Photo: Ghost Gaming

▲ Aydan "Aydan" Conrad of Ghost Gaming.

Everywhere you go, you can’t escape Epic Games' groundbreaking title, Fortnite. At the mall, in movie theaters, out to dinner with friends, even on jumbotrons at sporting events you see dozens of kids showcasing dance moves featured in the game itself.

Heads are no longer tilted in wonder when it’s talked about. Instead, those who have never heard of it are increasingly becoming rarer and rarer beings as pop culture thrusts the title in their faces, like a new parent who wants to showcase 2.5 x 3.5-inch photos of their children in their wallet at any given time.

The game amassed billions of dollars in 2018 and created multi-million dollar celebrities from players who enjoy streaming the title on Twitch or competing in large tournaments around the globe.

This isn’t the story of one of those millionaires who live in a house that features a dining room larger than any place of residence they grew up in or someone who showcases their newest Tesla vehicle they purchased for six-figures on social media or even has two computers to power their Twitch stream.

In fact, on stream, you can see a microwave in the background, a stack of dirty dishes sitting on the counter and individuals throughout the day walking in and out of their modern trailer home.

A normal kid with an abnormal talent

Slouched forward on a what appears to be an office chair indistinguishable from any run of the mill chair from Staples, Aydan “Aydan” Conrad, a 19-year old living in the middle of Ohio, goes to work.

Once his Twitch stream powers on, over the next six hours, the round-faced, pale-skinned, glasses-wearing superstar will put on a show for thousands upon thousands of viewers.

When playing, his mouth will rarely close and his long, brown cotton candy-like hair plopped on his head will move only just slightly as he pushes it to the side on occasion.

Appearance wise, he’s just your average teenager.

Inside Fortnite --more specifically, Tilted Towers, his favorite place to land and a domain he has been called the “King” of-- however, his movements, aim, and ability with a less-than-optimal PlayStation 4 controller, couldn’t be described as anything but the opposite.

What Aydan does with the limitations of two joysticks and a few buttons is awe-inspiring to anyone who has played the title or watched someone struggle to build walls and try to stay alive among the 99 other opponents across the map.

Over the course of his six-hour stream, Aydan will create highlight-reel-worthy plays that will find their way on Youtube, drop 20-kill win after win and do all of it while hundreds of individuals watching will donate and subscribe to his channel.

He has become so good at what he does that over the last six months, it’s estimated that he has earned in the six-figures from competing in numerous Fortnite tournaments in North America and monetizing his Twitch stream online. Check his social media platforms and you will see hundreds of thousands of followers who will reach out to him daily for tips, praise their “God” and express their enjoyment of his content.

Not bad for a 19-year-old kid.

“It is a blessing,” said Aydan via a recent conversation on Discord. “I do not take it for granted. It is nice to see all these people that really care about me support me and not even just when it comes to the game. I've been trying to lose weight and I know on my social media I have people that are motivating me. It is awesome. I'm living life right now.”

While Aydan admits that there isn’t anything all that special about him, he does have a couple theories as to why his popularity has exploded over the last few months.

“I don't mean to boast about myself but I think I'm a pretty nice guy. I am very understanding and I'm nice to the smaller people, especially the controller people, because they look up to me,” said Aydan. “I think that because I play with a controller and I'm placing high in all these tournaments and playing with all these big people like (Turner “Tfue” Tenney) controller players are like, ‘Oh, if he can play with Tfue then I can play with all of these big guys.’ To a lot of these controller players, I think I just inspire them.”

What makes playing with a controller, opposed to a mouse and keyboard, such a hot topic of discussion within the Fortnite community is the certain advantages that playing with the latter create.

“Mouse and keyboard definitely have more control over their aim, have more keys and are more precise. With a controller, obviously, we have some benefits like Aim-Assist to help with our aim because we can't aim as well as mouse players can,” said Aydan. “I think if you're a top-tier mouse and keyboard player, I truly think that you will beat a controller player in a 1v1. Obviously, every situation is different. It's a very random game but I think in the scheme-of-things mouse and keyboard players have the edge, in my opinion.”

