Gaming Lessons

I Was a Student: Musings from Tom Bly

No matter what you pursue in your life, you always are going to run into obstacles. Sometimes these obstacles can be very easy to overcome, however it depends on how you go about overcoming them.

I believe one of those most difficult obstacles in professional gaming is going from a completely new person to a game, to the top of the leaderboards. It involves continuous losing and a persistence and determination that simply cannot be broken down. Just like anything else in life, in order to be successful at something, you have to want it and you have work for it.

I once wanted to be a professional gamer myself during the time of competitive Halo 2. I played day and night, roughly 8-10 hours a day working on improving and becoming the best. I wanted it, I craved it like no other thing in the world. However, there were times where I came up against obstacles that I did know how to conquer. It did not matter how differently I looked at it, I could not come up with a valid answer. I ended up purchasing a lesson from a top MLG pro only to ask him a few questions. I felt as if I already had the skills and the smarts in-game and I definitely had the potential to be a successful professional gamer. The obstacle I could not pass the mental part of competing at an MLG event. Keeping my composure and remaining calm despite people staring at me, screaming at me, etc. I concluded the only way I could learn this without actually going to the events, was to see how other people have done it. You see in almost every profession, there is a teacher. You have to learn some way or another. The most successful way to learn something is by being taught it. It is why we have to go to school for so long!

Well, I saved up some money and talked my parents into purchasing me a lesson if I gave them the money for it. I purchased the lesson and learned things mentally that I simply could not learn unless I experienced it. I asked what kind of things went on in their head when they were playing main stage. How did they remain calm and focused? What did they do to motivate themselves when they were playing bad? All kinds of questions, and I learned. I was extremely satisfied in my lesson and I went out to be a very talented player in the game.

Years have passed and I’ve spent my time teaching people what I have learned and much, much more. I’ve found other people like me, and together we work to make sure that lessons and more are available to all who wish to have them. We are going to share what we ourselves know for free, and if you want to learn from the best, I encourage you to go find that instructor that fits your style and get your lesson, because the amount of knowledge and motivation you inherit after the lesson is incomparable to anything you’ve ever experienced.

About the Author: x 8thful

Known to the community as 8thful, Tom Bly has made a name for himself through his in-depth analysis pieces of professional gameplay videos. Where others see a kill, Tom sees the culmination of hundreds of seemingly minor decisions. This highly-analytical approach has helped empower Tom to become one of Gaming Lesson’s greatest assets.