Hearthstone Player's Dad Makes Him Pick College or Game Tournament

[BoogieManFL]

Erm, good? At what point did it become acceptable to question whether or not computer games were a viable alternative to education?

Seems that the only chance for loss of said education was because his parents threatened to cut him off.

Sounds like he could have done both, and had the chance to win a sizable amount of money if they were more open minded.

As I've said, this tournament position didn't just fall from the lap of the gods. He must have put in substantial downtime to become skilled enough to qualify, and while that is in and of itself no bad thing it's not what his folks are paying for him to do.

You can be good at something without putting a vast amount of time in to it. Also, playing games does not immediately mean your schooling suffers. Both CAN coexist. They didn't even have to pay for the trip. Like I said, I fully expect if he was a Basketball or Football player, any physical sport, people who view this entire thing completely differently.

 

[L. Declis]

I know it's cool to hate on people who hate video games, but I feel like we REALLY got one half of the story.

Honestly, I bet the kid was struggling in class, or wasn't taking his studies properly and was distracted by video games, and so his father was putting the foot down to make sure the education comes first.

That said, the parents are paying for his entire college, providing a place to sleep, food, rent. They get a say in his life because they are footing the incredible bill for it; if he feels like they have no say in his life, then he is, as the father pointed out, quite welcome to pay for his own life

 

[RedDeadFred]

Most people are just talking about their own personal experiences with their own parents and their own schooling. That's all well and good (or not, in some cases), but we don't really know much about this guy's situation. We just know what he posted on the internet. I have my doubts that we're getting the full picture.

At face value, the only thing I can think of is that they'd rather him have a summer job than take an entire week off. That's kind of understandable to me. My parents helped me pay for my education (we went 50/50) and they always hounded me about getting a full time job during the summer. In hindsight, having just graduated today, I'm glad they did. That's my opinion based on personal experience, but like I said, there's probably more to this.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

I am curious as to why his dad would respond that harshly over something like this. Was he struggling with his classes? Is he a slacker? Or is his dad really that closed-minded?

I think this is the most important contextual piece of information we are missing.

If he is already performing well in studies then his gaming obviously isn't affecting it negatively and thus he should be free to compete. If, however, his studies are going poorly then the amount of time/money he has been spending on Hearthstone is highly likely to be a cause of this.

Verdict? Needs more data.

Ditto. People don't tend to become good enough to compete at a professional level over night, especially not these types of card games that require a lot of knowledge and experience to be good at. If his studies are going down the drain then it's not as clear cut.

If his studies are going well, however, then this is a dick move by the parents. Yes, they are financing him and so they call the shots, but they also have the right to cut him off if he starts dating black people, or voting differently, or listening to the wrong music, or wearing the wrong coloured shoelaces. They could cut him off if he doesn't stand on his head for ten minutes every morning while singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" repeatedly; having the right to do something doesn't mean you can't be criticised for doing it.

 

[zinho73]

I am curious as to why his dad would respond that harshly over something like this. Was he struggling with his classes? Is he a slacker? Or is his dad really that closed-minded?

I think this is the most important contextual piece of information we are missing.

If he is already performing well in studies then his gaming obviously isn't affecting it negatively and thus he should be free to compete. If, however, his studies are going poorly then the amount of time/money he has been spending on Hearthstone is highly likely to be a cause of this.

Verdict? Needs more data.

Agree with you both. As it is the story means nothing. If his grades were ok and there were no conflict in terms of schedule with school, the parents might be overreacting, but if the guy was really putting the game before study, he needed a steady hand to stay on course.

 

[Bat Vader]

Something tells me we aren't getting the full story here. The parents should be interviewed as well so we get their side of the story. I feel the reason is because his grades have been going downhill or something. If the guy has great grades his dad should have no problem with letting him go.

 

[likalaruku]

Having wasted time & money in college, I'd pick the game tournament. The game tournament won;t put you in debt for years & make you feel like you wasted every day for the past 4 years, less regrets.

