Kyle Giersdorf, a 16 year old high school student, won the first Fortnite World Cup, earning $3 million in prize money. This article discusses the rise of teens wanting to pursue a professional career in gaming. The popularity of e-sports is increasing; the University of California, Irvine even offers scholarship money for playing video games. The article also touches on the topic of video game addiction as it relates to a growing interest of video games as a professional sport or occupation.

This article relates to our discussion in the #psychological module regarding isolation and social identity. As we talked about gamers isolation, Hikikomori identity, and Otaku, this article highlights that the instances of children who prefer solo hobbies to what many take to be typical hobbies like sports and music, which often require social contact and cooperation. Further, this article briefly alludes to the issue of game addiction, which we also touched on in class regarding its connection to social isolation and alienation. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/well/family/video-games-adolescents-screen-time.html