Rising gamer-star’s search for an Esports bride through a matrimonial ad hits a dead end | Sport-others News

In a sea of matrimonial newspaper ads, with all sorts of community and physical description filters and bizarre demands, there was a ‘Gupta non-veg boy. An E-gamer’, who recently attracted plenty of social media attention.The specific criterion, desired Rajiv Gupta, 29, of Gurgaon was: “Girl should be an E-gamer or at least be able to appreciate his passion & profession for e-sports.”
However, Rajiv’s father Rakesh, says he hasn’t received a suitable response. The family might have to go ahead with considering proposals from an ‘ordinary lady.’ “Ordinary means normal,” he says, “Like an architect, doctor or engineer. Basically anyone who’s not a gamer.”
Gupta Sr explains: “When we put this ad, we discussed it with our son. Gamers have a very particular lifestyle, which a normal lady might not adjust to or appreciate. Of the 24 hours, professional gamers sleep for 7-8 hours, but they are pretty much immersed in the game otherwise. For compatibility reasons, we thought a girl-gamer would be a perfect match for she would understand how this life works.”
Rajiv’s father Rakesh, says he hasn’t received a suitable response. The family might have to go ahead with considering proposals from an ‘ordinary lady. (Special arrangement)
However he was met with disappointment. “I had feared that in India the response might be zero. No girl gamer has responded to the ad sadly, so we might have to change strategy and adjust to a non-gamer,” the father explains.
Rajiv had agreed to the process with an ad that went thus: “SM4 for 29/5’5″ MBA, national level e-gamer with int’l footprint…. Gurgaon based Upper Middle class family. No bars #”.
He had been wisened in thinking this way, after lening to multiple famous gaming streamers on Youtube, sharing their experiences of dating and marriage. “Actually I’ve heard it on many Youtube videos that many girls struggle to accept this hob, saying, ‘you don’t give us enough time.’ I was very scared of it ending up in a divorce. And it’s not fair. Woh bhi pareshaan, Main bhi pareshaan. (She will also be upset, I will also be upset) That’s why I was looking for an e-gamer,” Rajiv said.
Going a step further, he added, “Maybe not gaming. But I’ll be happy to marry a woman who has a similar hob she’s crazy about. If she’s not been able to pursue it, I’ll support her financially to develop the hob into a profession.”
It’s been close to a month since his father Rakesh, a former aeronautical engineer, who helped set up training centres for a bunch of top airlines, placed the ad. And the 4-5 matches that responded to the newspaper stub only did, “because they read he’s an MBA,” he says.
The father is in a bit of a hurry, given how he reckons Rajiv’s career is poised to take off. He was recently scouted out to captain a German team, Phoenix EA Sports, playing Pokémon Unite. His other special titles include Destiny 2, Call of Duty (Mobile) and Clash of Clans. “We are well placed financially and I don’t need him to earn money. But he’s been doing well recently and there’s a lot of prize money to be earned in Gaming and he will be in a different earning league financially in the next two years which can attract wrong matches. So it’s better if we find a girl before he becomes successful so we know it’s genuine,” the father says.
“If she’s a gamer, it will be perfect. Donon lage rahenge khelne mein (both will spend time gaming),” he adds.
Rakesh lived all around India, starting as an aviation trainer for Emirates in 1990. He had worked with top airlines out of Bombay with his doctor wife Vinita who’s worked a lot with leprosy patients, but it was in Dubai that the family figured they needed to focus extra on Rajiv. He suffered from ADHD then, and academics was a struggle. “In my aviation job I had helped hundreds take flight, but I realised it’s high time I helped my own son. Still open schooling through 10th, 12th, BBA and those years were a struggle, though he was a bright MBA at the end of it,” he recalls.
Rajiv was a compulsive biker till a few years ago. “I wanted to travel the world on a bike. But then Covid struck and gaming began though it had started as a timepass,” says the gamer who goes the name Hero Gamer. He would be scouted out on Facebook the German team, after he finished MVP a few times.
His big break though was striking a rapport with US streamer and gaming celebrity on Twitch, Ninja. “I won’t say the prestige of a gamer is as big as Olympians. But they certainly make a lot of money,” says the father.
Despite the progressive matrimonial ad and views, the family is a tad sad that their dreams of an e-gamer daughter in law might not come through.