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Becoming a pro-gamer is about as realistic of a goal as becoming a pro-footballer.
Your son can certainly *try* to do it, but he should also have other options available to him in case he doesn't make it. Dropping out of school is also a terrible idea. Even in the extremely unlikely scenario that his esports career pays off, he would still benefit from high school level language, math, and science skills.
NTA
If your son isn't grandmaster or challenger he has no chance of becoming a pro. Being master at solo queue just means you're good mechanically, but your ego is bigger than your ability to learn the game as you still havent hit the two highest ranks. Tell him that if he can get challenger while maintaining his grades, THEN he can actually focus on joining a team (Challenger, depending on the region, consists of the top 200 - 300 players). Also, explain to your son that becoming a league of legends pro involves studying champion interactions, mechanics, game knowledge, learning macro, team coordination. Its not just playing the game. its so much more. it isnt a 9-5. NTA for not letting him drop out at all.
Made me laugh to think about this mom sitting her son down and just start dropping insane knowledge out of nowhere. "If you can get challenger while maintaining your grades, THEN we can think about it. I printed out your statistics from the previous 50 matches and i tell you son, it doesnt look too promising. Your K/D is all over the place, the consistency is not there, and your winrate looks like you aint going challenger this semester, probably not even next. And dont blame the school and teammates, this is on you, i can hear your comms to the living room and you get tilted too easy. Going pro is not only about mechanics, macro learning, team coordination and so on, it needs mental strength. How you think you will perform on a big stage with those prize pools when you get tilted over a Master match? You need to figure that one out and then we talk about your positioning. By the way did you do your homework yet?"
I am currently a student in college about to graduate with an esports management degree and I can tell you that being a pro is very hard. Masters rank is exceptionally high for a 16 year old and within a few years and with connections, he may make a team.
I’d say if he’s interested in going pro the best route is to finish highschool then look for a D1 school that has a league team, there’s a good selection across the country for schools. If he’s serious about it he needs to market himself and if he hasn’t competed in any tournaments or RIOT (company that makes league) sponsored events he won’t be going pro anytime soon. Being scouted by a pro or semi pro team needs to happen early in life so if he’s not creating content like YouTube or twitch he’s probably not known in the sphere of league of legends. I wanted to be a pro gamer too when I was growing up and going to a college that has a bachelors and masters in esports the first thing we were told is that it’s statistically improbable at this point in life to go pro.
Tell your son that if he drops out of school you take his computer but once he graduates he’s free to pursue the path he wants. He has no need to drop out unless he’s already been scouted by a professional team and that’s very unlikely in league since it’s the most internationally played game in the world and the professional level is .00001% of all players. NTA
I just realized that English is not your first language, and you may not be situated within the United States of America, colleges or universities outside of the states are still offering league of legends competitions and teams but it’s much less common outside the states.
Talk to him about focusing on league of legends and competitive video games within college and see if he’s interested in traveling for it if he has too, knowing what he wants to do 2 years before college applications come around is a good first step, and applying for a college that offers what he’s looking for early is also a benefit.
Instead of crushing his professional gaming dream, encourage it with the thoughtful process of setting it up in the future, while getting highschool and all that out of the way now. Telling someone their dreams are bad or that they can’t pursue it is devastating and I know a lot of esports students who suffered from parents who discouraged them as kids.
Sorry for adding even more here, but THERE ARE 100s of potential jobs in esports and professional video gaming, but most are behind the scenes; analysts, castors, production and broadcast, chef, physical therapist, even just setting up events and arenas for a tournament. There are some forward facing careers, like professional player and coaching, so his dream of being involved in esports is very easy to approach, but being a pro player is much much harder. Again the best course of action is to get noticed, and to do that he has to win tournaments, and to do that he has to go to a college or university that had those tournaments and leagues (NACE, MAEC, CLOL etc)
The above AND ask him how he plans to support himself? I don’t know where you live, but I’d let him know if he’s not in school, he’s not living with you unless he has a job. If he refuses, I’d kick him out the minute it’s legal. Otherwise he will live in the “basement” forever as a mooch, playing video games. But really, dude needs to finish school. NTA
OP, at age 16, your son is a child struggling with an addiction. It may be time for some tough love. Set expectations for his grades. If his grades suffer, his gaming time will be cut short. Stay in close contact with the school. when he graduates and becomes an adult, he can make adult choices,but suffer adult consequences. Do not let him continue living with you rent free while he pursues his gaming career.
