Royce "Bubbadub" Newcomb is the support for CompLexity Gaming. As one of the few married LCS players, his journey to the LCS was a challenge not only for him but for his wife Stephanie as well. She took the time to tell us about their arrangements for him to go pro, how she has supported his gaming endeavors, and the secret behind his glorious mustache.

We’ve heard a few stories about pro League players meeting their girlfriends online or even through the game. Is that true for you two as well?

Stephanie: Not at all. Bubba and I met in college. Same school, same major, same dorm, same classes. Except he was a huge gamer that ditched all of his classes, and I'd never touched a game in my life. I didn't meet him till end of Sophomore year. He was on academic probation and was about to be kicked out if his grades didn't shape up.

So he finished school, started a normal job, but retained his love of games?

Stephanie: He’s always loved games and was even more inspired when Korean e-sports took off. He’s always wanted to be a part of the e-sports scene in NA and had originally set his sights on StarCraft 2. He had about 2 months after graduation to see how far he'd get in the StarCraft 2 scene. Then work started so that all went out the window.



So the famous "6-month ultimatum" you gave him to go pro in League actually began with an attempt to go pro in Starcraft 2?

Stephanie: The StarCraft 2 attempt happened about 3 years before he tried his hand at League. The biggest issue at the time was financial stability. We had just graduated and started working. It meant we had no financial safety net. We had no emergency funds if shit hit the fan and we had a house with bills to pay.

I think the attempt with StarCraft2 was premature. I have no doubts that if he were allowed to continue his trajectory, he would be able to make a name in the StarCraft2 scene. Especially since he had started in the beta and was picked up by Root Gaming. However, to do so would’ve been committing career suicide. Coming out of college and not going straight into the work force would effectively nullify the degree he'd worked for. This is especially true for an industry like engineering. Technology moves forward. If you take too much time away, it will leave you behind.

After the Starcraft 2 attempt, what prompted you two to let him make a second attempt at becoming a pro gamer and his movement to League?

Stephanie: The biggest difference between the first StarCraft 2 attempt and League, was a financial safety net. We had saved a fair amount of money so that in the case of a catastrophic event, we could still get back on our feet. Regardless, the second attempt was a slow transition. We had bought a house with the intention to perhaps house a StarCraft 2 team. We had wanted to house Root Gaming, except finding the place, financing and closing escrow took too long and by then a good portion of Root Gaming's visa ran out.

The original plan was to just house the team. Then it transitioned from housing the team to perhaps managing a team. Then it transitioned from managing the team to being part of the team. Then it switched from StarCraft 2 to League. Ultimately, decision to let him try again broke down into a few parts:

1. Was he any good at playing League?

2. Can we afford to let him do so?

3. Is there any money worth talking about in this industry?

4. Could he actually play League 8 to 12 to 16 hours on a day? (This last one was because he couldn't stand doing so for StarCraft 2)

The first step we agreed to was for him to get top 200 NA, while working. This was before there were bronze to challenger brackets. He had to pull together financial numbers for other people "working" in the industry. Those months were like working 2 jobs. He worked 40 hours and played and streamed for over 40 hours to get to that goal. When he hit top 200 NA, and all 4 of those questions came back with a very tenuous yes, we sat down and talked again.

What really pushed his case forward was his age. He is presently the oldest NA LCS player and he had argued that going pro in any game, was now or never. He didn't want to live with the regret - like the StarCraft 2 situation - where he was most likely good enough, but never had the opportunity to try - doomed to fail because he never had the chance to take off.

I was concerned about "trying" and not only failing, but also throwing away a career. I did some research on my own and talked to a few people in hiring and upper management to gauge what would be an "acceptable" break from engineering. The general consensus came back to about 6 months. So we set 6 month goals. When he felt he was ready to pursue those goals, he could hand his resignation in and the clock would start counting down.

So after 6 months of streaming and success with that, what did you two discuss in terms of joining DTG/Complexity and extending his 6 months to a year?

Stephanie: Bubba actually barely scraped through that first 6 months of requirements. It was after reaching out to his small but dedicated viewership that brought in the monetary requirement to continue League. That, coupled with a very vague game plan for what to do afterwards, he needed to reset his resume.