 

[Yopaz]

For all those of you who are pissed off at his parents for doing this I have a question for you.

Would you pay for your kid to go to college knowing that his number one priority is competitive gaming? Would you risk your money being spent on watching your kid fail and drop out? I suspect this is the issue. If he does well in that tournament and wins that's motivation for him to spend more time with games and less time with his studies. They could have made a different deal, but it's their money and their choice. He is an adult and his parents are under no obligation to support him financially. Personally I only get money for my Birthday and Christmas and to cover a part of my travel expenses when I go home and I even tell my mom not to do so.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Erm, good? At what point did it become acceptable to question whether or not computer games were a viable alternative to education?

Seems that the only chance for loss of said education was because his parents threatened to cut him off.

Sounds like he could have done both, and had the chance to win a sizable amount of money if they were more open minded.

As I've said, this tournament position didn't just fall from the lap of the gods. He must have put in substantial downtime to become skilled enough to qualify, and while that is in and of itself no bad thing it's not what his folks are paying for him to do.

You can be good at something without putting a vast amount of time in to it. Also, playing games does not immediately mean your schooling suffers. Both CAN coexist. They didn't even have to pay for the trip. Like I said, I fully expect if he was a Basketball or Football player, any physical sport, people who view this entire thing completely differently.

You can, but I doubt you can rise high enough through the online leaderboards enough to be noticed and selected for tournaments through casual play. But that's speculation on my part.

 

[J-Dig]

Since their spend on his education will far outweigh his share of potential prize money I can't find fault with the parents here. Hearthstone will still be around when he's funding himself.

 

[Amir Kondori]

Erm, good? At what point did it become acceptable to question whether or not computer games were a viable alternative to education?

He wasn't going to give up school to compete, his parents were going to cut off their support so he couldn't complete school if he participated in the tournament. There is no reason he couldn't have competed in the tournament and still completed school except that his parents threatened to cut off their financial support.

Pretty awful thing to do to your kid.

 

[Cowabungaa]

The question is; did the Hearthstone tournament seriously get in the way of college?

If not, and he was able to combine to the two; fuck that decision, those parents just screwed their kid out of a possible 25k price pool. If it did the question becomes a lot more nuanced, and it's probably for the best.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Erm, good? At what point did it become acceptable to question whether or not computer games were a viable alternative to education?

He wasn't going to give up school to compete, his parents were going to cut off their support so he couldn't complete school if he participated in the tournament. There is no reason he couldn't have competed in the tournament and still completed school except that his parents threatened to cut off their financial support.

Pretty awful thing to do to your kid.

And there's no reason the kid can't finish college and then compete. His parents are currently funding his life, and while they are he has an obligation to live it in a way that his folks deem appropriate. He can't just burn through his folks' savings and expect to be able to do whatever he likes and keep on getting bankrolled.

 

[Amir Kondori]

Erm, good? At what point did it become acceptable to question whether or not computer games were a viable alternative to education?

He wasn't going to give up school to compete, his parents were going to cut off their support so he couldn't complete school if he participated in the tournament. There is no reason he couldn't have competed in the tournament and still completed school except that his parents threatened to cut off their financial support.

Pretty awful thing to do to your kid.

And there's no reason the kid can't finish college and then compete. His parents are currently funding his life, and while they are he has an obligation to live it in a way that his folks deem appropriate. He can't just burn through his folks' savings and expect to be able to do whatever he likes and keep on getting bankrolled.

There is also no reason the kid can't complete his degree and compete in the tournament. You are making huge assumptions or at the very least using coloring language when you imply he is "burning through his folks' saving". He parents are choosing to pay for his schooling as they believe that will help him succeed.

This decision from his parents feels very reactionary. If his grades are good and he is passing his classes why not allow him to compete? He clearly plays the game anyway, at least by participating in the tournament he gains life experience and has the chance to win some money. I understand that the parents can use their money as a coercive force over their son, that doesn't mean they should, at least in this case.

