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DeathJester's Dojo
The Road to
Success:
Realistic Dreams or Pipe Dreams?
Bryan Camareno a.k.a. DeathJester
June 24, 2005
The Road to
Success: Realistic Dreams or Pipe Dreams?
On the road to success there are two extremely
important concepts we must grasp: Reality and
Fantasy. In this game, it’s quite easy to get
consumed in the dream of becoming National Champion
or even World Champion. It’s a goal many of us hope
to achieve one day. It’s a goal that can easily
distract you from everyday life…some can call it a
‘solace’ from the pressures of real life. If I stop
to think about it, becoming a traveling YuGiOh star
is a luxury that isn’t often looked at
realistically. Take Wilson Luc for example, not only
is he one of the best players America has to offer,
but he is young and can travel at nearly anytime; he
has a luxury that some of us “old farts” can’t
really hope to have. Without major bills to pay like
car insurance, phone, rent, house payments, traffic
tickets, food, groceries, or even kids; it’s almost
too easy to completely wrap yourself around your
dreams of success in this game.
Reality has a way of getting to you when you try to
avoid it so much. As we all get older, it becomes
harder and harder to hold on to your dreams of
success; because after all, we need to have goals to
become successful. In other words, you’ve got to
have dreams before success. But there comes a time
when… (How cliché does this sound?) you have to set
your dreams aside and face the real world and its
over-bearing demands. Being an 18-25 yr old in this
game in a lot rougher than most people give us
credit for. As I mentioned before, we are
responsible for bills and sometimes kids of our own.
It’s extremely difficult to be #1 in your state when
you can only play in 1 tournament a week compared to
the 5, 6, 7, or even 10 any normal kid can do in any
given week. This is why I don’t believe your rating
is an accurate measure of your skill. It actually
means nothing when you compare a successful 16 year
old to a successful 25 year old in this game. Whose
rating will be higher? Take a wild guess. UDE should
fix this problem; why not learn from Wizards of the
Coast? Sure, this may sound like ranting, but it’s
not people, its reality; a plane of existence many a
player is not aware of.
Real life often prevents you from doing anything
luxurious. Some of us have to work on weekends so
where’s the time for tournaments there? What do you
tell your boss at work? “Oh, I’m going to be out for
3 days to go to a YuGiOh tournament in New York”.
Good luck finding a job after that one. A lot of you
know EXACTLY what I’m talking about. This is why I
don’t believe the current ratings system in YuGiOh
is fair at all, or relevant to skill specifically
because kids that are actually good at the game can
earn more points than an adult who also equally as
skilled simply by higher frequency of local
tournament attendance and occasional wins.
Now let’s take Comic Odyssey for example. I can
safely say that approximately half of their team is
under the age of 18. That makes about 10 of their
players. Now let’s take into account how many of
them may have jobs. I can assume that 40% of the
‘under age 18’ group has a job to maybe pay car
insurance or earn some money for something. That’s
about 4 players. This may have changed due to their
recent success, so this is just speculation.
Now let’s take a look at our current National
Champion, Theerasak “T” Poonsombat. The guy is 22
years old; he obviously has a job. Let’s face it
everyone…YuGiOh doesn’t pay the bills for very long.
This is especially true when prize money is split
7-8 ways. A five thousand dollar Cyber-Stein split 8
ways in only 625 dollars a person. That can’t even
pay rent in some places people. Then you take that
625 and invest it into another plane ticket; this
means you subtract another 150 dollars or less if
you plan your flights earlier for future events.
That leaves you with 475 or less left to pay for
various luxuries. Car insurance is anywhere from
100-250 dollars a month! That leaves with you
anywhere from 225-350 dollars. If you live alone
then you have to figure in the phone bill,
electricity, gas money, food, etc. At the end of all
that, you have almost 0. Even worse if you go to
college, you’re always broke. 625 dollars covers
just the bills and airfares then you still have to
bust your butt working to have money in the bank for
anything else. Keep in mind that this is all banking
on the chance that you’ll actually win.
When Comic Odyssey plans their trips, they have to
make for damn sure that they will win because if
they don’t…they just lost a pretty penny in plane
tickets. They have to win JUST to break even on some
trips. Those Steins don’t sell for much anymore,
winning one almost seems like a waste of time and
money. Don’t believe me? Talk to one of them
sometime, they’ll tell you some stories. Why do I
respect Comic Odyssey? It’s because they know how to
turn a hobby into something semi-profitable. It’s
the reason why so many new teams have sprung up in
the last year: To achieve what Odyssey has achieved.
So…after all this, what am I trying to say? I’m
saying there isn’t any money in this game right now.
Winning a Stein these days is like winning a local
tournament, you get a little fame, some nice cards,
and then you go home. Think about when T won the
National Championship last year. Sure he went
undefeated and utterly destroyed the competition
there, but what did he do afterwards? He probably
just went back home to California and resumed his
normal life. Nothing special, he’s a just another
regular guy with a specific talent.
In all truth, this is why 90% of the YuGiOh players
around the world envy games like Magic: The
Gathering and Poker. Why? Because when you win…YOU
WIN BIG. But then again, what if YuGiOh could do the
same? What if Konami could loosen the noose around
UDE Entertainment and give out some money to the
winner of a major tournament? Give the money to the
players who worked hard to get there. Sure, YuGiOh
is supposed to be a kid’s game; however the kid
aspect can only go so far for so long. It’s time to
grow up boys and girls.
When I’m faced with this “reality”; this aspect of
living life; I remember why I play; for the love of
the game. That feeling of accomplishment and the
thrill you get from playing makes everything worth
it. It’s the same as an athlete training to win an
Olympic medal. I can say that the National
Championship pales in comparison to the Shonen Jump
Championships prize structure, but I think 2005
YuGiOh National Champion sounds a hell of a lot
better than Shonen Jump Champion. In terms of
prestige, Shonen Jump Champion is about as important
as being Regional Champion. The title is worthless.
Being declared champion of the nation is what dreams
are made of. Being World Champion is what it’s all
about.
As you finish reading this article, just remember
that reality can get to you sometimes and bring you
down, but it’s our dreams of success that really
keep us working hard to achieve what we need to
achieve. Remember that I’m just a regular guy
working hard to live his life and work towards his
dream of success. Being a responsible adult may be
hard and discouraging at times, but to no dream is
too small or too large in life. Is becoming National
or World Champion a realistic dream, or just a pipe
dream? I say its realistic dream that’s worth
struggling for.
Until next time…remember to play hard, play good,
and most importantly, have fun!
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