Computer gamers are now getting paid to play just like pro sport athletes. Top computer gamers from around the world recently competed in Dallas at the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) winter championship. The CPL was the first computer gaming related sports league in the world, and is now one of the biggest leagues in the world. With sponsors like Intel and Nvidia, the Cyberathlete Professional League is constantly gaining popularity.
Contestants vied for thousands of dollars on games called "Halo" and "Half-Life Counter-Strike" using PCs souped-up with Intel's Pentium 4 processor with Hyper-Threading technology. This year A Swedish team, Schroet Kommando, won the biggest prize, the $100,000 Counter-Strike Championship. Previous winnings of this team include $105,000 in cash prizes at other CPL tournaments in 2003. Not bad income for playing games.
A growing number of gamers today not only get paid to play, they're also playing a big part influencing how new PCs are designed. Gamers need for speedy computers helped to fuel 2003 holiday PC sales. And it seems like a great way to make a living!
