The work it takes to make playing games your job…

I mentioned my friend Ashley, who streams by the name __Poetic on Twitch.TV, and she recently started her own blog, and I found it interesting reading… so much so that I had an idea for a column. And that’s what it takes to make playing games your job.

A couple of my friends thought that streaming video games was the greatest job ever. You set your own hours, just plug in a webcam, and chat with your friends, and boom, you’re the next PewDiePie, Hafu or Trump.

Let me pour some cold water on those overheated fantasies.

First off, for every streamer that hits it big, there’s 2500 or so streamers who do it occasionally, and never get partnered with Twitch (making money by the ads shown on their channel).. so there’s a glut. And those streamers worked hard to get there. You’re not going to make it big on your first month, or even your 10th. One of the folks I follow, TheHaleyBaby has been streaming for two years, nearly every day. Every single day. You miss a week, or two, and your audience will go elsewhere. You learn to maximize your audience, or to come up with a hook to keep folks watching and chatting with you.

It’s basically a full time job. If you’re not streaming, you’re working on your computer, sinking any money you DO make from donations or partnering, or in some cases sponsorships into a reliable internet connection and a better computer.. and you have to promote yourself as a brand.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still playing video games, but it’s not the easy run folks think it is.

But Ashley goes into what it takes to be a streamer of various games in her blog, and it’s a highly recommended read.

You can read it at: https://xpoeticx.wordpress.com/2016/04/14/103/