A Kid Drops Out Of School...

...to take up playing "Guitar Hero" professionally? Good grief. Are his parents idiots?? (From Yahoo News)


16-year-old drops out of school to play Guitar Hero

Sun Aug 17, 2008 2:29PM EDT

Regular readers know that I love video games as much as the next guy. In fact, my right ankle is still sore from drumming my way through a marathon Rock Band session last night (who knew calibrating the TV would make such a difference!?), and I'm always looking for the latest titles to pop into my Xbox.

But how much gaming is too much? For North Carolina native Blake Peebles, there's no such thing. Guitar Hero is his title of choice. "I usually play till I can't anymore," he says, in this profile from the News & Observer.

In fact, young Mr. Peebles is dropping out of high school... in order to focus on Guitar Hero full time. Peebles hopes to join the small but growing crew of players looking to make gaming a job. Citing his victories in Guitar Hero tournaments, which include "gift certificates, gaming equipment, and chicken sandwiches," Peebles thinks he has the chops to play competitively and earn actual money in the process. As the story notes, top gamers on the competitive circuit can earn up to $80,000 a year (though $25,000 is more common). Peebles, of course, can count his 52 Chick-fil-A combo meals toward that total.

I was at first inclined to disparage the decision by his parents to let Peebles drop out of school, but it seems a little less ridiculous when you delve into the facts. Peebles hahdn't been doing well in school and wasn't liked, and even now he isn't gaming full time. He has a tutor that
provides a private education, and his parents say he's doing well with
the more focused instruction and that their son now even does his
homework without complaint. (Presumably he can hit the axe sooner after he's finished his studies.)

However, I worry that Peebles, who's just 16, may have a tough road ahead trying to break into competitive gaming. The costs of traveling to tournaments alone can totally outstrip earnings, and the amount of training can be grueling. Sponsorships are often a pipe dream. And then there's the issue of games going out of date and being replaced by something new. Traditional athletes never have to worry about, say, distance running being upgraded with a new version, but many games can go out of style, fast. In the end, there's just not much cash there: One gamer, quoted at the end of the linked article, says that in eight years his total earnings are about $25,000 total, and that's including a national championship in Halo 2.

...yeah, that's pretty odd.

That just re-inforces my belief that teenagers are stupid, I should know, when I was a teenager I was pretty stupid too, thankfully my Dad kept me in line.

There are some kids out there making over $100,000 a year professionally playing video games competitively.

Eyesore wrote:

There are some kids out there making over $100,000 a year professionally playing video games competitively.

...Yea, but as the article sez, most of them are earning "gaming equipment, gift certificates, and chicken sandwiches." Not exactly a great living... unless you really, REALLY like chicken sandwiches.

Maybe THAT's why his parents let him drop out... "Well, y'know, Junior weren't doin' much good at his schoolin' anyways, so we figgered, why not let him play that there, whatchacallit, Git-Tar Hee-ro full time... who knows, mebbe there'll be some a'them chicken sammiches in it for us."

That reminds me of the episode of South Park where Stan and Kyle are playing guitar hero "professionally".Haha

thrasher73 wrote:

That reminds me of the episode of South Park where Stan and Kyle are playing guitar hero "professionally".Haha

Maybe that's where this kid got the idea!! "Wow, I can do that too!"

I tell ya, I wouldn't mind getting paid to play Unreal Tournament, like I've seen kids doing on TV. Haha.

If I could get paid to play Sonic 3 & Knuckles, you'd have no idea how much I'd love my life.

80,000 dollars a year?....for playing videogames!?!? And what does a teacher make again?

As a former HS English teacher, I take some solace in the fact that he is receiving private tutoring/ instruction to increase his intelligence. I don't really understand the obsession with gaming, but that's just me. Peace.

Eyesore wrote:

There are some kids out there making over $100,000 a year professionally playing video games competitively.

That would be a fun job, though, actually.

Quote :

As a former HS English teacher

What happened?

i could have played final fantasy professionally lol

TheGooch wrote:

i could have played final fantasy professionally lol

If they ever make Ms. Pac-Man an Olympic event, I will bring home the Gold Medal for the USA.

In South Korea there are three TV stations only showing people playing computer games. I love playing computer games, but I think watching someone else playing is pretty boring.

tul wrote:

In South Korea there are three TV stations only showing people playing computer games. I love playing computer games, but I think watching someone else playing is pretty boring.

On some games like FF and other action/adventure games, I don't mind at all (only if they are any good). I usually suck at video games unless I use cheat codes and many games I love the storyline and or graphics I can't get through so I prefer to see someone else who can, do it.

There's a lot of stuff I would do to make $100,000+ a year. Gaming would definitely be one of the more fun things. I can be on the 'Metroid' team.

Man, this is pretty sad though. Not that the public school system often offers jack squat in hindsight. Oh well. Ugh, guitar hero.

I dropped out of school to be my own guitar hero not to play video games. I look back on it and i would have def stayed in school.

Some parents...I would never let that happen.