Felix “Rocklho” Bao Duy Ho makes his money from League of Legends. The professional used to be a player himself, but today he works as a caster at E for SIMPLE E-Sports. In a report by ZDF, Rocklho explains what e-sports people actually do in Germany – and why he stopped.
Who is the pro?
This is the documentary: On February 7th, ZDF published two reports on the subject of e-spots in Germany, one entitled: “Zock oder Flop?” and one entitled: “Nothing but gambling?”
In the latter, Rocklho talks about the day-to-day life of an esports enthusiast, his journey, and things he thinks can be problematic about becoming a pro gamer as a youngster – and why he eventually quit.
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“We only exist because people got bored”
What does the everyday life of an e-sportsman look like? In the report, Rocklho tells how he spent his days as a gamer in e-sports:
As a pro gamer, I would say, your life is different than what most people imagine. You just gamble a lot […] 10 hours a day, every day, 7 days a week. 5 hours of it with the team, 5 hours of it alone. […] We don’t play with friends, we don’t play for fun. Every game is there to help us get better.
But you get enormous recognition “from all genders, from all sides.”
Why did Rocklho quit? Rocklho explains that he sees himself as enormously privileged. His job is one of the rarest in Germany and it only exists because “people got bored”. After all, he earns his money by letting others watch him gamble.
Nevertheless, the professional sees two major criticisms of life as an e-sportsman:
Playing got the upper hand at Rocklho early on. At high school, he forged signatures, didn’t do his homework and lied to teachers in order to be able to gamble more. He literally threw away other club activities: “It was no longer an addiction, that was about it.”
At some point he reached the top 300 in Europe and was able to make money with League of Legends. Looking back, however, looks different today:
“Because we’ve been gambling all our lives, a lot is lost. Especially at such a young age. I’ve been playing professionally since I was 18 and many others start even earlier.
They won’t experience so many things at all, I would say, normal people, students or [solche]who are doing an apprenticeship, who have normal contact with people, are allowed to experience. You haven’t learned any soft skills. You just learned to be the best in a game.”
Rocklho only saw his parents four times in all that time. When he gained a lot of weight as a pro gamer and noticed that his life was becoming more and more unhealthy, he decided to stop.
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“You were given contracts that were not kept”
Today, Rockloh works as a consultant at the “esports player foundation” and helps young professionals who are aiming for a career in e-sports themselves. The ex-pro praises how much e-sports have developed in recent years.
When he started, people were constantly being “ripped off”, that contracts and promises were not kept. You had to take care of everything yourself and didn’t get any help.
Today is different. Rocklho praises: “There is simply much, much more work being done to ensure that the new generation can become even better and that it is easier for them.” He is a bit jealous, but happy to be able to help in his new position.
However, life as a professional does not fit the priorities that Rocklho himself wants to set for his life.
Esports is a fast-paced field where careers can start and end just as quickly. Rocklho himself hadn’t had a team for months – something that would be unthinkable in other sports. One of the youngest talents in e-sports had a similar experience:
What happened to the 15-year-old who his mom took out of school so he could spend more time in Fortnite?