and the US boast of having the largest esports tournaments, it doesn’t mean you have to live in those regions just to have a successful online gaming career.
There are plenty of smaller and interconnected servers all around that you can connect to, just to play with other diverse gamers. You learn about their technique and strategies and it can be considered a challenge. As long as you have a good internet connection like Xfinity (reach out to Xfinity customer service for super-fast internet speeds), you can easily connect to different servers around the world.
There are also tournaments happening from the farthest corner of Australia to sandy Vietnam and they are hosted throughout the year.
Final Thoughts
It can get pretty overwhelming to decide whether you should pursue a career in online gaming or not. We admit, making online gaming your professional career is still in its infancy all over the world with the constantly-changing technology. But the gaming career has seen such a positive change over the years and there are more rewards than risks to it.
