Pro gamer makes a real killing

From hobby to full-time job
Wendel’s journey to the Nokia Theatre in Times Square — where he’ll face off against other individual players in a “first-person shooter” game called Painkiller and hope to win his 12th major championship — began around the age of five, when his father gave him a Nintendo system and he first played Ikari Warriors.

He was hooked.

For a decade, when Wendel wasn’t playing one of the many sports he pursued, he was gaming. He wondered if he could make a life out of it.

“I know I’m pretty good,” he told himself. “But can I hang with the pros?”

Around the age of 15, he started taking home prizes from local competitions. At 18, he entered his first professional tournament in Dallas.

He came in third, earned a $4,000 check and decided to make gaming a full-time endeavor, going on to garner titles in competitions in the shooting games Alien vs. Predator 2, Quake 3, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Doom 3.

Wendel, who is for now at least forgoing college, has become the leader in titles and prize money.

And he has licensed his Fatal1ty name — inspired by the word that flashes on the screen with a kill in the game Mortal Kombat, one of his early favorites — to companies for which he helps develop products geared at gamers, from mouse pads to motherboards.

He says he made about $110,000 in 2000, his first pro year, and has been consistently earning a respectable salary built on play he considers work. This year, Wendel expects to make about $200,000 between winnings and products.

The unremarkable suburban ranch Wendel calls home offers no glimpse of his executive-level salary.

Consumed by gaming
He lives a bare-bones life, investing all his earnings into his business endeavors and paying himself around $15,000 each year to cover expenses, including a monthly rent bill that’s less than $500.

“I don’t really have time to indulge in anything,” said Wendel. “I’m so dedicated and so determined to be the best I don’t have time to indulge in other stuff.”

That may be true. Wendel estimates he’ll have spent about three-quarters of 2005 on the road, including his latest tour, which took him to Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, South Africa, Singapore, Chile and Italy over six weeks.

When preparing for a tournament, Wendel typically rises at noon and heads to bed at 4 a.m., spending two 4-hour sessions at the computer in between.

This fall day, Wendel’s house is full of gamers — from Finland and Sweden, Florida and Ohio. They man networked computers that line the walls of their idol’s basement room, which has a big waterbed with two gold trophies and a massive $15,000 prize check on its headboard.

Wendel gets beat from time to time — including some disappointing losses on his recent tour — but outgunning him isn’t an easy feat.

“It’s frustrating,” said 23-year-old Brian Grapatin of Painsville, Ohio, who has unsuccessfully challenged Wendel at five tournaments this year. “You’re used to winning but you gotta swallow your ego a little bit.”

Life as one big competition
Wendel — whose mother and stepfather work on the Ford assembly line and whose retired father has done factory work and ran a pool hall — says he’s fueled by competitiveness.

He offers a litany of sports he played up through high school — baseball, football, soccer, golf, hockey, tennis and billiards, which he says is his true love.

“I’m very competitive — everything’s about sports and competitions,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s racing for a controller on the bed, I’ll beat you.”

Still, in the world of video games, Fatal1ty is practically ancient in his years, so his success at the Grand Finals could tell much about his future. He says he has no plans to quit gaming yet and has trouble seeing himself in another career.

“Gaming is so much fun and so relaxing,” he said. “I don’t see why anyone would want to stop playing.”

So he does. Next to him, a pilsner glass full of orange juice. Atop his monitor, a stuffed tiger named smU.

He begins to play, in single-player mode, and is transported to another place.

“I’m very in the zone,” he said. “The guy in the game is me.”

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