It’s probably every PC gamer’s dream: playing games and getting money for it. But how can you go about becoming a professional gamer?
As part of TechRadar’s PC Gaming Week 2018, we spoke to Eli Gallagher, a professional Overwatch gamer who plays with the Evil Geniuses esports team about what you need to make it in professional gaming, from the hardware to the training.
“I’m the in-game leader and shot-caller for them,” he explains. “It’s mostly healing, making sure everybody is stocked up. For my particular role it’s mostly also movement, so I make sure that everybody is in the right spot and then keeping them all up mid-fight and stuff like that.”
In his support role, Gallagher mainly plays as Lucio. “He’s one of the support heroes who’s really focused on like positional healing. So, I have an aura around me and my team needs to be in that aura to actually get the buffs that I provide. That means it’s a lot about where my team is and where I can position myself.”
Playing full time
Of course, even those times playing Overwatch in his spare time are useful.
“It’s really important to stay up on your mechanics and make sure you can still play at that high level.”
Gallagher has been playing Overwatch, an extremely popular online game, since its launch, and currently plays around 10 hours a day.
“And that’s really more of a recent development,” he explains. “When the game came out it was closer to like three to four hours a day, because I didn’t really know anybody in the professional scene, so I was playing with the friends I have from school. But, now that I’m on a pro team, I try to put in as many hours as I can.”
If you’re playing any game for that long, and for that many hours a day, you must end up growing a bit bored of it. However, Gallagher hasn’t found his enthusiasm for Overwatch waning.
“I don’t know if everybody would be able to play the game for that many hours but I still find new things in it, and really enjoy playing. Especially the strategic aspect of it.”
Gallagher even plays Overwatch when he’s not training or taking part in events. “When I have an off day, usually at least half of that day is still spent playing Overwatch. I just really enjoy playing the game.”
As part of TechRadar’s PC Gaming Week 2018, we spoke to Eli Gallagher, a professional Overwatch gamer who plays with the Evil Geniuses esports team about what you need to make it in professional gaming, from the hardware to the training.
“I’m the in-game leader and shot-caller for them,” he explains. “It’s mostly healing, making sure everybody is stocked up. For my particular role it’s mostly also movement, so I make sure that everybody is in the right spot and then keeping them all up mid-fight and stuff like that.”
In his support role, Gallagher mainly plays as Lucio. “He’s one of the support heroes who’s really focused on like positional healing. So, I have an aura around me and my team needs to be in that aura to actually get the buffs that I provide. That means it’s a lot about where my team is and where I can position myself.”
Playing full time
Of course, even those times playing Overwatch in his spare time are useful.
“It’s really important to stay up on your mechanics and make sure you can still play at that high level.”
Gallagher has been playing Overwatch, an extremely popular online game, since its launch, and currently plays around 10 hours a day.
“And that’s really more of a recent development,” he explains. “When the game came out it was closer to like three to four hours a day, because I didn’t really know anybody in the professional scene, so I was playing with the friends I have from school. But, now that I’m on a pro team, I try to put in as many hours as I can.”
If you’re playing any game for that long, and for that many hours a day, you must end up growing a bit bored of it. However, Gallagher hasn’t found his enthusiasm for Overwatch waning.
“I don’t know if everybody would be able to play the game for that many hours but I still find new things in it, and really enjoy playing. Especially the strategic aspect of it.”
Gallagher even plays Overwatch when he’s not training or taking part in events. “When I have an off day, usually at least half of that day is still spent playing Overwatch. I just really enjoy playing the game.”
Going pro
So, how did Gallagher get into playing Overwatch professionally? “It wasn’t really something I’d set out to do originally. In my school everyone was really excited about esports, and League of Legends was really cool, so I really just enjoyed the concept of it. And I thought ‘well, I like strategy games, this might be something that I’m interested in!' I then started playing casually and ended up getting scouted. I was thought of as a really good player and ended up getting picked up.”
Players getting found by talent scouts is a familiar tale in traditional sports, so you may be surprised to know that it happens with esports as well. If you’re playing well, you may get noticed.
“I had posted in a Discord channel, which is a chat service which a lot of gamers use, that I was looking for a team. I got approached by a coach, and then going from amateur team to amateur team to amateur team I finally landed on the team Eastwind. And then we had a good tournament performance and we ended with Evil Geniuses, which was really awesome".
Read Full Article Here: What it Takes To Become a Professional Esports Player
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