Can You Make Money Playing Video Game Tournaments

Tales of great success flow from the video game tournaments world. Computer "geeks" duped us all when they took their living room gaming consoles on the road and came back home with fat bank accounts. In the past these computer experts have been quite young - too young to buy alcohol themselves - but the industry has grown up, along with its "nerds". What once seemed a fad has now become a multiple million dollar industry with more than 65 percent of all households participating in the games, as referenced by the Entertainment Software Association.

Video games are games considered to be Electronic Sports, belonging to Real Time Strategy, Racing games, and First Person Shooter games. These games have migrated from the home gaming console to leagues played online against other players worldwide. Massively Multiple-player Online Role Playing Games have been hosting online tournaments which can be played for cash prizes. In 2010 the first place prize for World of War craft Global Arena was ,000 U. S. - a hefty sum for playing a game from your sofa. Many professional gamers honed their skills for years wherever they could find other like-minded people to compete against - in basements, apartments, and dorm rooms. Soon companies began to comprehend the vast potential for marketing products to this swiftly growing society, and the fad began to grow into a sport. Massively Multiple-player Online Role Playing Games utilize Avatars, or personalized characters, to allow the game player to move through the gaming environment interacting with other players and the virtual ecosystem itself. The object is for the gamer to control his or her Avatar as it combats various monsters, assassins, and terrorists, usually with the theme of good vs. Evil. The Avatar usually must also collect hidden objects for experience and points throughout the game. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be an "expert" to play in these tournaments - there is room for all to enjoy the fun of online gaming. People often ask whether the money earned during this online game playing is real or not. The money, which is deposited into a trust account via Pay Pal, a credit card, or e-check, is absolutely real, and because the video games played are games of skill, not chance, this is legal in the majority of places. Some expert gamers have earned beefy nest eggs by quitting their regular jobs and playing video game tournaments full time. In a growth industry earning over million in sales in 2008, there seems to be an abundance of opportunities for gamers with snake-like reflexes and speedy fingers. Due to the immense popularity of video games in these times, video game companies are driven to hurl new games out to the public at break-neck speed. They don't always have enough time to test these new games thoroughly, which is bad for business. This creates an opportunity for video gamers to become Video Game Testers. Testers play new games and report any problems or hiccups in the games to the company. Testers get the opportunity to be first to play new games, and game publishers get live-action testing of their products. In this scenario, everyone wins.

With the immense popularity of video game tournaments, it's no wonder Electronic Sports has been evaluated by the International Olympic Committee for inclusion as an Olympic sport.