Interview eGene of The Titans

You are a professional gamer known as eGene. Could you tell us something about you?

My name is Simon; I’m 19 years old and live in Denmark. I have just started my 2nd year at Business College and have played Counter-Strike since the end of beta 7.1. Besides CS, I’m together with my girlfriend almost every night after practise with the team.

What’s your favorite game?

I do only play one game, guess which?

When and how did you start to play professionally?

I guess it all started after we (The Titans) won the Greek CXG qualifier in December 2003. After that victory we came on a quite big winning streak. After that our management got more serious and we established Titan eSports Inc.

Can you make a living out of gaming?

I sure can! Currently I’m living in my own apartment with only 300 euro per month, and that’s just enough to survive. So yes, getting about 200 - 400 euro extra of gaming each now and then is helping me quite a lot.

What do you like or dislike in being a pro gamer?

The best part of it has always been to travel around the world and earn money doing it!

What do you think about eSports in general? Is it the future of sports in general?

eSports are getting bigger and bigger everyday, and in time I’m quite sure it will be a sport, but right now I still think we need to work on a lot of things.

What are you doing in your spare time? Gaming as well?

Of course I play in my spare time. It ranges from 1 to 5 hours before we start practise. It really depends on how close we are to a big gaming event.

What’s your personal dream?

I have lots of personal dreams - Take a trip around the world, and maybe one day to live of eSports.

For how long do you think you will be able to play professionally eSports?

I don't know really, it depends on a lot of things in my real life, but as it is right now, I’m sure it will be at least 1 or 2 years.

What are your plans after your career?

To get a full time job; hopefully a computer related one.

Millions of people are playing every day. What kind of qualifications do they have to fulfil to become a professional gamer?

If it's a team, they first of all need to stick together and learn from their own mistakes, and THEN they do need to make some good results. After that, they will probably get a better management and enough sponsors to travel around the world. That's how we did it! Rome wasn’t built in one day you know.