We were fortunate enough that a former coworker/contractor needed someone with Bubba's skill set and was willing to hire him as a part time contractor. This was a soft reset, which would give Bubba something to put onto his resume if League fell through. League is not exactly a stable career. There's no job security and I needed to know that he was still viable in the engineering market.

The agreement was that he would get another 6 months after he was done with the contract work. Conveniently, or inconveniently, the contract ended right after the team won at relegations.

It seems like you guys accomplished your original plan to house a gaming team when you used your house as the Determined Gaming House. What was it like for you having the team live there?

Stephanie: That was the second time we housed a team. The first time was with RXG. Both cases were because it felt like the team would fall apart without something to hinge everyone together. In both cases, it was painful. Housing a team really was a bad decision. I don't know what came over me to actually be okay with it. The only reason I stayed sane was because the house was big enough for me to retreat into my room and block out the noise.



Did you have trouble with the actual players or just having that many people living in your house?

Stephanie: The people in general are friendly. But friendly people do not necessarily mean you'd want to live with 5 of them.

The house was forever a wreck. There was always clutter everywhere. Gamers aren't exactly the cleanest of people. Not because they choose to be messy, but because they don't notice their surroundings. There are exceptions, but by and large, gamers tend to live in this world out of necessity and retreat to their game every chance they get.

Gamers are also nocturnal creatures. The concept of living on the same time table as the rest of the world doesn't seem to occur to them. Their optimal hours are between noon and 4 am in the morning, which meant that I've had occurrences where someone was being loud and woke me up at 3 or 4 am on a week night where I had to go to work in another 3 hours.

You mentioned that he got you into video games, how did his attempts to go pro and housing a team affect your opinion and playing games?

Stephanie: I'm definitely torn. On the good days, I can come to terms that he's making money doing something he loves. On the bad days, I can get very snarky about him being stressed, or not having time to talk when I need to talk to him - after all, "it's just a game, it's not like it’s work." I can go on forever about how the system has no job security, idolizes a bunch of brats that have no ability to take care of themselves and perpetuates a cycle of kids that have no real forethought beyond the game they need to play next.

There was a lot of hype about how much each Complexity member had at stake going into relegations. Would Bubba have given up on his pro aspirations if they hadn’t qualified for the LCS?

Stephanie: When they went in for relegations, Bubba was still working part time as a contractor. As agreed, he would get 6 months after the contract ended to continue trying. How he wanted to use that time was for him to decide.

What was it like for you seeing him accomplish his goal on stage? Had you become invested in the rest of the team as well or was it still just about seeing Bubba succeed for you?

Stephanie: It's incredible to be watching him on stage and I'm very happy to see something like dreams coming true, however cliché that sounds. I'm here for Bubba. Don't get me wrong. I want to see the team succeed, their success means his success. But at the end of the day, first and foremost, I'm here for him.

With the potential for his team getting relegated do you feel your plans prepared you well enough for him to potentially finish his gaming career and go back to the regular workforce?

Stephanie: Absolutely. This will depend on what Bubba wants to do, but regardless of his decision, we hoped for the best and planned for the worst.



Do you help him maintain his beautiful mustache?

Stephanie: About that stache... You have no idea how many split ends he gets on that stache! For some reason, those split ends only seem to happen on one side of his stache... We're not sure why.



Any final remarks or shoutouts?

Stephanie: First and foremost, both sets of parents have been rather accepting of this choice when we broke the news to them about Bubba being in LCS and having been out of the workforce for a year. (I was terrified of getting disowned) Kudos to open minded families who follow his games and cheer him on at events.

Second shout out goes to Elizabeth, Complexity’s house mom. She cooks for the boys, cleans up after the boys –laundry and restrooms included – and maintains a job I would not have wished upon my worst enemy… all without a salary.

Third is for the Complexity team and staff. Without a team, Bubba would not have a position. Without a coach, they would not have all the crazy strats that they have. Without a manager, I don’t think any of them would show up to games on time.

Finally, last but not least, a shout out goes to the fan base that got Bubba this far. He would not be here without all of you. Thank you for supporting the support.