Professional Gaming & Can Build A Career In It

 

Professional Gaming & How You Can Build A Career In It

If you follow professional gaming , you probably heard about the DOTA 2 gaming championship where 16 teams of the world’s best DOTA 2 players battle for a share of more than US$2.8 million. The champion, Swedish team, Alliance, takes half of that sum from the 5-day event held in Seattle.

Even before the US (recently) recognized gamers , as pro-athletes, there have been many other high-paying tournaments for hardcore players who are into Starcraft 2, Counter Strike and League of Legends (LoL). And age is no limit – big sporting events like these are becoming ever so popular as professional gamers as young as 13 begin competing at a professional level.

For parents who are saying that "you can’t play video games for a living", well, you can thank the people behind the scenes who work so hard for the rest of the world to take pro-gaming more seriously. Apart from the prize money and the fame, internationally recognized players can now gain a US P-1 visa that is usually reserved for sports players. These visa holders can stay and earn a salary while ‘playing’ in the US.

The route to becoming a pro-athlete however takes hundreds of man-hours of practice, skill, determination and teamwork. It is hardly a walk in the park. Here are 10 basic tips to start you off on the path of becoming a pro-gramer.

Recommended Reading: Future Of Gaming: 5 Exciting Emerging Trends

1. Know The Jargon

Not necessarily the first thing to do but it is one of the more important ones, know that there is a lot of jargon involved in multiplayer games , and it’s not just limited to Internet speak. Game jargon varies, according to the games you play.

For example in MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games like DOTA 2, League of Legends or Heroes of Newerth, there are terms like stun, hex/voodoo, disable, lane, neutrals/jungle or ancients.

First person shooter (FPS) players also give unique names to spots or areas on the map. This allows your teammates to know the whereabouts of enemy players. Competitive gaming rely a lot on strategy and fast and effective communication with your team mates.

2. Practice Against AI Or Bots First

Many competitive multiplayer games today let you practice against

Artificial Intelligence  (AI) or Bots (Robots). If you’re still learning the ins and outs of the game while trying to catch up with everyone else, this is a good place to start.

You will be able to select a difficulty and practice on easier modes before moving on to harder ones. It is also a great place to get the hang of your controls and game user interface without having to think about where everything is. It may feel like a boring task but even the karate kid had slow "wax on, wax off" beginnings. If it helps, think of it as investing time into figuring out how to survive longer on the battlefield.

3. Play And Learn Together

Next up, play with real people. And who better to start storming the battlefield with, than with your friends. That’s the best part about multiplayer games as it pretty much functions as a social gathering of sorts over the Internet every other night.

Playing with friends also means you can quickly learn the game together by giving each other advice or by sharing your experiences. Who knows, this may also be where you form your team of similarly skilled gamers.

Gaming is not always all about fun, it can get intense and include arguments or disagreements, but that is what you have to deal with from knowing your teammates’ playing style inside out. In the long run, it helps to know that you have finally assembled a team who will watch your back when that is quintessential to winning. 

4. Watch Professionals Play

You can only get as good as your imagination can let you, so sometimes you need inspiration from the ones who have been there, done that. Watching professionals play lets you learn how the pros do it, how their complex teamwork and strategies work, watch their key twitch and split decision-making in action, tricks, ploys and more lessons that will help make or your break your gameplay .

The good news is, many pro-gamers allow the world to watch how they play live, made possible with live streaming . The number one site to watch these pros in action is on Twitch.tv. However, YouTube is also a good place to learn a game , even more in-depth. 

Other times, instead of watching someone play, you can opt for tutorials and guides where YouTubers explain what’s going on. You can also find walkthroughs of single player games on YouTube if you’re stuck at a level.

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Teach Your Kids to Code Playground with Tynker

 

How to Teach Your Kids to Code with Tynker

Teaching your child to code can feel like a daunting task, especially if you’re not a programmer yourself. How do you make sure they follow a productive learning path and gain important skills, all while having fun? With Tynker’s courses and activities, all you have to do is monitor your child’s progress and provide encouragement! Get started with these four simple steps:

1. Start with their interests

Kids learn best when they’re having fun! Our goal is to guide them along a Tynker path that keeps them naturally engaged. Which activities do your children gravitate to?

iPad time: Get them started with one of our 10 mobile courses. These courses work offline, so kids can use the app anywhere (even on vacation!) without internet access. As long as you have a Tynker subscription, you can access premium content both online and via the Tynker app on your iPad.

Being creative: Start them off with one of our 14 online courses, each of which gives kids opportunities to create their own apps and games. As kids progress through the courses and become more proficient, they can work on the other courses to design and build different games.

Playing games: Begin with the “Play” area on Tynker.com. Have them try any (or all!) of the coding games – if you’re a subscriber, all activities are open. By the time your child completes all the levels of a given activity, such as Dragon Dash or Code Commander, they’ll understand basic programming concepts such as loops, functions, and conditional logic!

Minecraft: Go for our three Minecraft modding courses. As kids build mods and create add-ons for Minecraft, they’ll learn to code, gain computational thinking skills, and write programs.

