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How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

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Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#131

Post by ben_jones »

dvt wrote: post #117
ben_jones wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OWL is a great example because there was a $20m buy in for I believe 8 teams. That's $160m in funding, with significant participation by organizations like the Kraft group. Whether it'll go anywhere is like asking if a specific well funded start-up will go anywhere, but its definitely being pushed hard.

I personally don't think Blizzard has any idea what they're doing in the esports scene. They destroyed SC2 and fumbled HotS, I don't think Overwatch will be any different. I was at Blizzcon last weekend and even though everyone there seemed excited about Overwatch, the numbers just weren't there. Barely breaking 300k viewers for a world championship (when DOTA, LoL, CSGO all break 1M+) -- the state of the game is not…

Didn't twitch break 300k viewers for OWWC?

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#132

Post by fokinsean »

nindalf wrote: post #43
olympus wrote: 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…

Its literally the difference between watching pro sports and playing sports yourself. I think Dota is a great game and I could play it, but I'm not that good, especially when I'm not playing regularly. So I have the choice of playing it and watch myself air-ball abilities or watch the equivalent of Steph Curry score from the half-line and beyond. Think about it, its a competitive game where you're matched with player…

Exactly, I love watching Rocket League on twitch because I will never be that good. Just recently they had the championships and a few of my friends and I logged onto ps4, hopped in a party chat, and watched it "together". It was a lot of fun.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#133

Post by plopz »

dvt wrote: post #117
ben_jones wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OWL is a great example because there was a $20m buy in for I believe 8 teams. That's $160m in funding, with significant participation by organizations like the Kraft group. Whether it'll go anywhere is like asking if a specific well funded start-up will go anywhere, but its definitely being pushed hard.

I personally don't think Blizzard has any idea what they're doing in the esports scene. They destroyed SC2 and fumbled HotS, I don't think Overwatch will be any different. I was at Blizzcon last weekend and even though everyone there seemed excited about Overwatch, the numbers just weren't there. Barely breaking 300k viewers for a world championship (when DOTA, LoL, CSGO all break 1M+) -- the state of the game is not…

What are you talking about not breaking 100k? They peaked over 800k [0].

[0] https://esc.watch/tournaments/ow/overwatch-world-cup-2017

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#134

Post by jackmott »

dvt wrote: post #123
fnovd wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's involved with boom.tv, which is creating a suite of tools streamers can use to interact with viewers in real time. He's not necessarily the best player or the most highly-paid streamer, but the production value of his stream is unmatched. He's innovating how people use the medium that is streaming. He uses live transitions with synchronized music, pre-configured greenscreens for his character's various gags, liv…

Again, this is nothing new. Some streamers are even dipping their toes into game development (Reynad, for example; he's making a competitor for Blizzard's Hearthstone).

you are just being idiotic.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#135

Post by ansible »

flipp3r wrote: post #20
olympus wrote: 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…

> Most of the kids watching these streams own a decent computer and can play. Youre making it sound not only as if only kids watch this, but also like playing any sport at all is so much different - and then compare it to Reality TV instead of live sports. Actual WTF? Some of the streamers (variety streamers) do play for just entertainment value, but most stick to just one game. A lot of it is also being able to live…

Youre making it sound not only as if only kids watch this, but also like playing any sport at all is so much different - and then compare it to Reality TV instead of live sports.

Now I've got my next business idea.

Attach wireless streaming cameras to all the players in a sportsball game. Each player has a HUD, and can see chat messages in real time.

Heck, for something like American Football, you could even have them vote on what play the opposing team is likely to do next. The player can take that under advisement, and maybe compliment a viewer when correct. To make more money, they viewers could bid on the predictions, which might help increase their accuracy. The player and the sport get a percentage of the bids, and the rest forms a prize pool for the most accurate bidders.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#136

Post by duskwuff »

dvt wrote: post #117
ben_jones wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OWL is a great example because there was a $20m buy in for I believe 8 teams. That's $160m in funding, with significant participation by organizations like the Kraft group. Whether it'll go anywhere is like asking if a specific well funded start-up will go anywhere, but its definitely being pushed hard.

