Hundreds of competitors will converge upon one hotel with the intent to shoot, snipe and bomb anybody in the way of their shot at a $500 prize. Quick reflexes, strategic thinking and precision with a variety of weapons will determine who walks away with the cash and the chance to compete in bigger and better tournaments. Of course, none of the carnage will be real, but the sense of urgency and competition will be 100 percent authentic when the world of professional video gaming comes to the Chicago

metropolitan area.

Major League Gaming will bring its 2010 Doritos Pro-Gaming Combine to the Pheasant Run Resort, 4051 E. Main St., St. Charles, Ill., May 14-16. The event will feature a “Halo 3” tournament through which players with dreams of going pro can prove their skills and try to impress some of the country’s top professional gamers.

All MLG events are open to public registration, according to MLG co-founder Sundance DiGiovanni, but the combine differs from the league’s Pro Circuit events in that the sponsored, professional MLG players aren’t competing. This is meant to give up-and-coming players the chance to shine and prove themselves to the pros.

“The pros are there as evaluators, so what they’ll be doing is they’ll be watching people play over the course of the weekend,” DiGiovanni said. “The talented guy who maybe has a lot of potential, they’ll be grabbing him and tagging him for further evaluations later in the day. Or let’s say you’re not the greatest player in the world; you might be able to get a chance to play against a pro or have an exchange with a pro. The idea behind that is that the pros aren’t competing, so they’re more accessible.”

According to DiGiovanni, the competitive gaming subculture in the United States is growing rapidly. The subculture treats gaming like a sport, and in many ways it is. Professional gamers often compete on sponsored teams in tournaments that are broadcast live online to large audiences. While watching people play video games may not sound thrilling to everyone, DiGiovanni said there is definitely a large audience for it.

“It’s just like any competitive environment,” he said. “If you describe baseball to someone who’s not a baseball fan, and then say, ‘Well, thousands of people sit in the stadium and some can barely see the players,’ it doesn’t sound like a great experience. The key to a spectator activity is there needs to be a community element around it, and there needs to be a shared excitement around it.”

Some players are able to support themselves entirely from tournament money, sponsorships and endorsements, although Paul Brewer, marketing operations manager for the World Cyber Games, said that’s more common in Asian countries than it is in the United States.

“In Korea, they have the Star Leagues for ‘Starcraft,’” Brewer said. “All those kids are making six figures a year, which is way more than anyone is making here, but there are some people who are able to sustain themselves without a secondary income just because they’ve been successful.”

The World Cyber Games hosts tournaments in 70 countries around the globe, with each year’s final championship event serving as an Olympic-style event to determine the top gamers in the world.

EJ Gonzalez has been playing video games professionally for about 10 years in tournaments such as the World Cyber Games, the Cyberathlete Amateur League and the TeamWarfare League. He said life as a professional gamer isn’t all fun and games.

“It’s not for everybody, but if somebody really enjoys competing and really enjoys video games, it might be for them,” Gonzalez said. “You’re going to end up putting in the same amount of hours playing games as you would at any other job, so it’s really got to be something that you have a passion for.”

Gonzalez said he, like many other pro gamers, enjoys competing against other players more than he enjoys the games themselves.

“It’s more about the drive to just compete and get to the top than it is actually enjoying the game,” he said. “Just trying to get ahead of the other teams and out-play the other people is more fun than the actual game, because you do play it to the point where the game isn’t really that fun anymore. It gets a bit repetitive. It’s just about out-playing other people and seeing how good you can get.”

DiGiovanni said he hopes in a few years pro gaming will become just as mainstream as other non-traditional sports, such as competitive poker.

“I’d argue that we’re the second-fastest growing sport in the country, behind [mixed martial arts],” he said. “We’re still a baby in this world, but we’ve been very, very happy with the growth that we’ve been able to establish and the continuation of that growth into the future.”

For more information on pro gaming, including tournament dates and times, visit MLGPro.com and WCG.com.