
A Pakistani Teen Gets Rich in E-Sports - adventured
http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-pakistani-teens-esport-dream/
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nindalf
I've been watching this game for years, and I can say with confidence that
Sumail is the real deal. He has skills that few can match. Right now he's
playing the middle of the biggest tournament in e-sports history and he's
about 10 games away from winning $6 mil (of which he'll keep $1m). The
tournament, organised by Valve has a prize pool that's mostly crowd funded, so
its likely to be a steady source of income for the top players of Dota 2 for a
few years at least.

I guess we'll know by next Saturday what Sumail's fate is.

For more info

* Free to Play, a documentary about 3 Dota players - [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjZYMI1zB9s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjZYMI1zB9s) [75 mins]

* Dota 2, a game that's free to play - [http://store.steampowered.com/app/570](http://store.steampowered.com/app/570)

* The International tournament - [http://www.dota2.com/international/overview/](http://www.dota2.com/international/overview/)

If anyone has any questions about this I'll be happy to answer :)

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jacquesm
> he's about 10 games away from winning $6 mil (of which he'll keep $1m).

Why the $5M difference?

~~~
yclept
It is a team sport

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jacquesm
Ah, so 'they' are 10 games away. I get it now, thanks.

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duskwuff
The number of games they'll play will depend on their performance. The main
event is structured as a double elimination tournament, and most of the
matches are best-of-3. If EG wins every single game they play, they'd be done
in 9 games. If not... I think it could be up to 20 or so? It's complicated. :)

~~~
duskwuff
And, as it so happens, they ended up playing 13 games in the main event. And
Sumail is now considerably richer. :)

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asadkn
If he practiced the game living in Pakistan, he has played the game at a
latency of 170-250ms. And it varies depending on the time of the day with
5-30% packet loss at peak times.

The lag of ~200ms makes a huge difference when compared to players from EU and
NA who play at latency of 10-30. Now that's what makes it even more
impressive. Adapting from playing at high latency to low latency also takes
quite some time.

Perhaps that should have been the most highlighted fact considering it's
Hacker News.

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asadlionpk
He must have played on LAN.

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asadkn
That might be true but that would have meant he was practicing against very
casual players of very different skills. Someone with access to his match
history might be able to tell better, but I am pretty sure he had to play
online to let match-making find players of similar skills.

~~~
nindalf
Matchmaking was accessible to all players starting in 2012 when Valve released
Dota 2 publicly. Before that finding a game with opponents of equal skill was
difficult if not impossible. Playing in a LAN cafe as Sumail did was probably
your best bet to get good games.

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hellbanner
Like most sports, the top make great money at the cost of tremendous time and
possibly physical investments eg. surgery on their arm. Everyone else doesn't
do so hot. The cutoff is drastic.

[http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32996009](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32996009)

~~~
reagency
But people in athletic sports who don't get to the top, still have a useful
physical strength to serve them in life, not just RSI and a non transferable
twitch reflex.

~~~
ashworth
As someone who failed to reach the top of the e-sports scene a little less
than 10 years ago, I can tell you that I developed valuable skills and
tenacity that serve me well today.

Anyone who struggles for the top will be transformed.

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frade33
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.

~~~
asadlionpk
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.

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urda
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.

~~~
cthalupa
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.

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arohner
Valve has done a brilliant job creating a virtuous cycle around professional
Dota.

They host The International (TI), the biggest tournament of the year. Dota is
free to play, and financed by selling in-game cosmetic items. Every year
around TI-time, Valve releases a collection of items, with 25% of proceeds
going towards the tournament prize pool. Some people buy the items because
they look cool. Some people buy the items because they "want to support
esports". It turns into a virtuous circle because e.g. reddit gets hyped up
like a kickstarter "how high can we make it go?!". Each year breaks the
previous sales record, leading to PR, and higher sales. Higher sales leads to
a larger prize pool, leading stories like these. Larger prize pools also
attract pro players from other esports, leading to more PR and hype, etc.

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ufo
The probable reason this got posted today is that the big The International
tournament is currently happening. Group stages happened earlier this week and
the elimination bracket happens next week in a Seattle stadium.

[http://www.dota2.com/international/overview/](http://www.dota2.com/international/overview/)

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catshirt
and MSG on the east coast!!

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ufo
MSG-theater, not the arena. :/

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catshirt
yes but, i'll take what i can get. considering it's the second year they're
doing this it must have been somewhat successful, which is exciting.

also... LCS NA is going to be at MSG proper, if i understand correctly. which
is amazing.

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arohner
The top esports earnings, broken down by player, game and country:
[http://www.esportsearnings.com/players](http://www.esportsearnings.com/players)

Interestingly, Sumail is 50th, w/ $300k. The next highest pakistani is $500.

It's also worth pointing out that Dota is somewhat skewed in terms of
earnings. Most of a Dota player's income comes from tournament prizes, as
opposed to say, corporate sponsorships, which are more popular in Starcraft.
This has lead people to claim that SC2 earnings are probably understated,
because their sponsorship revenues aren't public.

The top 5 players on this list are from the Dota team that won The
International (TI4) last year, so it's a good bet that the winners of TI5 next
weekend will be the highest paid players in esports.

~~~
urda
Take note kids: stay in school.

~~~
arohner
Oh for sure. Dota has ~11M MAU. The #100 top earning player's _lifetime_
earnings are lower than a fresh out of school programmer's starting salary.

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the_angry_angel
Dumb question, but how did he start playing Dota 2 at the age of 7? Surely
thats a mis-print - it's not been out that long? Development only started in
2009...

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nindalf
Dota was originally a custom map for the Blizzard game Warcraft III released
circa 2005. In 2011 Valve hired the developer of the custom map to make a full
standalone game and that became Dota 2. Most players (including me) played the
original game before shifting to Dota 2.

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stargazer-3
"Sumail started playing Dota 2 as a 7-year-old. Now 16, he’s still..." Dota 2
was released in 2013.

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thejosh
Maybe they meant Dota 1, which was released in 2005? But that still makes no
sense.

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christianmann
If he was 7 in 2005, then he was born in 1998 and is now 16 or 17. Makes sense
to me.

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garduque
Video games are "e-sports" now? When did this happen?

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enraged_camel
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esports#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esports#History)

