Anyone ever done any competitive (for money) gaming?

[iDante]

I've been thinking about going to a brawl tournament or something sometime. I know I will get crushed badly and probably only play a few matches, but they are usually cheap ($2-15) and they seem like fun.

Has anyone here ever done something like this and care to share what it was like?

About brawl specifically, I've played loads of it lately and it is awesome. I generally main wario with wolf as a backup. I have some friends that play and have done competitive stuff, and I generally do well against them. If you want to play over wifi hl me on IRC, I really don't like it though because of lag.

[a-4-year-old]

No, turning a game into a competition that serious spoils the fun.

My friends bet on magic cards but never anything higher than a few dollars worth of cards.

[Twistkill]

Nah, the only thing I place bets on are pool games. I lost 5 bucks the other day and have to give it to the dude when I see him again. We're regulars (it's at my college) so it's all good.

[Blue-ninja]

I wouldn't mind entering a few friendly matches with some of the pros in melee tournaments.

Friendly = noncompetitive

[LtKillroy]

Playing competitively turns games into work. Paying a few dollars to play in a tournament with some dudes wouldn't be horrible for me, as long as it isn't over time. I've only made money with Magic once (bought $60 for a draft with my friends, cracked a good deal more than that).

[tehsnipah]

*cough* Korean Star Craft *cough*

Extremely competitive, even almost 24/7 in Korean gaming channel.

[-Major-]

Playing competitively turns games into work. Paying a few dollars to play in a tournament with some dudes wouldn't be horrible for me, as long as it isn't over time. I've only made money with Magic once (bought $60 for a draft with my friends, cracked a good deal more than that).

no it doesn't :|, playing competitivly turns the game into an actual game. games you play for "fun" are games you play just to sit and chat while you play.

[STM1993]

Nope, and probably won't. Depends on what you call 'fun' too.

It is mainly because I won't have the skill to match those guys who play competitively. Also, there's too much stress on playing to win than having a good time - I think that's more dull than fun. Competitions are fun, but when it becomes something where you must win, it's more like work than entertainment. This is also the reason why I prefer to play casually than competitively as well.

[jrgp]

Back in 2004/2005 or so, I had several friends who allegedly made hundreds of dollars by winning at Halo 2 competitions. As for me, no, never.

[Hair|Trigger]

Lan parties are the most fun way to play video games with friends in my opinion, even when you're being competitive.

Plus they're free (unless you don't have all the right gear, but you don't need much.  It might be desirable to get a laptop though if you're going to lan regularly)

[zakath]

If you extend it to games like black jack, texas hold em and such then Yes. When I was a student I used to pay my bills by competing in those games.
Also won hardware(gfx cards,sound cards etc) in warcraft 2 tournaments back in the days but never any money.

[jerich]

Yep, if you consider craps and roulette games, yea, I hit up the Atlantic City city a few times. It's sure as hell fun rolling dice across the table or calling money on 24 black and hoping it hits it.

[numgun]

Do marbles count?

Not for money really, but for marbles. We had this marble day at school back in elementary where kids brought a bag of marbles where there had these competitive games with someone setting up a challenge and if you beat it, you get his marbles and if you lose, you give him your marbles. I started with 10 and ended up with a bag of 120 of them, including some big marbles too!

I was a proud winner. : 3

[PANZERCATWAGON]

i gave up my job as an aircraft turbine engineer to pursue my dream of being a full time professional gamer

[Psycho]

There was one time I had a shot of making some money of gaming. We were on our local annual city LAN event, with about 500 people participating.
There was a Battlefield 2 tourny going, and we thought we had a decent shot at it. Unfortunately our team got severely crippled when 2 of my friends/clanmates could't make it.

We found some crappy substitutes, 2 guys who hadnt even touched battlefield untill they installed it 2 hours before the first match started. The match was 5 on 5.
We did surprisingly well though, even won a round against the top team there. Watching one of the newbies shoot a helicopter out of the sky with his rocket launcher was awesome.

We lost in the end ofcorse, but we will be returning for the Left 4 dead tournies

Playing more professionally is more fun for me. We joined the l4d ladder some time ago, and while we mostly did get our ass handed to us, it was awesome when we managed to win. When you work together as a team and play serious, it's much much more rewarding than steamrolling some public server.

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

Playing competitively turns games into work.

no it doesn't , playing competitivly turns the game into an actual game. games you play for "fun" are games you play just to sit and chat while you play.

You have a weird definition of "game".  Games are for fun; if you're playing competitively you turn them into sports.

That said, I would only do something like this on a small scale: pay 5 bucks to enter a tournament, get all the admission money if you win.  That sort of thing.

[iDante]

Getting mixed input here. Whatever, on saturday I'll be doing a regional brawl tournament. I fully expect to lose but it's only $10 and some of my friends are going.

I was hoping that there would be some other people here who have been to something like this before but it looks like not.

[-Major-]

Playing competitively turns games into work.

no it doesn't , playing competitivly turns the game into an actual game. games you play for "fun" are games you play just to sit and chat while you play.

You have a weird definition of "game".  Games are for fun; if you're playing competitively you turn them into sports.

sports and games are quite close to each others, like chess is a game, but also a brain sport and it's a very competetive game.

there's no fun in playing a single player game alone, unless you're trying to beat a high score, or if the game is extremely good.

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

there's no fun in playing a single player game alone, unless you're trying to beat a high score, or if the game is extremely good.

You have a weird definition of "single player".

...okay I think I'm done with the "weird definition" responses now. >_>

Anyway, single player games are fun because you're playing through a story, or because you're simply getting better.  When you go to a site like addictinggames.com, are you thinking, "Boy that was fun, but I sure hope I did better than my friends!"  Sometimes I just want to play a game for the sake of finishing it, not because other people finished it and I want to be like them, but simply for the sake of completion.  Not everything has to be a contest.

[Shard]

I would hope one day, games become as big as sport irl. I would sooo be in there for the cash, but I would always remember to play games for fun, when no cash is involved.