RALEIGH -- More than 1,000 video-game players, including some from Europe and Korea, have flooded the Raleigh Convention Center this weekend in the pursuit of sore thumbs and cash prizes.
The Major League Gaming Pro Circuit has settled in to provide competitions in a number of video games, including "Tekken 6," "World of Warcraft," and the most popular game in the tourney, "Halo 3." The four-player team that takes this weekend's "Halo" crown will win $20,000.
With money earned from tournament prizes, video-game lessons and sponsorships, more and more gamers are making a living in front of the television. Ray Lau, who works in player management for MLG, said a handful of top players can make $100,000 a year or more.
The tournament is a full-on multimedia experience, with TVs and game consoles set up throughout the convention center. The main stage includes gigantic screens that will broadcast the biggest matches. Stations set up around the perimeter offer everything from free hand massages to spots where spectators can match their skills against those of other players.
The crowd is overwhelmingly young and male, and it attracts sponsors to match. Attractive young women will spend the weekend handing out beef snack sticks, bags of corn chips, and coupons for microwave-ready, meat-filled turnovers.
Ramsey Turner, 19, a freshman at East Carolina University, where he is majoring in sport and exercise psychology, hopes to walk away from the tournament with more than handfuls of junk food. Together with teammates from Kentucky, California and Texas that he met online, Turner entered the "Halo 3" tournament.
The goal is to end the weekend as one of the tourney's top 16 teams, which would bring them "pro" status. Rising to that level would not mean a new career, though.
"This is something you can do on the side," Ramsey said, noting that he's made about $1,000 playing "Halo" during the last 18 months or so.
His parents, Pam and Tommy Turner of Mount Olive, also came to Raleigh for the weekend and are footing the bill. They like the fact that when Ramsey is playing video games, they know where he is and what he's doing.
Although some young men dream of a career playing video games, Ramsey said he has no desire to leave school, even if his team reaches pro status.
"If he starts that," Tommy said with a knowing grin, "we'll cut the money off."
Shane Frazier, 19, came from Tennessee. He and three buddies, all of whom work at the same McDonald's, had planned to enter the "Halo 3" competition as a team.
But after one teammate pulled out because the tournament coincided with the beginning of the college semester, the rest of the team decided to make the 10-hour drive from White House, Tenn., anyway.
"It's a huge event. It's something we've never done before," Frazier said as he stood in line to play in a single-player "Halo" tournament. He said he enjoyed the atmosphere inside the convention center, with so many people coming together "just for the love of video games."
And besides, he said with a smile, "there's free Doritos."
