I don't raid so I'm not familiar with what the average raider's life is like, however the three people I know that do raid are a CMO, a Senior Sales Director and a Lead Game Designer. None of them are the basement dweller that raiders are often portrayed as.
As Quirhid, CalmOceans and others have pointed out, it seems more like raiders maximize time and are efficient at organization, not so much that they spend endless time.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
In DUST - and probably in all MMORPGs - there seems to be several hundered players who are in the top few clans or guilds. They are the elite of the game - by a large margin - and they seem to play the game like it's a job.
If there is a tournament, their clans will be the top few teams.
If you want to join them, the expectation is that you play the game like it's a job as well.
But how do these people find the time? What do they do for a living?
I'm just curious as to whether anyone has an insight into this.
just wondering.... when did shooter became mmos?
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
In DUST - and probably in all MMORPGs - there seems to be several hundered players who are in the top few clans or guilds. They are the elite of the game - by a large margin - and they seem to play the game like it's a job.
If there is a tournament, their clans will be the top few teams.
If you want to join them, the expectation is that you play the game like it's a job as well.
But how do these people find the time? What do they do for a living?
I'm just curious as to whether anyone has an insight into this.
just wondering.... when did shooter became mmos?
When they became persistent and added RPG elements. In the case of DUST 514, those players and DUST itself are part of the EVE Universe. They are interacting with the entire EVE playerbase when they are playing.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I think it just comes down to what their priorities are. If something is important to you. you'll always find the time to do it.
Years ago i used to work four jobs so my wife could be a stay at home mom to our two boys, and still found time to game 40+ hours a week. Bit older and wiser now, but still on 40+ a week
One guy I knew, in WoW, used to do all the encoding for one of those text message advertsing services. Bascially he'd get the advert details put it all together and send it to the server for sending out to everyone elses phones on a database. It pretty much meant he worked from home and had a lot of time on he's hands.
Incidently he met he's wife at a depression clinc, they had two kids and it'd need a scotch before I told you how that story ended....
I used to work from home so nobody really knew I was 'muti-tasking'. (Working AND playing MMO's at the same time). Even so, I just don't have the same attention span I used to to play 12+ hours per day on one game.
If in 1982 we played with the current mentality, we would have burned down all the pac man games since the red ghost was clearly OP. Instead we just got better at the game.
Leaving aside the small minority suffering from an obsessive compulsive disorder, who are they? They are the under-challenged.
You know? The people who have jobs that are so mind-numbing, boring and/or degrading or have such an easy time with their studies that they use their games as THE place where they really apply themselves and show their stuff. If you think this is a small minority, think again and take a good look around you at the people you know in real life who could be doing so much more...
To many of us casual players they just seem like hyper OCD aliens. Get to know some and you'll see they are typically far above the norm in intelligence and ability.
I neither can nor want to do what they do, but unlike many of you, I have no contempt for them: just a lot of respect for their ability to play the games we all play but at another, elite level.
PS. This is just my opinion. I might be totally wrong and they could really be aliens.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Most are younger and living at home I would assume or just have a lot of free time, I play a lot and I am married, have 3 teenagers but I only work 3 12's and a 6hr day, so in essence I have 4 days to play games.
I put in 1-3 hrs a night and most of my days off playing, Sundays are family day and I only play before we go out.
"One of my guildees was a millionaire business man, responsible, good decision maker, blahhhhh"
I like how some toss this around and expect a 'nuff said' return. We've all had that one, or even two in our guild, but it BY FAR, did not come close to representing the rest of the freeloaders in the guild...
In nordic wellfare countries such a Finland it's really easy to just stay unemployed and play games at home. Especially if they don't have any kids. Basicly social service pays your rent and unemployement check covers food plus other stuff.
"One of my guildees was a millionaire business man, responsible, good decision maker, blahhhhh"
I like how some toss this around and expect a 'nuff said' return. We've all had that one, or even two in our guild, but it BY FAR, did not come close to representing the rest of the freeloaders in the guild...
I'm not sure what thread you are reading, but in this one the 'nuff said' crowd is the other end of the spectrum. Did someone hit a nerve, maybe?
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I think it might also differ per game though. We are highly effective in EQ in our guild simply because EQ is an MMO where grouping gives you far more XP than playing solo. But EQ is not the only game where this is true, in many games grouping gives you a type of XP bonus and it gives you a secure environment to play in.
Most top guilds in those games are well-oiled machines that have a strong structure and play on specific hours of the day, the fact the whole guild plays on the same hours make the guild far more effective and far more productive.
In a casual guild people log on when they please, and as a result, they lose "productivity". I think people might be surprised if they actually looked at players in top guilds, in many games they do not play a lot, they are just highly productive with their time, and when they play, they min-max, you play with the right people, in the right settings, always with people you know, and the result is that you get far more out of those few hours than anyone else would, add to that they you are usually wearing far better gear than anyone else and it becomes rather easy to "stay on top". In EQ it's very important who you play with and how you play, not how long you play.
