Many adults like to play video games as a chance to unwind and relax at the end of the work day. For Weyburn's Mason Charlton, however, the gaming is the work day.

Charlton, who now resides in Vancouver, is a professional gamer, currently ranked 22nd in the world for his game of choice, Nintendo's Super Smash Brothers.

"I started gaming when I was two or three years old," said Charlton. "I've been playing professionally for about a year now."

His love of gaming originated when he would use an unplugged controller while his dad played. From there, he upgraded to an N64 and says he has been playing the different versions Smash Brothers since it came out, back in 1999.

"I've been playing them all throughout my childhood," he said. "It's really cool to see a game that I've played throughout my whole life have such a big impact on who I am and what I'm doing with my life."

The world of professional gaming, commonly referred to as "E-Sports", has taken off in the past few years and Charlton has been to a number of tournaments, starting around July of last year in Las Vegas. He has also been to Los Angeles, Orlando and Chicago, and has plans to travel to Berlin and Japan for tournaments there.

Along with the tournaments, Charlton also coaches up and coming gamers in the game and streams online.

"This is pretty much what I do for my career at this point," he noted. "Which is really, really cool."

Charlton goes by the name "Locus" in the gaming world, something he says hold symbolic value.

"My name, Locus, comes from a concept in Psychology," he said. "The locus of control. Basically, if you have an external locus of control you believe in destiny, you believe in fate, life is predetermined and then having an internal locus of control means that everything that happens in your life is a result of your own actions. So it's a reminder to me to have an internal locus of control and just a reminder that I can do anything if I really really put my mind to it and work hard."

He added that along with gaming, he likes to play piano. He hopes to continue traveling and partaking in events and is looking for a sponsor team to help him in the future.

"Thank you to Goudy trucking, Par Contracting and Pure Chem services for supporting me and helping me do the things I want to do with my life."