I'm a CS player from the UK who has just moved into a sponsored gaming house with my 4 teammates, 3 of which won the Championship Gaming Series for $500K back in 2008. Ask me (or my housemates) anything.

http://www.four-kings.com/home/m/3988913/article/1387752 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Championship_Gaming_Series

http://www.twitch.tv/onscreenlol

https://twitter.com/onscreenlol/status/321284376824528898

Some pictures here

Comments: 379 • Responses: 49  • Date: 

SquidsAhoy62 karma

How boring is cs for you now that you've spent hundreds of hours playing?

onscreenlol185 karma

No game gets boring when you play with friends.

zeldastheguyright51 karma

Do the women dig it?

onscreenlol99 karma

My girlfriend also moved with me, so..

Vuist47 karma

Is everything paid for? Like groceries and stuff? For how long are you guys planning to stay in that house?

onscreenlol61 karma

No, just the rent, we still have to pay the bills/food/anything else. We plan on staying here for at least a year.

Mistersinister125 karma

Do they actually pay you to play or do you have to find employment to pay the bills?

onscreenlol22 karma

Personally I still work but the others generally just live off their CGS money/poker money.

gwvent17 karma

I have no idea how popular CS streams are but a lot of pro gamers make most of their income from streaming. Generally, with sponsorships, you get a lot of freebies from the sponsors and some of them might pay for things like travel to tournaments.

Just something I found awesome: When I was still really into CS, the first pro team I heard about was 3D and I read that they were sponsored by Subway so they got all the free subs they wanted. I'd never been so jealous of someone before.

onscreenlol28 karma

I stream but CS is not very popular compared to the likes of LoL, I get around 200-300 viewers on average and make about 50dollars or so a month from it.

http://twitch.tv/onscreenlol is my stream

shiv4m42 karma

On a scale from 1 to GabeN, how good do you have to be to get into a sponsored team?

onscreenlol43 karma

Good but not the best, just win a few events and stand out from the crowd, if you are lucky you end up sponsored sooner or later.

BreakingNoose38 karma

What happens when people stop being polite and start getting real?

onscreenlol39 karma

We have all been friends for years, we are way past being polite.

LrdDphn35 karma

What's the best CS advice you can give?

onscreenlol75 karma

Don't copy other players settings just because they are good with it, use something that suits yourself and stick with it.

BLITZCRUNK12331 karma

Can you confirm or deny that you got yelled at by staff at CPL UK 2005 for drop-kicking a cardboard cutout of Fatal1ty?

onscreenlol43 karma

It's true, don't get me wrong fatal1ty is a good player but the cardboard cut outs were a bit annoying.

crazzymike26 karma

how many hours a day do you usually play for?

onscreenlol34 karma

5 or so weekdays, 24 weekends.

molrobocop18 karma

How much WoW-gold do you have to farm to pay the sponsor back for rent?

onscreenlol18 karma

People still play WoW?

Behold my shitty rogue. http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/frostmane/Onscreen/simple

Sweep048 karma

Props for arena master and never reaching max level on the disgusting expansion that was Cataclysm.

onscreenlol6 karma

Yup, my old guild mates tried to convince me to play but I got bored fast, it's just not the same!

I used to be in Ad Infinitum on Stormscale-EU if anyone remembers.

Prof_Frink_PHD17 karma

How bad does that place smell?

onscreenlol20 karma

There is a slight aroma of beer and whiskey in the air, other than that its surprisingly fine.

Damnskipp17 karma

You guys must be living the dream. Do you ever wake up and just ask yourself: "What am I doing with my life?"... And then proceed to laugh because your life must be fucking awesome.

onscreenlol29 karma

No, I wake to the sound of my alarm clock at 7am to get ready for work after practising to 2am the night before.

danw65015 karma

GO or Source? or 1.6

Which is your favorite? Which is the "best"?

Do you enjoy Day of Defeat? Tf2?

onscreenlol26 karma

We are all ex 1.6 players except for 1 ex quake player. I was the only one who didn't move onto source. We are now all competing in CS:GO. I really enjoy CS:GO right now but my favourite will always be 1.6.