We can get a new character to max level in a week, while a casual player will take months, simply because in a structured guild you will have people who make arrangements to log on the same time with the right classes, with the right skill and knowledge and with the goal to be productive, how can you do it in the least amount of time and th least amount of work.
EQ is also an old game though, people know by now how to play, and guilds and raids are big in EQ, 54 players for every raid, so most guilds have a good structure and hierarchy, most casual guilds play to play, they don't put productivity pretty high on their list.
Some people do not like spending their time min maxing and being "productive" in an MMORPG. Some people prefer to stop and smell the roses rather than be in the gear treadmill, or experiment with builds and equipment, or just putter about and explore the game. Believe it or not, not everyone enjoys raiding or min maxing.
Anyway, getting back to the subject on hand, I know one heck of a lot of MMORPG players who are chronically ill and the internet/social gaming is an outlet for them to have a more normal life. Quite a few of them become major achievers in MMORPGs and cornerstones of important guilds and raid groups. They might be on social benefits, for whatever reason, but they always tell me about how important the internet has been for them, especially to avoid complete social isolation.
Very few of the gamers that spend long periods of time in game that I know are basement dwellers or unemployed scroungers or whatever. In fact, most people I have met, raiders and non-raiders both, are people with jobs, sometimes kids, and other things ongoing.
Probably some of the jobholders are lucky and are close to their jobs so they do not waste a lot of time everyday in traffic. That will certainly wear away what kind of free time you have to spend on games !
A lot of the hard core raiders especially put in LESS hours than casuals because they play hard and play to win. I have seen both sides as I have spent years raiding with casuals as well as a couple years raiding hard core. The idea that hard core gamers must be basement dwellers is largely a myth. Most hardcore players were adults with jobs.
Hard core guilds are just very efficient and ultimately just better than casuals. They are not there for the friendships or other socializing. If someone is not pulling their weight in a hard core raid guild they get kicked out. Getting rid of slackers, Leeroy Jenkins types, and all arround bad players makes top guilds extremely efficient. Casuals often complain that it takes an hour just to form up a raid but the reality is in a hard core guild form up is done in less than 5 minutes. They get in, get the job done, and then go home. It is surprising how much can be accomplished if there is zero tollerance for fooling arround.
Hard core players make gaming a lifestyle. This means they will take vaction time off when new content is released especially if there is a level cap in crease. The may put in marathon sessions for a few days but when that is over they are back to raiding just a couple hours for 3 or 4 days a week. The difference between hard core and casual is not the time spent but that the hard core player takes the game very seriously.
In GW1, when they had there big million dollar play offs with HoH and GvG championships, one of the guilds that was top dog, was selling places in the guild for 10-25K each spot. People were actually paying to be in that guild. I guess these gents could live on that. It was a Korean guild BTW.
I think it just comes down to what their priorities are. If something is important to you. you'll always find the time to do it.
Years ago i used to work four jobs so my wife could be a stay at home mom to our two boys, and still found time to game 40+ hours a week. Bit older and wiser now, but still on 40+ a week
One guy I knew, in WoW, used to do all the encoding for one of those text message advertsing services. Bascially he'd get the advert details put it all together and send it to the server for sending out to everyone elses phones on a database. It pretty much meant he worked from home and had a lot of time on he's hands.
Incidently he met he's wife at a depression clinc, they had two kids and it'd need a scotch before I told you how that story ended....
That's really interesting. I'll bite - I'm interested to know - how did that story end?
Leaving aside the small minority suffering from an obsessive compulsive disorder, who are they? They are the under-challenged.
You know? The people who have jobs that are so mind-numbing, boring and/or degrading or have such an easy time with their studies that they use their games as THE place where they really apply themselves and show their stuff. If you think this is a small minority, think again and take a good look around you at the people you know in real life who could be doing so much more...
To many of us casual players they just seem like hyper OCD aliens. Get to know some and you'll see they are typically far above the norm in intelligence and ability.
I neither can nor want to do what they do, but unlike many of you, I have no contempt for them: just a lot of respect for their ability to play the games we all play but at another, elite level.
PS. This is just my opinion. I might be totally wrong and they could really be aliens.
I think you're absolutely right - This could be true for a large proportion of them.
It's a pity the effort can't (or won't) be channeled into a career to advance the career.
A lot of the top players get sponsorships from companies to run things and be the best at what they do. If they clear something first, and stream it, or make videos of it, the more views they get the more ad revenue the companies provide to them. Some top gaming clans and top MMO clan players can make more than enough to live off of just playing their favorite game(s).
