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Five Surprising Life Lessons I Learned After Being In Top 1% in the World…in a Video Game
It took me almost 20 years
I recently discovered that I just hit the top 1% in the world for online ranking scores for the Nintendo fighting game, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.
I started playing the game when I was about 10, but this is the best I’ve ever been. That’s almost 20 years of playing.
I’m not a professional-level player — not even close. Those men and women play a single game for more hours a week than most people spend at a full-time job. And that’s the first lesson I learned:
1. Honestly, You Probably Don’t Want To Spend Your Life Playing Video Games
Making a living off a video game is hard. Very hard.
The annual Evolution Championship Series (EVO) is considered by many to be the premiere tournament for fighting games. It’s the biggest international tournament, and offers the most prize money.
Last year, the jackpot for winning the Super Smash Bros. title was $13,580 dollars.
Nothing to scoff at, sure. But keep in mind, the winner only gets 60% of the pot — the other 40% is divided up for the top 8 competitors. So that’s about $8,000…