First professional videogamer
Who
Dennis Fong
What
first
Where
United States (Atlanta)
When
1997
Dennis “Thresh” Fong (USA, b. 1977) is regarded as the first professional gamer in history. He won every tournament he attended over a five-year period, a feat that earned him the nickname “the Michael Jordan of the gaming world”. Fong is perhaps best known for his victory in the Red Annihilation Quake Tournament, sponsored by Microsoft and held at the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. As winner of the tournament, he was given a red Ferrari 328GTS convertible that had belonged to John Carmack (USA), co-creator of Quake.