A pro gamer's story

"The world's top PC gamer," no less, as the BBC describes 24-year-old Jonathan Wendel, who started playing video games when he was five. When he was 18, his father was about to pull the plug, wanting him to get a job or go to school full-time, when Jonathan asked if he could just try one tournament. If he made "significant money," he'd keep competing, if not, he'd go to college. His father agreed, and Jonathan won 3rd place and $4,000. He has since traveled from one competition to another around the world, "winning six Cyberathlete Professional League championships, the only gamer ever to do so," according to the BBC. He is now "Doom 3's first-ever world champion, according to the Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game and Pinball Book of World Records, the industry's official record book." Looking back over his teenage years, Jonathan said gaming was his stress-reliever - a way to get away from parents, school, and part-time dishwashing into his own little world. "But Johnathan does not fit the stereotypical image of the gamer as an anti-social loner in his bedroom. During his teens, he was a keen athlete, playing American football, baseball, hockey and tennis." Maybe he's the Tony Hawk of video games. For an overview on the gamemaking biz, see this BBC piece on the recent two-day summit in London of UK entertainment software publishers.