Kicking off at midday yesterday, the crowd of predominantly male competitors were preparing for a long day (and night) of non-stop gaming. "It's more of a social gathering, " explained Eric Mooney from website room101. org, who helped organise the event, as we walked into the warm-up room.

LAN (Local Area Network) communities were grouped together in the BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) area.

Most were fitting in some last minutes of practice for the tactical team shooting game Counter-Strike.

"These guys take it very seriously, " warned Mooney.

"They're serious about winning." Most of the team members (there are five on each Counter-Strike team) met each other online. Bernard Tolan from Stillorgan in Dublin had a team of members from Dublin, Kildare, Cork and Derry.

"We're in the running, definitely, " he said. "We're hoping the competition doesn't run too late into the night, but we can last if the worst comes to the worst."

Paddy 'Spaceman' Conway from Dundalk was there to play Quake 3. "We'll play all day and all night until they throw us out." Where does he get his energy? He gestures towards a can of Coke and a Snickers bar.

The tournament area next door, a large, dimly lit room with a high ceiling, showcases the real action. In one corner, there's the XBox area, where Project Gotham Racing 3 is blasting out on widescreen televisions.

Then there's a tuck shop with coffee and chocolate. Two employees from Millennium People Recruitment, hoping to hire gaming experts, wait patiently with pens, and in the far corner, there are exclamations of glee coming from soccer computer-game players.

The centre point is the stage, where the CounterStrike and Starcraft finals are fought.

Just before 2pm, the gamers' briefing begins and they shuffle out of the warmup room, cracking knuckles and surveying the competition with steely, half-open eyes.

The action continues today.