Professional Gaming isn't all Action and Booth Babes as we were led to believe?

According to professional gamer Tom Taylor (gamer tag Tsquared), the life of a professional gamer is not bubble gum and lollipops like most people assume it would be.

I would like to take this moment to state that Tom here makes around $150,000 a year playing Halo 2. Just to put his thoughts into perspective.

Taylor's yearly income sits at a fairly hefty sum, that revenue is due to both winnings and private game tutoring (which he is currently charging $115 USD/hour for). He also signed a $250,000 contract with professional league Major League Gaming where he is the team leader of the group Str8 Rippin.

In defense of his theory on professional gaming, Taylor states that he has not had a real vacation since he started, and on average only gets around a week of home time per month. The rest of the time is spent on the road doing publicity events and participating in tournaments.

Taylor plays atleast 3 hours of games every day, and that number raises dramatically to 12 hours a day when he's preparing for a tournament.

He was voted one of Stuff Magazine's most influential people under the age of 30, probably because he is the envy of every 15 year old.

Outside of gaming, he also maintains a healthy lifestyle of running, weight lifting, and healthy eating to ensure that he stays in good physical as well as mental condition.

He did however say that his position has helped him with the ladies, counter to popular beliefs that all hardcore gamers are virgins for life.

Frankly I can't see his complaints. Sure, he's not at home much, but unlike so many he doesn't wake up and desperately wish he was a different person going to a different job. He doesn't walk into a cubicle and the highlight of his day is not office gossip at the coffee machine. He also makes more money then most people with a BA *raises hand*, and for a high school drop out that's impressive.

\\drew