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Comment by frade33 | Hacker News Reader

As a Pakistani myself, I don't find it charming, because back in home it means nothing, playing games with such devotion only would lead one jobless or burden on the family. But still I applaud the efforts of this lad. But this is something we 3rd world are far from seeing as a career or money making opportunity. I wasn't surprised that only this year China has allowed the manufacturing and sales of Game consoles., previously it was all banned. I myself had to stay from gaming away in my teenage despite all the excitement I always managed myself to keep it at distance, to lead a healthy career. Today is one of those days I realize that me and my US cousins live in a different world, a really different one.

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I don't agree with you on this one. Being a Pakistani myself and an avid gamer. I think gaming has had a very positive effect on my life and my career. It doesn't matter which part of the world or class you belong to. Sumail is himself an example of that for you, I am pretty sure he belongs to a middle class Pakistani family himself, so do I.

Game dev and console manufacturing is entirely non-related here too.

I think you and your US cousins live a different life because you yourself avoided the things that were common between you.

You missed his point:

> As a Pakistani myself, I don't find it charming, because back in home it means nothing, playing games with such devotion only would lead one jobless or burden on the family

For most individuals, this is not a valid or even possible career path. Attempting such would create such a burdne.

That's hardly limited to Pakistan.

I live in the US, and my family was middle class growing up. If I had focused on gaming to the extent that Sumail or another professional gamer had, it is doubtful I would be able to make enough of a living to support myself even at a very basic level, much less have a solid career.

Perhaps you should avoid all forms of culture or sports then, because they rarely lead directly to jobs. Of course, as Sumali said himself, you only devote a large amount of time if you have talent and commitment to be at the top. But I find it as good practice of social interaction, coordination, fine motor control and overall strategy as any other sport. The largest difference is you don't exert much physical activity, which has upsides/downsides (less injuries but less exercising).

> playing games with such devotion only would lead one jobless or burden on the family

I agree - if Sumail was not so talented, if he was merely very good instead of world class - then his life decisions so far would seem like a bit of a waste, if the bloomberg article is accurate.

As things stand, he is in a position to make a fair bit of money over the next few years.

I am curious what pro-gamers will do when they retire from professional play. There's a tolerable article that suggests a few related pathways: moving into esports coaching/management, switching to poker, commentating [1].

[1] http://www.cnbc.com/2014/02/01/pro-gamers-story-get-big-burn...

Seth Killian was one of the first Street Fighter players to make a name for himself. After he stopped competing, he was hired at Capcom to help develop Street Fighter 4 (The boss character, Seth, is named after Killian), and is now working with Radiant Entertainment to release Rising Thunder, a game that's currently in alpha.

Peter 'Combofiend' Rosas was a professional fighting game player who competed at a high level in both Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (and possibly others that I'm forgetting). A few years ago, he was hired by Capcom to work as a community liason, and he's apparently had some pretty significant input into the balance decisions in Ultra SF4 and the upcoming SF5.

In addition, there's always the commentating, coaching/management, or switching to another game that you mentioned.

edit: A large number of players supplement their income by streaming; people can subscribe to the player's channel on twitch for a monthly fee, and players get a cut of that.

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