Five Strangers Picked to Live in a House and Play Video Games All Day Long

Inside a hypercompetitive ‘gaming house’ for professional eSports athletes.

Photos by Steve Tirona

This story is republished from MEL Magazine. MEL aims to challenge, inspire and encourage readers to drop any preconceived notions of who they’re supposed to be.

In the strange new world of eSports, where childhood dreams of getting paid to play video games are made reality, “gaming houses” have become the norm. It’s more “Silicon Valley” than “National Lampoon’s Animal House;” the premise sounds like an updated version of “Real World”: Five gamers picked to live in a house play video games all day and have it recorded on Twitch. But the stakes are much higher  —  and it’s a lot less sexy.