E-sports is BIG, probably one of the biggest businesses of our time. It has it’s roots at the Korean peninsula, where playing Starcraft was equivalent to being a superstar. Pro players were idolized, had their own stories of success and bad moments.That’s where my dream begun, watching Flash(pro Starcraft player) walking down the stairs of an airplane in an airport hangar, to be greeted by thousands of fans was something magical(and that was back in 2010). It was like watching a fantasy become reality, a world where your clicks and keyboard strokes were followed by the cheer and screaming of countless standing fans, i felt that i was born for this, i felt that this was my true calling.

Video in a true shitty quality for reference

Watching their stories evolve through gambling scandals,mandatory military service and injuries created something real, a world where you could be paid enough by having fun, by playing games, the dream of eternal childhood.Their struggles though were unbeknownst to me.

A bit about me, will probably get pretty boring,but worth a read

I was playing Dota back then, a custom map for Warcraft 3 which continued to become a standalone game and achieve worldwide fame later on. I thought, hey, i can do this, i am really good, so i kept playing and playing and playing but to no avail. I continued to try my luck at other games but nowhere near the stardom i described above. At one point i was playing 8 hours a day, with breaks in-between like a regular job , gulping down enormous amounts of energy drinks, since they were enhancing my performance. Don’t get me wrong, i was good, but nowhere near as good as i wanted to be.As i got older, i realized that my dream was getting further and further away, being able to coordinate my hands and eyes at 400 APM(Actions Per Minute) was no longer an option, even at the age of 23. Some people might believe that i did not try enough, but that is not true. Living in Greece has its advantages, spending your holidays in a beautiful island, enjoying the almost ever-perfect weather is fine, but when your maximum speed is capped at 24 Mbps you feel limited. It’s not only the speed but a combination of things, true in other cultures as well, gaming is only accepted as hobby here. Even now after the recent success of some Greek teams in the LoL (League of Legends)scene, things have not gotten any better for gamers here and i don’t believe they will, but someone can hope.

Enough about me though, you probably got bored, but i used my experiences as a way to connect the past of E-sports and their current standing in the pop culture.

At the moment, e-sports is a multi-million business, awarding winners with up to 10 million dollars, a modern American dream, chased by many, achieved by few. Every other kid is spending all of his free time to become better at moving his in-game persona in a 3D world, with the end-game goal of becoming a pro player. The marketing teams, also known as E-sports department, of each company have achieved their goals, making you spend countless hours(and sometimes money) with their games. Don’t get me wrong, i absolutely love the E-sports culture we are currently going through, young men from all over the world are making money by having fun, but you have to be aware of what the future holds. You are not always gonna be 20, you are not always gonna be able to move your hands so fast, you are not always going to be able to think so fast, what happens then? Sure you can continue to be involved in the scene as a caster or producer, but is this something you are content with ? After all you chased the thrill of the game.

As closing thoughts,i am not jelly because i never accomplished my dreams, i am really happy with what i achieved and i would strongly advice everyone wanting to follow that path to do so, you live after all only once, chasing dreams is the essence of being free and human, no one can tell you what you should do with your life, but always before committing to something,take a step back and rethink your whole plan, are you happy with were it leads? If you are, then the biggest favor you can do yourself is pursue it to the max, and that is true for all things in life.Settling for what we are given is one of our biggest enemies, and when he wins is when we start getting old, never get old.