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Living in a Gaming House
Playing on a professional team is a full-time commitment. Most
elite teams require the players to live together in what is known
as a gaming house. The young adult players eat together, work
out together, and of course practice together—at least six hours
a day. Gaming houses started appearing in the early 2000s in
South Korea, when StarCraft: Brood War players Lim “BoxeR”
Yo Hwan and Hong “YellOw” Jin-ho moved in together. The prac-
tice spread throughout South Korea and China, and fi nally to the
West. “Gaming houses were, in my eyes, a requirement,” says
Team Liquid chief operating offi cer Mike Milanov. “There were
some teams that had everyone remote, and then they would have
to fl y every Friday and waste that time to fl y to [Los Angeles], then
compete Saturday, Sunday, then Sunday
night, fl y back. People were losing practice, “I started beating them,
they were losing development, they were and as promised, they
losing team bonding.” 12 invited me to join the
The typical gaming house includes a team.” 11
practice room with state-of-the-art gaming — OpTicJ, founding member of
equipment, a gym, a swimming pool, and OpTic Gaming team
recreational equipment like a Ping-Pong ta-
ble, soccer net, basketball hoop, and even cornhole boards. Los
Angeles–based Ghost Gaming has a team house overlooking Hol-
lywood with ten beds and sixteen bathrooms for the ten-person
team. Older players often have their own bedrooms, while younger
players may bunk together. The kitchen is staffed with a personal
chef to prepare lunch and dinner. A maid service keeps the gaming
home clean. Essentially, all the pro gamers have to do is eat, sleep,
take care of themselves, and play their game. “When most people
just take a quick look at the house we’re living in, it’s a bunch of
teenagers, and it’s a lot of us, so you would think it’s rowdy, we’re
just reckless, but we’re professional e-sports players,” says for-
13
mer Ghost Gaming player Michael “SpaceLy” Schmale.
To ensure the house serves its purpose, which is to make
sure the team members can give their peak performances in their

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