It seems that the age for a gamer to go professional is going down and down. According to a New York Times article, Victor M. De Leon III is the world’s youngest professional gamer. The nine year old has been playing video games on the professional circuit for five years now.
Victor is known as Lil’ Poison on the professional gaming circuit and is set to be amongst 2,500 competitors in the three-day Major League Gaming Pro Circuit Event at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. He plays Halo 2 and his Xbox time averages about two hours a day. His father, Mr. De Leon rubbishes the claim that he is ruining Victor’s childhood.
Mr. De Leon said, “If they don’t live here, they don’t know what we do. I’m not overdoing it, and he’s not overdoing it. He copied me, and he was real good. He liked to help me finish games and found glitches, which is pretty hard to do. He kind of passed me when he was 4 and I just couldn’t keep up with him. I became sort of a coach, but every time I told him something, he’d say, ‘I know, Daddy.’”
In fact, De Leon always asks Victor before every competition whether he wants to participate or not. When not playing games, Victor is an archetypal third grader who likes to bike and swim and plays the violin. He is sponsored by the 1UP Network and could even feature in the Guinness Book.
It is a good thing that he is gaming professionally at a young age. Even in sports, athletes like Wayne Rooney and Sachin Tendulkar started young and now they are considered to be the best in their respective sports. Just as they say, catch ‘em young. So, now gone are the days of the Soccer Moms. Say hello to Gaming Dads and Gaming Moms!