Up all night with a Twitch millionaire • Hacker News Board

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#131

Post by solidasparagus » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 11:39 PM UTC

munk-a wrote: post #34

diognesofsinope wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bingo -- they struggle through their 20s until they realize they need to pick a practical career in their early 30s.

Twitch streaming can be extremely practical if you're being sustainable about it. Assuming you're actually watching your income and expenses and being smart about when to hire on additional help you can make a pretty darn successful career. I'd point to T90[1] as an example of someone that isn't near the top 1% but has built an extremely sustainable business including paid moderators and content editors (for sending…

T90 was number 211 in the leaks. That is the top 0.003% of streamers.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#132

Post by ridaj » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 11:40 PM UTC

kevmo314 wrote: post #73

ridaj wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Do investment banks have a responsibility towards not burning out their employees?

There's at least a potential moral responsibility (yes pls spare snark about banks and morals), and in some countries it can be a legal one, see eg emergence of the "right to disconnect"

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#133

Post by paulpauper » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 11:40 PM UTC

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…

Once you have a few millions secured, it is hard to blow it if you invest and save prudently. It's not like when he turns 30 he will be back to poverty. There is too much negativity and doom and gloom. These gamers, e-celebs are making a lot of money and will not be destitute when their star fades. Today's internet celebs are much better at saving and investing their money compared to celebs of decades ago, who blew their money on extravagant expenses and saved nothing.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#134

Post by MacroChip » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 11:41 PM UTC

Philip-J-Fry wrote: post #121

Permit wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you played League of Legends or Dota 2 before? It will be hard to convey the mental/emotional exhaustion that most people feel from playing MOBAs at even a semi-competitive level. In my experience it's a lot different than playing FPS or other games. I have a distinct memory of finishing a game of Dota 2 and realizing that it felt as though I'd just finished a 3 hour exam. I didn't feel happy that we'd won, just…

I've played League of Legends for nearly 10 years. Not to take anything away from Tyler1, because he really goes above and beyond, but it really doesn't take much mental focus or anything really to play it. Programming? It takes focus, you really have to think sometimes. But League? When I'm tired the game plays itself. It just feels like muscle memory. It might take a bit more effort to play at a consistently high l…

There's a difference between "playing the game" and playing the game. I can sit at a chess board and move pieces around and say that chess takes no focus because I chose not to focus

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#135

Post by paulpauper » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 11:44 PM UTC

lhorie wrote: post #93

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…

> Imo we should be lauding this brand new sector I disagree. Twitch/YouTube/TikTok didn't create a new kind of millionaire. They're simply celebrities. The only thing that arguably changed is that content production is so cheap and saturated now that consumers get a lot more choice in terms of who they want to watch, without being constrained by TV schedules and other distribution/logistics limitations. There is no "…

it is different. the old celebrities were chosen by media execs, who wielded all the power. now the audience decides.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#136

Post by ridaj » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 11:45 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #68

ridaj wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes, the new thing is the emergence of mega corporations that profit from platforms that are essentially manufacturing workaholics. Freewill notwithstanding, exploitative incentives are a real thing...

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#137

Post by paulpauper » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 11:46 PM UTC

Mc91 wrote: post #120

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, Zuckerb…

Big corporations are paying more than ever, in addition to surging stock prices for even the biggest of companies, so working at a trillion dollar company is more lucrative than most startups. It did not always used to be that way.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#138

Post by paulpauper » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 11:48 PM UTC

serverholic wrote: post #86

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…

Society is finding ways to value a wider range of talents. Different people are good at different things and, unfortunately, only a subset of those things are valued in the economy. These technologies are allowing people to display their talents and allowing them to make money off of them. Back in the day being good at video games was a fun thing to do when you had free time. Now there is a small chance you can make…

>These technologies are allowing people to display their talents and allowing them to make money off of them. Back in the day being good at video games was a fun thing to do when you had free time. Now there is a small chance you can make a living off it.

People have been making money from e-sports for a long time, at least two decades. it's not a new thing. The new platforms however allow gamers to reach large audiences without having to join a major gaming league.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#139

Post by dathinab » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 11:49 PM UTC

I think it's totally ridiculous that some are treating this at "not a real job".

It just shows that many people do not understand what is going one at all.

Sure it's a form of "entertainer" job, but actress, synchron speaker or comedian are also real jobs.

And no one would go and say "oh say just need to say some lines on stage so it's not a real job". It's not at all as simple as "just playing games in front of camera".

Sure some people do just that as a hobby, but then people also program as a hobby and programming is still a real job.

And sure many just barely make enough to cover living expanses, but that's true for many jobs which still are "real jobs".

No idea why people feel to denounce people which act as entertainers while also often managing a merch job and a community as "not having a real job"? Is it be of envy that some people have and at their job and where able to turn their hobby into a job?

Either-way it's not just a real job it's like many jobs from the entertainment business not an easy job to get successful with, without a "clear" path to success, requiring often both hard work, talent and luck and with often not-so rosy long term aspects and just a few managing to get rich or wealthy, while many other are sooner or later forced to change their job. You know like in many other jobs in the entertainment industries, e.g. musician/singer.

Re: Up all night with a Twitch millionaire

#140

Post by 1290cc » Fri, Dec 10, 2021, 11:51 PM UTC

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…

Youtube/Social Media has removed the filters and gatekeeping that happened in the legacy media. Of course there is a lot of noise. But what are the odds of a young MKBHD, DrDisrespect, Linus, etc, etc getting their own show in legacy media? Zero to none because we would've never heard about them.

Its glorious to see people who are truly brilliant at what they do getting a shot at the audience and owning everything they do. Its not just Twitch Streamers and 20 something influencers. There is a deep world of niche experts opening up all sorts of interesting topics to everyone and the best get to stand front and center.

My recent fav is Benn Jordan who breaks down a lot of the challenges of being an independent musician in a world of streaming. He recently did an incredible piece on how a NY Times reporter used his credentials to scam hundreds of musicians.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk872ERRVxA