I personally don't think Blizzard has any idea what they're doing in the esports scene. They destroyed SC2 and fumbled HotS, I don't think Overwatch will be any different. I was at Blizzcon last weekend and even though everyone there seemed excited about Overwatch, the numbers just weren't there. Barely breaking 300k viewers for a world championship (when DOTA, LoL, CSGO all break 1M+) -- the state of the game is not…

OWL definitely has a weird, heavy-handed feel to it -- it's almost as though Blizzard is trying to forcibly create a competitive 'scene' that emulates a traditional sports league, rather than allowing the scene to evolve naturally as it has in other games.

By far the weirdest part of OWL for me has been Blizzard's insistence on having teams represent cities -- up to the point of renaming existing teams to fit their naming scheme. (For instance, the "Dallas Fuel" team was created out of the existing EnVyUs lineup.) This is incredibly unusual for esports; the typical arrangement is for teams to either choose their own names, or to play under the name of an existing cross-game esports organization (such as Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, or Fnatic).

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#137

Post by notsospeedruns »

gozur88 wrote: post #87
petercooper wrote: post #36

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…

I suspect it's the sort of "telethon" mentality. Some people see the donations as a competition (not intellectually, but emotionally). They want to win , so they donate way more than is reasonable. Beyond that, wasn't there kind of a scandal a few years back where people would donate huge amounts to twitch streamers to make a big splash, and then cancel their donations so it didn't cost anything?

That mentality of competition definitely comes into play, but I think that's a small part of it. Much more has to do with illiciting a reaction from the streamer. Like the article mentioned, a huge donation can cause someone to break down in tears, and step away from the camera. Even small donations can be emotional for smaller streamers, especially those humble enough to sincerely thank every one. There's also the opposite, where people will donate to streamers who will put themselves through challenges for it, like taking shots or eating ghost peppers.

In terms of the scandal, yes, that was and still is a thing. Generally called "chargebacks", if a donor cancels the card and reports it as fraudulent, they have to pay nothing, and the streamer often has to pay a processing fee.

Two stories there: I know a streamer who pissed off one of his moderators, and the mod decided to donate to the channel repeatedly in small amounts, and cancel all of them. He had to pay a $20 fee for each one, it ended up costing hundreds.

I also had a buddy who was raising money for the charity Extra Life earlier this year, who had someone drop a donation of over $1k. The next week it was charged back, assumably costing the charity money. Some people are just not great people.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#138

Post by InitialLastName »

xchaotic wrote: post #88
snoman wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... if one was to put equivalnet amount of time in another field, say learning how deep learning works... I see what you're getting at, but these are two different things. The vast majority of humanity as a whole is just not capable of sitting down and chewing through a deep learning textbook or anything of the sort. What you're ignoring is just how accessible streaming is as an income method. Up until recently, al…

" The vast majority of humanity as a whole is just not capable of sitting down and chewing through a deep learning textbook or anything of the sort." they don't currently, and probably we don't need millions of data science major, but somehow grinding through the game for thousands of hours is doable. I'd say let's gamify learning and we will have a whole new supply of world class scientist streaming their research o…

I've recently been watching EEVBlog videos, mostly for the sake of watching someone else route PCB's. Learned lots of good tricks that way too.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#139

Post by fnovd »

dvt wrote: post #123
fnovd wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's involved with boom.tv, which is creating a suite of tools streamers can use to interact with viewers in real time. He's not necessarily the best player or the most highly-paid streamer, but the production value of his stream is unmatched. He's innovating how people use the medium that is streaming. He uses live transitions with synchronized music, pre-configured greenscreens for his character's various gags, liv…

Again, this is nothing new. Some streamers are even dipping their toes into game development (Reynad, for example; he's making a competitor for Blizzard's Hearthstone).

Could you name some other streamers that have similar setups? I have never seen any.

Re: How to Get Rich Playing Video Games Online

#140

Post by bennyg »

ForRealsies wrote: post #116
DougN7 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not into watching gaming at all (I'd rather play), but this is really just another twist on 'Reality TV', and one with less dysfunction IMHO.

Exactly, livestreaming == reality TV. It's too easy to turn off my brain and be 'entertained' for hours. I've recently forced myself back to watching films/TV instead. The difference in creative stimulation is like night & day.

Check out the Creative streams on Twitch if you'd like to watch some sweet DIY/artistic creations in progress.
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