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A Lot of Money for Playing Games 239

knowhow writes "Tom Taylor took the risk of dropping out from high school just to play video games. The guy who is just 18 years old, was prompted to take this step; because of the reason that emerged from his love for gaming. After playing for six months on a full time basis the guy signed a contract for a staggering $250,000." From the Article:"Now Tom taylor is known as Tsquared on the gaming circuit. He's earning six figures and has product endorsements and a video game tutoring business. He's one of about 100 professional gamers associated with Major League Gaming, a video gaming league founded in 2002. When they're playing well, pros might bring home a few grand a month."
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A Lot of Money for Playing Games

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  • by JoeCommodore ( 567479 ) <larry@portcommodore.com> on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:04PM (#16404063) Homepage
    I wonder in what situation he will be, he better be working on a backup skill.
    • by Frogbert ( 589961 ) <frogbert.gmail@com> on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:10PM (#16404113)
      Yes I'm sure someone handling their own expensive sponsership deals, complex contracts and his own business would have no marketable skills outside of playing quake.
      • What exactly is the marketable skill in signing a contract that says 'give me loads of money'?
        • by TapeCutter ( 624760 ) on Thursday October 12, 2006 @03:56AM (#16405411) Journal
          "What exactly is the marketable skill in signing a contract that says 'give me loads of money'?"

          None at that stage, but getting someone to offer you a genorous contract in the first place is a "marketable skill". If this kid has any financial smarts he will suck that contract dry and get a renewal, if not he will get bored, throw a "party", and watch it slip through his fingers.

          I dropped out of high school at 16 (Australia), it did not stop me from renting a house, buying a car, raising a family... Sure I completed a BSc when I was 30 because by that time I had figured out what I wanted to do, now I am 47 my pay pack is well above average. To be honest, I would have to say that making a living is less "financialy challenging" when you have the right bits of paper, but that still doesn't mean your life is ruined without them.

          However the notion that dropping out of school will ruin the rest of your life is false and usually promoted by those who stayed at school and have yet to find out what earning a pay packet is all about. And no, a couple of years burger flipping while leeching off your friends and relatives does not qualify.

          BTW: Please excuse my spelling, as I said, I'm a high school dropout.
          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            Conversely, people who haven't been to school often fail to understand its benefits, which, as often as not, are not necessarily financial. Moreover, one person's success does not make a given path the smooth one. Fact is, and I'm sure you're aware of this, most dropouts do miserably.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Assuming he didn't tell his high school teachers to kiss his shiny rich ass on the way out, he should go knocking on Harvard's door for an education. He can afford it and money talks at that school. Although I'm not sure if the blue bloods will want a prize-winning video game player in their midst. MIT or Stanford might take him. And then write a book.
      • MIT or Stanford might take him.
        Yeah, after he gets 1500 on his SAT scores.

        |>oug
        • by Danse ( 1026 )
          Yeah, after he gets 1500 on his SAT scores.

          yeah... or writes a large check... if he's got the cash, he can get in just about anywhere...
          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by nessus42 ( 230320 )
            I've never met anyone who got into MIT on the basis of money. And even if they somehow did, they'd flunk out the first semester if they weren't really damned smart and already had an excellent high-school level education.

            |>oug
            • by The Great Pretender ( 975978 ) on Thursday October 12, 2006 @07:28AM (#16406533)
              Which is really ironic as I've yet to hire a MIT grad. Every one that I've interviewed (and yes a pool of 5 is statistically significant, even if it is a very small representation of a population) has an ego the size of a planet and actually seems to have got a very poor education with respect to usable, practical science. However, they seem to assume that I'll hire them based on the image the MIT research gets in the media. My guess this media image is generated by a very few select departments. - Mod this for flamenait and bring on the MIT flaming (actually it'll be interesting to see how 'clever' the flaming is).
              • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

                by nessus42 ( 230320 )

                Every one that I've interviewed (and yes a pool of 5 is statistically significant, even if it is a very small representation of a population) has an ego the size of a planet and actually seems to have got a very poor education with respect to usable, practical science.

                That's probably because MIT has a very significant humanities requirement.... (That was a joke, btw, even though it is true.)