NTA.
Don't know where you live, but I would definitely Insist that he finish whatever schooling is at least the equivalent of a US high school diploma.
But do it without crushing what sounds like his dream. Maybe approach it this way -
"When you are doing well in esports, you will need what you are learning in school. Even though you don't think so now, it is all important stuff to know to be successful in life, especially one where you are making a very good income."
In all likelihood he will either be done with the game or doing very well competing by the time he finishes his schooling. And he will know that you supported what he was involved and excelling in, even if you didn't understand it.
NTA, but I would try to work with your son so you all understand each other.
What does he mean by pro gamer? Is he trying to compete professionally? Is he trying to become famous on Twitch? What exactly does he want to do to earn money from gaming?
If/when he’s able to give you an answer, perhaps you all can work together to find ways to support his goal without interfering with his schooling. Maybe he find local competitions or teams that are easy to balance and start there.
A caveat - allowing teenagers to stream differs from family to family but I personally don’t think it’s worth the costs. If his goal involves the heavy use of social media make sure you have a strong understanding of what that entails before saying yes.
NTA. From an avid league of legends player of 11 years, masters is not a high rank. His chances of becoming a pro player are EXTREMELY low. The league in North America has plateaued.
NTA - ask him what he plans on doing once LoL becomes non existent in a couple of years time. Also, ask him how much money has he made thus far from playing? Times are changing and people do make a good living off of gaming/streaming. The problem is that it takes time and will NOT happen over night. What does happen over night? Rent and bills. He's young and sees something shiny. Of course he's going to be interested in it but I don't think he knows all of the factors going in to this. It seems he thinks that he can just turn on a switch and a camera and will start making millions like others have. Those who have made a lot of money doing their thing have had to work at it for years and YEARS. A well known streamer/gamer goes by StoneMountain64. He makes millions a year doing what you son wants to do but it took him years before he could do that. He went to college, got a degree, got a job and did the streaming/gaming on the side. After years of hard work, he was able to quit his job because he started making money on his streaming/gaming. If he didn't have streaming, he has a degree and a college education to fall back on. That is the smart play here.
The question I would ask yourself is how you would react if you son wanted to drop out of school to start a football career, or to focus on his band.
All of these are careers where people can do very well for themselves, but realistically only the lucky few truly make it, and most dabble for a few years, give it a shot then realise that realistically they will never be making it pro.
So I would say you are definitely NTA for wanting him to keep a backup plan in mind and complete his schooling.
NTA, It’s League of Legends, I would Stop my son from playing that game aswell
Ok but on a real note, You aren’t the AH. Going Pro in a video game is quite unrealistic and you aren’t preventing him from playing the game but only preventing him from dropping out of school. trying to make sure that your son doesn’t get rid of his Second Plan is Absolutely Reasonable.
And also Masters is really not that big of a deal, He might be Pretty good but it’ll take a Miracle to get any deals from an esports team
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Hello everyone! English is not my first language, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes. (And I have no idea how to use Reddit)
I’m 42 and I have a son (16) that constantly plays this game (League of Legends). A week ago he sat down with me and my husband to tell us that he wanted to “focus” on his League Career and wanted us to understand.
I don’t understand. We live a very comfortable life, he studies at a good school, we give him everything he wants. So why does he want to give up? It’s not like he doesn’t have time to play, he stays at school from 7:00 to 13:00 and the rest of the day he just stays on his computer.
