If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
(Part 2 of a two-part series.)
DALLAS, Texas -– Six young men flopped into the cushy chairs just outside of the Player's Club, the bar in the Adam's Mark Hotel in downtown Dallas. They were stuck in the lobby because they were too young to go inside.
What they weren't too young to do, though, was travel to America from all corners of Europe to compete at QuakeCon, the annual video-game tournament run by id Software, makers of the popular Doom and Quake series.
They are among the elite players in a game called Return to Castle Wolfenstein (RtCW), a first-person shooter that pits teams against each other in a virtual capture-the-flag competition. These six are on a team called the Game Point clan. Led by captain Ramzi De Groot, they are a part of a growing legion who make money playing computer games.
The money comes from technology companies such as Intel, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, which use gamers to pitch products in much the same way Nike uses sports stars to sell shoes.
However, there is no National Basketball Association to make gamers famous, so companies have devised a different promotional tool: They fly players around the world to compete in high-stakes tournaments.
Professional gaming is in its infancy, providing few players with the means to live without any other job. Still, the competition for those sponsorships is cutthroat.
De Groot's all-star team -- made up of players from Finland, the Netherlands and England -- is his version of the Spice Girls. The clean-cut teenager raided the best European teams -- known as clans in the video-game world -- and assembled players he believed could win at QuakeCon.
"We wanted to start a good clan, so we stole the best players we could find from other teams," De Groot said. "Those other teams died, and we suddenly had the best team."
To attract sponsorship money, though, the group had to prove it could compete against elite teams from around the world. That meant months of 40-hour practice weeks, often tacked on at the end of long workdays. Since the boys lived in different parts of the world, they played over the Internet.
"Our nights get wasted," said De Groot. "During the day, you know, we don't focus on the game. Before an event, we'll play 10 hours a day."
Professional gaming, while embraced by developers and hard-core players, has created an unusual situation, particularly at events like QuakeCon, which attract thousands of casual fans. The elite players have gotten so good that they routinely dispatch anyone who plays them, yet the majority of people at these events are casual players.
"People get a little down because the top players practice eight to 10 hours a day leading into a tournament," said Marty Stratton, id Software's director of business development. "It's usually between 10 guys who have the best chance to win. Usually the average players don't have a chance to compete in the marquee events."
That fact has done nothing to slow the rapid growth of professional computer gaming, nor has it stopped tens of thousands of players from competing in game leagues around the world. The popularity of these leagues, though, has created a mad rush for sponsorships, making it difficult for players like De Groot.
However, instead of trying to get the attention of a huge corporation, De Groot got in touch with Game Point, a German über-clan that had one team for each of the major tournament games such as Quake and Counter-Strike. They also had an existing sponsorship with AMD.
What they didn't have was a Wolfenstein team. De Groot convinced them that his all-star group would be a perfect match.
The Germans agreed. Months after forming, De Groot found himself with a sponsorship that included travel to most major tournaments and free PC hardware stocked with the latest AMD technology.
"That's what we needed to keep up with the best," said Vesa Nieminen, the lone Finnish representative. "To compete with the best you need that equipment; otherwise you'll never win at these LANs."
And winning is where the real money is. Sponsors make sure clans get to the tournaments, but they don't pay players. Instead, gamers have to earn their own keep.
The winners of the CPL Pentium 4 Summer 2003 Championships walked away with $60,000, while winners of the Nvidia Championships at Quakecon got $20,000.
Of course, the downside is that if a team has a bad day at the wrong time, they leave with nothing. Game Point lost in QuakeCon's Wolfenstein finals, which cut their prize money down to $12,000. It was disheartening for the team, particularly since five members said the time constraints necessary to maintain this high level would most likely force them to retire.
"The prize money is $3,300 dollars a person if you win," said Tahir Zafar, England's representative. "If you work for eight months and you divide up your hours, the amount of money that you make is minimal."
They know, however, that hundreds of other teams are waiting to take their spot.
