The scene is Duggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn, overlooking New York’s East River. The occasion is the annual Next@Acer press conference, where the computer brands unveils its latest cutting edge gaming machines.
For some attendees, it is business as usual, yet another launch of yet another range of computers and laptops. For Acer, it is the beginning of a new chapter. It is unveiling its first computers designed specifically for creative professionals, and introducing a new series of Chromebooks, the low-cost devices usually made for the education sector, but this time aimed at businesses.
And it has a special guest in attendance. For Julia Robson, professional gamer, it is a trip of a lifetime.
“I could have been a dentist,” she muses, gazing at the New York skyline. Instead, she spends her days playing video games – and getting paid for it. She gave up dentistry two years into her degree, and today is affiliated with some of the biggest companies in gaming. She is at the event in her capacity as a gaming ambassador for Acer.
“I’m probably the worst person to be a role model for a career,” she says. “But I was a serious competitive gamer for three years prior to starting my dentistry degree. During my studies, I competed locally and got scouted by a brand who offered me a full-time job. It was a viable career choice for me: I did enough research to take the decision to put my studies on hold.”
It’s now been two years, and Julia says she is privileged to be able to say esports is her job.
“I am officially a professional video gamer. That means I compete at a high level in esports, locally. During this period I decided to build a gaming brand for myself, under my gaming nickname Bish. I use my gaming platform to share my gaming experiences, and also live stream to my Twitch community, where I share in real time with fans and interact with them.”
As part of being sponsored by Acer, she helps them interact with the gaming community and direct marketing strategy into the right areas. She is attending the event specifically to see what’s coming next in gaming.
“Acer approached me with the idea of collaborating not only in the sense of being a brand ambassador, but also to help them increase their knowledge of the esports and local gaming community in South Africa. I’m employed by them part-time, and I spend one day in the office and am on standby every other day.”
Her main game is Apex Legends, and at the time of the interview she was forming a team to take on the Apex Legends League.
“I see a lot of potential in the sports and feel the game will go far, so I decided to create a team with highly skilled players that I scouted at events. The dream is to go global. If we have the opportunity to compete internationally, we will work twice as hard, sleep less and game more, just to make sure we can attend.”
Julia is cautious about recommending gaming as a career.
“I would look at what options there are. I never want to say you can be a gamer and can do whatever you want. There are multiple opportunities in esports, and research will shine a light on how many available careers and courses there are that you can take to direct your passion into esports. I always recommend finding something you’re good at, still go to university or continue your studies, but look at how you can adapt your career choice into the esports industry.
“If you check out esportsobserver.com, which lets you look up jobs in esports, you will see multiple jobs posted daily for people, for example, who have business degrees but also three years’ experience in esport. Do it for the love or passion for esports, but ultimately do it with the knowledge of what is required.”
- Arthur Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram on @art2gee
Click here to read about the Twitch streaming experience, and how high women can go in e-sports.
The Twitch experience
Twitch is a live streaming gaming platform, playing host to hundreds of thousands of gaming content creators, and streaming hundreds of genres of gaming to a dedicated and involved gaming community.
“Twitch TV started as a platform where gamers could share gaming content live with people interested in seeing a specific genre of games,” says Julia Robson. “Its popularity grew as the popularity of gaming and esports grew. Many streamers became affiliated with high-end brands, which boosted their popularity in the mainstream media. After a while, they were getting to stream to hundreds of thousands of viewers.
“Essentially, it’s a place where like-minded people with gaming interests meet and interact with gaming content creators in real time. It is creating content out of a gaming experience, for anyone from esports personalities to professional players, game devotees, artists, all the way to talk show hosts.”
Many careers are being created on Twitch, says Julia.
“It’s only recently been deemed a platform that has done its part in helping creators get recognised and made a revenue service available to content creators. You can apply to be an affiliate and, depending on your hard work, you can become a partner. Your revenue stream increases as your popularity does.
“I am a Twitch affiliate, a hopeful, as many are. It is a little harder in South Africa to break through, because we are a little more disconnected from the international scene. We have slightly more challenges to face to reach a certain level of popularity, but I have a very loyal fan base of about 8000 followers. We enjoy playing games every second day for about four hours. Anyone who joins my stream can play with me. No matter how long you’ve been on chat, everyone is welcome.”
Click here to read about how high women can go in e-sports.
How high can women go in esports?
“Mom I want to play video games for a living?” would have most parents laugh nervously before attempting to steer their teenage daughter into the general direction of textbooks, university options and a B-something degree. In recent years, however, this dream has become more of a reality with International esports superstars like Sasha Scarlet Hostyn and Katherine Mystik Gunn raking in $312 845 and $122 000 in winnings per tournament respectively. The richest game is Dota 2 (Defense of the Ancients 2), which has awarded $169.7 million in prize money to date.
As a traditionally male-dominated industry, women are now contending their positions on the local and International esports leaderboards going head to head with their male counterparts.
“Starting as a female player in a male-dominated and fiercely competitive environment has its evident challenges, but I believe that as with any industry you prove your worth based on your work ethic, abilities and skill set,” says Julia Robson. She started the first sponsored all-female CS:GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive) team in South Africa in 2017.
Julia allocates on average eight hours per day to gaming, sharpening her skills in Apex Legends and CS:GO on a Predator computer. She says having the correct hardware is as important to any gamer with the assurance that a device can handle gaming and maintain performance under prolonged hours of streaming.