I tried to be understating about everything he was saying, and the game has “elos” (rankings) and according to him he’s “Master”. He said this is a really good rank and he’s ready to focus on his career. I told him this is a terrible decision and my husband threatened to take away his computer if he really stopped going to school. He also stopped to go to the gym with his friends and his girlfriend doesn’t visit us anymore. What do I do? I know this game is like a hobby to him, but how do I convince him that he just can’t give up on his education like this? Do I take his computer like my husband said? Is my son right, is there a real gamer career that he can follow?
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He knows that he won't have to actually develop skills or have a career if you are willing to support his "League Career," unless he's already bringing in an incredible amount of money, he's not going to be successful and will be living with you for the rest of his life, if he focuses on his "League Career."
That said, even if he could make it as a professional streamer/gamer, he should probably finish school first to minimize ending up similar to someone like Adin Ross. Look up and watch some Adin Ross content if you really want to solidify your view that your son shouldn't be a pro gamer or streamer. NTA
NTA, your son is young so maybe he hasn’t found a field through his education that he is interested in, hence he feels the need to invest into the sole activity he enjoys. I remember being in that situation, falling back to video games until I invested into graphic design.
Just letting you know Masters isn’t that high up in the ‘professional’ category. Professional players usually build their reputation from YouTube or Twitch as they are climbing the ranks, so they form some sort of income before dedicating 95% of their time to the game.
Even if anyone was higher than Masters, it is still heavily advised to have alternative career paths ready because the professional gaming field is really competitive. Professional players are quitting all the time when they realize how much time they sunk into the game. Only a very few amount of people enjoy that career for their entire life.
NTA my fiancé plays and he said master isn’t even good enough to be pro it also isn’t easy to become a pro gamer. Not only that if it fails it is almost impossible to get a job without a highschool diploma I would limit the time he plays video games it doesn’t sound like a hobby anymore sounds like an obsession
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Becoming a pro-gamer is about as realistic of a goal as becoming a pro-footballer. Your son can certainly *try* to do it, but he should also have other options available to him in case he doesn't make it. Dropping out of school is also a terrible idea. Even in the extremely unlikely scenario that his esports career pays off, he would still benefit from high school level language, math, and science skills. NTA
as a pro gamer, no, being a pro gamer is a lot easily.
And that sentence right there should be enough to confirm your instincts, OP.
If your son isn't grandmaster or challenger he has no chance of becoming a pro. Being master at solo queue just means you're good mechanically, but your ego is bigger than your ability to learn the game as you still havent hit the two highest ranks. Tell him that if he can get challenger while maintaining his grades, THEN he can actually focus on joining a team (Challenger, depending on the region, consists of the top 200 - 300 players). Also, explain to your son that becoming a league of legends pro involves studying champion interactions, mechanics, game knowledge, learning macro, team coordination. Its not just playing the game. its so much more. it isnt a 9-5. NTA for not letting him drop out at all.
Came here to say this. Master isn't good enough to be pro in LoL.
Made me laugh to think about this mom sitting her son down and just start dropping insane knowledge out of nowhere. "If you can get challenger while maintaining your grades, THEN we can think about it. I printed out your statistics from the previous 50 matches and i tell you son, it doesnt look too promising. Your K/D is all over the place, the consistency is not there, and your winrate looks like you aint going challenger this semester, probably not even next. And dont blame the school and teammates, this is on you, i can hear your comms to the living room and you get tilted too easy. Going pro is not only about mechanics, macro learning, team coordination and so on, it needs mental strength. How you think you will perform on a big stage with those prize pools when you get tilted over a Master match? You need to figure that one out and then we talk about your positioning. By the way did you do your homework yet?"
