I played "professional" video game (Counter Strike) from about 2002 to 2009. This did include salary + winnings and can honestly say you can make quite a living doing so and even more so now with the streaming on twitch and the prize pools exceeding millions of dollars.
I was fortunate enough to travel the world (for free) including stops all over Europe, Asia and North/South America. I was able to live and play daily in Seoul South Korea for 4 months on live television while still being able to soak in all the touristy things that most people spend thousands of dollars to do and therefore I'm very thankful for the opportunity.
With that being said my personal life outside of gaming definitely suffered, never being home (in Canada) for more then a week or so at a time takes it toll on you, its a life style that doesn't interest everyone but I don't regret it. I've made a lot of friendships all over the world which have opened up tons of opportunities when traveling now 6 years later. I could go into more detail obviously but no need here, if anyone's actually interested shoot me a PM.
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