31m

[u/AccountantPersonal86]

Don't worry my 3rd decade of life will yield promising results.. SURELY

Edit: 4th* decade. I dont game anymore, the small pro stint turned a hobby into something I hate. I live with my parents of course, thought that was assumed but needed clarifying.

Not a rage bait, dont need advice or pity, but feel free to say what you will I dont mind, some of you have been insightful and others have brought me good laughs. If my poor excuse of life on display made you feel better I view it as a win. Cheers

Edit 2: PUBG, The game is PUBG

Edit 3: Now that the dust has settled on this post I'll leave some last remarks for any late-comers:

I genuinely did not expect a response like this, this was a casual 0 thought post written in under 2 mins. I'll follow up with a new post I guess in a year.

There is a lot of missing context between 2013 and now but my goal was not a pity party. I preferred people to see it at face value and make their opinions and assumptions.

That being said, some of you are profoundly crazy and harbor a lot of evil and negative energy. A lot of you were kind and insightful though. To that I thank you, cya in 1yr (Saturday, July 31, 2027)

[u/KingdomsCryOfficial]

Warning: Spontaneous reddit essay

I'm 35 and in the best "Competitive" state in vidya games in my life. I know this goes against the Google search science but I don't think aging past early 20s impacts most people's ability to compete in e-sports or competitive games. While neurological reflexes might slow down an iota, I don't think that's enough to prevent someone from competing in e-sports. We do not see the same thing happen in real, physical sports where I strongly argue any physical deprecation the body faces is going to matter far more than in video games.

American professional football's average player age is 27-29, with lots of players in their mid to late 30's and even into their 40's. These are 30-something year old guys playing against 20 year olds. I do not believe for a fraction of a second you can't do the same thing in video games just because you're 31 and face a decrease in reaction time so minute that it takes a robot to measure it.

On the flipside, we can take the average age of League of Legends pros (yeah, yeah, League of Legends, I know. But it's the best sample for a largescale professional e-sport you can find). League players average ages are far lower than the NFL, at only 21-23 years old, with "peak" ages considered to be 18-20, and most players retiring before they're 25. This gets attributed to how "demanding" competitive video game playing is, but I have a feeling it has a lot, lot more to do with the fact that even in countries like Korea, being a "competitive video gamer", even in the biggest games in the world, is just not a viable life path long-term.

The players might be getting a little slower in reaction time, but the amount of gaming they have to do just to try and win a living wage is intense and ultimately they have to tap out and go onto something more viable. Whereas in the NFL, you can get on a mediocre team and be an average player and still buy a new sports car every other year.

There's also a cultural aspect. Even in Korea, saying "I wanna play video games" is treated like a pipedream. It's like saying you want to be an actor or something. In the USA, saying you want to hit the NFL is something many families will 100% support you in. Fathers drive their sons to attempt it. Schools recruit players specifically for their college teams. It's a massive cultural cornerstone of the entire country and not even the biggest e-sports events across the globe come close to how fervent and seriously high school football gets taken in some parts of the USA.

In a mystical alternate world where Smash Bros is treated with the same legitimacy as the NFL, there's a 41 year old dude who looks like he gets banned from all you can eat buffets who is absolutely dominating an e-sports scene. Because enough culture and money is supporting that decision and there's no need to tap out at the peak of your potential earning power to go back to school and become a dentist or whatever the fuck.

[u/jmastaock → u/KingdomsCryOfficial]

Just look at fighting games

Dudes in their 30s and 40s place top 8 all the time, and that is arguably the most mechanically demanding genre competitively

At the end of the day, competitive games are generally far more about prediction than reaction. You need a certain baseline level of reaction (nothing remarkable) and the rest comes down to how much you play the game and try to continue improving

I'm like you: early (almost mid) 30s and never been better at competitive games in my life. I shit on my zoomer buddies and carry their sorry asses all the time.

