19 Track 19

Review unit 2

fluency practice

reading review 4: the life of a professional gamer

Page 85

the life of a professional gamer

Gordon Hayward has a pretty cool job. He plays basketball for the team Utah Jazz in the American National Basketball Association (NBA).

But in his free time, he also works as a professional gamer, competing in Starcraft 2 tournaments.

Even as a top-level athlete, Gordon is impressed with the amount of commitment needed for these competitions. “These guys are professionals,” he says. “They play this game for their job, so they take this as seriously as I take playing basketball for a living”.

Competitive gaming has been around for almost as long as video games themselves, but it’s only recently that people have started earning money from it.

This is because company sponsor gamers and tournaments. The gaming industry is now worth about $6 billion, and it is growing every year.

Michelle Masquelier, President of IMG media (one of the world’s largest entertainment companies), called gaming the number one activity in the world for men aged 18 to 24.

Just as young people aspire to play in the NBA, many also dream of becoming professional gamers.

There are now big global tournaments like World Cyber Games and Major League Gaming Championships, where hundreds of gamers come to compete in popular games like Starcraft, Warcraft, Counterstrike, and the football game FIFA in front of an audience. The prize money in a tournament can reach a few million dollars.

One thing gamers and athletes have in common is that they often play in teams. These “clans,” as gamers call them, usually play tournaments together and practice against one another.

Professional gamers and their clans earn money through sponsorships, winning tournaments, and teaching and training people to play video games better.

Like athletes, gamers must train long and hard to become the best at the games that they play. Most gamers only compete in one game, the same way that most professional athletes only play one sport.

Adrian Kwong, a professional gamer says that he usually practices Starcraft 2 for more than three hours.

Some days he even plays for more than five hours! “To become a pro player, it takes determination, skill, and extensive practice,” says Katie Goldberg, who is vice-president of communications at Major League Gaming.

Gordon Hayward isn’t going to give up his basketball career anytime soon, but he says that athletes and gamers are not that different: “You have to train hard if you want to be the best, and that goes for everything, not just basketball. That also goes for video games like Starcraft.

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