Dropping everything to chase the Pro Gamer dream
’’Believe in your dreams !’’, what a cliche …
We all have that friend or family member that keeps repeating that phrase over and over again every time we find ourselves stuck somewhere in life. Like all those problems could be fixed by such a simple concept. Like a simple ‘’Follow your passion’’ could get anyone out of depression in a snap. I’ve always tought it was bullshit ; for most of my life, my passions and dreams were usually the root cause of my problems. Especially my main one ; Gaming.
I’ve been a gamer since my first memories of my childhood. From playstation 1 to a 3K computer, i’ve spent most of my life on video games. It wasn’t until 2010 that i discovered esports with the first season of League of Legends. I’ve been playing that game for a year at that time and was fairly good at it but i never knew the top players were competing in tournaments nor that esports would become that big. When i saw that first tournament, everything changed for me. That day, i discovered i could actually ‘’follow my passion’’ in this world.
However, i quickly realized my vision of that dream was pretty naive. I didn’t have the skills to be a League of Legends pro player at that time, i was still in school, had a job, a girlfriend and a squad. Since esports was in its first days, it wasn’t taken seriously by my parents generation wich made it impossible for me to justify my time investment in gaming. I chose to continue playing the game while also respecting the fact i would be an adult with responsabilities soon so i needed to end school and get a real job. That decision made me miserable and created a pretty dark chapter in my life.
Fast forward some years and i ended up dropping out from schools, then created some drugs problems to finally lose the girlfriend and most of the friends i had. No need to say keeping a job was also something pretty hard for me at that time. The only thing that kept me running at that time was Gaming and Esports. However shitty was my situation, i always had a PC i could go to to escape it. Then came the day of the Overwatch Trailer.
The trailer of that game ignited back the fire that started in me when i first discovered esports. It made me look back on the last years of my life and made me realize how much self-sabotage was going on with me. From that day on, i started to actively fix the problems i had to be ready to compete for the launch.
I managed to get a Q.A job for an Activision studio called Beenox that allowed me to get a beta-key for the game when it launched. Meanwhile, i was getting my physical and mental health back on track.
I quickly learned i would have to put a lot more hours than i tought i would need to in Overwatch to reach the top level since it was my first FPS ( First Person Shooter ) game while a lot of other competitors already had years of experience in previous similar games. So i started the grind while working 40–60 hours per week at the Activision studio. After a year of grind, my skill level reached the top 1% wich was my first goal, but i knew i would never make it to the top with a full-time job. Around the same time i was tinkering with the idea of finding a little part-time job and living with barely nothing to put more time into training, the studio i was working for did a big employee layoff and i was part of it. The idea i was tinkering with was now forced onto me and i was left with 2 choice ; Find another job i didnt like and continue my slow training OR drop every other project i had, sell most of my material stuff and try to pierce in the Overwatch Competitive scene until i cant pay for food anymore. If you’re reading this article, then you already know what choice i made ; Im believing in my dreams.
‘Believe in your dreams !’, what a fuckin cliché … but what if i told you most things that makes you happy in life are hidden behind the word cliché.
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