Getting into better shape for...

[Louis]

... video games?

NYT Story (http://nyti.ms/1vh7X5H)

LOS ANGELES — Matt Haag, a professional video game player, makes close to a million dollars a year sitting in a soft chair smashing buttons. It is a fantastically sweet gig, and he will do about anything to keep it.

That is why, on a recent morning, he was in a bungalow in Venice Beach, Calif., making pancakes. Not just regular pancakes, but high-protein pancakes with ingredients like flax oil and chia seeds, whose balance of carbohydrates, fat and protein was created by a dietitian hired to teach him how to eat more healthily.

The pancakes were just the beginning of a monthlong training session that Red Bull, one of Mr. Haag’s sponsors, organized for him and his team, OpTic Gaming. Over the next several days, he and his fellow players gave blood while riding stationary bicycles, had their brains mapped by a computer and attended an hourlong yoga class where they learned, among other things, how to stretch their throbbing wrists. The purpose of all this: to help them get better at blowing their opponents away in video games.

[rbtmcardle]

A mill / year to play video games? Wow, where is the focus in our culture?!

[Dead Man]

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRIljVkJqEv0oUM_Vk7Yk-N96oEo10Q73SzMMKCQJFZQb_I3oJ6

[Louis]

A mill / year to play video games? Wow, where is the focus in our culture?!

Google "Giancarlo Stanton."

[jr59]

Good for him!

As far as him being paid to play Call of Duty, well I know more than a few people laugh at the $$$$$ that a pro bicycle rider gets paid!

[malcolm]

Yeah but have you seen the thumbs on that guy? Or seen him text?

[o2dazone]

It really does seem weird that people who are "e-sports athletes" can get paid so much. But then you watch these white trash American gypsies on TV, doing pretty much nothing remarkable, and they get paid just as much, if not more. It's all about what people want to watch...

[Dead Man]

It really does seem weird that people who are "e-sports athletes" can get paid so much. But then you watch these white trash American gypsies on TV, doing pretty much nothing remarkable, and they get paid just as much, if not more. It's all about what people want to watch...

Are video game competitions televised?

I don't watch TV- haven't seen a single regular TV show in probably 15 years, so I have no idea what's going on out there. I just can't fathom what the crap can possibly be worth paying someone at all to play video games, outside of maybe beta testing.. let alone a million to do it.

[o2dazone]

Are video game competitions televised?

I don't watch TV- haven't seen a single regular TV show in probably 15 years, so I have no idea what's going on out there. I just can't fathom what the crap can possibly be worth paying someone at all to play video games, outside of maybe beta testing.. let alone a million to do it.

In America, esports arent televised all that often. I think they've tried it, with mixed ratings. It's way more popular in Asian and European countries. But ads are ads, whether that's on TV, or the internet.

Must be nice to be sponsored by Red Bull. I'm sure they're eating up the publicity of having the "most well-paid gamer"

[Louis]

We're into bikes, and we like watching guys who are good at it race or otherwise do cool stuff with bikes.

Fans who are into video games like watching guys who are good at it compete.

It's all entertainment.

[R3awak3n]

In Korea, there are channels that all they show is game competitions. Starcraft is huge there and people make millions/live large of playing video games.

[oldpotatoe]

Are video game competitions televised?

I don't watch TV- haven't seen a single regular TV show in probably 15 years, so I have no idea what's going on out there. I just can't fathom what the crap can possibly be worth paying someone at all to play video games, outside of maybe beta testing.. let alone a million to do it.

Truth is stranger than fiction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2cngUil5AM

[malcolm]

Who would watch people play card games but I see poker on TV all the time. Like Louis implied often we just can't understand what trips others switch.

[coffeecake]

In America, esports arent televised all that often. I think they've tried it, with mixed ratings. It's way more popular in Asian and European countries. But ads are ads, whether that's on TV, or the internet.


When I was in college, I remember one of my group members for a particular project would watch internet streams of competitions for the game "League of Legends." I would see the stream open on his computer and think, "Why does he find this interesting or entertaining?" and then I'd go home and spend 30 minutes trying to find a Gent-Wevelgem stream.

Anyway, I guess people who are die-hard fans are watching these tournaments and viewing the ads embedded in the stream.