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[Drizzlehell]

I've been pondering this question lately because if I really wanted to, I could do that. At least when it comes to making videos. Of course, I'm not delusional enough to think that it will be an instant money-maker but if I'd start putting out videos then over time I think I'd eventually get somewhere with it. And I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, really. I'm just conscious about what I'm capable of. I'm a decent writer and I've been doing it for decades now, even professionally. I'm not a novelist but I can put out a decent review or essay. I also know my way around editing and I could even do some design work for those videos since I'm also a sketch artist and know my way around Photoshop (or Gimp for poverty editing). The only thing I'm not really good at is narrating but there are some ways around that too and I have resources.

The one thing that's stopping me, really, is that I don't actually want this to become a job.

I mean, making a video review or essay is a LOT of work. I did a few of those in the past already and it usually required a substantial amount of time. It took weeks of working during afternoons and nights to put everything together and it wasn't even that good because I was just starting out back then. But it was at least enough to make me realize that I don't want to do this on a regular basis because then it sucked away all the fun and passion out of gaming for me and I don't want to turn gaming into work. I have a day job that has nothing to do with gaming, writing, or editing, and I'm perfectly happy developing my skills in all those areas that aren't related to what I enjoy doing in my free time as a hobby, but on the other hand I know that I have something to say about what I'm passionate about and I'd like to put it out there for everyone to see. And I know that simply writing for a blog isn't really enough because I've done that and it never got anywhere because it's just difficult to get people to read shit on the internet these days, or get yourself noticed among the sea of other blogs. At least with videos, you can do something that's more stimulating and easily digestible if you have a halfway decent idea and style.

But again, I look at all those youtubers and streamers, and I started noticing that a lot of them really lost their passion for gaming and became highly cynical about them, or even outright hate them. I don't wanna be that guy.

 

[AV]

Yeah I agree, not interested. Gaming is my switch-off time. Don't want to have to entertain a bunch of mouth breathers while I do it by constantly narrating the game and cracking jokes.

 

[Robb]

God no, I love games but it sounds like a horrible and very uncertain profession.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Nah, I'd rather put my energies into developing a videogame rather than that.

 

[Mister Wolf]

No, because then I am beholden to appeasing my audience including conforming to or sharing their radical opinions. Girlfriend Reviews is an example of this.

 

[Fart Knight]

Id rather kill myself

 

[cireza]

Yeah no. I'd rather create games than talk endlessly about games created by others.

 

[NahaNago]

I wouldn't mind doing that. I'd probably just cover some specific aspect of a game.

Nah, I'd rather put my energies into developing a videogame rather than that.

I would rather do this.

 

[Bartski]

no, because streaming games to an audience beholdened to "entertain the chat" is extremely detrimental to the gaming experience

 

[RoboFu]

I think the bubble is about to burst on YouTubers. AI can be used to make any of that stuff these days so the established creators will still make a lot of money but newer ones will continue to dwindle.

Also AI will cut into the minimal scripting dev profession as well.

 

[Drizzlehell]

No, because then I am beholden to appeasing my audience including conforming to or sharing their radical opinions. Girlfriend Reviews is an example of this.

Another reason why this shouldn't be a job. Fuck up once and you're done forever, especially if Twitter vultures start swooping down on you.

I definitely have some opinions that don't necessarily line up with a politically correct consensus but I would rather slide down a splinter-covered board with my bare ass than bitch out in fear of those lunatics.

 

[SJRB]

Absolutely not.

 

[Polygonal_Sprite]

It would ruin gaming for me essentially having to play the latest games on day one to stay competitive in terms of traffic or views not to mention the abuse these people get ranging from their appearance to their taste in games to their apparent wrong think.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Im already an asshole, and my skin is thic so theres nothing anyone cay say to offend me or cancel me so sure, I'd give a try at this fame. I already stream to 0-1 viewers almost daily, I never talk and Im generally boring af so I dont care. A few extra bucks for me is important, considering my eastern european average life. But fame will never happen to me. Most variety streamers like cohh, dan, are fake positive about everything they play. They like every game, and they never say any bad shit about them. I cant be like that. I am very bitter and critical even to games I love.

 

[vodka-bull]

Another reason why this shouldn't be a job. Fuck up once and you're done forever, especially if Twitter vultures start swooping down on you.

I definitely have some opinions that don't necessarily line up with a politically correct consensus but I would rather slide down a splinter-covered board with my bare ass than bitch out in fear of those lunatics.

Seperate politics from games and you‘re good to go. You don‘t necessarily have to politicize your content, you could just script, edit and publish your videos. Don‘t be a streamer though…

 

[Midn1ght]

Nah, I'd rather put my energies into developing a videogame rather than that.

I did both and failed at both.

I sold the small business I had with a partner when I lived in Vietnam and had enough money to go by for the next two year so I thought I'd try my luck at game development with zero experience. Worked on a small game for 14 months and released it on steam with hope I would make enough for the next 2 years and make another and better one. Made many mistakes along the way (main one was completely ignoring marketing. "Hey, the game is on Steam which has over a hundred million users, I'll probably make enough, right? Yeah, no.) Game reviewed positively in general but was a complete commercial failure. Went back to my country and got a regular job.

