Every gamer who is hardcore enough will be dreaming of one day playing the game that they love competitively for a living! That is the magnitude that eSport or competitive gaming has reached within the past few years. Its rise has been meteoric and from what we can see, eSports will only blossom into something even bigger than… the Rafflesia (Right, that’s not exactly a very good metaphor, but I suppose you get the drift)!

So, before you quit your full-time work or drop out of school to pursue the glamorous life as a pro-gamer, there is the one-million-dollar question that you have to ask yourself truthfully – do you have what it takes to be a pro-gamer?

One of the first things you’ll need to have absolute passion for gaming! Many gamers profess undying love for their game of choice or for gaming in general but to be a pro, you’ll actually have to mean it! For instance, pro League of Legends (LoL) gamer, Robert Lee (IGN: RobertXLee) admitted to dreaming about LoL even in his dreams and was quoted stating that his girlfriend even told him that he sleep-talk about LoL. Now, if that’s not in-built passion, I’m not sure what is!

Furthermore, besides the passion for gaming, you will also need to narrow down your scope a little and focus on perhaps 1, or at most 2, games/ genres that you truly excel in. This is what I like to call “Specialization”. Specialization means that you’ll be sticking to that game or genre for as much free time as you can spare in order to train and hone your skills. You cannot be hopping between different eSport genres and expect to eventually get good enough to rise up to “pro gamer” status in one of them. Don’t take on too much stuff on your plate! Sspecialize by focusing on 1 game and slowly go on from there. You definitely can’t go wrong with that! But of course, you can still play other games if you needed the break from your eSport game of choice.

To be able to go “Pro”, you will also need to be absolutely committed and dedicated to your game of choice. You don’t go play a game for a couple of hours a week and call it a day. To reach the levels of pro-gaming, you’ll need to game like you work. This means 8 hours a day minimum and for some really enthusiastic players, that number can increase drastically. They practically live and breathe their game 24/7. However, note that sacrificing your health for training is not the way to go. As committed as you want to be, it won’t do anybody good if death or illness came right when you’re on the edge of achieving glory or even when you’re in the middle of the spotlight yourself!

After having the will and passion, what’s next? Well, having “L33T skillz” of course! No matter if it’s a MOBA game or a shooter game, you’ll need to have great twitch reflexes, great hand-eye coordination, brilliant strategy and quick thinking – the 4 most important factors for any successful pro-gamer. Quick reaction, or twitch reflexes, is what determines whether you get killed before you could use your hero skill to jump out from battle! This skill is particularly important in shooters. In shootout, it’s all about who can shoot who in the head first, provided that both players are equally equipped and are not lagging.

Some may say young people may have an advantage in this. Like any athletic sports, there will be an age where your reflexes are too slow to game competitively anymore. This is perhaps why professional gaming teams often scour amateur tournaments for young uns who show amazing potential and recruit them to their teams. Don’t worry though if you’re “old” – as long as you can keep up with the competitive scene, you shouldn’t have any problem getting the opportunity to go pro!

Last but not least, you should also have the humility to learn from others, from failures and to keep improving in-grained in your brain! Remember that you were a newbie once and have worked your way to get to your current place. Understand that someday, someone else may do exactly just that to reach pro gamer status as well! Who knows? They may just have what it takes to beat you! Moreover, keep learning from others by watching others play, studying top tactics or by experimenting with your team/ yourself! Arrogance will be the downfall of any pro gamer, so it’s best to learn humility as well as to instill an innate drive to improve BEFORE you even reach the pro gaming stuff.

Once you’ve checked all these criteria off your list, then you’re truly ready to take on the big leagues!