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9 Year Old Worlds Youngest Professional Gamer

June 07, 2007 in News comments 23

Professional...yes Professional gamer Victor M. De Leon III who is currently 9 years old and in the third grade, has been playing video games on the professional level for five years. That would make him 4 years old when he first started playing professionally. Victor goes by the online alias of Lil' Poison is though to be the world's youngest professional gamer. Come this Friday (June 8th) he is to be amongst 2,500 other gamers in a three day tournament "Major League Gaming Pro Circuit Event" which will be held at Meadowlands in New Jersey. The game in question is XBOX's Halo 2 with prizes ranging up to $20,000 USD.

When pressured into answering about his gaming career he mumbled "I don't know. I didn't think about it.". How did he get into gaming? It doesn't help to have a father who is also into gaming. Starting at 4 years old Victor emulated his father. In response to critics who suggest that he is ruining his sons childhood, Victor's father just shrugs and notes that he only trains for competitions and gaming time is on average approximately 2hrs a day.

The article mentions that Victor has a deal worth $20,000 USD annually, plus expenses for trips to tournaments from sponsor 1up. How would you like it if your 9 year old child makes just as much as you and all he has to do is play games?

tekmosis via nytimes.com »
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Most recently commented on by on Jun 10, 2007

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  • 0
    weskraudaon Jun 8, 07
    I thought any body who played games was a pro but since you can get money,I wouldn't be surprised.
  • 0
    Dragon Jun 8, 07
    A 9 year old playing Halo 2?

    But that's pretty interesting. I guess people are getting into gaming at a younger age these days.
  • 0
    Storm Jun 8, 07
    Woah. Well there's parents these days who got into gaming over the years. Guess playing them around their kids gave influence.
  • 0
    Jeterocks Jun 8, 07
    that is going to be one strange kid when he gets to be 16-18...
  • 3
    Final Blade Jun 8, 07
    Hmm this brings me back to the topic of rating on FF, it seems this kid and the parents likes gaming to a point to screw the ratings. I told you the ratings had barings on parents, and if the parents agree to let him play. Then thats great, Im glad younger ppl are getting involved. We need more kids playing.
  • 0
    chubbie huicho Jun 8, 07
    Cool this little kid would be fun to play but not really a surprise as kids always go naturally into video games
  • 0
    Infinite Jun 8, 07
    Nice. A 9 year old professional gamer? He'll probably be amazing in a few years.
  • 0
    TurMoiL911 Jun 8, 07
    Thankfully, this kid doesn't seem like the stereotypical "prepubescent little kid with a mic and no Adam's Apple".
  • -2
    Ameer Jun 8, 07
    Professional gaming. What a joke.
  • -1
    Ninmecu Jun 8, 07
    @ Ameer, My thoughts exactly... Majority of games comes down to luck, minor skill >_>;

    If I had a kid making more money then me for playing video games...I'd be pretty pissed
  • 0
    Thes10ownsyou Jun 8, 07
    That's pretty wicked, if my kid was making 20 grand for playing Halo. Dude, people are bagging on him just because he's young and makes a whole *explicit* load of cash. Imagine this kid in 5-10 years.
  • 0
    Goyun SSJ15 Jun 8, 07
    I don't get it. how do you get classed as a professional? Being paid to do it? So does he test games then?
  • 0
    BANDITO ATTACK Jun 8, 07
    When did this become a profession, exactly?
  • 0
    Final Blade Jun 8, 07
    Well you do get paid for playing demos or such. probably a game tester, and if you have any idea's you can write them down to send to the developers. Its true my cousin did that and he's making 10 grand the last time i checked. But thats only like per year i think not sure.
  • 0
    Marcibanjo Jun 8, 07
    Wow... he could participate matches and earn money with it if he is good enough. Sounds cool, a pro gamer.
  • 0
    Goyun SSJ15 Jun 8, 07
    How do you become one of those though. At four as well! Rediculous.
  • 0
    Deathman48 Jun 8, 07
    Some people have got their definitions massively mixed up here. A professional gamer is not someone who "plays demos or such". They're people who play games in contests/competitions run by organisations (such as the CPL) with money prizes. One of the most famous professional gamers would be fatal1ty. I'm not entirely sure how you register or anything, but suffice to say that you need to be substantially good enough at your chosen games. You don't get paid to do anything, you've got to earn the money by being good enough and beating the others. Anyone who says that games played at that level are down to a lot of luck have absolutely no clue what they're talking about.
  • 0
    Existenz Jun 8, 07
    As Fatal1ty once said... To be a professional gamer you not only have to be good in one game, you have to be the best in every game.

    Fatal1ty is a guy that held a contest a few years ago to anyone that could beat him at Doom 3, suffice to say no one did and his $10,000 prize wasn't leaving his wallet.

    To be a pro gamer isn't easy, if it was we would all be billionaires with our own range of "Existenz" sound cards and GPU's heh... But we aren't, yeah the average skirmish in Gears of War is a lot of luck, some skill sure but when you are in a contest with sometimes upwards of $100,000 on the line, you bet your ass, if you are banking on luck to win you will be leaving with nothing more than a memory.

    These guys practice day in, day out it is their life, sure this kid doesn't have to live off of his winnings, but other pro gamers do, if they don't win they won't be living pretty for the rest of the year.
  • 0
    BANDITO ATTACK Jun 8, 07
    I find it hard to take anyone with a number in his name seriously. That's just me, though.
  • 0
    TurMoiL911 Jun 8, 07
    I think Existenz pretty much nailed it. This kid is probably so good because he has nothing better to do, being only 9.
  • 0
    000DESTRUCT0 Jun 9, 07
    I remember hearing about this kid on the news when he was a little younger. I didn't think he would actually turn this into a career though! Wow.
  • 0
    mharbenedict34 Jun 9, 07
    I started playing Final Fantasy series and Metal Gear Solids when I was 5. And I played FF9 when I was somewhere at 9 and completed everythign including the chocobo without a guide. I'm 15 now so I guess I'm a pro gamer too. I'm plannign to join contests but since no contests were really held in our country that much and that their distances are very far, I couldn't join up.
  • 0
    Goyun SSJ15 Jun 10, 07
    First time I played a video game console of my own I think I was about 8.

    I don't know how you can play it properly at 4, let alone professionally. Were his parents tech people or something? Working for a company so they get stuff free I wonder?

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