Game on: These pro gamers are making money by playing all day

Old-timers like to believe that the past was a simpler era. In gaming, it really was. Teens in the early ’00s recall holding LAN parties – linked PCs that let a group play against each other as a game CD heated up on one player’s CPU. Neighbourhood gaming centres were where one discussed strategies for Quake, Counter-Strike, Need For Speed, Age of Empires and Unreal Tournament. If you had a good enough PC, decent dial-up internet, and a summer to waste, you could hit global rankings right from your home, while your parents wondered why you never went out.