 

[Hgdrifter]

To add much needed context as to what's going on his life. The comments in the thread specifically say imo why he couldn't go. His parents are Asian. Now as to how strict they are, it seems like they're pretty strict and are not taking any chances with him. Being Asian myself, I know how Asian parents value education above anything else. My parents aren't that strict compared to most, but they would probably really make think about it and would highly recommend that I finish school first. They're also paying for a lot of my expenses so I personally would be inclined to finish also. There also isn't any mention of what he's majoring in or what level of education he's in. By level I'm talking undergrad, med school, etc. If he's going for anything above a bachelor's degree I'd assume that he would be working his ass off to finish especially if it was his last year, and to arguably throw that away would be stupid. Though that's just another assumption. It also seems that he probably didn't get a full explanation as he says in the post that he didn't understand his parents completely. Of course taken out of context because that can be taken in different ways.

Reddit Source

Either way, kudos to him for sticking by his decision. Education can arguably take him a longer way since most jobs require it. He's also not completely throwing of pro-gaming out of the window. I personally wish him luck in whatever he decides after he's done with school.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Erm, good? At what point did it become acceptable to question whether or not computer games were a viable alternative to education?

He wasn't going to give up school to compete, his parents were going to cut off their support so he couldn't complete school if he participated in the tournament. There is no reason he couldn't have competed in the tournament and still completed school except that his parents threatened to cut off their financial support.

Pretty awful thing to do to your kid.

And there's no reason the kid can't finish college and then compete. His parents are currently funding his life, and while they are he has an obligation to live it in a way that his folks deem appropriate. He can't just burn through his folks' savings and expect to be able to do whatever he likes and keep on getting bankrolled.

There is also no reason the kid can't complete his degree and compete in the tournament. You are making huge assumptions or at the very least using coloring language when you imply he is "burning through his folks' saving". He parents are choosing to pay for his schooling as they believe that will help him succeed.

This decision from his parents feels very reactionary. If his grades are good and he is passing his classes why not allow him to compete? He clearly plays the game anyway, at least by participating in the tournament he gains life experience and has the chance to win some money. I understand that the parents can use their money as a coercive force over their son, that doesn't mean they should, at least in this case.

You are also making huge assumptions. "If his grades are good and he is passing his classes..." - what info do we have that he is doing well? Perhaps the reason he has been given this ultimatum by his father is because his grades are dropping. The point is that we don't know, and so can't say that the father is in the wrong. We can't say for certain he's in the right, either, but it does make sense for the kid to be encouraged into finishing college before entering the world of professional tournament play.

 

[Razhem]

Very simple question, what were the guy´s grades since he took Hearthstone and started playing competitively? Because like some have stated, you don´t become an eSport champ in 5 months by idly playing. Also, lets not forget that now he may be a hotshot, but eSport "champs" burn to cinders absurdly quick (and in a card game environment, a new card pack could be enough to wreck your whole season if you don´t adapt) and in the grand scheme, earn pocket change compared to what they would earn from a stable job. So yeah, it being in summer is irrelevant, the real thing we need to know is, what were his grades before and after?

 

[O maestre]

So basically his parents want him to focus on the education they are paying for him, seems reasonable, also we have not idea how gaming professionally has affected his studies. You don't just get to participate at tournaments as some random gamer, fact is it takes a huge amount of time to be a professional at anything, I really cannot fault his parents for wanting him to focus on his education.

 

[O maestre]

Having wasted time & money in college, I'd pick the game tournament. The game tournament won;t put you in debt for years & make you feel like you wasted every day for the past 4 years, less regrets.

Hate to bring this up, but it really depends what kind of degree you got, most NatSci and engineering graduates are guaranteed employment.

 

[synobal]

Lol, it still amuses me that hearthstone has "professional players".