Getting Paid to Play

To some people, video games may just seem like a fun hobby. That is not the case for Noah Snook. For Snook, gaming is a part of his everyday life, and could even be a potential career path.

Getting into video games when he was just five years old, they weren’t a big deal to him yet. “They were fun, but I wasn’t passionate about them,” Snook says. His passion began when he was 10, when he began to get competitive.

As Snook’s passion for gaming grew, so did his abilities. As he improved and spent more time playing, it started to become clear that there could be a future for him in gaming. In his sophomore year of high school, he come to the realization that he could take his gaming to the next level. “I would see all of the Esport athletes on TV and streaming platforms, and I thought that there was no reason that couldn’t be me.”

Wanting to pursue gaming isn’t something very common, and not everyone understood his choice initially. At first, his family did not understand his decision, and didn’t think it was a viable option. Snook says that it took a while for his family to understand his decision, as they struggled to imagine him playing video games for a career.

Snook decided that he was going to pursue gaming as something to participate in while he attends college. After preparing gaming resumes and putting in lots of work, he received a scholarship to play at Illinois Wesleyan University, one of the nation’s top gaming colleges. Snook received scholarships from multiple schools, such as Wichita State, but chose Illinois Wesleyan because of the program’s success and the size of his scholarship.

Esports have become something that has seen huge growth over the past few years. Recently, networks such as ESPN have even covered certain tournaments and competitions. While the growth has already been massive, Snook expects it to continue. “Honestly, I think the sky is the limit. With platforms like Twitch that specialize in video game streams, I think more people will get involved.”

Snook’s school, Illinois Wesleyan, even competed on ESPN a few years back, before Snook attended. One of the team’s goals is to get back there next year.

College gaming is a topic that doesn’t get discussed much, but there is lots of time and work that goes behind it. The teams and players spend hours practicing and strategizing before events. Snook says that they will have numerous practices on the week on a big tournament, where they come up with their game plan and strategies for the competition.

According to Snook, strategies are one of the most important things before a gaming competition. “They’re everything. If you go play online with random people as teammates, everybody is trying to do everything on their own. When you truly work together as a team and find the best way to play, it is a massive advantage.”

The strategies have worked well for Illinois Wesleyan, as they have seen lots of recent success. In the College Carball Association, the second largest collegiate tournament, they placed tenth. If they are successful in their next few tournaments, then they will be invited to some of the nation’s biggest competitions.

As a freshman, Snook is already able to make an impact on his team. With collegiate gaming, everyone gets their opportunities, but the big competitions are usually left for the top players on each team. Snook’s accolades and abilities have given him one of the biggest roles on the team. At one point last year, he was ranked as one of the top 100 Rocket League players in the world. He is looking to make a big impact for Illinois Wesleyan.

For Snook, gaming has become a staple of his life. Not only is it one of his favorite activities, but he has risen to an elite level of gaming. However, he is unsure if what he will do after college. Professional gaming is definitely a possibility, but he’s not sure if he will get there.

“Right now, I just see this as a way to enjoy my college experience a bit more, but with the popularity of Esports growing, who knows,” Snook says. “If I get the opportunity to pursue it, I feel like I can’t turn that down.”

His future might be an uncertainty, but there is no doubt that Snook has done his best to pursue a career in gaming. It may have not always been expected, as he hadn’t seen gaming as a potential future until his sophomore year of high school, but he has put in the work. Whether a career in gaming is there or not, it has been a fun ride for Noah Snook.