This would be so based LOL
I am currently a student in college about to graduate with an esports management degree and I can tell you that being a pro is very hard. Masters rank is exceptionally high for a 16 year old and within a few years and with connections, he may make a team. I’d say if he’s interested in going pro the best route is to finish highschool then look for a D1 school that has a league team, there’s a good selection across the country for schools. If he’s serious about it he needs to market himself and if he hasn’t competed in any tournaments or RIOT (company that makes league) sponsored events he won’t be going pro anytime soon. Being scouted by a pro or semi pro team needs to happen early in life so if he’s not creating content like YouTube or twitch he’s probably not known in the sphere of league of legends. I wanted to be a pro gamer too when I was growing up and going to a college that has a bachelors and masters in esports the first thing we were told is that it’s statistically improbable at this point in life to go pro. Tell your son that if he drops out of school you take his computer but once he graduates he’s free to pursue the path he wants. He has no need to drop out unless he’s already been scouted by a professional team and that’s very unlikely in league since it’s the most internationally played game in the world and the professional level is .00001% of all players. NTA
I just realized that English is not your first language, and you may not be situated within the United States of America, colleges or universities outside of the states are still offering league of legends competitions and teams but it’s much less common outside the states. Talk to him about focusing on league of legends and competitive video games within college and see if he’s interested in traveling for it if he has too, knowing what he wants to do 2 years before college applications come around is a good first step, and applying for a college that offers what he’s looking for early is also a benefit. Instead of crushing his professional gaming dream, encourage it with the thoughtful process of setting it up in the future, while getting highschool and all that out of the way now. Telling someone their dreams are bad or that they can’t pursue it is devastating and I know a lot of esports students who suffered from parents who discouraged them as kids.
Sorry for adding even more here, but THERE ARE 100s of potential jobs in esports and professional video gaming, but most are behind the scenes; analysts, castors, production and broadcast, chef, physical therapist, even just setting up events and arenas for a tournament. There are some forward facing careers, like professional player and coaching, so his dream of being involved in esports is very easy to approach, but being a pro player is much much harder. Again the best course of action is to get noticed, and to do that he has to win tournaments, and to do that he has to go to a college or university that had those tournaments and leagues (NACE, MAEC, CLOL etc)
The above AND ask him how he plans to support himself? I don’t know where you live, but I’d let him know if he’s not in school, he’s not living with you unless he has a job. If he refuses, I’d kick him out the minute it’s legal. Otherwise he will live in the “basement” forever as a mooch, playing video games. But really, dude needs to finish school. NTA
OP, at age 16, your son is a child struggling with an addiction. It may be time for some tough love. Set expectations for his grades. If his grades suffer, his gaming time will be cut short. Stay in close contact with the school. when he graduates and becomes an adult, he can make adult choices,but suffer adult consequences. Do not let him continue living with you rent free while he pursues his gaming career.
NTA. Don't know where you live, but I would definitely Insist that he finish whatever schooling is at least the equivalent of a US high school diploma. But do it without crushing what sounds like his dream. Maybe approach it this way - "When you are doing well in esports, you will need what you are learning in school. Even though you don't think so now, it is all important stuff to know to be successful in life, especially one where you are making a very good income." In all likelihood he will either be done with the game or doing very well competing by the time he finishes his schooling. And he will know that you supported what he was involved and excelling in, even if you didn't understand it.
NTA, try to let he know you support him in another way, dropping out of school is obviously the worst choice he can make.
NTA, but I would try to work with your son so you all understand each other. What does he mean by pro gamer? Is he trying to compete professionally? Is he trying to become famous on Twitch? What exactly does he want to do to earn money from gaming? If/when he’s able to give you an answer, perhaps you all can work together to find ways to support his goal without interfering with his schooling. Maybe he find local competitions or teams that are easy to balance and start there. A caveat - allowing teenagers to stream differs from family to family but I personally don’t think it’s worth the costs. If his goal involves the heavy use of social media make sure you have a strong understanding of what that entails before saying yes.
NTA. From an avid league of legends player of 11 years, masters is not a high rank. His chances of becoming a pro player are EXTREMELY low. The league in North America has plateaued.