                The joke around Boston is that you hire Northeastern grads to get the work done, MIT grads to be your CTOs, and Harva

        • by camperdave ( 969942 ) on Thursday October 12, 2006 @01:17AM (#16404717) Journal
          I'm sure he can probably play SAT long enough to get his score up to 1500.
        • Does the USA have the concept of a "mature age student"? I'm not bagging the US ( this time :), I only ask because that is how I got my BSc in Australia. Most of the posts I have seen so far seem to assume that if you return to formal education you will have to directly compete against school leavers for a place.

          In Australia, universities select school leavers by a score, similar to SAT's in the US, but it has little bearing on educational opportunities once you reach the ripe old age of 23. When I appli
          • by crgrace ( 220738 )
            Tapecutter,

            No, the USA doesn't have that concept (mature age student) in any formal way. You are treated no differently from a new high school graduate. However, most "Mature Students" would go the Junior College route, which makes it significantly easier to get into a given state-supported school. I agree that older students are probably more likely to be motivated, my own personal observations supports that. And as for dropping out at 16, then getting back to school, and being successful all the while
    • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:18PM (#16404169)
      It would take me seven years to make that much money. Maybe I should worry about what to do since my money dries up before each month ends. You make it sound like he won't have a job after the $250,000. With the current trend of video games I might say his job is more secure than a lot of people I know.
      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        Seven years? Man you need a better job ...

        Anyways, the problem with a competition of this nature is that you can make a lot of money as long as you're at the top of your game. For every person in this league there is (probably) 100 people who are nearly as good and (if they so choose) could easily start challenging you for your spot in the league. In other words you always are at risk of not being good enough to keep your 'job'.

        Growing up, I knew a few guys who ended up becomming professional snowboarders;
        • Growing up, I knew a few guys who ended up becomming professional snowboarders; they lasted about 18 months before their sponsership and were 'forced' out. I imagine that, if gaming continues as a 'sport', professional-gamers will have to 'train' for 8 hours a day to stay competitive.

          I say 'so what'? You do it for as long as you can, and then go to school (or do whatever other career you want to try out). It's not like trying to be a professional whatever is going to ruin the rest of anyones life.
    • How about ... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by vlad_petric ( 94134 )
      Game tester. It's not really that fun (playing same games repeatedly until they're balanced/stable enough), but he's got the skills.
    • I wonder in what situation he will be, he better be working on a backup skill.


      Given the money he's making, he'll have no trouble putting himself through college to pick up a backup skill after the funding for pro gaming has dried up.
    • Why are you certain that the money will dry up? Do you mean for the profession, or for him personally as he gets older and his reflexes aren't as good? Maybe he'll go on to games where reflexes aren't that important. I don't think the assumption that the money will dry up is necessarily a good one. It's good to hedge against, but that's good advice no matter what you do.

    • by smchris ( 464899 )
      Oh, well. When University of Phoenix opens a Second Life branch, he can always go back to college. Good chance for a sports scholarship.
  • Women (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:05PM (#16404069)
    I suppose that, unlike actual sports leagues, Major League Gaming doesn't have to worry about sex party scandals.
    • Re:Women (Score:5, Funny)

      by From A Far Away Land ( 930780 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:36PM (#16404271) Homepage Journal
      "Major League Gaming doesn't have to worry about sex party scandals"

      Are you kidding? All they have to do is install the Hot Coffee Mod, and lawyers like Jack T. will be on them like the FBI on a criminal driven tank.
      • by mike2R ( 721965 )
        All they have to do is install the Hot Coffee Mod, and lawyers like Jack T. will be on them like the FBI on a criminal driven tank.

        They'll repeatedly crash into the back of them, but burst into flames and explode before doing any damage? This I've got to see!

  • Rating (Score:5, Informative)

    by Kangburra ( 911213 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:07PM (#16404087)
    Major League Gaming [mlgpro.com] shows he's not even the best! :-(
    • by Barny ( 103770 )
      Hrmm, he is 8th in halo2. what else does he play pro? well, according to his score sheet, nothing.
  • by TubeSteak ( 669689 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:16PM (#16404163) Journal
    Obviously the youngun's have the advantage when it comes to twitch style video gaming, but this seems very reminscent of poker, where you can make aliving playing if you're good enough, but not many people are that good.