Aydan estimates that about 90% of the professional players he has encountered in-person at tournaments prefer using a mouse and keyboard, which has created this underdog mentality for those out there who use a classic controller to play the game.

His high-placings at numerous online and offline events have dubbed him the title as the “King of the #ControllerGang,” a community of underdogs who want to stick it to the keyboard and mouse players who claim to be supreme.

Although Aydan is hesitant to outright say if he is the deadliest Fortnite player with a controller, he alludes to it when asked if he is the king.

“I don't know if I could say that. I want to say so,” said Aydan. “I put on a show by placing high in all the tournaments but there are a lot of good controller players out there. I don't want to take that away from anybody so there are always people out there that could be the next big thing. I will leave it at that.”

On the other end of the Discord call, he’s laughing. He knows he’s king. He’s just too nice to say otherwise.

Humble beginnings and a decision

It’s safe to say the first 18 years of Aydan’s life haven’t been as interesting or wild as the last six months. How could they be?

Growing up, Aydan was like most kids who grew up with a passion for video games. An only child, he found happiness and escape within the world of competitive flashy pixels, as did the rest of his family.

“I used to play...it was a like a little system that had like Dig Dug and Pac-Man. I played PlayStation 2, I used to play everything, man. We had like five PlayStation 2s in our house,” said Aydan. “We would all play together: my grandpa, my uncle, all my cousins. SOCOM, Madden, Need for Speed, literally everything. We moved to PS3 and that's where I got into Call of Duty and all that stuff. I just love to play competitive games. I love chess, Mortal Kombat and Smite. Literally every game where it's like player vs player. I just love it.”

When he was younger, before Fortnite’s existence, Aydan used to hustle and grind Call of Duty wager matches online. Using different websites, he would compete against opponents for money. Over time, his muscle memory when it came to PlayStation controllers strengthened and his reflexes became almost superhuman to where they are today. He knew he was better than most kids his age but how much better, it was hard to tell.

His commitment to gaming became so strong that, at one point, his grades in school began to drop and a meeting with a guidance counselor became necessary.

“He was like, ‘Alright, we got to get you a job. What do you do right now?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, I play wagers. I play Call of Duty for a living.' (That's just what I was doing at the time.) I was like, ‘I make a make a decent amount of money.’ He was like, ‘Oh, well, that's not like a real job. You gotta work at a grocery store or something like that.’ So to be able to do all this now and just be able to succeed and be my own is like such a relief.”

Photo: Aydan

▲ Aydan and his father, Justin Conrad.

Upon graduation from high school, Aydan’s father, whom he lives with, Justin Conrad, gave his son a year to “make something” of his passion for gaming, which aligned quite nicely with the launch of Fortnite at the tail-end of 2017.

In fact, his father has become, arguably, his biggest fan. Often appearing on Aydan’s Twitch stream either walking in the background, talking to his chat, playing duos with his son and more.

“My dad loves it. Whenever we see like fans or someone that comes up to me at the mall or wherever we're at, he's just sitting there smiling. It's funny. We actually went to an event together. So [my family is] very supportive. My dad 100% loves going to events and seeing the fans,” said Aydan.

His love for his family goes further than just playing games, still living with them and flying his dad out to events-- Which Aydan admits is his largest purchase since earning a small fortune over the last six months-- it’s giving back to those who raised him in a way he was never able to before.

“Anytime my family needs help, I have the luxury and the money to spend so I will get them whatever they need. If it was the other way around, I think they would do the same thing for me. I definitely get them their needs. That's very important. If they need help with the rent money or they need groceries or flat tire. If there's an issue, you know, I definitely got them. I love them,” said Aydan.

