4 Unexpected Ways Gaming Can Replace Your Day Job
Valued at almost $180 billion, the global gaming market is larger than films and music combined, yet few would list their Call of Duty win/loss ratio on their CV.
So, why is this? From online streaming to social media stardom, it’s clear gaming can be a lucrative career path. But more traditional work environments are also waking up to the unique value gamers bring to their setup.
The level of engagement people experience when playing their favourite game is something many businesses want to replicate in the workplace. Despite this, however, there remains a lot of research to be done on gaming and its impact on people’s careers.
In the meantime, we explore a few unexpected ways gaming can replace your day job right here, right now. Read on and discover how your favourite hobby might change your life.
Racing gamers can join the Mclaren F1 team
If you’ve ever daydreamed about racing around Silverstone and going wheel-to-wheel with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, you might be interested to know some F1 teams are on the lookout for the world’s fastest gamer.
Back in 2017, McLaren collaborated with Logitech to find a talented racing gamer to offer a one-year contract. The role was that of a simulator driver for its Formula 1 team.
The winner, Rudy Van Buren, a 25-year-old sales manager, beat over 30,0000 contestants to become McLaren’s official simulator driver for the 2018 F1 season. Today Rudy has made a name for himself, driving for Cartech Motorsport in the Carrera Cup Deutschland.
This was McLaren’s first proper attempt to get involved with the world of eSports. And with its star driver, Lando Norris also launching his own eSports team in 2020, it’s clear the world of racing is waking up to the potential of gaming.
Lottery players could win a life-changing jackpot
Winning the lottery is perhaps the most notorious way to replace your day job. Sometimes it’s a blessing; other times it’s a curse.
Former jackpot winners and ex-journalists, Richard and Cathy Brown used their winnings to leave Ipswich, travel to Antarctica, and do a full season yacht racing in the North Sea. Both are happily retired and living their best lives.
Other winners aren’t ready to give up the day job quite yet. Sue Richards, for instance, won a huge windfall in 2016 from a scratch card. Today she has a new home, four cars, and a motorhome — but continues to work her job as a carer.
However, some fall victim to the lottery curse. When Willie Seeley won the Powerball jackpot alongside his work’s lottery pool in 2013, he didn’t predict the chaos to come. Lamenting the big win not long after receiving his $4 million share, Seeley is famed for wishing he was back getting paid every two weeks, largely thanks to bombardment from reporters.
Other examples of lottery jackpots like cash4life can be played all over the world (visit here for more information) and allow you to win $1,000 a day for life. This is often seen as a more sensible jackpot where winners have a steady stream of income, rather than a sudden windfall they cannot prepare for. This provides more surety when quitting your day job.
Online gamblers can earn a spot on a professional poker table
Some of the world’s top poker players started online. If you have a natural ability to multitask and play multiple screens at once for hours on end, you might have what it takes to play poker at the highest professional level.
Take Viktor Blom, for example, as a name that has become synonymous with poker.
Starting online under that alias Isildur1, Blom won millions of dollars playing his hobby online. By 2009, he had taken part in ten of the largest professional poker pots recorded at that time. His run at the top included a big win at the PCA Super High Roller in 2012.
Today Blom’s online winnings are around $3 million — that’s not a bad nest egg.
Gaming has the potential to be a lucrative career path in more ways than you might expect. Gamers are at the forefront of a new tech revolution. We see it through the luck of the lottery, the skill of the McLaren driving programme, and dedication to the craft of professional poker. But soon gamers might be at the forefront of the new digital revolution.
Since 2019, Game Academy — which is a new tech programme — has looked to fill skills shortages in the labour market by supporting thousands of gamers to break into traditional industries.
Perhaps then, we might be seeing gaming achievements listed on the CV in the future.
