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Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

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Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#61

Post by ridaj »

dvt wrote: post #46

Imo we should be lauding this brand new sector and the folks that made it in it. Twitch/YouTube/TikTok literally created a new kind of millionaire. Are we just upset we're also not uber rich for playing video games all day? It's the same with crypto, OnlyFans, and so on. It was the same in '99 with the dot coms. Merely from an economic standpoint, it's interesting to see who these new industries are displacing (since…

The challenge is that many of them have unsustainable always-on relationships with their audience that seriously burn them out. Sure folks should be free to do what they want with their life but remember they're not the only ones getting the benefit, they're feeding a bunch of social and merchandising platforms that make big $ on their backs - so the question becomes, what responsibility does the platform have towards the health of its creators?

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#62

Post by kubb »

Permit wrote: post #51

Streaming aside, tyler1 has an almost inhuman dedication and focus when it comes to League of Legends. On Hacker News it's common to hear that programmers can't work (on classic programming tasks) for more than ~4 hours a day. I also feel exhausted after working for ~4 hours and have always wondered if this was some sort of mental trap I'd fallen into or a genuine limit. Games like League of Legends require complete…

Do you really imply that playing the same game over and over again (with some variables but still) is the same as solving programming problems?

The game is literally designed to hook you in and make you play one more and one more. You absolutely can autopilot through a game and still win.

Don't get me wrong, the guy has a lot of dedication for sure. But playing League all day is really not like coding all day, I don't want anyone to get that impression.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#63

Post by NelsonMinar »

Permit wrote: post #51

Streaming aside, tyler1 has an almost inhuman dedication and focus when it comes to League of Legends. On Hacker News it's common to hear that programmers can't work (on classic programming tasks) for more than ~4 hours a day. I also feel exhausted after working for ~4 hours and have always wondered if this was some sort of mental trap I'd fallen into or a genuine limit. Games like League of Legends require complete…

You skipped over the year and a half when he was banned from LoL for being such a raging asshole. https://www.polygon.com/2017/1/10/14179366/league-of-legends...

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#64

Post by kubb »

dvt wrote: post #46

Imo we should be lauding this brand new sector and the folks that made it in it. Twitch/YouTube/TikTok literally created a new kind of millionaire. Are we just upset we're also not uber rich for playing video games all day? It's the same with crypto, OnlyFans, and so on. It was the same in '99 with the dot coms. Merely from an economic standpoint, it's interesting to see who these new industries are displacing (since…

Why is it laudable? Sure, we shouldn't be jealous of successful people, but why go to the other extreme? It surely won't help you have an unbiased stance on the phenomenon.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#65

Post by obstacle1 »

belval wrote: post #57
kzrdude wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a real job is a quite good stance to take. Because there is an absurd power law at play here, the absolute top make a lot of money. In a "real job" you are paid a living wage, on twitch you are paid scraps if you don't make it to the top.

I am not saying this is a real job prospect. If a kid told me he wanted to be a Twitch streamer I'd say he can't be one, same as professional singer or musician in general. What I am saying that what Tyler has very much is a real job and successful business. You wouldn't say Taylor Swift is jobless because very few people make it in the pop music world.

>If a kid told me he wanted to be a Twitch streamer I'd say he can't be one

You'd be lying though, and your kid would probably grow up to resent it. There are ways to educate kids about the relative risks of careers in good faith.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#66

Post by shanehoban »

kubb wrote: post #62
Permit wrote: post #51

Streaming aside, tyler1 has an almost inhuman dedication and focus when it comes to League of Legends. On Hacker News it's common to hear that programmers can't work (on classic programming tasks) for more than ~4 hours a day. I also feel exhausted after working for ~4 hours and have always wondered if this was some sort of mental trap I'd fallen into or a genuine limit. Games like League of Legends require complete…

Do you really imply that playing the same game over and over again (with some variables but still) is the same as solving programming problems? The game is literally designed to hook you in and make you play one more and one more. You absolutely can autopilot through a game and still win. Don't get me wrong, the guy has a lot of dedication for sure. But playing League all day is really not like coding all day, I don'…

Nah, he's right. I play league. Coding all day is much less draining.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#67

Post by jrockway »

somerando7 wrote: post #29
jrockway wrote: post #3

What's the career progression for streamers and eSports players, anyway? I feel like everyone that does this now is going to be tired of it in 5 years, and then they're just 30 and without a college degree or job experience.

If you're one of the top streamers, with decent financial literacy, you will easily make enough to retire by 30 if you started streaming at say 20.

But what if you're not one of the top streamers, and you just get 250 viewers a few times a week? I watch a lot of people like that. It seems to pay for room and board, but I worry about their future.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#68

Post by fragmede »

ridaj wrote: post #61
dvt wrote: post #46

Imo we should be lauding this brand new sector and the folks that made it in it. Twitch/YouTube/TikTok literally created a new kind of millionaire. Are we just upset we're also not uber rich for playing video games all day? It's the same with crypto, OnlyFans, and so on. It was the same in '99 with the dot coms. Merely from an economic standpoint, it's interesting to see who these new industries are displacing (since…

The challenge is that many of them have unsustainable always-on relationships with their audience that seriously burn them out. Sure folks should be free to do what they want with their life but remember they're not the only ones getting the benefit, they're feeding a bunch of social and merchandising platforms that make big $ on their backs - so the question becomes, what responsibility does the platform have toward…

Workaholics are nothing new and date back to well before the Internet or some TV show about the phenomenon.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#69

Post by Aunche »

somerando7 wrote: post #29
jrockway wrote: post #3

What's the career progression for streamers and eSports players, anyway? I feel like everyone that does this now is going to be tired of it in 5 years, and then they're just 30 and without a college degree or job experience.

If you're one of the top streamers, with decent financial literacy, you will easily make enough to retire by 30 if you started streaming at say 20.

That works for the millionaire streamers, but I'm sure a lot of them make modest incomes as well.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#70

Post by obstacle1 »

npinsker wrote: post #35

This reads as very biased and judgmental. It treats streamers as kids who can't take care of themselves and don't understand the long-term impact of their lifestyle and career choice. It honestly makes me wonder if the author is jealous of the subject. It seems like the piece is really reaching to make Tyler's life appear as irresponsible as possible. Plenty of people in all careers don't know how to run their lives…

> It treats streamers as kids who can't take care of themselves and don't understand the long-term impact of their lifestyle and career choice.

Interesting. I did not read it like that at all. Do you have an example quotation of what makes you think that?

The impression I got is both Tyler and Micayla are well aware of how negatively streaming affects their lives. They both explicitly said they don't want to be doing this forever and want to retire, didn't they?

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