You can see my old 1.6 movie here

Freedmonster14 karma

proof?

Also what is a sponsored gaming house, do you just live there and play video games or what? tell us a bout a general day.

onscreenlol24 karma

It's a house set up specifically for the team to live in and practice for events, we have a pool, sauna, gym, gaming room and cinema room. We generally do whatever we want and try to practice as much as we can. I still work full time and so does one other player, I could if i wanted to give up my job and game full time but i refuse too.

I've posted proof on my twitter (I have about 2 followers though, but i guess it will do?)

Sweep0413 karma

Do you think CS will ever because as prominent as it used to be?

How / why?

onscreenlol22 karma

With a little help from Valve it could become very big like the old days.

chatbug_10 karma

On round 1 of Dust II would you go A Long or to B?

In a normal buy round how would you get through to B and clear it without getting raped in the tunnel?

onscreenlol13 karma

We don't just have 1 pistol tactic, we have multiple and use them depending on which team we play. So could be either A or B and can change mid round depending on the situation.

Have your teammates fake A in the hopes to force 1 player to rotate from B leaving only 1 left in the site, smoke flash and run in backwards to make sure you don't get flashed.

dahston9 karma

Do you stream? A lot of people here would be interested in watching im sure..

Why are you called 4kings when there are 5 of you? Based on my (limited) math skills, I propose a name change to '5 kings'

onscreenlol6 karma

Zyville8 karma

What does your training/practice schedule look like over the course of a week?

onscreenlol6 karma

pretty much every evening, it depends when we can get games, we book them in advance with other teams.

FlakkenTime5 karma

How do you practice? Pick up games? Or against other teams?

onscreenlol4 karma

If we are all able to play we will arrange games with other teams, if not then we just play gathers either via IRC or ESEA.

imhereforthedengbang8 karma

How did you go about getting sponsored? Did they come to you or did you try to find a good organization?

onscreenlol6 karma

I've been sponsored by other orgs in the past, 4Kings approached me back in 2011 after winning an event.

omegatheory7 karma

I'm a very passionate gamer, and I'm not too shabby at any game I pick up (usually finish with the top score in pick up games, etc etc). However, working an every day 9-5 really holds me back from going to that next level.

What suggestions do you have for anyone who would like to break into professional gaming as a serious career? Do you know anyone who makes an income off of streaming? (Twitch.TV etc) If so, how did they go about getting started up?

Sorry about the multiple questions!

awb112355 karma

Real talk: If you're old enough to have a 9-5 then you're too old to become a professional gamer.

onscreenlol21 karma

You should know that I am 25 and my teammates are 25, 25, 29, 29. :P

I'll be gaming in my retirement home when I'm 85, playing the newly released HL3.

onscreenlol2 karma

Don't just sit and play online, go to events. Book time off work and compete in as many as you can.

I don't know any CS players that make a living off twitch, I would love to do something like this but the numbers are just not there. You need at least a steady 2000+ viewers on average to make any sort of 'good' money from Twitch. I barely get 200 viewers on a good day.

Unless you are a pro LoL/SC2 player you can forget about making a living from streaming.

nintles6 karma

how is the internet ? does every single one of you have his own or is it shared ? When you stream, use TS and play whats your ping ?

onscreenlol11 karma

We all share a fibre line which is 80mb down 20mb up. When I'm streaming I rarely get a higher ping than 20ms.

ehtran5 karma

How do you stay physically active?

onscreenlol7 karma

We have a small gym and a pool.

lasse19917 karma

A pool.. In UK.. This time a year.. K..

onscreenlol12 karma

It's heated, but yes it's just fate that the moment I get my hands on a pool the UK has the coldest easter in recorded history..

ObligatoryPokemonRef5 karma

What pokemon did you choose for your starter?

onscreenlol15 karma

Charmander obviously.