    As for the people who say "what's his backup skill going to be?" Assuming he can talk & isn't butt ugly, I imagine he'll be a commentator or spokesperson someday.

    Hell, if there's enough drama in the industry, he can write a book too.
    • by Rachel Lucid ( 964267 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:20PM (#16404175) Homepage Journal
      We may as well talk about the guys who drop out of school to play basketball...
    • by Kadin2048 ( 468275 ) <slashdot@kadin.xoxy@net> on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:27PM (#16404219) Homepage Journal
      Everyone always talks about wanting to get a job where they get paid to do what they enjoy, but I tend to wonder if maybe you'd get burned out of doing something that you enjoy as a pastime, if you had to start doing it for 8, 10 or 12 hours a day. (Okay, admittedly there are WoW players who seem to have no problems there.)

      There are lots of things that I enjoy in moderation that I don't think I'd like anymore, if I started doing them as my day job. Maybe it's just me...but I just think that playing games for a living might take the fun out of it.

      I guess maybe this is because I enjoy playing games as a way to relax, and I guess I wouldn't want to play them more than a few hours a day, regardless of the other constraints on my time.
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Yeah, tell me about it. I used to love programming. Until I started doing it for a living.
      • I think this is a common situation and a common misunderstanding. Just because you like something doesn't mean you like it under any circumstance. Why would it? Maybe you like doing something at *your* pace, but don't like it so much when you have to hassle or keep deadlines. Thinking about what you really would like to do is a pretty complicated prospect and I suspect most of us don't actually achieve it. Such is life.

        But its short-sightedness that probably brings a lot of us to it. Probably a bit of lac
        • I think another thing is that people expect to like their jobs ALL the time. Any job will have parts you don't like. The question is whether the bits you like outweigh the bits you dislike. My mom's a great example. She's a financial advisor, and there are definitely parts of her job that drive her crazy (dealing with tax-related stuff being the foremost), but on the whole, she loves her job. People need to realize, that you are WORKING. Yes, you should enjoy your job. No, you shouldn't expect it to
      • by udderly ( 890305 )
        There are lots of things that I enjoy in moderation that I don't think I'd like anymore, if I started doing them as my day job. Maybe it's just me...but I just think that playing games for a living might take the fun out of it.

        I took a Psychology of Motivation class in college and I believe that they taught us that there is an ample amount of research out there that suggests that anytime you get paid to do something, your motivation to do it will be less.
      • by Jaeph ( 710098 )
        The difference between you (and me) and this guy is that he *does* derive satisfaction from playing obscene hours, regardless of the circumstances (deadlines, pressure to win, etc). It's what makes a pro a pro.

        It's similar to everything I've read about the geniuses in history - a major factor that set them apart was an ability to focus on one problem far longer than anybody else. Consider Einstein spending years of his life learning the advanced math he needed to tackle general relativity.

        So would you or
  • Nice "editing" (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:19PM (#16404173)
    I'm not usually one to complain about the editors, but come on.

    The guy who is just 18 years old, was prompted to take this step; because of the reason that emerged from his love for gaming.

    Set that poor semicolon free! It doesn't deserve to be cooped up in that horrible excuse for a sentence! The semicolon is a beautiful creature that can only be appreciated in its natural habitat: a sentence containing two full independent clauses. Or certain lists.

    • by prichardson ( 603676 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:53PM (#16404375) Journal
      "a sentence containing two full independent clauses. Or certain lists."

      That should read: 'a sentence containing two full independent clauses or certain lists.'

      There was no reason to separate those thoughts. It made the flow of your prose awkward. I must refer you to the old saying about glass houses and accusations. :-)
    • by Zugok ( 17194 )
      The semi-colon is my friend; grandparent post was a poor example of its usage.
    • That's nothing, think of all the poor semicolons stuck delimiting Perl code!
  • What? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anne_Nonymous ( 313852 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:33PM (#16404247) Homepage Journal
    >> The guy who is just 18 years old, was prompted to take this step; because of the reason that emerged from his love for gaming.

