Submitted via IRC for Bytram
US teenager wins $3m as Fortnite world champion
It is the largest prize pool in the history of e-sports, with $30m shared amongst the winners.
Kyle Giersdorf, 16, won the solo event of the competition in the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, which hosts the US Open tennis tournament.
Jaden Ashman - a 15-year-old from Hornchurch, London - won almost £1m for coming second in the duos event.
And another British teenager - 14-year-old Kyle "Mongraal" Jackson from Sidcup, Kent - also walked away with a major prize.
Also at:
https://www.engadget.com/2019/07/29/fortnite-world-cup-bugha-prize-money-esports/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/gaming/2019/07/29/kyle-bugha-giersdorf-16-year-old-fortnite-champ-three-million/1855093001/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/29/us/fortnite-world-cup-winner-bugha.html
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Bot on Tuesday July 30 2019, @01:24PM (7 children)
the lotto for young people
"am gonna become a gamer so i win money"
Which is indeed true but for very low p.
It also takes all the fun out of gaming.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday July 30 2019, @02:00PM (1 child)
A solution to that problem [pbfcomics.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @02:32PM
Chaostar as a dreamcatcher, now that's something!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by aiwarrior on Tuesday July 30 2019, @02:06PM (2 children)
Indeed, but this is how it was for a long time with, for example, aspiring football players.
In Portugal i remember kids dreaming to be a professional football players, and as far as I know non succeeded. Yet they flunked school and other more sure pursuits in the name of "becoming a professional player".
From what i hear the fashion now is not so much e-games but being a Youtuber. The Youtuber thing already led to child-protection and the local equivalent of DOJ to open several inquiries.
A very renowned child psychologist[1] (and yhm..psychanalist) has actually come forward that the parents are egoistic and denying children of their childhood by passing an idea they must be an "influencer" a "leader" or a star. With this posture they are actually harming the child's best interest of developing themselves as free thinking individuals.
Don't know about you Yanks but this "get rich or die trying" attitude is not very natural for us and causes some turbulence in our pretty homogeneous culture (for good and bad)
[1] https://observador.pt/opiniao/perigos-com-patrocinio-craques-modelos-idolos-influencers-youtubers-e-lideres/ [observador.pt]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday July 30 2019, @04:05PM
"get rich or die trying" has been a natural attitude for many people, throughout history. It's called greed and we're all susceptible to it in one way or another.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday July 30 2019, @04:06PM
Yes, it's the same in the U.S., except we have tons of pro sports that kids dream of growing up to join. I'd bet if you asked a large sample of ~10-year-old boys in the U.S. what they want to do when they grow up, maybe half or more would identify professional baseball/basketball/hockey/football (not your kind of football) player as at least one option. From my perspective, it's absurd. I mean, I'm all for encouraging physical and athletic activity in young people. It's great to learn skills about being part of a team, too. But almost no one should be planning to play pro sports as a career, given how few positions are available for such a thing.
It's even worse in the U.S. when we exploit college athletes, earning large revenues off of their skills (particularly in college football -- American football, that is), while promising them "an education" (which, in many cases, is dumbed down to a ridiculous level just to get them through college). All of these poor kids with dreams of "going pro" -- and the vast majority of them end up not making it, with a relatively crappy education, and their bodies are likely so wrecked that many won't be able to work properly by the time they're 40 (even if they are spared the long-term potential for brain damage from so many hits on the field).
But you're right -- now, in addition to the pro-athlete dreams, kids want to become Youtubers and "influencers." Once again, what tiny percentage of such people succeed? That's not to say someone shouldn't give a try for their dream -- but at some point kids need to be given realistic options too.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Tuesday July 30 2019, @05:03PM (1 child)
No different from any other sport, although in the physical sports you have to grow a bit beefier/taller so the age of onset of the lotto is necessarily older.
Anyway, I don't watch sports (digital or physical) and while my knee jerk reaction to the story is "that's nuts" -- it's no more nuts than other sports pros' salaries, which is another way to say that the whole thing is crazy, at least in my opinion. I should also note that as a non-sports spectator, my opinion is irrelevant. The salaries would not exist at the level they do if there was no value to those activities and so my opinion is basically junk. I don't understand the appeal, but I don't need to understand that. The massive pay sports players receive is evidence enough that what they do has value to a lot of people (if it didn't, the money to pay them crazy wouldn't be there).
So ultimately, I end up at -- wow, weird, and move on to the things I'm much more excited about.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @01:42AM
fwiw, I play and watch Rocket League. The prizes are nuts but when you factor it all it in it adds up. It's an economy of sponsors and advertising. The players get paid, the casters (1st and 3rd party) get paid, the orgs get paid and of course Psyonix/Epic gets paid. There are even regular independent events... enough to lose track of. The players really enjoy competing and the community really enjoys watching the competitions.
The age thing though... it's real weird. Some of the best players in the world had to wait a year or two to compete officially because they were that young. By the time you hit your mid 20s you're likely too slow in the brains to keep up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @01:51PM (5 children)
One of the FA's:
Want to bet how long it takes for him to blow through it all and become a, "I had it all and then blew it..." story?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Rupert Pupnick on Tuesday July 30 2019, @04:02PM (3 children)
You never know. Some hardcore gamers, even though young, can be very low maintenance and not have a need or desire to spend tons of money.
Fortnite is not my thing, but congratulations to the champ.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Freeman on Tuesday July 30 2019, @04:33PM
Depends on what you're really into, if you're into a game with microtansactions. That gets to be high maintenance, very quickly. Also, a "good/great gaming computer", isn't cheap. Hardcore gaming is about spending time gaming. Once you have a good enough computer, with good enough internet speeds, there's going to be a lot of time spent playing. As opposed to a lot of time spent looking for things to buy.
I think "high maintenance" really means, there's a person that doesn't know what to do with themselves. Shopping and getting new things can be quite a drug.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Tuesday July 30 2019, @05:04PM (1 child)
Now that these kids have millions, others will help them figure out how to spend it. They all became hot dudes over night.
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Tuesday July 30 2019, @11:05PM
Excellent point. Overnight Hot Dude Effect could put a serious dent in a 16 year old male’s multimillion dollar finances. Hope he gets good advice from trusted elders and follows it.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday July 30 2019, @07:49PM
He spends it all on lootboxes.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Tuesday July 30 2019, @02:20PM (3 children)
He stops playing now and concentrate on his studies, now that he has the money for college secured.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Tuesday July 30 2019, @05:05PM (2 children)
Honestly no. If he can win again next year, he'll make a lifetime of earnings at one go. It's a rational risk to take.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @06:20PM
Yep. With a million or two and some investment, he'll be set for the next 20 years or so, but with 4+ he can be idly rich his entire life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @08:02PM
Don't need to go to college when you have millions of dollars.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 30 2019, @05:11PM
just what the world needs! lets incentivize kids to spend all their time running proprietary war simulators on slaveOSes instead of learning how to program.