MyHoovesClack5 karma

M4 or AK47?

onscreenlol6 karma

AK is a lot better than M4 in CSGO.

mRWafflesFTW3 karma

Good luck! I wish we had some sponsorship dollars for CS in North America. Come on Complexity and EG pick it up. Good luck against NIP. My question: Do you guys have enough good opponents to practice against, or do you feel your ability to improve per day is restricted by the lack of other formal training partners? Aren't there only about 4 salaried CS teams in the Euro-zone? Do you have to wait around for non-business hours so the other teams can get home and compete?

onscreenlol3 karma

Correct, teams generally only prac in the evenings and weekends. We have a big private facebook group with all the top teams so arranging games is really easy.

EspeNw3 karma

Are there other pro gamers in the house other than you and the rest of the team? If so, what games do they play?

Do you think another team can pass NiP's crazy winning streak?

Do you like Starcraft?

onscreenlol8 karma

Nope just us. I doubt anyone will get close to their insane win streak, that must be a record of some sort.

Who doesn't like starcraft?

SG_Dave3 karma

4kings? My friends played against you at the PCGamer Showdown in 2008.

They were playing TF2. J-Server. You guys walked all over them, but in the last seconds of the last round my friend got a heavy taunt kill on bybben.

I have nothing else to say/ask :P

OOO scratch that. I'm big into CS:GO myself, not particularly amazing at it but public games I can't be touched. Are there any particular servers you play on/would suggest for someone wanting to improve and actually learn to play properly?

I only really play Hostage maps on pub servers through matchmaking because I run into a lot of familiar faces and know I will more often than not come away with a win.

onscreenlol5 karma

We have been recently been playing a lot of ESEA, I would recommend it over playing matchmaking as it has a very good anti-cheat.

themalteseburglar3 karma

Most of you guys need better desk chairs for that level of gaming... for any level of gaming/computering really.

onscreenlol3 karma

We had the choice of any chair we wanted, mine is the massive office chair at the back, some of the other guys just wanted standard dining room chairs. It's all personal preference.

pfitz62 karma

My recoil control in cs is godawful, how do i improve it?

onscreenlol9 karma

Jump on a local server, sv_cheats 1 and then sv_showimpacts 1.

You can now see server side where the bullets actually hit, practice with this.

DreyaNova2 karma

Hey, where abouts is this house? Like just roughly, it looks exactly like my Aunt and Uncle's old house and I'm just wondering if it is the same building.

onscreenlol4 karma

Manchester, UK.

Atheist_Photographer2 karma

What specs do you have on your current gaming machine? Also, number of monitors and size too if you don't mind. I'd be curious if you have posted your rig to /r/battlestations as well.

What hobbies outside of gaming do you guys do?

onscreenlol4 karma

I recently built an overkill machine for myself with an i7 3970X and GTX680. (wish I waited for the titan though). You can see the full specs on my buildapc post.

We are all avid poker players, most of the team making a living from poker alone.

I use a 144hz Benq XL2411T monitor which is 24" and a secondary 24" samsung monitor. I like to have 2 big monitors for when I am multi-tabling poker.

noxstreak3 karma

What Poker sites do you play on? Is it not illegal where you are at?

onscreenlol3 karma

Stars and FTP, nope not illegal in UK!

iloveireland2 karma

An ex counter strike 1.6 player here.

I loved 4K back when commando, dag, elly, mangi and the rest were in the team playing, their synchronized tactics were the best. They had quite the success back then doing synchronized attacks when both cts and ts. (Here is their masterpiece on de_inferno, one of the best tactics ever made on that map by any team):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H7BN94aSmE

Also this video made me jizz

My question is:

  1. Will your lineup use synchronized tactics or will rely on individual skill?

Thank you very much for the AMA.

onscreenlol3 karma

That video is actually very basic compared to some of the stuff we have been working on. I'm very anal when it comes to tactics. I'm the kind of guy that sits on a server perfecting a smoke for 2 hours.

omiclix1 karma

How much money do you make being a pro?

onscreenlol1 karma

Not enough.

General_Juicebox1 karma

is that the cleanest the house has ever been?

onscreenlol2 karma

Yup

fridgehead1 karma

Do you feel like you're wasting your life?

onscreenlol1 karma

Not at all, only been here a few weeks so far and it's been great.

CanadianCaveman1 karma

Congrats

onscreenlol1 karma

Thanks!