A 21-year-old Fortnite pro gives out computers to young gamers and plans for more through a new fund

Conrod hopes that by lifting the financial burden of buying a computer, he can get more parents to let their children test the professional limits of their hobby. — AP

NEW YORK: After dropping out in eighth grade to pursue esports, Cody Conrod wants to help others enter the increasingly expensive world of professional gaming.

The 21-year-old competitive Fortnite player, better known as Clix to his more than eight million Twitch followers, already provides hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of gaming equipment through an annual holiday giveaway. Through his new holding company, launched Thursday, he is formalising those efforts into the Dr3amin Access Fund.

Fortnite , one of the world's most popular video games, features last-one-standing showdowns where players hunt down each other's customisable avatars across an ever-shrinking map. Content creators have found loyal audiences by live streaming their exploits on platforms such as Twitch, the livestreaming platform owned by Amazon, and clipping the most eye-catching segments into viral short-form videos.

But the equipment needed to compete at higher levels is pricey – and getting pricier. The massive data centre buildout has pushed up the costs of computers, graphics processors and memory chips. Conrod recommends a setup that can handle at least 120 frames per second for a GPU-intensive game such as Fortnite . And even sub-US$500 (RM2,042), entry-level PCs are becoming scarcer, according to Joost van Dreunen, a longtime games industry researcher and adjunct assistant professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business.

"Anybody who is starting up early in their career, anybody who is building their first PC, is having an increasingly difficult time finding hardware and components for it," he said.

Conrod understands the squeeze. His parents couldn't afford a "crazy gaming computer” when he started playing when he was five. As Fortnite took the gaming world by storm, with publisher Epic Games offering US$100mil (RM408mil) tournament prizes, Conrod said he had to make do with a "worst of the worst” computer running 30 frames per second.

After months spent begging his parents to help buy a roughly US$1,600 (RM6,534) computer, Conrod said, his dad wrote up a contract: the teenager would have three months to pay him back by working for his plumbing company throughout the summer.

Conrod ultimately needed just two weeks' worth of Fortnite earnings to honour the deal.

"If I never had that PC, if I never had access to that computer, this career - this setup that you see - would not be a thing," Conrod said, speaking from his Dallas bedroom where he streams to thousands of viewers for hours at a time.

By age 14, it was time for another conversation. He'd made nearly US$200,000 (RM816,820) through the Fortnite World Cup and felt he couldn't balance classes with his career. Waking up for middle school at 6am to then compete in tournaments at 6pm left him exhausted. "You can't be tired when you're playing,” he explained. Reaction times, he said, have to be "crisp." After some hesitation, his parents agreed to let him go all-in on competitive gaming.

Esports is still a place where it's "very hard to make a living,” according to van Dreunen. The real money is clustered at the top, he said, and there's no "healthy” talent ecosystem. There's also the stigma – many people still don't view competitive gaming as a legitimate career, both he and Conrod emphasised.

Conrod hopes that by lifting the financial burden of buying a computer, he can get more parents to let their children test the professional limits of their hobby. "They also have to get good grades if they're in school,” he added, noting that he made the "still delusional but a little less delusional” move to drop out only when he'd won "a good amount of money.”

Full Box Inc, his new holding company, is inspired by MrBeast’s sprawling media empire, which houses the YouTube megastar’s food brands, production company and philanthropy. Full Box Inc encompasses Clix’s clothing brand, clipping agency and game studio, among other endeavors.

He's still figuring out the funding model for the Dr3amin Access Fund. Some proceeds from his clothing brand will support the initiative. Other brands will have the opportunity to donate during his end-of-year giveaway, Clixmas. And he'll give some, too; last year he said he personally contributed about US$100,000 (RM408,410) as Clixmas gave away five custom PCs daily throughout the month of December.

Conrod got some proof of concept this past weekend. His team took fourth place – and US$120,000 (RM490,092) – among 50 duos at the Fortnite Global Championship in Belgium. Among his competitors was a gamer known online as Joshreyli. They'd met two years ago during the first-ever Clixmas when Conrod challenged his audience to eliminate him during a one-on-one match in exchange for a computer. Josh won, got the PC and has since earned six figures as a pro, according to Conrod.

