Never mixing pleasure with business is one thing, but making a career out of a hobby would be a dream come true for me. Granted, I understand everyone thinks differently in this regard, it certainly is demonstrated here, but truth be told, I wouldn't mind making a career out of playing video games. Unfortunately what's hip these days isn't necessarily what I find worth of my time or money, so I don't even entertain the idea. Were I to have a Twitch, my content would probably be something akin to Peter Dorr, just to name an example since I'm not up-to-date with Twitch streamers. I'll most likely play Pokémon a lot, rotate between PS1 and PS2 games and talk about gaming stuff all the while playing a game. Then again, I don't like showing my face, and I don't have the equipment either, so there's that. Come to think of it, maybe if I hadn't stopped playing Pokémon competitively I could've maybe made something out of it. Who knows...?
Outside of the Internet I've had serious talks with my mother about opening a video game store, she wanting to be one of my investors. It's an idea I've left up in the clouds, though; I don't think I'm ready yet for such...a gamble if I'm being honest. But overall what I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't mind making a career out of this hobby. I wanted to be a comicbook artist until my mother *bleep*blocked me. Careers based around art apparently are the devil for most parents.
The idea of making my job revolve around having to be the best and tirelessly playing a game for thousands of hours, studying every aspect of that game down to its programing, and then knowing my entire livelihood hinges on whether I'm better then the next guy sounds like the antithesis of fun and why I love gaming.
Yeah, I have to agree with this sentiment.
Has any ever got to participate in local gaming tournaments?.
One of the arcades I used to go to the most as a kid used to hold monthly tournaments, but most were for fighting games, which I was crap at (not like I'm any good now, anyway). Some Blockbusters around my area also held competitions from time to time, but I usually learned about them halfway through, so I never participated. There was a local TV show that would do some amateur competitions where the winner would win a game or something game-related. And lastly Time Out and Stop N' Play would also hold competitions from time to time.