Lost my job after a year with a bunch of other people during COVID and thought I'd try my luck at twitch. Streamed for around 11 months, became affiliate after 3 but made very little money from it after that so I decided to stop and got another job. Streaming was the least fun to me between the two. Didn't really enjoy playing games for 8-10 hours a day while speaking.

Game development was one of the best activity I've ever done, tiring, stressful and frustrating at time but I truly enjoyed the creative process.
I still hope to make another game one day but yeah, bills to pay and that...

My advice would be: Definitely go for it if you have time and money to spare but do not expect too much from it. Million are trying everyday but only a few manage to make a living out of it. Also, make sure to choose something that you'll actually enjoy doing, content creation seems fun but it's a lot of redundant work with potential burn out along the way. Good luck!

 

[TintoConCasera]

I did both and failed at both.

I sold the small business I had with a partner when I lived in Vietnam and had enough money to go by for the next two year so I thought I'd try my luck at game development with zero experience. Worked on a small game for 14 months and released it on steam with hope I would make enough for the next 2 years and make another and better one. Made many mistakes along the way (main one was completely ignoring marketing. "Hey, the game is on Steam which has over a hundred million users, I'll probably make enough, right? Yeah, no.) Game reviewed positively in general but was a complete commercial failure. Went back to my country and got a regular job.

Lost my job after a year with a bunch of other people during COVID and thought I'd try my luck at twitch. Streamed for around 11 months, became affiliate after 3 but made very little money from it after that so I decided to stop and got another job. Streaming was the least fun to me between the two. Didn't really enjoy playing games for 8-10 hours a day while speaking.

Game development was one of the best activity I've ever done, tiring, stressful and frustrating at time but I truly enjoyed the creative process.
I still hope to make another game one day but yeah, bills to pay and that...

My advice would be: Definitely go for it if you have time and money to spare but do not expect too much from it. Million are trying everyday but only a few manage to make a living out of it. Also, make sure to choose something that you'll actually enjoy doing, content creation seems fun but it's a lot of redundant work with potential burn out along the way. Good luck!

Sorry to hear that, but I'm glad to read that at least you got some positive things out of it.

Honestly I'm doing it just as a hobby, not a replacement for my actual job. I have to confess I haven't cared too much about marketing, only talking about the game here, on 4chan and to some RL friends. But to be even more honest I don't expect the game to be great or anything so whatever.

 

[kyussman]

I think any love I have left for gaming would evaporate very quickly if I had to do it for a job.

 

[Spyxos]

Even if I were good at it, my answer would clearly be no. I have 2 friends who have been trying Twitch/Youtube for years and they have about 1-2 viewers max and it hurts to see that. And they also put a relatively large amount of time into it.

The probability of being noticed at all among the mass of streamers and Youtubers is already very low. I think even if you are quite good at it. You would have to come up with something that no one has done before or have something special about you that almost no one has.

 

[gaming_again]

No, I wouldn't want to expose myself like that.
Also, I've heard game streamers talk about how they can't play alone anymore. I wouldn't want that to happen.

 

[Dutchy]

No. Mainly for the job instability side of things. Even the most succesful channels can fade out relatively quick especially with the sleazy algorithms on YouTube nowadays.. I know some people thrive on that risk/reward but it's not for me.

 

[Cheezewizz]

My takeaway is that your reasoning is "because you have something to say" about gaming. Nothing wrong with that at all.

What I'm not sure we're in agreement on is whether you'll actually "get somewhere with it". The reason I say that has nothing to do with your writing, narrating, editing, or even gaming skills. I say that because in order to be successful you have to regularly and continually churn out content. And therein lies the problem. You see, while you have something to say about what you're passionate about. In order to be a successful gaming content creator, it requires you to create tons of content while basically saying nothing at all, or at least nothing of any substance. It's a hindrance to anyone who has anything of worth to say due to the formula required to get anywhere with it.

You wanna have any kind of success? Then you'll need to...

• Put out continual and constant gaming content.

• Which requires you to be able to fill all that gaming content with you speaking about basically nothing, while still speaking of course.

• Which means if you're a person who's getting into it in order to say something with any kind of substance, then you're going to first need to create hundreds and hundreds of hours of content with you say a lot of stuff with little to no substance at all.

Of course this is all assuming you're intending to create your typical gaming channel. If you're wanting to create content similar to like what IGN or someone who covers a specific segment of the industry like Destin does for Xbox, then you've got a far higher chance for success. But as someone else has already pointed out, AI is coming. So if you're going to do it, I suggest you get on it because it won't be long until AI created content will be so prevalent, that it'll almost impossible make any headway with the algorithms.

 

[Stare-Bear]

Don't turn a hobby into a job, you're gonna hate it...

 

[Holammer]

I have never taken a selfie, so I can't imagine myself having to take o-face pictures of myself for YT thumbnails.
Dignity is a heavy cross to bear.

