Chapter 5: Thoughts on being a professional
There is no clear definition of what it means to be a professional gamer.
I started working as a professional gamer about a year and a half ago.
Yes, it all began when I won the ProHople tournament in Japan.
It's been a year and a half, huh?
Somehow, I remembered it.
It wasn't that I wanted to become a professional gamer.
At first, I started playing just to escape reality.
I lost my mother, and the eyes of the world looked at us with kindness, but they were eyes full of pity.
That's when I saw the game.
The game was good.
I could forget about the world and reality.
Only when I played could I enter my own world.
"Why don't you try streaming your games?"
That's what my father said to me one day.
Why?
"Because it's fun to play alone, but isn't it also fun to play with other people?"
With those words from my father, I started streaming games.
My username is Takamori.
I had just changed my last name to romaji.
At first, I only had a few viewers.
However, the number of viewers on my streams suddenly increased.
There were many people who told me they were captivated by my gameplay.
And when my channel had over 60,000 subscribers, I received an offer to participate in the ProHople Kanto tournament.
"Why don't you join? You can do it!"
My father and my sister supported my participation in the tournament.
With their encouragement, I decided to join the tournament.
I made my first appearance in the Kanto tournament and won for the first time in my career.
However, the unparalleled performance of Takamori didn't stop there.
If you rank high enough in the Kanto tournament, you're invited to participate in the national tournament.
Of course, I also earned the right to compete in the nationals.
And the result of the national tournament?
I won the championship.
This result drew attention not only from the gaming industry but also from various media outlets.
At that time, there was talk about esports potentially becoming an Olympic sport.
From there, I went on to win the Asian Games.
Finally, I achieved the extraordinary result of winning the World Championship.
At that moment, I was the youngest world champion, so I became the center of attention.
"Congratulations!"
"Congrats, man!"
"Thank you."
My father and sister were as happy as if they had won themselves.
After winning the world championship, my world changed drastically.
First of all, the number of subscribers to my channel skyrocketed.
I also received an enormous amount of prize money.
My streaming also became very popular.
I want to be the kind of adult who can inspire someone else to dream.
This became my belief as a professional gamer, Takamori, and Ryo Takamori.