Successful Players Earn Cash Playing Video Game Tournaments

Computer geeks duped us all, as tales of the vast universe of video game tournaments success stories come forth, and geeks around the world walk away with hefty wallets. These gaming "nerds" are, as a rule, quite young people - too young in fact to buy beer and cigarettes. The video gaming industry is growing up, along with its key players, however. With more than 65 percent of all households participating in video gaming on some level, this sport won't be going away any time soon.

Video games considered to be Real Time Strategy, First Person Shooter games, and Racing games, are call Electronic Sports. Initially played individually or in pairs at home on a gaming console, these games can now be played online with other people in neighboring communities, or in other countries. Tournaments have been organized and played online by Massively Multiple player Online Role Playing Games Massively Multiple-player Online Role Playing Games and can be played for cash. World of War-craft Global Arena, one of the most popular games, brought a sizable first prize of ,000 in 2010. Not a bad payout for participating in a game you can play from your basement. Professional level skills were, in the beginning, sharpened in places such as dorm rooms, basements and Electronics stores. When corporations began to realize the immense potential for marketing products directly to this rapidly growing segment of society, video gaming became a sport.

Massively Multiple-player Online Role Playing Games are computer based games which occur online with thousands of other players world-wide. A player creates a character to represent himself, called an Avatar, which interacts with others in the game. The player then controls his character, or Avatar, as it moves through the game, fighting monsters, terrorists, or other enemies, and collecting objects and prizes that are hidden within the game environment. While there are many "experts" playing in these tournaments, it is not necessary to have experience to join in the fun. Some people have wondered whether the currency played for in these video games is genuine. It is indeed - players deposit real money into a trust fund on the gaming site using their bank cards, and e-check, or Pay Pal. Because these games require actual skill to win, and aren't games of chance, they are perfectly legal in most 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.

Another area in which there is growing demand is Video Game Testers. Because video game popularity is at an all time high, video game companies are under a lot of pressure to thrust new games out to the public in record times. This means they do not have enough time to thoroughly test them. This is where Video Game Testers come in. Gaming Geeks volunteer to play and test the newest games before they are released to the general public and report to the publisher any glitches in the games. They get to play new games before anybody else, and the publishers get their games tested - it's a win-win situation.

Because video game tournaments are vastly popular, they have been evaluated as Electronic Sports by the International Olympic Committee for addition as an Olympic sport.