Rooster teeth: became a multi billion dollar company that is highly influential just by playing games. MLG: hosts competitive tournaments where good players have a chance to make big bucks Machinima: company that is highly successful from posting short, entertaining videos made in video games (not the case anymore but still) Yogscast: group of British gamers that make millions, just by playing minecraft and posting videos of it. Occasionally other games are played. In China and south Korea, they have major televised league of legends tournaments, and colleges where people learn how to play the game. Professional LoL is their versions of our football (American or otherwise). Playing games and making money is not at all ridiculous. If people enjoy what you are doing, they will pay for it. The first few people who were able to jump on this bandwagon were geniuses, modern entrepreneurs. I will say the example you gave is ridiculous, but the actual concept it perfectly fine.