"One of my guildees was a millionaire business man, responsible, good decision maker, blahhhhh"
I like how some toss this around and expect a 'nuff said' return. We've all had that one, or even two in our guild, but it BY FAR, did not come close to representing the rest of the freeloaders in the guild...
I agree with you.
I knew one person who had agrophobia (fear of large outside spaces) so they were homebound.
People like this are so unusual that they stick in the mind.
Mind you, everyone is different and unusual in a way.
Originally posted by Epicent Most of them live in there mother's basement................sad thing is...........I'm not even trolling when I say that.......
sad thing is, im not trolling with this response either.
Most of you have no idea just how many people make a living PLAYING games. There are dozens of guilds that are sponsored and make a lot of money being the best in their games...even their rigs are supplied. And that doesnt even include the people gold selling which BTW are not all from China. The third largest gold seller is still based in America. Now throw in the few hundred making money off of exploit websites that require membership to get the information or access to their software/macros.
it adds up to tens of thousands of people, making a living off of gaming.
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
I would imagine a lot of them could have day jobs. It's just when an expansion is coming out they all take days off/sick leave/etc to get the world firsts, then go back to normal playing.
There's people making money playing games with large championships and team sponsorships, like LoL, Starcraft, and of course a lot of FPS games.
Those are e-sports, and just like real sports, a very small number of people at the very top are making a living playing them.
Encouragingly however, this number is definitely increasing, and interest in e-sports is growing, a lot. And that's good for gamers.
There's no one making a living playing MMOs though. You're talking games like WoW, SWTOR, Tera, POTBS or whatever.
There are no raiding guilds with players making a living from gaming, not paragon, not method, nobody. Raiding PVE dungeons is not an e-sport, and no one gives a crap about raiders.
MMO games have exactly zero people making a living playing the game. And no, $1 twitch donations don't count, no one is paying their rent from twitch donations.
Originally posted by Panther2103 A lot of the top players get sponsorships from companies to run things and be the best at what they do. If they clear something first, and stream it, or make videos of it, the more views they get the more ad revenue the companies provide to them. Some top gaming clans and top MMO clan players can make more than enough to live off of just playing their favorite game(s).
You're proably right - but I suspect there is a bit more to this than meets the eye.
For example, imagine you were on the road to becoming a professional MMORPG games player - what circumstances must you be in to have the time? You would prpbably spend a lot of time on the metagame and on the game itself.
I imagine it would be an extremely unusual circumstance.
Comments
I don't raid so I'm not familiar with what the average raider's life is like, however the three people I know that do raid are a CMO, a Senior Sales Director and a Lead Game Designer. None of them are the basement dweller that raiders are often portrayed as.
As Quirhid, CalmOceans and others have pointed out, it seems more like raiders maximize time and are efficient at organization, not so much that they spend endless time.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
just wondering.... when did shooter became mmos?
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
When they became persistent and added RPG elements. In the case of DUST 514, those players and DUST itself are part of the EVE Universe. They are interacting with the entire EVE playerbase when they are playing.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
I think it just comes down to what their priorities are. If something is important to you. you'll always find the time to do it.
Years ago i used to work four jobs so my wife could be a stay at home mom to our two boys, and still found time to game 40+ hours a week. Bit older and wiser now, but still on 40+ a week
Looking for a family that you can game with for life? Check out Grievance at https://www.grievancegaming.org !
One guy I knew, in WoW, used to do all the encoding for one of those text message advertsing services. Bascially he'd get the advert details put it all together and send it to the server for sending out to everyone elses phones on a database. It pretty much meant he worked from home and had a lot of time on he's hands.
Incidently he met he's wife at a depression clinc, they had two kids and it'd need a scotch before I told you how that story ended....
This looks like a job for....The Riviera Kid!
If in 1982 we played with the current mentality, we would have burned down all the pac man games since the red ghost was clearly OP. Instead we just got better at the game.
Leaving aside the small minority suffering from an obsessive compulsive disorder, who are they? They are the under-challenged.
You know? The people who have jobs that are so mind-numbing, boring and/or degrading or have such an easy time with their studies that they use their games as THE place where they really apply themselves and show their stuff. If you think this is a small minority, think again and take a good look around you at the people you know in real life who could be doing so much more...
To many of us casual players they just seem like hyper OCD aliens. Get to know some and you'll see they are typically far above the norm in intelligence and ability.
I neither can nor want to do what they do, but unlike many of you, I have no contempt for them: just a lot of respect for their ability to play the games we all play but at another, elite level.
PS. This is just my opinion. I might be totally wrong and they could really be aliens.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Most are younger and living at home I would assume or just have a lot of free time, I play a lot and I am married, have 3 teenagers but I only work 3 12's and a 6hr day, so in essence I have 4 days to play games.
