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How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

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51–60 of 202 posts

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#51
post #41

The bit I'd be interested to read about is the psychology behind the "donors." Why would anyone throw down random $100 or $500 without a quid quo pro to someone receiving many other such donations? I understand streaming, generally, and have paid to subscribe to a channel before but the random throwing around of not insignificant amounts of money gets me scratching my head. (Should make it clear I'm not criticizing t…

People do a lot of things that baffle me. Spending $100-500 for some entertainment is actually reasonable and not at all baffling.

I think a large number of twitch viewers are still under 18. I remember my little brother would get my mom hopping mad after he would repeatedly purchase DLC without asking. At $1 or even $5 a pop, would you notice at the end of the month?

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#52

The bit I'd be interested to read about is the psychology behind the "donors." Why would anyone throw down random $100 or $500 without a quid quo pro to someone receiving many other such donations? I understand streaming, generally, and have paid to subscribe to a channel before but the random throwing around of not insignificant amounts of money gets me scratching my head. (Should make it clear I'm not criticizing t…

Lots of people have more money than sense...

Or, less flippantly, for some people this is literally their only entertainment.. They watch every day, all the time..

At some point, dollar-per-hour evens out when compared to going to the movies or paying for other forms of entertainment.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#53

The same applies to pretty much any skill: to be successful, work hard and be very good at what you do. That's the entire article in a nutshell.

And be attractive. The top youtube/twitch people either look or sound like celebs. They are either cute or have the voice, the pipes, of a radio star.

Depends on what the streamers thing is really, someone like Arteezy can easily pull in 10-20k viewers without even using a mic or cam.

Though for people like him streaming isn't what they use to make a living either.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#54
post #9

What I think is crazy is that this industry exists at the scale it does. It has replaced reality TV for a segment of the world population. There are legions of people that watch these streams, just to watch someone doing something that they could do themselves (but maybe not win as much). This isn't like F1 racing where I'll never be able to afford a racecar, or football where I don't want to exercise. Most of the ki…

I'm also baffled by the popularity of "watching other people play video games". I get it when there is some event or tournament, or when some part is particularly interesting but to do it for hours and hours and hours for years... I don't get it, probably too old.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#55
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People do a lot of things that baffle me. Spending $100-500 for some entertainment is actually reasonable and not at all baffling.

I think a large number of twitch viewers are still under 18. I remember my little brother would get my mom hopping mad after he would repeatedly purchase DLC without asking. At $1 or even $5 a pop, would you notice at the end of the month?

Would I notice an extra $1-$5 on my credit card? Absolutely! Why on Earth does your brother have unfettered access to your mom's credit card where he'd be in a position to charge it without asking?

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#56
post #39
post #16

No mention of Dr. Disrespect - a Twitch persona who recently won "Streamer of the Year" at the Esports Industry Awards. Just a passing mention of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, a game which according to some is growing faster than Minecraft did. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is the most popular streamed game on Twitch right now. The game regularly has over 2,000,000 concurrent players, has sold over 13,000,000…

I don't mean to be rude, but so what? There's no need to specifically mention your favorite streamer, or your favorite game. Just because PUBG is popular right now doesn't mean this is a phenomenon centered around PUBG. There have been many streamers making A LOT of money for years now. League of Legends, Counterstrike, and DotA 2, for example, have always had large fan bases with "Top streamers" making similarly rid…

They were just plugging their favorite steamer. It's related, which is fine.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#57
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People do a lot of things that baffle me. Spending $100-500 for some entertainment is actually reasonable and not at all baffling.

Sure, I've spent money on a lot of weird things, giving arbitrary money to people I think who needed it, buying coins in games I've enjoyed, etc.. but donations with no quid pro quo to top Twitch players till do baffle me, given people making the donations know they're well off. It feels like me sending random checks to Larry David because I like watching his show :-D I'd just be keen to see an article digging into t…

When you donate, an alert pops up on the stream and the streamer will, in almost every case, acknowledge the donation and thank you for it. There's more recognition and interaction between the donator and the streamer than you sending a check to Larry David because you want him to have some walking-around money.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#58
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People do a lot of things that baffle me. Spending $100-500 for some entertainment is actually reasonable and not at all baffling.

Sure, I've spent money on a lot of weird things, giving arbitrary money to people I think who needed it, buying coins in games I've enjoyed, etc.. but donations with no quid pro quo to top Twitch players till do baffle me, given people making the donations know they're well off. It feels like me sending random checks to Larry David because I like watching his show :-D I'd just be keen to see an article digging into t…

What in Earth do you mean a "quid pro quo?" Twitch user gives entertainment and in return the donor kicks in some cash of they want to. Just like a busker.

If you feel they provide you with $500 in entertainment and you have a spare $500, then it makes sense.

That's like asking "why would you go to a casino when you know casinos make lots of money?"

If you're watching Larry David's shows the business transaction has already taken place. Larry David doesn't stream his shows for free and give you the opportunity to give him donations in exchange and then thank donors during the episode.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#59
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People do a lot of things that baffle me. Spending $100-500 for some entertainment is actually reasonable and not at all baffling.

Sure, I've spent money on a lot of weird things, giving arbitrary money to people I think who needed it, buying coins in games I've enjoyed, etc.. but donations with no quid pro quo to top Twitch players till do baffle me, given people making the donations know they're well off. It feels like me sending random checks to Larry David because I like watching his show :-D I'd just be keen to see an article digging into t…

Choosing to pay for content Larry David was involved in instead of pirating it is practically the same thing.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#60
post #24
post #9

What I think is crazy is that this industry exists at the scale it does. It has replaced reality TV for a segment of the world population. There are legions of people that watch these streams, just to watch someone doing something that they could do themselves (but maybe not win as much). This isn't like F1 racing where I'll never be able to afford a racecar, or football where I don't want to exercise. Most of the ki…

From the article: >“That’s like saying to a chef, ‘Why are you watching the Food Network? Shouldn’t you be in the kitchen, cooking?’ > Or to an athlete, ‘Why are you watching ESPN? Shouldn’t you be out shooting hoops?’ > No. People enjoy watching others who are good at what they do.” I don't understand it much myself (and I watch streams semi-regularly) but it's not like this doesn't have precedent. People watch prof…

> Plus with Twitch streams you can watch how skilled players play and what strategies they use. Personally, I watch a lot of streams for that reason. Plus, often times high-level play is almost a different game from casual level;watching streams (or recordings of streams) is one of the few ways casual players can see that.

That's a big part of it as well. Imagine if you could hang out on the side of the court and ask Stephen Curry questions while he practices. Ask him about the game last night, ask him why he took the shot that he did, why he drove instead of passing, what his practice regime is. You can play basketball with your friends if you want, or you can pick the brain of somebody who's incredible at it and get their advice, get their thoughts on the game.

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