While professional computer gaming hasn't challenged any of the major sports leagues in terms of salaries or revenue, it has a good chance at giving them a run for their money in terms of participation. While football, baseball, basketball, and soccer reduce the general public to the status of bystanders, professional computer gaming has a greater upward mobility: Virtually anyone can aspire to the ranks of the gaming elite, simply because it is so easy to join in. For many would-be cyberathletes, a test of Quake skill is just a modem connection away. While the gulf between low-ping and high-ping players still restricts those on slower connections, the increasing penetration of broadband suggests that gamers who are skilled enough will be recognized despite the limitations of their connections.

This familiarity, however, has the drawback of perhaps bringing the professionals a bit too close to the masses. Not everyone has the ability to become a top Quake player, just as not everyone has the ability to hit 70 home runs in a season. But as FiringSquad hardware editor Kenn "Spear" Hwang said in a column for Gamers Extreme, "I find watching the top players duking it out interesting to [watch], but I'm not going to worship someone who just clicks a mouse faster than me." This may seem like an obvious statement, but replace mouse-clicking with slam-dunking or home-run hitting and plenty of people will immediately change their tune. It's this kind of respect that computer gaming needs to garner if it's going to eventually attract a mass audience.

But before the masses are hooked, there has to be a stable base of hard-core support. In the case of computer gaming, it's definitely in place, in the form of a fanatic online community that has created a real camaraderie among the competitors, as well as its own hierarchy of status based on game skills and contributions to the community. The next step is money, and after an uncertain start, the sponsors are starting to roll in. The CPL plans to host a giant tournament in the spring of 2001, where the prizes awarded will total $150,000. This is more money than the league gave away all last year. And if the money is there, the interest will surely follow.

Can professional gaming thrive? To a certain extent, it already is. The amount of prize money awarded by the CPL has increased substantially. In 1997, no cash prizes were awarded at all. In 1998, there was a total pool of $50,000. That jumped to $125,000 in 1999, and it is expected to hit $300,000 this year. In 2001, CPL expects to have a total prize pool of $500,000. This growth in prize money reflects the increasing interest and confidence of the sponsoring companies that are vital to the CPL's (and pro gaming's) success. The goal? "To stage the world's first $1 million tournament," says Munoz. "Once we've done that.... I'm sorry, but we're a sport." Considering how much has been accomplished in the past three years, that's not a pipe dream.