Career change anyone

[Quinlan]

Could be profitable, ofcourse the leader is dutch but that goes without saying:

The best year ever by a professional video gamer is heading into the home stretch.

Make that the best year ever by TWO professional gamers.

The first gamer to have turned professional was North America's Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel, who earned $106,000 in 2000, his first of full-time gaming. The record, which included wins at CPL Razer and the World Cyber Games Challenge, has not been approached since, even though the number of tournaments has multiplied and prizes have increased.

This year, the question is not whether someone can join Fatal1ty in the "100G" club but whether someone will break the $200,000 barrier. Ten months into 2005, the current leader Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager of the Netherlands has accumulated well over $100,000 and is very likely to have closed the books this year with about twice of what he has now. Both he and Fatal1ty have earned their takes from the CPL World Tour's PainKiller tournaments.

Also expected to kick in the 100G door is the Leaderboard's current number three, Korean Jae Ho " Moon" Jang, who specializes in Warcraft 3. He is one of the three players in the top 10 who do not earn their money in PK tournaments. The others are Sweden's Fredrik "gopher" Quick who won the QuakeCon Doom 3 tournament worth $25,000 and Holland's WC3 celebrity Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen. Outside the top 10 is a woman, Jamie "Missy" Pereyda of the U.S., the winner of the MsQuakeCon tournament.

The final V-Sports Leaderboard list is still up in the air heading into the end of the year because of the large purses still at stake. In the CPL World Tour final, the winner will get $150,000, a sum that would vault anyone far above the runner-up. But unless Vo0 ends below second place ($100,000) his #1 spot is untouchable thanks to the already guaranteed $20,000 check for the MVP of the World Tour. If Fatal1ty wins and Vo0 takes second, the American will be $2,000 behind.

Until December when there's money to be won in the CPL Winter Quake 4 championship.

2005 V-SPORTS INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD (As of Oct. 31, 2005)

1. $118,000 Sander "Vo0" Kaasjager (PainKiller)
2. $86,000 Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel (PainKiller)
3. $81,500 Jae Ho "Spirit_Moon" Jang (WarCraft 3)
4. $60,000 Park "JulyZerg" Sung-Jun (BroodWar)
4. $52,750 Benjamin "zyz" Bohrmann (PainKiller)
5. $49,500 Alexander "Ztrider" Ingarv (PainKiller)
6. $46,300 Manuel "Grubby" Schenkhuizen (WarCraft 3)
7. $45,000 Alessandro "stermy" Avallone (PainKiller)
8. $40,000 Park "GoRush" Tae Min (BroodWar)
9. $30,500 Andrew "gellehsak" Ryder (PainKiller)
10. $30,000 Hong Jin "YellOw" Ho (BroodWar)

[Shi]

with all those 36-fingers-nolife-teen-nerds around there are sure easier jobs to look for

[Lairiodd]

Those salaries aren't that high for people who are "best" in the world.

[Gitt]

Those salaries aren't that high for people who are "best" in the world.

particularly considering the time and effort required to get to that status.. the top end is only about £70k per year... thats doable on a 35 hour week with regular holidays

I guess the real draw is being able to make money out of your hobby