Drones and robots: Incorporate learning into the connected toy craze. We offer three connected toy courses (Crash Course, Stunt Pilot, and WeDo Coding) that are not necessarily part of traditional course progression but are a great way to apply coding skills in different domains! Kids will be motivated to work through our other courses and activities to gain the skills necessary to code our connected toys like a pro.

2. Match their skill level and age

We split our fourteen courses and fifty projects into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, so even kids with no experience can dive into coding with a fun beginner course. Glitch Manor is great for young beginners, children between 10 and 12 can start off with Turing’s Tower, and we  recommend Goblin Quest for kids over 12. If your child has already logged some coding hours, feel free to jump to an intermediate or advanced course. While we do have age- and experience-based recommendations, kids can follow any path they’re interested in pursuing!

A sample path for a 7-year-old beginner.

3. Use motivators to progress

Every child stays motivated in different ways – that’s why we offer so many ways to keep kids motivated, from daily missions to the prospect of being featured. What motivates your kids?

Virtual rewards: Your kids will collect cool badges as they progress in the lessons – encourage them to collect as many as they can!

Building a habit: Kids who thrive when they make a habit out of learning will love completing their daily activities! Every day, your child will find a daily activity offering double XP on their Tynker dashboard. This encourages them to code every day and makes it easier to level up and unlock new characters!

Game upgrades: Kids can unlock hundreds of cool characters by leveling up on Tynker. They can work toward upgrades by earning XP points as they complete lessons, solve puzzles, and build their own projects.

Tangible rewards: When your child shows off their printable certificates for their achievements in Tynker, stick them on the fridge!

Engaging with their peers: Encourage them to create and post projects for the Tynker community! The community is a major motivating factor for many kids; as they engage with their peers, they learn from other projects, garner likes and views, and have the chance to be featured!

4. Stay engaged

We’ve created some great tools to help you track your child’s progress – take advantage of your parent dashboard and stay up to date on your child’s learning. You’ll be able to follow their progress and watch your Tynker investment pay off as they complete courses!

Kids love to chat about what they’re excited about and interested in, so showing your interest is key in keeping them motivated. Ask them questions like, “How did you get this actor to do that?” When they answer questions about the logistics of their projects, they solidify concepts and gain confidence! Let your kids teach you how to use and implement a concept. They’ll love teaching you and speaking with you about concepts you both know!

Expand your child’s knowledge and build a learning path with Tynker!

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Is the Designer Facing Extinction?

Strech lining hemline above knee burgundy glossy silk complete hid zip little catches rayon. Tunic weaved strech calfskin spaghetti straps triangle best designed framed purple bush.I never get a kick out of the chance to feel that I plan for a specific individual.

• Responsive Design. Tested on Google Mobile Friendly
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Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth.

Major Brands Are Already Using 3D Printing for Design

A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsumdecided to leave for the far World of Grammar. The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question Marks and devious Semikoli, but the Little Blind Text didn’t listen.
It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth.

But nothing the copy said could convince her and so it didn’t take long until a few insidious Copy Writers ambushed her, made her drunk with Longe and Parole and dragged her into their agency, where they abused her for their projects again and again. And if she hasn’t been rewritten, then they are still using her.

• Responsive Design. Tested on Google Mobile Friendly
• Header Builder with Live Preview
• Optimized for Google Page Speed as SEO Signal

Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia.

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Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad. “How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense”, he thought, but that was something he was unable to do because he was used to sleeping on his right, and in his present state couldn’t get into that position. However hard he threw himself onto his right, he always rolled back to where he was.

• Responsive Design. Tested on Google Mobile Friendly
• Header Builder with Live Preview
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Website schema using JSON LD which is recommended by GoogleI am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.
A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer.

File Resolution Is Still Important

Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar. The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question Marks and devious Semikoli, but the Little Blind Text didn’t listen.

His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame.

Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar.
The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question Marks and devious Semikoli, but the Little Blind Text didn’t listen.

3D Printing Is Not So Differen

A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table – Samsa was a travelling salesman – and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer.

Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar. The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question Marks and devious Semikoli, but the Little Blind Text didn’t listen.

• Responsive Design. Tested on Google Mobile Friendly
• Header Builder with Live Preview
• Optimized for Google Page Speed as SEO Signal

Website schema using JSON LD which is recommended by GoogleI am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.
A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsumdecided to leave for the far World of Grammar. The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question Marks and devious Semikoli, but the Little Blind Text didn’t listen.

On her way she met a copy. The copy warned the Little Blind Text, that where it came from it would have been rewritten a thousand times and everything that was left from its origin would be the word “and” and the Little Blind Text should turn around and return to its own, safe country.

• Responsive Design. Tested on Google Mobile Friendly
• Header Builder with Live Preview
• Optimized for Google Page Speed as SEO Signal

A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsumdecided to leave for the far World of Grammar. The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question Marks and devious Semikoli, but the Little Blind Text didn’t listen.

On her way she met a copy. The copy warned the Little Blind Text, that where it came from it would have been rewritten a thousand times and everything that was left from its origin would be the word “and” and the Little Blind Text should turn around and return to its own, safe country.

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