Living With Co-Workers: Life Of A Professional

By Johnny Ngo on October 20, 2014

Living the life of a professional gamer is far from the good life that it sounds like. Although it is true that professional players get paid to play video games, people often forget that playing these video games becomes their job. They come to the point where they are almost living and breathing these games.

For most professional League of Legends players, this is the case. Upon signing contracts with professional teams they often move into gaming houses where they live with their co-workers – their fellow teammates, coaches, managers and any other affiliated parties.

For some, living in a gaming house with teammates may make life easier and have a positive impact, if any, on a team’s performance. For others, this isn’t the case.

Machinima has a video series called Chasing The Cup where two featured teams share insight and knowledge with viewers that would not traditionally be shown in regular post-game interviews.

In Season 2 of Chasing The Cup, professional League of Legends teams Cloud9, HyperX and Counter Logic Gaming were featured and viewers got an opportunity to see some of the inner workings of both teams. Many were shocked to see the polar opposites in how teams work together.

https://www.machinima.com/shows/chasing-the-cup-season-2

C9 is commonly known as one of the top teams in North America, if not the best. They’re renowned for being one of the best performing North American teams on the international stage, achieving third place at the Intel Extreme Masters Season 8 World Championship and the 2014 All Star Tournament.

They are also known for their stellar team performances and being great friends with each other when they aren’t on the Rift.

In the Season 2 Premiere of Chasing The Cup, scenes are shown with the players joking with each other casually, working together whether they win or lose. They hardly have any problems with each other and are all transparent with each other with their problems.

However, on the other side of the spectrum, CLG has made their problems clear to the public after hiding their internal problems ever since the establishment of the organization. CLG has been around since the beginning of the League of Legends competitive scene but have admitted to hardly being proactive in taking any initiative in solving the internal problems that exist between the players of the team.

Peter “Doublelift” Peng told Travis Gafford, an OnGamers reporter, in an interview when asked about CLG that “there has never been a time where I’ve been on CLG and all five of us have been friends.”

In Chasing The Cup, viewers could see that there were communication problems between players and tension between two players in particular, Austin “LiNk” Shin and Marcel “dexter” Feldkamp. Being friends with your co-workers helps in accomplishing goals together, such as winning one regular season game or winning the world championship.

In situations like these, there is more to these relationships than just winning. These are your teammates. These are your housemates. You wake up and go to sleep with them, you eat with them and you work with them. It’s important to maintain healthy relationships with people, especially people who are working towards the same goal as you.

With the pressure to succeed and win your regular season games, playing and practicing the game with your team for anywhere between 8-12 hours per day as well as having unhealthy relationships with some of the people you are playing with, life can get difficult.

It was hard for CLG dexter, who has announced his departure from the team. Living the life of a professional gamer is more difficult than what people give them credit for.

What it be like if you lived with your co-workers?

It’s important to stay positive and to try your best in keeping your relationships with the people around you positive, if possible. As Riot Games says, teamwork is OP.

Chasing The Cup Season 2 Season Premiere:

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format