"It’s like a full-circle moment of what helps me want to do more stuff like this,” Conrod said. "Those stories fire me up.” – AP

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康罗德希望通过减轻购买电脑的经济负担，能够鼓励更多家长让孩子尝试将爱好发展成专业技能。——美联社

纽约：科迪·康罗德 (Cody Conrod) 在八年级辍学追求电子竞技后，希望帮助其他人进入日益昂贵的职业游戏世界。

这位21岁的《堡垒之夜》职业选手，在Twitch上拥有超过800万粉丝，网名Clix，他每年都会通过节日抽奖活动捐赠价值数十万美元的游戏设备。周四，他成立了一家新的控股公司，将这些善举正式整合为Dr3amin Access Fund（Dr3amin援助基金）。

《堡垒之夜》是全球最受欢迎的电子游戏之一，其特色在于玩家在不断缩小的地图上追逐其他玩家的自定义角色，最终只有一人能够存活。内容创作者通过在Twitch（亚马逊旗下的直播平台）等平台上直播他们的游戏过程，并将最吸引眼球的片段剪辑成病毒式传播的短视频，从而吸引了大量忠实观众。

但要想在高水平赛事中竞争，所需的设备价格不菲，而且还在不断上涨。大规模数据中心建设推高了计算机、图形处理器和内存芯片的成本。Conrod建议，对于像《堡垒之夜》这样对GPU要求很高的游戏，至少需要一套能够处理每秒120帧的配置。纽约大学斯特恩商学院兼职助理教授、长期从事游戏行业研究的Joost van Dreunen表示，即使是售价低于500美元（约合2042令吉）的入门级PC也越来越少见了。

他说：“任何刚开始职业生涯的人，任何第一次组装电脑的人，都会越来越难以找到所需的硬件和组件。”

康罗德深知这种拮据。他五岁开始玩游戏时，父母根本买不起“顶级游戏电脑”。随着《堡垒之夜》席卷全球，发行商Epic Games更是提供高达1亿美元（约合4.08亿令吉）的锦标赛奖金，康罗德说他只能用一台“最烂的电脑”凑合着玩，帧率只有每秒30帧。

康罗德说，他苦苦哀求父母几个月，才终于买到一台价值约 1600 美元（6534 令吉）的电脑。他的父亲起草了一份合同：这名少年将在暑假期间为父亲的管道公司工作，以此偿还这笔钱。

康罗德最终只需要两周的《堡垒之夜》收入就能履行协议。

“如果我没有那台电脑，如果我没有机会使用那台电脑，我的事业——你看到的这一切——就不会存在，”康罗德在他的达拉斯卧室里说道，他经常在那里向成千上万的观众直播数小时。

到了14岁，又到了该和父母好好谈谈的时候了。他通过《堡垒之夜》世界杯赚了近20万美元（约合816,820令吉），感觉自己无法兼顾学业和游戏事业。每天早上6点起床上学，下午6点参加比赛，让他筋疲力尽。“玩游戏的时候不能累，”他解释说。他还说，反应速度必须“非常快”。父母犹豫了一会儿，最终同意他全身心投入到竞技游戏中。

范·德鲁嫩表示，电子竞技仍然是一个“很难谋生”的领域。他说，真正的财富都集中在顶尖选手手中，而且缺乏“健康的”人才生态系统。此外，电子竞技还存在着社会偏见——他和康罗德都强调，许多人仍然不把竞技游戏视为一种正当的职业。

康罗德希望通过减轻购买电脑的经济负担，能让更多家长允许孩子尝试将爱好发展成职业技能。“如果他们还在上学，还得取得好成绩，”他补充道，并指出自己之所以选择辍学，是因为他“虽然仍然有些不切实际，但比以前清醒了一些”，而这仅仅是因为他赢得了“一大笔钱”。

他的新控股公司 Full Box Inc. 的灵感来源于 MrBeast 庞大的媒体帝国，该帝国囊括了这位 YouTube 巨星的食品品牌、制作公司和慈善事业。Full Box Inc. 旗下除了其他业务外，还包括 Clix 的服装品牌、剪辑机构和游戏工作室。

他仍在研究 Dr3amin Access Fund 的筹款模式。他服装品牌的部分收益将用于支持这项计划。其他品牌将有机会在他年末的 Clixmas 大放送活动中捐款。他本人也会捐出一部分；去年，他表示自己个人捐赠了约 10 万美元（约合 408,410 令吉），Clixmas 活动在整个 12 月每天送出五台定制电脑。

上周末，康罗德的策略得到了验证。他的队伍在比利时举行的《堡垒之夜》全球锦标赛中，从50支双人队伍中脱颖而出，获得第四名，并赢得了12万美元（约合490,092令吉）的奖金。他的对手中有一位网名为Joshreyli的玩家。两年前，在首届Clixmas活动上，康罗德向观众发起挑战，要求他们在单挑中淘汰自己，以此换取一台电脑。据康罗德透露，Josh赢得了比赛，获得了电脑，并且此后作为一名职业选手，收入已达到六位数。

康罗德说：“这就像一个完整的轮回，让我更加渴望去做更多类似的事情。这些故事让我充满激情。”——美联社

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