- I don't think gaming is anti-women
like, no guy is saying,
oh, you can't play online today
because you're a woman.
- I don't think it's anti-women.
But I think there's just a lot more shit
they have to deal with.
(upbeat music)
- Zapping, fighting
and shooting away.
- It's a way of our society saying
it's okay to shoot.
- Well, what you are probably wondering is,
is it turning their brains to mush.
(upbeat hip hop instrumental)
- Professional, competitive video gaming.
Players who play 10 or 12 hours a day
to become the best in the world.
- 425,000, a life changing amount of money.
- [Austin] My name is Austin Itsu.
I'm 20 years old
and I play Fortnite professionally.
I won the first really big Fortnite tournament.
It set the speed for the rest of the scene.
- [Bonita] My name is Bonita Novshadian.
I'm 27 years old.
My favorite part about gaming is literally just winning.
I'm a very competitive person.
- Bonita just 4K'd us.
- [Hugo] My name is Hugo.
I am 33 and I play Super Smash Brothers for Dignitas.
- Oh no!
- So I just played as a kid
and I just had a ton of fun with it,
but I always wanted to be better than other people at it.
- [Ariana] Oh wait!
I'm Ariana Gamboa.
I'm 19 years old and I play Halo competitively.
It is my passion and girls can also game.
- [Aydan] One misconception is how much work
people actually put in.
There's a lot that goes into it.
- [Allister] A lot of people, you know,
have negative stigmas, playing games,
doing nothing with his life
and rather it can be quite a healthy outlet
and people really build futures, out of gaming.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] I like energy drinks.
Three.
- [Allister] Wait, I'm sorry.
Can, can you gimme a second to think about this?
This is like, okay, okay.
- [Narrator] Three, two, one, go.
- [Benita] I only like energy drinks with alcohol.
- [Ariana] Does that affect your gameplay?
- Well, I don't drink when I'm playing.
- Oh, okay, okay, I was like, that's probably.
(laughter)
- [Austin] I definitely acknowledge the health risk
that some energy drinks have, but for me, I mean,
sometimes I'm playing in four hour sessions,
just nonstop having to play at the top of my game
and yeah, it helps out a lot.
- I hella need it sometimes.
And for the purpose of actually performing,
I think it's great.
I don't drink it at all on my off time,
because I felt like I was using it as a crutch.
Oh, I don't have my energy, I can't compete.
And at a certain point I was like, that's pretty sad.
Like I need to be training and then trust that,
not the energy drink.
- Yeah, you don't wanna rely on it ever.
- Yeah, maybe I'll just.
(laughter)
- [Narrator] Gaming culture is misogynistic.
- [Aydan] Not gonna lie I need a definition of that word.
- What?
- [Narrator] You need a definition.
- [Aydan] Yeah, like what is misogynistic?
- [Narrator] Oh, like anti women.
- Anti what?
- [Narrator] Women.
- Oh, okay.
- [Narrator] Or anti female.
- Gotcha.
- [Narrator] Three, two, one go.
- Well, everyone has that experience
when they're in a gaming lobby
and well, probably us females probably experience this more.
As soon as we speak, we get called fat.
We get called all these ugly names
and that is still something I deal with today.
As I did 10, 15 years ago.
It is definitely a terrible thing to experience.
- I, I have a girlfriend that streams though.
So I, I feel like I've gotten more open minded about it
and understanding, and I can definitely
understand the obstacles like females have to go through.
It's pretty tough from people
just saying dumb shit or saying,
you're bad saying you shouldn't compete or.
- Men sometimes hear those things too,
but they don't hear it because they're men.
- Right, right.
- Right.
They hear it because of whatever,
like the internet wants to hate on some random shit.
- It's like we have to prove ourselves more.
- Yeah, exactly.
- That's the big difference.
- I'm, I'm a competitor.
Like I don't care about what my gender is, what,
how much I weigh.
I don't care about any of that.
Like if I'm good enough, like then I'm good enough.
Like, I just don't really believe in the,
- I think it's more so them giving us a chance
or seeing that we're actually good enough.
- But I think skill speaks for itself.
No one, no guy is saying, yeah,
you cannot get on your computer cause you're a woman.
Like no guy is saying like, oh,
you can't play online today because you're a woman.
- I, I kind of disagree with that.
And like I do agree that the skill speaks for itself
while anyone can typically play any game
they want and become good.
The environment makes it so that it's much harder
to succeed as a woman than it is as a man.
There's no doubt that the experience will be different.
- Oh yeah, the experience is different,
but I don't think gaming is anti-women.
- I don't, I don't think it's anti-women,
but I think there are,
there's just a lot more shit they have to deal with.
- So like back then, you know,
arcades and the first like home consoles
girls video games, just weren't a thing,
you know, it was like a boys only club
Anytime a girl was like interested in video games
guys would be like, oh, you know,
just go play makeup or go back to the kitchen or something,
you know?
- Go make a sandwich.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
And it was so dumb and you know,
as years gone by gaming culture has advanced, right.
