good read OP, and actually there is a professional level of gaming.. MLG Major league gaming.. and yes they do get paid and yes they do have sponsors. most of them prolly gross yearly more then alot of people who work a 9-5 with a college degree.

Also sorry to say but the game is going to be softcore the devs have already given light to that. If your hardcore you are prolly not going to like the game sorry to say. I cant be 100% sure but with the way its looking right now its not going to be a hardcore based game. The sad truth is casuals are the majority and not to mention they are the most loud people on the forums. They post the most, complain the most, and the people who beg for Dev attention. Most hardcore player will keep up with the current info but rather play the game and accomplish something rather then spending hours a day bickering with other casuals about how the game should be catered to their every need.

Im like most i dont mind casuals but I do mind when a game that has so much potential is catered to them because THEY dont want to invest the time. Whats even funny to me is nowadays I see a lot of self proclaimed casuals with like 2000 post on the forums. Im like if they spent all of that time on the forums actually playing the game they wouldnt even be considered casual at that point.