Want to work in esports? It’s pretty damn simple! The market is flooded with startups, websites and passion projects that are always looking to bring in new blood to handle their heavy lifting. If you’re looking for an easy paycheck, though, perhaps you should look elsewhere.

Despite the industry's massive growth in recent years, horror stories of long hours with no payment continue to be a common occurrence. Often times, teams will gamble with huge investments in the hope that all the spending will translate into LCS-level payout. In the case of Team Ember, nearly a dozen jobs of staff and players were lost when investors finally got cold feet. Instability is unfortunate, however, analysts and coaches must also be on the lookout for shady business practices and broken promises.

Team Ember's investors backed out, leaving most of their players teamless // Ember

“When you have a job in esports you have to devote insane amounts of time to it, even more than a normal office job,” said Kublai “Kubz” Barlas, who served as head coach for Team Huma until major financial conflicts pitted the ownership against their staff. “To not get paid or compensated for that is one of the worst feelings in the world and kills motivation like nothing else.”

Esports Unpaid

#EsportsUnpaid was a reaction to community backlash against volunteer job listings. eSportscareer.org created the popular hashtag to encourage discussion, following their statement in defense of said listings.

“Let’s face the facts and realize that we have to give eSports a spot before we expect to make any money out of it,” the statement said. “Remind yourself that you are not forced to work for free, look at it as an opportunity if nothing else.”

Analysts, journalists and content creators chimed in on the hashtag to share their stories. “I worked my ass off until people recognized my value,” was a common theme throughout. Still, some users came out against a lack of professionalism in the industry.

“I don't think anything is particularly wrong with working for yourself and and building reputation and brand,” Tweeted Frank “Mihri” Fields, who previously served as senior editor of web content for Riot Games. “But be careful about volunteering to help someone else's brand and not securing your own future.”

Team-Dignitas.net is a platform for young esports writers. // Dignitas

Volunteer sites do provide a better platform for motivated individuals. However, some sites find ways to take advantage of their writers. Many accuse Team Dignitas of said practices, as they implore a vague volunteer program where writers must demonstrate talent before being “compensated.” Said compensation is laughable, though, as the site fails to pay their average writers in anything but team apparel, according to countless disgruntled content creators, myself included. I doubt I produced anything that warranted payment myself, but that might not be true for everyone that writes there.

Personal gripes aside, Dignitas do have a recognizable brand to help writers establish themselves. Could they afford to pay their writers? Perhaps. Regardless, there are many sites that struggle to support their servers, nevermind those that keep the content flowing. It’s understandable that volunteer work should exist, assuming the writers find a support system in the process. Networking is important in esports, and having published work is an easy way to demonstrate one’s worth to potential employers.

The push and shove between wanting to work in esports and being able to make a living off of said work is difficult to balance. Although the esports industry recently grabbed the attention of major investors, the idea that it’s outgrown traditional sports is preposterous. The League of Legends World Championships received spectacular global ratings, yet advertisers aren’t seriously flocking towards the space. Realistically, esports is still a budding niche; it's going to take time for the actual money to trickle down towards the average content creator’s pocket.

Esports Uncontracted 

Esports jobs desperately need real contracts. The fact that someone can work for an organization for months for nothing but the promise of “cash to come” is dangerous to the scene. This isn’t even a hypothetical scenario: out of the handful of people that reached out with non-payment stories, only one had been working under contract.

What would keep someone working long hours, despite any real payment? Ask Rotowire and ESPN contributor Chase Geddes. Geddes worked as an analyst for an unnamed professional team during the summer of 2015. According to Geddes, he was excited to finally be working for a professional org. Geddes poured countless hours into scrims, VOD reviews and scouting. He was working 12-7 p.m. while he spent what free-time that was left completing online courses from 7-11 p.m.  

“At first I was told I'd receive [payment] once 'funding' came in,” he said. “Then [Redacted] said I was never under a contract and they aren't obligated to ever pay me… Probably the single most annoying thing to go through.”

