Is Gaming a Good Career? – Video gaming is getting popular today. The budget of making a good video game exceeds the budget of astronomical research nowadays. The reason is simple – we all want to play them. A good video game can take its players into a world of surprises and charm, often changing them permanently. Yes, video games are often attitude builders, and that’s why people love playing such games so much. But what do you think about taking this professionally? There are many professional video gamers today. Does it have a good scope, or is it a mistake? In this article, we will be discussing some points that will make professional gaming worth it.
Video gaming is a really good option for your career, but there are some points you should be careful about. Having a good and decent setup, a good way of talking and commentating, and an engaging playing style are some of the requirements to be a good gamer. Being popular takes time, and you can only shine here when you are popular. Remember that this field also has lots of competition, and you have to be the best to stay.
Is Gaming a Good Career?
While gaming creates charm in everyone, you have to admit that it is not secure. What makes a job secure for you is how well you do it. Now, however good you think you are at a game, it is not the priority. The priority is that you have to engage the audience and spectators. Having a good playing style is not enough for that. A professional gamer needs to post his or her gaming videos on the social networks. Most people choose YouTube, and they are right there. Although we have many platforms to post videos, YouTube has the greatest number of audiences.
Being a video gamer is a good choice, but you need to prepare yourself. Nobody wants to watch gameplay with lags or crashes. Hence, the first thing you would need is to upgrade your setup. If you have it upgraded, well and fine. But, there are many other things you need to take care of while gaming professionally.
Important Requirements
When you are trying to be a professional video gamer, you will need some things to make your setup perfect. Most of the YouTube gaming videos you see are not just casual gaming. They prepare their setup and making it perfect takes a lot of time and money.
Here are some of the main needs:
- Well Lighting
- Good Web Camera
- Good Internet Speed
- Good Gaming Machine
- Good Gaming Accessories (keyboard, mouse, etc.)
- A Comfortable Chair
- A Good Microphone
- Zero Disturbance
- Good Video Editing Software
Many things written above look useless and luxurious rather than needy. But once you make your first video, you will understand the requirement of all these. We will help you beforehand so that you move into this field absolutely prepared.
- Lights, Camera, Gameplay!
If you are a gamer, you must have watched gameplay videos once in a while. When you watch a gameplay video, you focus on the gameplay. While this is true, sometimes the reaction of the gamer catches your attention and many times that makes you like a video. The webcam footage may show just the face of the gamer, but even that requires a lot of work.
Most gamers use ring lights or neon lights for the room. Using white light, bright enough to give clarity but not bright enough to whiten out the footage, will bring an amount of professionalism to your video. Use a soft cool light. Also, users may use a different color based on your game genre, like creating a scary ambiance while playing a ghost game. If you think you have enough light in your room, you may skip this whole step.
The next important object is the webcam itself. Do not expect that your PC VGA webcam will do the job for you. Even if you are not the center of attraction in the video, whenever you will show yourself, it needs to be clear and noiseless. Consider buying an external webcam. Not many pricey ones, budget ones will do.
- Gaming is 90% Setup
When it comes to making a gameplay video, your computer and accessories play the most important role. While it will be too expensive to have the best processor, GPU, and accessories in the market, you should have decent ones. Check the requirements for the games you want to play and plan accordingly. Upgrading your systems is also important from time to time. You cannot expect your PC to run like new after two or three years. Plus, the game industry is not stranded. New games come every year, and they demand more specifications than their predecessors. Hence, if you want to be a professional gamer, you need to keep your systems up to date.
- Choose Your Content Wisely
There are many types of gamers. Some like to post funny content; others are hard serious. Some like to play action titles, while others like sports games. But there also exist gamers who do everything together, keeping a good balance. Here is the tip – if you want to center yourself towards a single genre, you should pick the trending and popular games of that genre. It doesn’t matter if the game is a decade old, but it should be popular. If you want to be a gamer of many talents, execute a perfect balance between choosing your genres. For example, do not get carried away by playing sports games for ten consecutive videos if you like sports. You must change your genre frequently to provide engagement for everybody. Being able to play all types of games is difficult and requires many games to be installed in your system. But it certainly engages all types of viewers and brings more views.
- Editing
A gaming video is not just about playing. You don’t want to bore the viewers with uninteresting stuff. Generally, to make a 20-minute video, a gamer needs to prepare himself for at least three hours! Imagine the amount of time when the gamer plays something which should not be shown in the video. Plus, providing effects and memes is a good way to make your video more engaging. Montage videos do this quite a lot. If you are playing a serious title, you may not want to do this, but still, you need to cut and crop some parts of the whole footage.
This is where video editing skills come useful. There are many simple video editors out there with user-friendly features and are easy to learn for beginners. You may pick any one of them. Tutorials for such editing software are available everywhere on the internet, so that won’t be a problem even if you are a learner.
- Commentary
No gamer just plays a game and remains silent. You need to talk. Saying things makes the video more engaging – that’s what commentators are paid for. You may not be very good at it at first – nobody is. Watch popular gamers’ videos and notice how they speak and what they speak. You will soon get a hold of the style. It is recommended that you choose English over your regional language to attract international viewers, but it is not a requirement and depends completely on you.
Note that you should not go on saying things. Anyone watching your videos wants to focus on the game more, so pause in between and let the viewer take in the actions happening in the game. You should also know where to stop speaking. You should never be jabbering away during an emotional scene, for example. Use your voice to enhance the experience, not ruin it.
Conclusion
Gaming is a very good career, but you need to focus and do everything in a professional manner. You must see this not as your fun time but as your job. Besides gaming, you need to be adept at video editing skills too to produce a decent video. Make sure you have a decent setup that can play modern trending games. You may either be genre-specific or open to everything. Once you have a good engagement, you will find yourself in a good place.