And it's become more accessible and diverse.
Unfortunately there's still, you know,
some people out there that still
treat it like its the nineties.
- [Narrator] Video games encourage violence.
Three, two, one go.
- I don't know.
I don't know, because there's proof.
- Wow, I just wanna like kind of not be the odd one out.
- So the only reason I wanna say little bit here
is because anyone remembers Columbine.
Like they were inspired by video games,
but like it's just all mental health at the end of the day.
- I just think anyone who,
who has those kinds of issues
is gonna find that inspiration from any kind of medium,
including movies, including games, including books.
I even think the dialogue where, you know,
we act like that's causing it
is kind of harmful for society in general, in my opinion,
- I think it's definitely like using video games
as like a scapegoat, in my opinion,
like it's definitely more of a mental health issue.
- For real video games and violence, fake news.
It's a myth, you know,
there's even music, rock and roll,
drugs, sex and rock and roll and.
- They blame rock once and then they blame rap.
- Exactly man, like.
- They're always looking for something to blame.
- Yeah.
- I think on the opposite side of that spectrum,
video games could even be pointed to the thing
where it could be used as an outlet
for the people that have those kind of urges and thoughts.
- It's like an escape, right?
- Exactly.
- It's escape from.
it's a whole other world.
But I think on the underlying issue of that,
I think that really comes with like the parenting.
I mean, if you're having those kind of thoughts in general,
I mean, there's so many of us that play video games
that don't have those kind of thoughts.
How would it it's like you said,
it's just a scapegoat, it's annoying.
- [Narrator] Competitive gaming is just
as demanding as physical sport.
Three, two, one go.
- For traditional sports,
you have to push your body to such lengths,
to be able to do those physical feats,
to be the best, to be whatever.
I just don't think that it's as hard.
- I agree.
I'm usually like sitting on my computer
for almost 10 to 12 hours a day.
Physically, I'm not doing anything
near an NFL or NBA player is doing.
- I don't play basketball,
but I don't think that they're working
on like frames per second kinds of levels of,
of reaction and speed.
- But then, you know,
not all sports are as intensive
as like football and like soccer and UFC.
- We're probably all thinking basketball, football.
- Yeah.
That, because it's like, it's the mainstream stuff,
you know, because there's also like.
- I think that's what the question was, no?
- Yeah, but there's also like
- No, no, but there's also golf, there's also,
- Like bowling, darts, you know?
And I think gaming eSports is like, as demanding as those,
if not beyond that.
- [Narrator] Trash talk is part of the fun.
Three, two, one, go.
- It's hella fun, it's competition, you know,
you're trying to get everyone riled up.
You're trying to throw everyone off their game.
- He was waiting for this one, yeah.
(laughter)
- You know you spit some words.
- You know, once people start taking
like life problems and weight and
try to like find stuff up on you,
that's where it gets petty and it's childish.
But trash talking is super fun.
I do it a lot on stream, you know.
- I, yeah.
I mean, I love, I love trash talking people.
It's so fun if you're doing it in good fun,
then I think the trash talk is essential
to any video game honestly.
- It builds up hype, yeah.
- Like even if I die or if they die,
my go-to is you're trash.
Like, that's just, that's probably my go-to.
- I, I think I call people dog shit idiots a lot.
- [Ariana] I say dog shit way too much.
- I always call people virgins, but
- [Austin] That's great.
- I always say like, you're a fucking Virgin,
but I only say it on the mic
because then you can tail.
Like you can understand my tone, yeah.
And it's not that serious,
but I would never like type something like that.
- Actually I have a whole like diss track about me,
like on YouTube, yeah, yeah.
And then my friend just wrote one back.
So there's just like, and then everyone's hyped about it,
everyone just yeah, yeah.
- [Narrator] My family is skeptical of my career.
Three, two, one go.
- I'll start, cause I guess I'm a little older.
Back then it wasn't ever a career.
Now it's so different,
like if I were to tell my parents
like yeah, hey, I have a 401k from gaming.
Like I have health insurance.
I have everything just like a regular job
with like a bachelor's degree or whatnot.
- So I actually I'm,
I'm a little bit younger
and my parents were always super supportive.
I quit football and sports
when I was in like seventh grade
and I just really started gaming,
even after high school, my parents,
my dad gave me a whole year
to try to do something with it,
started making some money
and it just took off from there.
So my parents were very like good about it
and makes me feel like proud.
- I mean, my parents did a very similar thing
and after I graduated high school, I asked for a chance.
I was like, hey, could I have just a year?
I wanna really see if I can make this work.
You know, I want to pursue my dreams.
And I won that, won the tournament that,
you know, we both popped off in.
- Yeah.
- And if this was three years ago,
I'd say I'd be over there
saying that they they'd be skeptical.
They, they don't know.
But my dad's always been supportive of me.
And I'm, I'm thankful for that.
- During high school, there wasn't really money in it yet.
And my parents were just like, nah,
that doesn't sound like a good idea.
You're kind of throwing your life away.