    Say that again, but not in Klingon.
  • by MemeSpitter ( 781288 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:38PM (#16404283)
    "The guy who is just 18 years old, was prompted to take this step; because of the reason that emerged from his love for gaming."
    "... do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites, standing for absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college." -- Kurt Vonnegut
    Or, if you must, at least avoid using if you haven't the foggiest idea of where to put them (such as, say, between two independent clauses). All that does is show you've dropped out of high school to play video games.
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by lullabud ( 679893 )
      if you must, at least avoid using if you haven't the foggiest idea of where to put them

      print "Such as at the end of the line rather than in the middle.\n" ;
  • by jorghis ( 1000092 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2006 @11:50PM (#16404357)
    I cant even count the number of people I knew when I was in college who threw away the chance to become succesfull engineers (I went to an engineering school) to play WoW/Everquest/Counterstrike 15 hours a day. For every guy like this who makes a career out of gaming there are hundreds of thousands who give up their careers because they spend too much time playing video games.

    Spending the enourmous amount of time required to be good at video games is a worse investment than a lottery ticket. Lottery tickets have had more winners, require less time investment, and the payoff is a lot bigger than 250 grand.

    Yes, I realize that a lot of people play video games for fun and moderate their time spent well. But dont we all know people who play endlessly because they want to be the best on their server or be in a clan that wins a lot of tournaments?
    • I know just as many people who play the pokies endlessly because they want that thrill of the win. Many more people have given up their careers (not to mention their houses, their savings, the clothes of their back) for the sake of another toss of the dice/deal of the cards/roll of the slots. Balance is important; it's easy for your recreation activity to take over and dominate your life. Computer gaming is just another example of an existing phenomenon, not a new phenomenon itself.
    • by javilon ( 99157 )
      Yes, I realize that a lot of people play video games for fun and moderate their time spent well. But dont we all know people who play endlessly because they want to be the best on their server or be in a clan that wins a lot of tournaments?

      Yes, that is called a hobby and there are lots of them. I don't think it is bad if you can combine it with the rest of your life.
    • by jdcook ( 96434 )

      "I cant even count the number of people I knew when I was in college who threw away the chance to become succesfull engineers (I went to an engineering school) to play WoW/Everquest/Counterstrike 15 hours a day. For every guy like this who makes a career out of gaming there are hundreds of thousands who give up their careers because they spend too much time playing video games.

      Really? You can't count the number of people you personally knew who were smart and ambitious enough to get into engineering sch

    • by pr0nbot ( 313417 )
      "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."
      Bertrand Russell

      Of course the question is whether, while spending 14 hours a day to get the next PVP rank so you get shoulders with spikes on them, you are really enjoying yourself.
    • by The-Bus ( 138060 )
      That's a good point. There's a few sad truths about video games, and one is that people think they can "brek into" them by playing them a lot (and being good) or that they can "break into" the industry by working at a Gamestop. That's kind of like saying you want to be a NASCAR driver so you take a job with a long commute or you want to start designing Ferraris for Pininfarina so you work at a car wash.

      If you want to write about video games, write about them. There's hundreds of sites around and I'm sure o
  • by Khyber ( 864651 ) <techkitsune@gmail.com> on Thursday October 12, 2006 @12:07AM (#16404433) Homepage Journal
    "When they're playing well, pros might bring home a few grand a month."

    Hell yea, where's the Enemy Territory tourneys with the money? C'mon guys, don't neglect good and free for everyone games! Let's see who rocks the free-world for the most cash!
  • How sad (Score:4, Insightful)

    by nlawalker ( 804108 ) on Thursday October 12, 2006 @12:10AM (#16404447)
    It seems a shame to take a recreational activity that you love and make it your sole source of income.

    Yes, I do believe you can love your work. But this guy took a thing that he truly loved that *wasn't* work and *made it* his work. Playing games for a living sounds great, but anything loses its luster once you are chained to it if you want to eat and have a place to live.

