Competitive Video Gamer From New York Retires After Hurting His Thumb

Have you heard of the legend that is "Zooma"? Maybe, or maybe not. Zooma is the online nickname of Thomas Paparatto, a professional video gamer who stars for the New York Subliners. Yes, there are people from around the world who actually earn huge dollars every to play video games competitively. And some even play on teams. The Subliners are a professional Call of Duty League esports team out of the city.

Well, it appears Paparatto has announced his retirement at only the age of 25 due to nagging thumb injury, according to the BBC. Paparatto took to Twitter to tell the fans he was stepping away. from the game

 

Going through that process of getting healthy again was one of the hardest things I ever had to do both physically and mentally, which led to a lot of stress and anxiety.

This lead to an outpouring of support and tributes from adoring fans and other gamers that almost harken back to the days when someone like Michael Jordan or Peyton Manning stepped away from their craft. ZooMa was leaving the game, and social media paid their respects.

The Call of Duty series is a hugely popular first-person shooter game franchise, that starting in 2003, and has since released many sequels and spinoffs. Check out YouTube and you'll find countless hours of videos uploaded showing players competing, and even fighting with each other for supremacy. It gets heated. Esports is simply the name given to competitive video gaming. In this case, they don't use a bat or kick a ball to earn their pay. They use multiple-button controllers and a headset. And the thing is, some of them make more than a lot of us combined. Jeez.