I put in 1-3 hrs a night and most of my days off playing, Sundays are family day and I only play before we go out.
"One of my guildees was a millionaire business man, responsible, good decision maker, blahhhhh"
I like how some toss this around and expect a 'nuff said' return. We've all had that one, or even two in our guild, but it BY FAR, did not come close to representing the rest of the freeloaders in the guild...
I'm not sure what thread you are reading, but in this one the 'nuff said' crowd is the other end of the spectrum. Did someone hit a nerve, maybe?
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Some people do not like spending their time min maxing and being "productive" in an MMORPG. Some people prefer to stop and smell the roses rather than be in the gear treadmill, or experiment with builds and equipment, or just putter about and explore the game. Believe it or not, not everyone enjoys raiding or min maxing.
Anyway, getting back to the subject on hand, I know one heck of a lot of MMORPG players who are chronically ill and the internet/social gaming is an outlet for them to have a more normal life. Quite a few of them become major achievers in MMORPGs and cornerstones of important guilds and raid groups. They might be on social benefits, for whatever reason, but they always tell me about how important the internet has been for them, especially to avoid complete social isolation.
Very few of the gamers that spend long periods of time in game that I know are basement dwellers or unemployed scroungers or whatever. In fact, most people I have met, raiders and non-raiders both, are people with jobs, sometimes kids, and other things ongoing.
Probably some of the jobholders are lucky and are close to their jobs so they do not waste a lot of time everyday in traffic. That will certainly wear away what kind of free time you have to spend on games !
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
A lot of the hard core raiders especially put in LESS hours than casuals because they play hard and play to win. I have seen both sides as I have spent years raiding with casuals as well as a couple years raiding hard core. The idea that hard core gamers must be basement dwellers is largely a myth. Most hardcore players were adults with jobs.
Hard core guilds are just very efficient and ultimately just better than casuals. They are not there for the friendships or other socializing. If someone is not pulling their weight in a hard core raid guild they get kicked out. Getting rid of slackers, Leeroy Jenkins types, and all arround bad players makes top guilds extremely efficient. Casuals often complain that it takes an hour just to form up a raid but the reality is in a hard core guild form up is done in less than 5 minutes. They get in, get the job done, and then go home. It is surprising how much can be accomplished if there is zero tollerance for fooling arround.
Hard core players make gaming a lifestyle. This means they will take vaction time off when new content is released especially if there is a level cap in crease. The may put in marathon sessions for a few days but when that is over they are back to raiding just a couple hours for 3 or 4 days a week. The difference between hard core and casual is not the time spent but that the hard core player takes the game very seriously.
In GW1, when they had there big million dollar play offs with HoH and GvG championships, one of the guilds that was top dog, was selling places in the guild for 10-25K each spot. People were actually paying to be in that guild. I guess these gents could live on that. It was a Korean guild BTW.
Well done - I'm quite impressed by that.
That's really interesting. I'll bite - I'm interested to know - how did that story end?
I think you're absolutely right - This could be true for a large proportion of them.
It's a pity the effort can't (or won't) be channeled into a career to advance the career.
I agree with you.
I knew one person who had agrophobia (fear of large outside spaces) so they were homebound.
People like this are so unusual that they stick in the mind.
Mind you, everyone is different and unusual in a way.
sad thing is, im not trolling with this response either.
Most of you have no idea just how many people make a living PLAYING games. There are dozens of guilds that are sponsored and make a lot of money being the best in their games...even their rigs are supplied. And that doesnt even include the people gold selling which BTW are not all from China. The third largest gold seller is still based in America. Now throw in the few hundred making money off of exploit websites that require membership to get the information or access to their software/macros.
it adds up to tens of thousands of people, making a living off of gaming.
I hope we shall crush...in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~Thomes Jefferson
There's people making money playing games with large championships and team sponsorships, like LoL, Starcraft, and of course a lot of FPS games.
Those are e-sports, and just like real sports, a very small number of people at the very top are making a living playing them.
Encouragingly however, this number is definitely increasing, and interest in e-sports is growing, a lot. And that's good for gamers.
There's no one making a living playing MMOs though. You're talking games like WoW, SWTOR, Tera, POTBS or whatever.
There are no raiding guilds with players making a living from gaming, not paragon, not method, nobody. Raiding PVE dungeons is not an e-sport, and no one gives a crap about raiders.
MMO games have exactly zero people making a living playing the game. And no, $1 twitch donations don't count, no one is paying their rent from twitch donations.
You're proably right - but I suspect there is a bit more to this than meets the eye.
For example, imagine you were on the road to becoming a professional MMORPG games player - what circumstances must you be in to have the time? You would prpbably spend a lot of time on the metagame and on the game itself.
I imagine it would be an extremely unusual circumstance.
Clean their parents' basement.