    For all you gamers, think of how excited you are when a new blockbuster game comes out and you can't wait to get your hands on it. Now take that feeling and completely invert it, and I think that that about approximates what this guy must feel when that happens. "Oh man, a new game... guess I better start getting good at this one too. Back to ten hours of practice a day."
    • Yeah it's disgraceful that his job is actually something he enjoys. It'd be better if he cleaned toilets or something so gaming would keep its 'luster'.
    • by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )
      Well, if that something you love to do is to fuck, I can't really think of a better thing to get paid for (provided it's somewhere in California and there's a camera present, of course). And then you could really say, "I love my work."
    • by Aladrin ( 926209 )
      Who said he was chained to it? You're assuming he has no money in his bank account and is counting on this 'job' to feed him. It is entirely possible he can quit at any time and be perfectly fine.

      It's also a mistake to assume he has no other skills. The simple fact is, this is his -best- skill, not necessarily his only skill.

      As for the 'new game' mentality... Someone in a previous thread noted that he only plays 1 game professionally: Halo. There's been quite a few games in that genre since then, and
    • In high school I loved space. I loved looking at the stars. Thinking about satellites, the coming commercialization of space, etc. So I went to school to become an Aerospace Engineer.

      By your logic I shouldn't have, because I "took a thing I truly loved that *wasn't* work and *made it* work" ... but you know what? I love work! I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing. And if I were doing something else I'd probably be watching the clock to race home and work on my real passion for space. Think about w
    • "Playing games for a living sounds great, but anything loses its luster once you are chained to it if you want to eat and have a place to live."

      How about learning to enjoy a variety of things? Food and shelter are nice!
      Getting them in exchange for gaming instead of pumping porta-johns is a screaming deal!
  • by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Thursday October 12, 2006 @12:25AM (#16404511) Journal

    What would TV coverage of this look like? You can't just have a shot of the screen, but if you cut back and forth you miss screen action. They probably have to edit together a lot of highlights. I can't imagine this would be very entertaining to watch on live TV... ok, some stuff like one-on-one fighting games might play well... it would be like boxing without the chance of actual injury. Yes, I guess this could be watchable if done right. The missing element is that you aren't watching your friends get beat, or beating your friends, or well... gaming. Robot wars was OK TV because most of us don't have the time, money or skill to make a decent fighting bot. Everyone can game. When I was a kid and was totally game crazy, the time I spent having to just *watch* was pure agony. Gimme the joystick!!! How many kids these days get their only daily exercise fighting their siblings for the controller? You're going to take gaming and make it totally passive? Those kids are going to explode, leaving nasty bits of fat all over the walls. Hey... that'd be a cool effect in a game.

    • More and more games are coming with built-in spectator modes, so that people can connect and watch the game live without actually taking part. Counter-Strike has had this for several years now. You can have overhead views of the map, view a particular player from 1st or 3rd person perspective, overlay tactical maps, use cinematic camera angles, or just fly around with a free range camera.

      I take your point about wanting to play, and I agree, but if you're a fan of a particular game, there's definitely som
    • "What would TV coverage of this look like? ... I can't imagine this would be very entertaining to watch on live TV...."

      I suppose you didn't read this recent ./ article [slashdot.org]?

    • by DrXym ( 126579 )
      What would TV coverage of this look like?

      Probably excrutiatingly boring. I've never, ever seen any show featuring competitive gaming segements which was even slightly interesting to look at.

    • Gameplay HD is a fulltime game channel. [gameplayhd.com] It comes on Dish Network's MPEG-4 HD package and is one of the old Voom channels. It tends to follow one person's screen a few minutes at a time. And it is excruciatingly boring. You tend to get shows with CS, Quake 4 and Starcraft commentary, including Tournaments. I thought the idea was cool till I saw it. G4 is better, but that's certinally faint praise.
  • I mean, I guess it's not actually any different than going for tennis lessons, but something about that just leaves me with an overwhelming feeling of wtfness.
  • by Aqua OS X ( 458522 ) on Thursday October 12, 2006 @01:22AM (#16404747)
    "like Michael Jordan was born to play basketball. I feel like I was born to play video games." ... and to use that as an excuse to compare myself to Michael Jordan.
  • by Jack9 ( 11421 ) on Thursday October 12, 2006 @01:23AM (#16404757)
    More people won MORE money playing the lottery. This type of sensationalist stuff doesn't interest most people but it keeps making headlines on /. ?
    • by Aladrin ( 926209 )
      Um, maybe that's because more people play the lottery than attempt to have a career playing video games? How about:

      More people made MORE money...
      As CEO of a company
      Playing sports
      Making movies
      Singing
      As head of a country
      As drug kingpins
      In the stock market

      No, this is news because it's so rare. That's the way news works... The stuff that doesn't happen every day is what gets talked about.
  • by Durzel ( 137902 ) on Thursday October 12, 2006 @03:30AM (#16405321) Homepage
    I can't think of many worse (in terms of sustainable income) jobs in the World than this to be honest.

