I agree with your 2nd and 3rd point, but some of these video game pros make a surprising amount of jack. I won't go so far as I respect them, but if I was a big game geek and someone told me that I had a choice between sitting in my den eating Doritos, or going on TV and making $50k a year for playing games the choice would be a no brainer. And what's even more amazing is that people watch it--the reason that its on TV is that its a dirt cheap program to produce and just nails the gamer demographic, meaning they can charge a premium for ad spots.
as you can tell, im clearly stereotyping here. so yeah, if someone wants to sponsor these clowns then more power to the kids for getting paid. i dont blame them. i still cant believe the shit is on tv. but both of you bring up good pts -- shit if the money is out there for nonsense like video games, you might as well go get it.
prodigy said:
Obviously a video game kid will gladly take the dough and look at it from the point of view of the TV networks--its programming that costs nothing to produce so why *not* put it on? I'm sure at one point someone suggested that broadcasting poker tournaments wouldn't work and that turned out pretty well for everyone involved.
But you're right--there's probably no bigger loser than someone in the studio audience for pro video gaming. With the possible exception of someone who shows up in the studio audience of an infomerical...
One of my friends back in Utah was a pro snowboarder in the late 1980's/early 1990's. He wasn't one of the top guys in the sport, but was a solid mid level pro. For this he earned over $50k a year, got free equipment and other swag from countless companies, and got to travel all over the world expenses paid. I'd go over to his house and he'd have dozens of Swatch watches, Smith ski goggles and sunglasses and Sims snowboards laying around and he'd just basically let me have whatever I wanted. He got to party like a rock star and you'd be amazed how effective saying you're a "pro snowboarder" is for pulling chicks....
It's a similar deal for these video game pros, though I'd imagine that its less impressive for scoring with the females. Still, if that's what you're good at it sure beats working at the local Gamestop store for $8 bucks an hour and a 20% discount...
You wouldn't catch me actually watching it, but I sure don't begrudge the "pros" for taking the money and the networks for trying to make a buck off of them...
Last year on MTV's Life, they devoted a show to Professional Gamers. They showed this kid named PSquare, who supposely is number 2 in the world in Halo. He said he made 70K a year playing at an assortment of Halo tournaments and also tutored gamers at $45/hr. They also featured some chick who ran a week long CounterStrike boot camp to prepare for some tournament in France. It was crazy. What a bunch of rich losers.