Although he is relocating out of his place in the upcoming weeks to California to create content with his professional organization (Ghost Gaming), be independent and be closer to tournaments on the west coast, his family will always be there when he needs them and vice-versa.

An unlikely mentor

When you look at Aydan and video gaming megastar, Nick “nickmercs” Kolcheff, side-by-side, they have nothing in common.

Appearance-wise, they couldn’t be further apart. Personality wise, same story.

Nickmercs has the physique of someone who puts as much time in the gym as he does gaming full-time, a raw and loud personality, discusses professional sports and, a constant topic of discussion on his stream: “Who wins in a fight between a gorilla and a bear?” (Nick will go to his grave defending bears).

So how on earth did a large alpha-male come to mentor Aydan? The answer is the three things they do have in common: a deep passion for competitive gaming, their use of controllers and Tilted Towers.

▲ Post-match interview with Nickmercs and Aydan at PAX West.

The rivalry started back in September of 2018 at the Fortnite Summer Skirmish event held at PAX West in Seattle. The vast majority of those watching the event knew who Nick was, where he was going to land once the matches began and that he was one of the very few players using a PS4 controller.

Game after game after game Nick was contested in Tilted Towers by one individual who ended up eliminating him numerous times.

In a post-match interview, Nick, looking bewildered, couldn’t comprehend that the individual who kept making his life a gaming hell was using a controller and matched his aggression.

That, of course, was Aydan who made a name for himself on that day.

“It was actually in the middle of the tournament after I killed Nick a couple times. I had my phone next to me and I would check Twitter. I only had like 2,400 followers and then after every time I killed him I checked,” said Aydan. “5,000. Next time, 13,000. Next time, 20,000. Then, by the time the tournament was over, I got back to the hotel and it was like 36,000. I woke up the next morning...45,000. It was insane. That is so many followers in one day and ever since then I have just been grinding my stream, taking advantage of what I have and it's insane how high my numbers are right now.”

Soon after the event concluded, Nick and Aydan exchanged contact information with one another and the rest is history. Nick, a long-time veteran of the gaming industry and no stranger to the highs and lows that follow, has helped mentor Aydan through his career.

“The biggest thing he has taught me is to stay yourself and focus on yourself. That was the main thing, you know? You are the most important person so you need to focus on yourself before you focus on anyone else. There are going to be people that are trying to use you and there are going to be people that are fake out there so you need to stay true to yourself and work for what you have,” said Aydan.

▲ Nickmercs and Aydan have gone from rivals to teammates at events.

Although Nick did not respond to a request to comment on this story, the two have participated in a tournament together as duo-partners since the PAX West event and often stream with one another, cracking jokes and opponents along the way.

The future

Few areas of entertainment are as volatile as the esports industry. On any given day, companies can close, new titles can be released and a new young gamer can steal the spotlight from out under you.

Aydan isn’t too concerned about the future. But, based off the success of other Twitch streamers who don’t need to rely on one game to succeed, he is slowly learning the tricks of the trade, as he says:

“I keep things in the moment in front of me. I'm trying to get out of that habit though and think about the long run because I know Fortnite is not always gonna be here. I do think Fortnite has a lot of time but I'm trying to do things like, you know, I want to be like [Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins], [Tim ‘timthetatman’ Betar] and [Jack ‘Courage’ Dunlop]. All of these big guys can play any game and always have people there watching them. That's not how I am right now. I've not grown a big community like that yet. I want them to watch me for me. I just want to be able to set myself up for the rest of my life.”

Photo: Aydan

▲ Aydan has proven that you don't need expensive set-ups to perform.

Although his future is uncertain, what is definite is his ability to dazzle millions around the world with his quick reflexes on the joysticks, wear the badge of the “King of the #ControllerGang” well and dismiss the notion that you need a gaming setup worth a small vehicle in order to succeed.

All you really need is a dream.

He’ll see you in Tilted Towers.