    For a start you're competing against millions of people who don't require any technical qualification to compete with you. Besides gaining knowledge on a subject most people go to College & University to set themselves aside from the pack, to make themselves look more attractive to employers. With pro-gaming you haven't got any of this, the only barrier to entry is sufficiently fast reflexes, a little intelligence and a competent PC.

    This person is going to be a target for the rest of his playing career. The guy below him is gonna be aiming to usurp him to get his sponsorship, not to mention thousands upon thousands of upstarts actively seeking to relegate him to obscurity.

    It's also the sort of industry where unless you are in the Top 10 or so players for an extended period of time you're anonymous. It's not like being a professional footballer where even if you're in the lower divisions you're still making enough money to live on. This guy has to realise that there are thousands of people below him who are making no real money to speak of just waiting for him to slip up.

    No one really knows the terms of this $250,000 contract - whether he's actually been given this amount of money or whether that's essentially his "valuation" in pro-gaming terms, but if I were him I would invest all of it and work on the principal that his career could just fizzle out in a couple of years or so.
    • by 0123456 ( 636235 ) on Thursday October 12, 2006 @06:50AM (#16406231)
      "Besides gaining knowledge on a subject most people go to College & University to set themselves aside from the pack, to make themselves look more attractive to employers."

      But almost everyone has a degree these days, so if you want to 'set yourself aside from the pack', you shouldn't be wasting your time at university.
      • But almost everyone has a degree these days, so if you want to 'set yourself aside from the pack', you shouldn't be wasting your time at university.

        You don't want to set yourself aside from the pack. You want to set yourself AHEAD of the pack. And if the pack has college degrees and you don't, you're going to face an uphill battle trying to convince people that you're better than them at most things.
  • ... anyone who knows what game he actually plays? This is the typical sensationalist news that I loathe, especially when it's about competitive video gaming. They presume that the people reading the article are interested solely in the bizarre fact that people can make money playing video games, and that they probably wouldn't need to know which game we're actually talking about here.
  • The article doesn't say how long the contract runs.

    If it is $250k for one year, then that is pretty damn good. $250k over five years is pretty darn average once you take out income tax, Social Security, and Medicare. Not bad for a High School dropout, but not exactly the staggering sum it is made out to be.

    SirWired
    • by s31523 ( 926314 )
      Good point! I wonder if the contract has free Jolt cola [wikipedia.org] as part of the deal!

      It also doesn't mention what grade he was in. As an 18 year dropping out of high school should have been right in his senior year. If he was in the middle of his senior year, that would be pretty dumb, but if he was still like a sophomore well then that tells you something.

      Seriously though, as a parent I say good for him, but I would have pushed the graduating high school a bit more. For my kids, once they get out of high sch
  • The guy who is just 18 years old, was prompted to take this step; because of the reason that emerged from his love for gaming.

    William Shatner submitting slashdot articles now?

  • by JPriest ( 547211 )
    A few grand a month does not sound like something worth dropping out of school over. Also, in the case of Tom Taylor, if he was 18 and still in school it didn't sound like he had much time left before graduating. I never understood the point of spending 13 years of your life in school to walk out the door 2 or 6 months before graduation. The least he could have done is homeschooled the remainder of his diploma to avoid having to place G.E.D. on his future resume's.
  • I mean, maybe it's just me, but I'd interpret his intitials as T+T, not T*T.
  • So does this mean that the thousands of kids who have fucked up their education by too much gaming can look forward to big endorsement checks? I guess being addicted to WoW actually is a good thing.
  • I am more impressed with one of the co-founders of YouTube still going to school and becomeing fabulously rich. HP, Yahoo, CISCO, NetScape, Google, YouTube ... those Stanford startups just keep on pumping money.

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