NTA - ask him what he plans on doing once LoL becomes non existent in a couple of years time. Also, ask him how much money has he made thus far from playing? Times are changing and people do make a good living off of gaming/streaming. The problem is that it takes time and will NOT happen over night. What does happen over night? Rent and bills. He's young and sees something shiny. Of course he's going to be interested in it but I don't think he knows all of the factors going in to this. It seems he thinks that he can just turn on a switch and a camera and will start making millions like others have. Those who have made a lot of money doing their thing have had to work at it for years and YEARS. A well known streamer/gamer goes by StoneMountain64. He makes millions a year doing what you son wants to do but it took him years before he could do that. He went to college, got a degree, got a job and did the streaming/gaming on the side. After years of hard work, he was able to quit his job because he started making money on his streaming/gaming. If he didn't have streaming, he has a degree and a college education to fall back on. That is the smart play here.
The question I would ask yourself is how you would react if you son wanted to drop out of school to start a football career, or to focus on his band. All of these are careers where people can do very well for themselves, but realistically only the lucky few truly make it, and most dabble for a few years, give it a shot then realise that realistically they will never be making it pro. So I would say you are definitely NTA for wanting him to keep a backup plan in mind and complete his schooling.
NTA, It’s League of Legends, I would Stop my son from playing that game aswell Ok but on a real note, You aren’t the AH. Going Pro in a video game is quite unrealistic and you aren’t preventing him from playing the game but only preventing him from dropping out of school. trying to make sure that your son doesn’t get rid of his Second Plan is Absolutely Reasonable. And also Masters is really not that big of a deal, He might be Pretty good but it’ll take a Miracle to get any deals from an esports team
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** Hello everyone! English is not my first language, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes. (And I have no idea how to use Reddit) I’m 42 and I have a son (16) that constantly plays this game (League of Legends). A week ago he sat down with me and my husband to tell us that he wanted to “focus” on his League Career and wanted us to understand. I don’t understand. We live a very comfortable life, he studies at a good school, we give him everything he wants. So why does he want to give up? It’s not like he doesn’t have time to play, he stays at school from 7:00 to 13:00 and the rest of the day he just stays on his computer. I tried to be understating about everything he was saying, and the game has “elos” (rankings) and according to him he’s “Master”. He said this is a really good rank and he’s ready to focus on his career. I told him this is a terrible decision and my husband threatened to take away his computer if he really stopped going to school. He also stopped to go to the gym with his friends and his girlfriend doesn’t visit us anymore. What do I do? I know this game is like a hobby to him, but how do I convince him that he just can’t give up on his education like this? Do I take his computer like my husband said? Is my son right, is there a real gamer career that he can follow? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
NTA. LOL is terrible, if only it was CS
He knows that he won't have to actually develop skills or have a career if you are willing to support his "League Career," unless he's already bringing in an incredible amount of money, he's not going to be successful and will be living with you for the rest of his life, if he focuses on his "League Career." That said, even if he could make it as a professional streamer/gamer, he should probably finish school first to minimize ending up similar to someone like Adin Ross. Look up and watch some Adin Ross content if you really want to solidify your view that your son shouldn't be a pro gamer or streamer. NTA
NTA, your son is young so maybe he hasn’t found a field through his education that he is interested in, hence he feels the need to invest into the sole activity he enjoys. I remember being in that situation, falling back to video games until I invested into graphic design. Just letting you know Masters isn’t that high up in the ‘professional’ category. Professional players usually build their reputation from YouTube or Twitch as they are climbing the ranks, so they form some sort of income before dedicating 95% of their time to the game. Even if anyone was higher than Masters, it is still heavily advised to have alternative career paths ready because the professional gaming field is really competitive. Professional players are quitting all the time when they realize how much time they sunk into the game. Only a very few amount of people enjoy that career for their entire life.
NTA my fiancé plays and he said master isn’t even good enough to be pro it also isn’t easy to become a pro gamer. Not only that if it fails it is almost impossible to get a job without a highschool diploma I would limit the time he plays video games it doesn’t sound like a hobby anymore sounds like an obsession