Advice from the experts: become a professional gamer

Johnathan Wendel, aka Fatal1ty, is a celebrity, but he isn't a well-known one. He does, however, have a profession that many of us would die for. He's a professional gamer.

Johnthan first fell in love with computer games in the 90s, when he gunned his way through Wolftenstein 3D - his first taste of a FPS (first person shooter) and now his favourite style of gameplay.

He started playing as a pro at the age of 17 - the same age you might have been stacking shelves - and in 2007, aged 25, he has chalked up 12 gaming world titles, has his own line of products, and made a lot of money. So what's the secret to being good at games and getting paid for it?

"I train two to six hours a day," says Johnathan, "and when an event is approaching, I'll up this to eight." He also has a strict training regime: he plays for four hours, runs three miles and plays for another four hours, so he's fit in mind and body.

Training isn't the only vital part of gaming, though. Getting into the right aera is critical, so it's no good learning how to rear fluffy animals. "The most popular games are the FPS and sports titles," says Johnathan. "These offer the biggest cash prizes."

When he's not virtually killing other people, Johnathan spends his time on his PC, keeping in touch with friends, family and other gamers via Windows Live Messenger, as well as surfing the net to check up on his Fatal1ty business. "You can do everything these days on a PC," he explains. "I'm all over the places, so I use Skype, but if I travel, I take a portable media as it does what I want and the battery last ages."

Johnathan's home PC is actually pretty modest, but in the next few months he's building another that he can tweak, to get maximum gaming performance, and of course a copy of windows Vista!