FIRST: I'd like to say I'm sorry for the long winded answer. I'm a loner, you know how they can get talkative when finally meeting someone.
SECOND: If you DO make this into a movie, please use my real name, as I would like the kudos. xD
Nomdee, I'm gonna tell you my story. You're the first one to ask and I appreciate it. I hope you can finish the story, I promise it's not a made-for-tv movie.
I was born to game. My earliest memories are mostly pixelated. Dark backgrounds with glowing screens. It's not just what I love doing, it's the only thing I ever wanted to do. I couldn't get enough of it. The first game I saw was Double Dragon. I remember my brother and my dad playing it.
Couple of years later, I started figure out how to game, but everybody around me was better. I hated it. Being younger and less talented than all my cousins; it sucked trying to hang out with family, so I just kept playing games.
Meanwhile, at home, my brother and I fought like wolves constantly, unless we shared a game.
Unless there was a digital place for us to work together, we were going to be 'sparring' as he called it.
Until one day, I saw my first rage quit. It blew my mind. I watched my cousin say that his video game was impossible and there was no way it could be beaten. And he stormed off. Like I said, mind was blown, okay dude? I knew, at that age, video games were not designed to be impossible. So I picked up the controller, studied his situation, and beat it. Just like that. I broke down the problem and beat it with basic strategy and motor controls.
THIS became MY talent. And while I couldn't draw or paint or play guitar, people knew who the gamer was in our family. So, honestly, a lot of my family quit gaming. I think there are two of us left. They picked up new talents, drinking and whatnot, xD.
So, Rik, you found your skills, then you went on to become world champion, right?
No.
So, then you entered some local tournaments and became a hometown hero, right?
No.
Oh, so y--
No! What happened next was, I couldn't afford anything. I didn't even have a computer at first. So I picked up my old NES&SNES titles and used them the way ninjas use training tools. Every move I made had to be fast, precise, and confident. I trained for years until one day fate smiled upon me and granted me an Xbox 360. I immediately got CoD and Xbox Live and immersed myself in the competitive gaming scene for a year. A tragic scene; in 2008 I was 16-17. Too young and dumb to manage a team by myself, too anti-social to reach out for help.
My confidence in myself was there, but my confidence in my esports career was shattered. I realized a lesson that would haunt me to this very day. "Some things you just can't do playing solo."
I put a pin in my career as a gamer and went back to writing, training, and planning.
Few more years go by, I start wanting to get back to my true calling. Twitch was gaining popularity and I started to want that life. Unfortunately, the PC my dad and I had managed to get wasn't up to the task. Nor did I have a $200+ Roxio/El Gato Capture device. Remember when those were absolutely necessary?
Unfortunately, I fell in love, got distracted, you know the story. She left me, I was hurt, met a new girl, NEW GIRL LIKES GAMERS!! OH HO HO!
So I married her. Not the next day, but, you get me.
New girl, now wife, says "You hate your job"
I says "Yeah"
She says "Why don't you be Markiplier?"
So I've started uploading my gaming to YouTube and here I am. Trying to make a dream that I've had my whole life FINALLY happen. Here I am. My gaming history...IS my history...
[Fade out]
Extra Credit Info: My wife met me for the first time at random, because a mutual friend of ours brought her into my house without warning me first. I was playing WoW on a borrowed account and said to her "Who the f**k are you and why are you in my house?!"
So, you know, everything really DOES happen for a reason.
