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Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#111

Post by mathteddybear »

belval wrote: post #54
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 article mentions that Tyler makes $300k per year in merchandise alone (so excluding any actual sponsored content). Frankly I don't get why this can't be seen as a legitimate very successful business. Where is the line? Is entertainment only valid on TV? YouTube? Some commenters here even said that it's all good now but that it won't work in his thirties or something as if there aren't a ton of jobs out there that…

There was a leak of Twitch data recently, so we know that top twitch-ers earn megabucks. The real business is, of course, Twitch itself.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#112

Post by mr_sturd »

gizmodo59 wrote: post #81

“ But as a gig worker for a media empire, even a successful streamer like Tyler has a livelihood that’s inherently unstable — without insurance, unions, sick days, retirement funds or hope for a sustainable career.” That’s funny. He has earned more in a year than many in a decade. Million a year and it’s unstable. What makes you think the job of a software engineer is stable! He is skilled in entertainment. He will f…

His outgoings must be pretty modest if he spends most of his waking life streaming.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#113

Post by bloodyplonker22 »

mathteddybear wrote: post #111
belval wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article mentions that Tyler makes $300k per year in merchandise alone (so excluding any actual sponsored content). Frankly I don't get why this can't be seen as a legitimate very successful business. Where is the line? Is entertainment only valid on TV? YouTube? Some commenters here even said that it's all good now but that it won't work in his thirties or something as if there aren't a ton of jobs out there that…

There was a leak of Twitch data recently, so we know that top twitch-ers earn megabucks. The real business is, of course, Twitch itself.

I don't think we needed a leak to learn that top Twitch earners make millions per year...

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#114

Post by tastyfreeze »

jrockway wrote: post #67
somerando7 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Why is that a problem? Nobody cares for the millions of people that try to be professional athletes, musicians, artists or dancers that are barely making ends meet and ultimately move on to something else.

This is just like any other endeavor. Many try, most fail, some succeed wildly. We don't need to feel bad for the people that try and fail. That is part of life and progressing as a person.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#115

Post by microtherion »

criddell wrote: post #11
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.

Do you have the same questions for professional athletes in traditional sports?

I'm sure professional athletes in non-traditional physical sports have had to face the same questions — e.g. Tony Hawk. And in reality a lot of people put in professional levels of effort into traditional sports without reaping the kind of career-defining rewards one would associate with "professional athletes".

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#116

Post by ZephyrBlu »

colinmhayes wrote: post #104
kubb wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'…

There's a world of difference between playing league casually and competitively. No one at his level of play can autopilot through a game and still win.

That's not true. The skill disparity between the very top players (100-500), and the rest of the players in the top league is usually very large.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#117

Post by andrewxdiamond »

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…

It’s worth noting that tyler1 is a hugely toxic individual and is one of the most visible “role models” for massively toxic and aggressive behavior.

“Focus” aside, his overall contribution to the sport is tainted with his abhorrent behavior.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#118

Post by matwood »

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.

I know an ex-WoW professional player. He didn't make a ton of money. After it was over he went back to school, and is now a very talented software engineer.

Doing anything at a high level tends to cultivate skills that translate to other areas. General skills like focus and discipline come to mind.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#119

Post by analogdreams »

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.

from the article it doesn't sound like this guy needs/wants a lot. what he needs is a financial advisor to properly look after that money and he should be set should he just walk away in a few years.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#120

Post by Mc91 »

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…

> It feels HN has become way more corporatist in the past few years -- everyone wants to work for FAANG, no one wants to do their own thing.

You didn't have a situation like FAANG and its cohorts in the past, paying what they do and hiring like they do, in as attainable of a way.

Banking $270k comp. as an L4 for a few years would allow me to "do my own thing" more than anything.

If you mean people like Gates, Zuckerberg etc., they had giant safety nets to fall back on.

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