CPL, CAL, MLG, WGS, TWL, ED, i38.. stop me if you’re getting bored already. Here, I will attempt to provide you all a little insight into what ‘Pro’ gaming actually is, the people– the money (or lack thereof), the fame and the failures.

2009 is the year, and we’ve got teams all over the bloody shop. MeetYourMakers, Fnatic, Complexity 20ID, Salvo, Dignitas, 4K, Reason and the list trails off into the ether with some successful.. and some less successful pro gaming teams. What does this mean? Does this mean professional gaming is now viable as a career? Can you earn money for headshots in todays world? Will I ever stop name dropping? How many commas can I write before you close this tab? Hit the jump to find out.

As with any story, you have to start at the beginning. The problem with this is, the beginning is a much debated topic. Some would claim it began around 1997 with the birth of leagues such as the much praised Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL). Some would also claim it died in 2007 when the CPL could truck no more. Alot of others would say ‘On my campus we invented pro gaming, we had Quake II Lan parties every week and gave out prizes!’ Thankfully, this is my article. So I’m going to tell you when it started. 1990. I’m aware prior to that numerous events were held, such as the 1987 Video Games Masters tournament, but I don’t care. Because in 1990, Nintendo held the World Championships.

Contrary to the title, the Nintendo World Championships were not actually World Championships. The Nintendo US Championship Tour would be a more fitting name, but I digress. There were age brackets from 11 and under, 12 to 17 and 18+. And if you’ve been into gaming for some time, you’ll certainly know of the famous gold cartridges Nintendo gave out as prizes, which fetch ridiculously high prices now on eBay.

1990 through 1997 was nothing serious. A few local arcade tournaments in the US, Blockbuster did their thing with a few gaming championships through the early 1990’s, but it is in 1997 when the internet exploded. This was the beginning of professional gaming. (The birth and the beginning are two different things my child. Think about it.)

A tournament by the name of Red Annihilation was held, the game was Quake, the host was Micheal Shearon and the prize.. the prize was John Carmack’s very own Ferarri 328 GTS Cabriolet. And the winner? Thresh (Dennis Fong). Some of you may have heard of him, most of you haven’t. Thresh went on to win tournament after tournament, prize after prize and has now co-founded Xfire (which got purchased by Viacom for some $102 million) and is now worth millions of dollars.

Also in 1997, a man named Angel Munoz invented the CPL, hosting Quake II to Quake III and many other tournament focused games. As with any great idea, there were always imitators. The turn of the millenium rolled around and the first World Cyber Games was hosted in Korea, Quake III, Starcraft, Age of Empires II and FIFA 2000 were the games. 174 hopefuls entered to win a part of the total prize share of $20,000 (for comparison, by 2006 the WCG’s total prize fund was $462,000.) And by 2003 the Electronic Sports World Cup began, with 358 participants from 37 different countries entering. The prize fund here was no small feat at €150,000. The ESWC also was the first league to have a game specifically created for it, Trackmania Nations.

In 2006, professional gaming went mainstream. MLG was invented and brought the fight to the consoles, also being the first televised tournament for any league, with Halo 2 being splashed across TV screens nationwide. This year also saw the birth of a CPL spin-off, the World Series of Video Games, which gave host to big names such as the oft-heard Fatal1ty, FoV, Grubby and Team 3D. Times were good, there was money to be had if you had the skill to compete, the fresh blood had never stopped flowing, teams fought hard and shook hands, but times were not to be all smooth sailing.

From 2006 to now, the CPL has managed to die to be succeeded by its sister league, the CAL (Cyberathlete Amateur League). The Championship Gaming Series was invented, and also managed to die, Halo 3 went massive on the console scene and the PC scene has splintered into the best of the best, and the smaller leagues like TWL.

Today, there are literally thousands of teams from every country with decent internet. Only the top 10% of those teams play regularly in leagues, and only the top 4% of those teams manage to find regular sponsorship. It’s not a good idea to go out and say ‘I want to be a pro gamer’ just as in 2004 it was not a good idea to go out and say ‘I want to be a game designer’. But perhaps, in the coming years we will see the rebirth of the CPL and the rise and rise of tournament gaming.

So no, teabagging your friend after he dies and proclaiming ‘pwnt*’ as many times as you can does not make you a professional gamer. A pro is judged by the amount of sponsors he has, the level of sportsmanship he represents and first and foremost, his skill at the game. And go forth, with this knowledge, pick up your keyboards/pads and proceed to get your ass whooped in COD4 some more.

*Fun fact, did you know pwnt is just a mispelling of ownt? Look at your keyboard. See how the O and P are close together?