So then I got a regular career
and then when my friends
started making money in video games,
I was like,
what the fuck am I still doing here?
They saw how much happier I was doing this versus that.
And they knew I was capable of that.
Now they're like watching on stream together.
Like they're showing up to some live events here and there.
- My mom is very, very supportive of what I do,
but I was living with my grandparents for a while
and they actually kicked me out
and were charging me rent
because they didn't see live streaming
or competing in video games as an actual job.
So I moved back in with my mom
and I gotta quit that job.
And now I'm living my dream, so.
- I don't have much family.
I just have my mom right now.
And she's an immigrant and very old school.
So you can imagine how she feels about it.
She always said,
you know, you're wasting your time.
You know, I didn't work so hard to make,
make a family here just so you can play video games.
You should make something of yourself.
But ultimately in the end, you know,
as long as I was happy with my life
and I became successful in my own definition,
then she was okay with it as well.
But she still hates gaming, yeah.
- Where are your parents from?
- My mother's from the Philippines
and my father's from India.
- Okay, my parents are Hispanic.
They definitely weren't about it initially too.
They'll understand it when they see the money.
- Yeah.
- It, it sucks though.
Like you have to make money for people to realize
it's actually a career.
- Yeah, you show 'em a paycheck.
They're like, oh yeah, this is legit.
Okay, I like it.
- [Narrator] I make a good living from gaming
Three, two, one go.
- So it depends on what you guys define as good living.
I live in Silicon Valley in the Bay area,
the highest cost of living ever
this competitive gaming career,
I have is it's a side hustle.
If I just did any one of those by itself,
I would not make it.
- I used to live in a trailer with my dad in Ohio.
So I understand the struggle, you know,
I used to sleep on the mattress on a floor,
you know, gaming,
I started streaming. I started, you know,
getting a lot of attention in tournaments.
I was making a lot of money there.
I mean, now I live in like
in the really nice part of California,
like rent free with my girlfriend.
And there's a lot of money to be made in gaming.
Whether it's streaming, YouTube, tournaments, sponsorships,
the world cup, that was like 30 million.
Like there's,
- Just ridiculous number.
- Well, the reason why I'm not on strongly agree is
because it's so unreliable and inconsistent in my opinion,
which is something you have to worry about.
And you don't know if you're even gonna place top eight.
You know, most of the time tournament payouts
can take months.
- I I'd say I make a really good living.
I think that Fortnite
has given me a lot of opportunities.
I mean the viewership and the,
the tournament prize winnings alone is ridiculous.
I mean, I I'm getting way too much money
for just playing video games, to be honest.
- I think it really depends on the game you're playing.
- Yeah, yeah.
I play Smash and Nintendo does not give a shit about us.
So like I still make enough to, like, I have a car,
I have a roof over my head.
I got 401k.
I got like, I'm fine, but I'm not making like,
like fuck you money.
You know what I mean?
Like I'm not making like Fortnite money.
And so for me personally, it's, it's just,
that's just the life of the game that I chose.
If you're playing Fortnite, you pick the right one,
you know.
- I I'm sponsored, I have benefits.
I'm comfortable, I'm happy, I love what I do.
And I not only win money from tournaments,
but I'm also contracted, so.
- I'd also I'd point out that, you know,
maybe our definitions of good living are different.
I mean, me and Aydan,
especially I know that we come from, you know,
not particularly the best, you know, living.
I mean, I used to live in Louisiana
back in like, you know, middle of nowhere
where nobody would even know where I am.
My salary right now is way more, way more than enough
to make a good living off of it.
But then again, it depends on the area you live in.
If you're living over there.
I mean, yeah.
- Like if I lived in Kansas, I'd be filthy rich.
Yeah, filthy rich.
I'd be like making it rain.
- [Narrator] I found deeper relationships
through gaming than anywhere else.
Three, two, one go.
- I'd say I've made some of my best friends ever.
And even if the game is done,
we've already built a bond past that.
Where now we're just friends and none of
all these connections and things
that have gone on wouldn't exist anymore,
unless I played this game.
- You know, back in high school, I,
I was like really nervous to talk
to like ladies and I wouldn't,
I never, I never had a girlfriend in high school.
And then after high school
I've I met my girlfriend that I currently live with.
So I think one thing too,
is people online are way more open than in person.
Like you feel a lot more comfortable.
- Never in my life,
would I think through just gaming,
you could meet people that
you can call your brothers and sisters for life.
Like I have those, like I would die for these people.
We live around the country.
I was like, do you guys wanna go to Canada?
They're like, sure.
And we just had the time of our life
and I just met them online through gaming
or at a tournament.
- I agree with you guys.
I mean, gaming has led me to a bunch of events,
like Twitch Con, all these things,
even this, where I meet people
and that's built those relationships.
And I think that gaming, I mean,
I've met everybody through that now
that I'm thinking about it.
- Pretty cool, nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
(indistinct chatter)
(upbeat music)
(laughter)
- Nice to meet you.
(upbeat music)