There exist a stigma on professional esports gamers not being considered “real” athletes. Over the years, the sport was perceived largely as a leisure activity and not an actual sporting event.

The misconception had arisen from video gaming being considered to not be an athletic experience. A career in gaming was interpreted as non-existent and I daresay a taboo in some households, which holds till this day.

In a recent conversation with esports and gaming content creator Jack Lucky, NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal who was a guest on the Full Gaming motorhome interviews shared his thoughts about esports. The 4-time NBA champion was asked if he considers pro esports players as athletes. O’Neal responded in the affirmative as he went on to tell a story about his experiences with other forms of athletes.

He commended esports players, stating that he was proud of them. He described athleticism as 15% physical and 85% mental, using his swimming contest against Michael Phelps to drive his point.

“I do! I wanna commend you guys and I’m proud of you guys,” O’Neal said. “An athlete means different things, an athlete means here (mentality). Like I did a show it’s called Shaq Versus, when I went on a race with Darl Earnhardt, that was the hardest shit I’ve done in my life. I’m sitting, I’m sitting in the car. When we were out there bro my body was so sore. I was like gaddamn! When I went to swim against Michael Phelps, 15% of the game is physical, everything else is mental.”

The 15-time NBA All-Star compared the shelf life of a typical NBA and NFL player to that of an esports player. He concluded that they are the same and, as such, a pro esports player ought to be considered an athlete. He also stated that if pro esports players consider themselves athletes, he agrees with them as he cannot pull off the things that they do.

“So the things that you guys go through, that’s why you guys don’t really have a long life shelf, I think its what 3-5 or 5-6 years,” Shaq continued. “Same thing with the NBA and you know the NFL. So yeah, you guys are athletes. If you guys say you’re athletes I believe you, because I can’t do what you do.”

Shaq, as he is fondly called, had in 2016 invested in an esports organization. He is amongst the early investors in NGR Esports, co-founder by fellow Sacramento Kings co-owner Andy Miller, who doubles as the CEO. NGR Esports has over time been a part of franchises’ growth in various esports leagues including Rocket League, Call of Duty, Overwatch League, and other popular esport titles.

In recent times, the sport has received large attention with interest spanning from big corporations to reputable football clubs and celebrities. The massive amount of popularity the sport has received in recent times can be attributed to the pandemic and the incessant worldwide lockdown.

With most sporting activities placed on permanent hold, casinos shut down, and people remaining indoors, esports saw a tremendous hike in its viewership. It received a surge and registered record-breaking numbers across several tournaments.

The massive acceptance of professional esports has seen tournament organizers like Valve and Riot Games organize Dota 2 and League of Legends tournaments with multimillion-dollar prize pools.

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To this date the most ever users to visit a stream came in March, 2018, when 628,000 users joined Tyler ��Ninja�� Blevins on his channel after rapper Drake promoted it over his social media channels.

The famous rapper paired up with Ninja for a couple of games of Fortnite and just to get the internet buzzing a little more they filled out their team with rapper Travis Scott and NFL rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster.

The squad ended up with some victories under their belts and it was the beginning of a trend.

Celebrities are no strangers to the eSports scene. Rick Fox, former NBA player, owns one of the most popular League of Legends teams. Shaquille O��Neal and Alex Rodriguez own an Overwatch team. Following this trend it was only a matter of time before they joined popular streamers.

In an interview, Blevins admitted he earns around $500k every month and he basically just plays Fortnite on Twitch twice a day. Each stream lasts around four hours and often features special guests. Ninja also teams up with other streamers who are also benefiting from his popularity.

Ninja is the most successful but not the only streamer to play video games for a living, however becoming popular on Twitch is not easy. There are hundreds of streamers that are trying to make it and the streamers must invest time and resources to increase the quality of their content. It is a full time job because they should also keep active social accounts to help get new viewers.

This new wave of online personalities have different ways to earn money. Once they become partners on the platform, they receive a kick each time someone subscribes to their channel. Streamers can also get donations from the audience. There have been notorious donations. For example, Drake pledged to donate $5,000 to Ninja if he won a game. Popular streamers often get endorsement from different companies. A streamer can be sponsored by an esports organization, a technology brand and a game developer. They often promote the brands but most of their income derives from the subscribers.

Ninja has around 120,000 viewers every time he is online with no other streamer comparing to this success. As a comparison the most popular League of Legend streamer only gets around 60,000 viewers.

The key to Ninja��s success is his personality. He is a relaxed guy that enjoys the game and engaging with the audience. Ninja also invites other popular streamers to play with him, a technique used to help each other.

Streaming video games is an attractive career path but not everyone can make it on this environment. The gaming community tends to be ��toxic��.

Even famous people can feel the wrath of the Twitch community, just ask Logan Paul, the controversial Youtuber, who tried to get into the Twitch game, but instead received two hours of insults from passionate fans.

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