Who wants to be a sponsored player?

UberPrinny_Baal

Serious question

Pros: You might get your flights/accomodation to foreign tournaments paid for

Cons: You have to wear branding, talk positively about your sponsors at all times and (based on some interviews I've read) you might be asked to sell product at tournaments to maintain your own upkeep

Requires: High skill in Fighting games, willingness to travel, commitment to constantly improve

ladnopoka

Id love to be sponsored to go to tournaments!!!

Doctor DooM

Wouldn't mind being sponsored for the videos, and putting more work into them in order to receive it.

Misty Chaos

I'd love to be a sponsored player, the only thing is I don't have the skill to be a sponsored player! :pac:

deathrider

I really don't think I'd be into it. Now, don't get me wrong, I know I'm nowhere near a good enough fighter for it anyways, but it just doesn't sound ideal to me. I love the rough and tumble of a few fights, the craic at the casuals, and the joys of fighting at tournaments. It's all a fierce amount of craic, and it always leaves me looking forward to the next time. However, I reckon that being sponsered/semi-pro/whathavya would kill a lot of that joy. I takes a lot of dedication for this, and I simply wouldn't be that dedicated. It would feel too damn much like a job, and ultimately suck the fun out of one of my favourite things.

1man3letters

be nice to get flights and stuff but say there'd be alot of pressure along with those perks, swings and roundabouts i guess, id try it though lol

was posted on tym recently that "christ 4 gamers" are sponsoring a player to go to MLG dallas,you think they wouldnt want to much to do with MK

Junsuina Chikara

I am Ryu, I am alone, I wander the world in search of strong foes in search of the meaning of fighting.

:pac:

On a more serious note, I like the idea of companies sponsoring tournaments but not companies sponsoring players. I feel that sponsoring will take away more enjoyment than it is to provide. It would be nice to get free flights to EVO but it would be a pain in the ass to have to say every time you're interviewed, "I'd like to thank blah blah for sponsoring me..." and having to wear company swag every time you're at a tournament or event.

I only think that when it is necessary whereby a player can't fund themselves to go to EVO, WGC or whatever big tournament and they are truly passionate about fighting games that there isn't anything wrong with getting some money to go play at big tournaments. I mean, for example, my first and true passion is motor racing. I don't have anywhere near enough money (and most people don't anyway!) to fund myself to race a full season in Formula Ford or Formula Sheane that I would say, yeah, I'd like to get sponsored so I can race but I also think that with FG tournaments, if you have a job of some sort and you save up a bit of cash, going to tournaments wouldn't be much of a problem (EVO is an exception though!) whereas with other sports like motor racing, you can look at around €8k and anything up to €40k (I am deadly serious, Cliff Dempsey racing charge 40k a year!) where having sponsors to compete is a necessity.

Anyway, thats just my opinion on it. I play FGs to purely have fun, I don't like the idea of having to worry about not pleasing a sponsor because I lost in a tournament or because I forgot to put on a sponsor cap if I was interviewed and then being told off for it.

Bento Sento

It's the dream isn't it? Getting sponsored to play games. The Irish scene needs more players to be sponsored so they can get more publicity.

K.O.Kiki

1man3letters wrote: »

was posted on tym recently that "christ 4 gamers" are sponsoring a player to go to MLG dallas,you think they wouldnt want to much to do with MK

Gotta catch the kids early.

Azza

Being a pro gamer means gaming becomes your job, you have to put in the hours training which can kill the love of the game.

Few people have the mindset to do this and of thsese even fewer have the time. No one is going give up a job or collage to do this. Even if you do have the time and the mindset.

But this alone isn't enough either. You need to have a scene big enough to support getting better.

deathrider

1man3letters wrote: »

was posted on tym recently that "christ 4 gamers" are sponsoring a player to go to MLG dallas,you think they wouldnt want to much to do with MK

They must realise that "Mortal Kombat is not about death, but life!"

Junsuina Chikara wrote: »

and having to wear company swag every time you're at a tournament or event.

Agreed. There's just no way I could make a Red Bull baseball cap work with the auld leather jacket :pac:

Doctor DooM

Azza wrote: »

Being a pro gamer means gaming becomes your job, you have to put in the hours training which can kill the love of the game.

Few people have the mindset to do this and of thsese even fewer have the time. No one is going give up a job or collage to do this. Even if you do have the time and the mindset.

But this alone isn't enough either. You need to have a scene big enough to support getting better.

Even if you have all of this- it doesn't ensure for a second you're getting a single penny more than if you stayed in college and got a 9-5.

UberPrinny_Baal

Azza wrote: »

Being a pro gamer means gaming becomes your job, you have to put in the hours training which can kill the love of the game.

We're not talking about Pro Gaming though, we're just talking about being sponsored.

In the FGC at least I believe being Sponsored just means your way is paid to and from tournaments, maybe additional travel expenses if you're lucky.

A pro gamer means - A professional gamer. As in "gaming is your profession and the source of all your income", where not winning means you don't have any money

I absolutely agree with your sentiment though. Making your hobby your job can very easily suck the fun out of it and ruin it for you. We see it at a smaller scale locally where it becomes someone's defacto "job" to organise tournaments, and after enough of that they get burnt out and disappear even from casuals.

Doctor DooM wrote: »

Even if you have all of this- it doesn't ensure for a second you're getting a single penny.

Fixed your post.

If Gootecks is to be believed, the only way to earn a living wage from pro-gaming is to drop whatever you play to pick up LOL or Starcraft, because their payouts make FGC ones look like pocket change.

Azza

Doctor Doom wrote:

Even if you have all of this- it doesn't ensure for a second you're getting a single penny more than if you stayed in college and got a 9-5.

95/100 your going make more with a regular 9-5 job.

UberPrinny_Baal wrote:

We're not talking about Pro Gaming though, we're just talking about being sponsored.

Its pretty much the same thing. What company is going to sponsor ametuer players. They don't have the profile to promote there products.

UberPrinny_Baal

Azza wrote: »

Its pretty much the same thing. What company is going to sponsor ametuer players. They don't have the profile to promote there products.

We're pretty much both right, since any deal, whether we call it sponsorship or pro-gamingness would require the drafting and signing of a contract, the contents of which are wholly dependent on the company.

The player would get X, and have to provide back Y to the company in kind.

Values of X and Y will vary wildly.

Doctor DooM

I know it's pedantic Azza but surely every player who's been sponsored for the first time is an amateur when it happens, not a pro gamer?

Azza

Usually a sponsored player is already a proven player before getting sponsorship. Like having already attended several tournaments and placed well in them.

You can be of professional standard at a game before being sponsored.

Nascimento

Win the lotto, that's my plan.

Doctor DooM

Azza wrote: »

Usually a sponsored player is already a proven player before getting sponsorship. Like having already attended several tournaments and placed well in them.

You can be of professional standard at a game before being sponsored.

I did say I was being pedantic- it doesn't matter how good you are, you're still not a professional at anything unless you're paid.

I'm reasonably sure I'm a better guitarist than some of the eejits I've seen signed, I would never ever call myself a pro musician, even with paid gigs under my belt.