GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — From a downtown Grand Rapids apartment, 21-year-old Luke Sharretts is making a name for himself in the rapidly growing field of professional gaming.
“I started to see people that I looked up to start giving me shout-outs, like, 'Hey, this Scope guy is making moves.'” Sharretts said.
Sharretts, a.k.a. “FaZe Scope,” is becoming well known for what he can do while playing the popular game series Call of Duty.
“It's what I do every second of every single day. If I'm not playing video games, I'm studying other people, and I'm watching YouTube videos to get knowledge, and the future is absolutely looking bright,” Sharretts said.
Just a couple months ago, Sharretts won a contest to join the illustrious FaZe Clan, one of the top esports organizations in the world.
It's a group he’s been a fan of since he was 10 years old.
"FaZe just represents a bunch of people that love to pursue their passion, and it's awesome to see the growth that FaZe has had since 2010 when they were founded,” Sharretts said.
“They've grown so much; they've expanded so much, and to be a part of that is the biggest dream come true because all those guys were huge inspirations to me, so now that I get to be a part of that and get to grow relationships with them, it means everything,” he added.
At any given time, Scope has an audience of hundreds who interact with him while watching him play live on Twitch.
Hundreds of thousands of people subscribe to his YouTube channel to watch his highlights afterwards.
“This is an actual career path now; it's not just sitting online, sitting on your video games being a loser all day, like, you can actually create connections. I feel like everybody around the world likes to play video games, whether that's professionally or whether that's just they get done a day at work or they're playing with their friends,” Sharretts said.
From advertisements to sponsorships, Sharretts is propelling a lucrative career from something he would otherwise do for fun.
“If I can do what I love for a living and make myself happy as well as make other people happy at the same time, I feel like that's the golden ticket right there” Sharretts said.
"I don't think there's anything better in life."
