Lee’s Summit, Mo. ? At 22, Johnathan Wendel has traveled to dozens of countries, developed a personal trademark and become known by just one name to a worldwide legion of fans.

And somehow, the Lee’s Summit native still finds time to sleep till noon most days in his parents’ basement.

Known as “Fatal1ty” in cyberspace, Wendel is the world’s top-ranked computer gamer. He has won the singles championship in the Cyberathlete Professional League for three straight years, competing at tournaments as far away as South Korea, Brazil and Australia and winning $150,000, a car and trips. He has signed autographs for female fans on various body parts, he says proudly.

More recently, Wendel competed in Texas and France, taking third place at the Electronic Sports World Cup and winning $3,000 playing a first-person action game called Unreal Tournament 2003. His itinerary for the rest of the summer includes trips to St. Louis and Los Angeles, but there’s no need to find a hotel. Wendel stays — and plays — with his fans on the road.

Although less familiar to sports fans than Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong, Wendel is getting there — or trying to, at least, as he rides the swiftly spreading appeal of Internet gaming with an agent and his own line of clothing and computer gaming products.

“Gaming is the biggest thing in the world now,” said Wendel, surrounded by computers in his basement apartment, wearing a black polo shirt emblazoned with his personal logo — the letter “F” with a lightning bolt and tornado to the side.

Multiplayer cybergames pit competitors against each other in pitched battles on computer screens. Details vary, but a typical game has players pursuing and eluding each other through dark, winding dungeons. Viewing the action from a first-person point of view, the players can pick up new weapons along the way — bigger and better guns, or more potent ammo.

Johnathan Wendel looks over his shoulder while practicing Unreal Tournament 2003 in the basement of his parents' house in Lee's Summit, Mo. Known as Fatal1ty in cyberspace, Wendel is the world's top-ranked computer gamer.

Wendel’s prowess in games like Aliens versus Predator and Quake III is hailed and debated — often in several languages — on cybergame Web sites, where trash-talk abounds and fans regularly misspell both his given first name and his gaming moniker. (“Fatal1ty” is a play on “fatality,” which flashes on screen when one character offs another.)

But the numeral in “Fatal1ty” could just as well stand for the esteem that Wendel is accorded by people like Angel Munoz, founder and president of the 6-year-old Cyberathlete Professional League in Dallas.

“He just took an entire genre of game and beat everybody in our world of gaming,” said Munoz, whose CPL claims 5,000 members and has emerged as the unofficial organizing body for professional competitions.

Wendel studied telecommunications for one year at DeVry University in Kansas City before leaving to pursue gaming full-time three years ago.

Between the tournaments to which he travels at least once a month, Wendel spends time at home training, relaxing with friends and attending to the clothing and computer products he sells through his “FATstore.” He could afford his own home, Wendel says, but chooses to live in his parents’ basement because it’s easier. However, he does pay rent.

For the short term, Wendel’s goal is to win games. Down the line, he’d like to share the joy of competing with other players. He wants to line up sponsors so players who don’t make a career out of gaming can at least play in tournaments.

“The only way to survive is if you’re the best. I’m working on making it so it’s not that way,” Wendel said.

¢ www.fatal1ty.com