Geddes now writes for ESPN and Rotowire

After the summer, Geddes was trapped, forced to continue his work in the hopes everything would be straightened out. Geddes left hefty offers on the table to sign an actual contract with the unnamed organization.

“I felt obligated to stay afterwards for a chance at the money I was owed,” Geddes said. “I had an offer from a different team for more money than spring, but I felt if I left to take it, I'd never see the summer split [money].”

Geddes fell victim to a classic sunk-cost fallacy. To this date, the only payment he received was said contract’s buyout clause, paid out-of-pocket by the organization’s founder. According to Geddes, the founder is trying to work out some sort of payment, but the likelyhood of full compensation is uncertain.

“I will never work without a contract again,” Geddes said. “Maximum of a one week trial, and then if I don't get a real contract no chance of further work.”

Although he’s armed with a new sense of caution, Geddes doesn’t regret his work in esports.

“I've met so many amazing people, had some great opportunities and this is what I love doing,” Geddes said. “It's obviously not great being taken advantage of, but I do it for the love of the game.”

Esports Unregulated 

Esports is the wild west, according to Yahoo Esports’ Dylan Walker.

“It took me a long time to get somewhere that I could comfortably work in esports full time,” Walker said via DM. Walker outlined his time volunteering for Lunatik’s CS:GO team in a piece for Yahoo Esports.

“Team poaching is not unusual, especially in a game like Counter-Strike where there are no rules outside of loose contracts,” the article said. “If your team’s players are good, they’ll leave when money is offered from another organization.”

Walker volunteered for Lunatik Esports

Although Riot regulates its LCS and Challenger teams, some esports leagues do not impose strict regulations on its competitors. Unfortunately for Albert P. Coh, this includes League of Legends teams not yet entered in Riot’s Challenger scene.

Coh was working -- with only the promise of a contract -- for an organization that sponsored a high-ranking challenger team. After the team’s owner, Neil Samadder, failed to pay the staff or players, Coh assumed executive responsibilities. According to Coh, he set up scrims, made executive decisions, and decided on the marketing ideas.

The team, under the name Astral Authority, battled through the NACS Spring Qualifiers to secure the third and final qualifying seed for the NACS.

Seeing as their owner reportedly was unreliable, Coh helped broker a sale with the organization Dream Team. Dream Team then paid only the players, leaving the team’s former staff unemployed and unpaid. This isn’t Dream Team’s fault, as it was Samadder’s responsibility to pay his staff.

“I just wish I had a secure line of funding to keep people happy, including myself,” Coh said. “The most common thing right now is that coaches, analysts, and players make no money until CS.”

Reckless owners failing to pay their staff is caused by the industry’s youth, according to Barlas.

“Right now not every owner is an experienced professional,” Barlas said. “Many are young kids who have some amount of cash and want to be in eSports. Without proper education or experience it usually leads to broken promises and suboptimal decisions.”

Esports Unstable

As simple as finding work in esports is, finding a stable career quite the opposite. You have a rapidly growing industry that is also fun to work in. With so much money making its way into the scene, it’s no wonder shady types continue to game the system. The talent market is flooded with teenagers looking to net the job of their dreams. Content creators must prove their worth in the volunteer market. Analysts and coaches must vet each job with caution, while owners must be able to financially support their team for the long-haul.

Esports isn’t forgiving; one misstep and you could find yourself at the bottom of the ladder, taking any odd-job that comes your way. Make sure you have a safety-net when you commit to a life in esports. There are so many tricks and traps along the way, that no reasonable person would dedicate their life to such an unstable profession. So why do we do it? According to Geddes, it’s all worth it in the long run.

“Esports is a cruel mistress indeed,” Geddes said. “But the players I've met have been great to interact with. I met my current best friend through it... It's been a wild ride and I have a feeling it's just getting started for me.”

If you enjoyed this piece, connect with the author at @ESHSmitty.