The Secret Lives of Our Favourite E-Sports Gamers

E-Sports gaming is quickly becoming as popular as many of the world's most popular sports. It used to be that gaming was seen as a nerdy hobby, but as soon as the prize money started flooding in, the world took notice. Now esports gamers can rake in millions at the biggest tournaments and with that comes a huge responsibility to practice, practice, practice. So, outside of gaming, what do these people do?

Boxer

Whilst Boxer isn't technically a professional gamer any more, he remains one of the biggest names in the industry. He rose to fame playing strategy game StarCraft, where he founded the SlayerS team and played for SK Telecom T1 as both a player and a coach. He remains one of the highest-paid players in the profession, taking home more than $400,000 annually, as well as endorsements that are estimated to reach more than $100,000.

He officially retired from esports gaming in 2010 aged 30 and has since made lots of time for a hobby that he enjoyed throughout his playing career, poker. Whilst Lim enjoyed the game during his esports years, the rigorous training regime meant that he didn't have a huge amount of time to devote to the game. However, since retiring his professional poker career has taken off. His biggest cash win came in his second place at the Asian Poker Series in 2016 when he won just over $33,000. 

Interestingly Boxer is not alone in his love of poker, it seems quite a natural hobby for esports gamers. ALOHADANCE who is most famous for his incredible skills in Dota is also a bit of a poker genius. Never one to pass up an online poker bonus, Ilya hones his skills online before letting them rip at in-person tournaments. Of course, Ilya is still playing at a high level in other gaming ventures, but his poker prowess could send him in a different direction entirely.

Faker

Faker is most famous for his League of Legends prowess. Interestingly, like Boxer, he was also picked up by team SK Telecom T1 where he played as the team's mid-laner. He is one of only two players in the world to have won the League of Legends Championship three times. His incredible mechanical skill is undoubtedly what has seen him to these successes, but also his versatile champion pool has been a huge help.

Whilst Faker has an extreme work ethic, often putting in more than 12 hours a day at practice, he too makes time for hobbies. In an interview, he commented, 'I think as a pro player, practicing and competing in games every single day is not that great of an idea. It’s a bad idea. That’s why I try to participate in lots of activities.' Unlike his poker-playing teammate, Faker isn't much of a poker player. His favorite way to relax is by tending to his collection of bonsai trees. Definitely a niche hobby, but you can certainly see how it would be relaxing.

Thresh

Arguably the first professional esports gamer, Fong began playing Doom at the age of 16 back in 1993. He attended Microsoft's Doom tournament Judgement Day in 1995 and finished first of 24 competitors. This success spurred Thresh on to compete at various tournaments across different games. His career highlight was probably at the Red Annihilation tournament in 1997 where Thresh defeated Entropy in a crushing 14 to -1 defeat. At the very peak of his career in the late 1990s, he was earning $100,000 a year from prize money and endorsements, which although not an enormous amount for an esports gamer now, was unheard of at the time.

Whilst gaming, Thresh spent most of his time focusing on improving his skills, but since officially retiring he has grown interested in all kinds of different avenues. First and foremost he is a businessman, setting up GX Media with his brother. This company has gone on to birth many others, so money-wise he is sorted for life. His real passion though is playing roller hockey! It's interesting that traditional athletes are getting involved in esports as a hobby, and it seems esports gamers are getting into traditional sports. Who would've thought it?