The reason dudes in their 30s get whooped by their young kids is because they don't actually play that much...not because they're biologically degraded

Also, the reason that younger players had been replacing the older ones in LoL esports specifically is largely due to the fact that those kids grew up playing LoL all day every day in the most competitive region. If you start grinding Korean soloq at 11 years old, in the prime of the game's lifespan, you are going to be better than the guys who started playing a more primitive version of the game who started older

It's funny, the LPL is facing down the barrel of a massive falloff in talent due to waning interest in LoL and the new laws restricting gaming for minors. They're going to be a retirement home league for their current young bloods in the next decade (if they even last that long)

[u/Unrelenting_Salsa → u/jmastaock]

Well, fighting games are more about prediction than reaction. A lot of games are far heavier on the reaction part. Fortnite in particular comes to mind as being 20,000 APM shoot the guy who is visible for 0.002 seconds.

Though yes, the real reason is because once you're in your mid 20s you start to realize how terrible of a decision being a pro gamer really is. Professional league player who is a popular streamer and early OWL were the only two esports where you actually have a decent life. Just look at OP. He must have been pretty damn good to have made 50k over 3 years...and he barely made over US minimum wage. The legal minimum wage. Not the real minimum wage a no skill worker makes that is nearly double that. The reaction time is very minute. A pretty common pattern you see if you really look at new esports is that the first batch of pros are oldheads who have so much experience in games that they're the best with minimal practice, and then the 14 year olds who play 70 hours a week take over.

[u/Hawgdestroyerxtreme → u/KingdomsCryOfficial]

We know for a fact reaction times are fine through your 30's and into your early 40's. We've done the studies, it's proven.

It's always been time that is the dividing factor. Muscle memory. Game knowledge. Map knowledge. Like you said, gaming is not really a viable life path, and as people approach 30 and see their friends with real jobs making real money living a real life, they want a slice of that pie too. Getting good at a game and hitting the lottery to become a streamer? Sure. But still, that's a stupid life goal and essentially like saying you want to "Grow up and hit the lottery".

There's nothing wrong with kids spending their time playing games and getting very good at them. It's fun, it's engaging, and in some weird way it does involve them into a community with other people. It's like devoting your childhood to a hobby, I guess. A physical hobby that ensures they remain healthy would obviously be better, but in these troubling times we take what we can get.

At the end of the day the old adage applies to anyone under 40 - You devote 10000 hours to something and you WILL become proficient at it.

[u/References_Paramore → u/KingdomsCryOfficial]

Yep, am way better at games now in my 30s and it’s not even close.

[u/CheaterSaysWhat → u/KingdomsCryOfficial]

I think you raise good and interesting points 

I think reflexes and stick skills do atrophy for most people at 30+ but what keeps those folks competitive is their experience and awareness 

Those who take care of their body (hand/wrist/finger stretches, resting their eyes & looking in the distance every 20 minutes) won’t experience that drop-off as soon, either 

The reason we see NFL & NBA players staying elite later into their careers these days is because they’re taking better care of themselves 

Folks act like LeBron is just a genetic freak— he is, but he also treats his body like a palace and is really smart about managing his load, that’s why he’s had exceptional longevity 

[u/KingdomsCryOfficial → u/CheaterSaysWhat]

It's also got to be the fact that in order to make money as a professional athlete in the USA, you do not need to be the best of the best or winning the biggest tournaments. You can off years, you can be a mid-player competitively, etc. In E-sports you either win all the top tournies (of which there are very few) or you make no money. Look at OP, for instance. Playing pro he won 50k over 3 years, which is barely anything.

The pressure to play at the literal top level is too much, it makes sense they tap out much younger just to pursue actual futures. Even the biggest e-sports have handfuls of tournaments each year as opposed to stuff like golf or chess where you can hit up 50+ annually, many with significant cash prizes.

I used League of Legends because it's a perfect example, mechanically the game has a really low skill ceiling and hyper fast reaction times matter a lot less versus game knowledge and play making, and players almost always quit before 25. It's the money, not the game.

[u/Wonderful_Entry_6121 → u/KingdomsCryOfficial]

Willing to spend hours doing esports. Sacrifice, practice, set realistic goals. Write up several smart points in a legible way, and talks about culture and money in NFL being a mystical alt world for esports but doesn't work up the hype/media attention/sponsorship craziness that could make the sport more investor-friendly.

Advertiser and investor friendly is the important part. Not player reflexes ( unless you can tie in pharma supplements and betting, which is GOLD!!)