 

[Guilty_AI]

No. If i had the skills to be a youtuber/streamer (i don't) i could maybe do it as a side thing, for my own amusement and maybe getting a few extra bucks in the process. Making a living out of it would be out of question.

 

[Cheezewizz]

Even if I were good at it, my answer would clearly be no. I have 2 friends who have been trying Twitch/Youtube for years and they have about 1-2 viewers max and it hurts to see that. And they also put a relatively large amount of time into it.

The probability of being noticed at all among the mass of streamers and Youtubers is already very low. I think even if you are quite good at it. You would have to come up with something that no one has done before or have something special about you that almost no one has.

This is very true, and important to consider. You can be good at it and still not get anywhere.

However... There is legend of a man who no matter how little content he creates, or how infrequently he creates it. Can garner millions of views on YouTube any time he wants. Go a year with not a single video? No problem. How about two years? Even better. While you might not believe it, there is a man who walks among us common folk. But he is not like the rest of us. Because while he creates almost no content, he has the ability to get millions upon millions of views should he wish to do so, and at the drop of a hat.

 

[Merkades]

I'm not sure. It seems awesome at face value, but I like less popular games (relatively). I would not like playing games I have no interest in to be successful (CoD, Fortnite, Minecraft et cetera). I also play games for fun/entertainment, so I am not sure if making them my job would dampen that. I am also not the best of people persons.

I certainly do envy a lot of aspects of it though.

 

[drganon]

Nah.

 

[GymWolf]

Not sure, getting money to do something that i like would be great, and i'm a people man, i like to make people laugh and shit.

But videogames would become a work and i would end hating them most probably.

To stream everyday you can't only play stuff you like, for that type of commitment you need to play stuff outside of your comfort zone.

 

[DGrayson]

Making games looks to be incredibly stressful. So I dont think that would be for me.

I find streamers to be super annoying and/or boring.

My friends and I do have a private discord server where we play and stream games and chat with webcams on, so if I could get paid doing that I would.

 

[zcaa0g]

No thanks. I prefer not to be a worthless human being.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Seperate politics from games and you‘re good to go. You don‘t necessarily have to politicize your content, you could just script, edit and publish your videos. Don‘t be a streamer though…

Recent events related to Hogwarts Legacy have proven that you don't even need to infuse your work with politics to be harassed by Twitter goons. That's just the world we live in today, lol.

 

[vodka-bull]

Recent events related to Hogwarts Legacy have proven that you don't even need to infuse your work with politics to be harassed by Twitter goons. That's just the world we live in today, lol.

That‘s true, although I‘m quite certain that, in the example of girlfriend reviews, you‘re almost always better off if you don‘t give them any bait they can cling on. Ignore the haters, try to remain a steady high quality with your content and eventually you‘ll become a creator who‘ll earn a living with it. There‘s also plenty of examples who didn‘t get canceled, simply because they didn‘t politicize HL. Angryjoe, lukestephens, asmonsgold etc.

 

[Punished Miku]

Not one bit. Seems like a path to misery.

 

[Freeman76]

Not a chance, I find that whole scene really scummy. Having to scramble to upload a video READING FUCKING PATCH NOTES and be first just to get some views must be a very unsatisfying way to live your working life.

 

[Drizzlehell]

My takeaway is that your reasoning is "because you have something to say" about gaming. Nothing wrong with that at all.

What I'm not sure we're in agreement on is whether you'll actually "get somewhere with it". The reason I say that has nothing to do with your writing, narrating, editing, or even gaming skills. I say that because in order to be successful you have to regularly and continually churn out content. And therein lies the problem. You see, while you have something to say about what you're passionate about. In order to be a successful gaming content creator, it requires you to create tons of content while basically saying nothing at all, or at least nothing of any substance. It's a hindrance to anyone who has anything of worth to say due to the formula required to get anywhere with it.

You wanna have any kind of success? Then you'll need to...

• Put out continual and constant gaming content.

• Which requires you to be able to fill all that gaming content with you speaking about basically nothing, while still speaking of course.

• Which means if you're a person who's getting into it in order to say something with any kind of substance, then you're going to first need to create hundreds and hundreds of hours of content with you say a lot of stuff with little to no substance at all.

Of course this is all assuming you're intending to create your typical gaming channel. If you're wanting to create content similar to like what IGN or someone who covers a specific segment of the industry like Destin does for Xbox, then you've got a far higher chance for success. But as someone else has already pointed out, AI is coming. So if you're going to do it, I suggest you get on it because it won't be long until AI created content will be so prevalent, that it'll almost impossible make any headway with the algorithms.

Honestly, I don't even wanna do it for clout or money. I just have something to say and even if it's gonna get me like 50 views per video then great - a room full of people who heard what I had to say is already more than zero. Churning out meaningless content would probably get me burned out on the idea much faster because if I'm not passionate about what I want to say or write about, then I quickly get frustrated with it. That's why I quit my job as a writer for a marketing firm. That shit damn near killed my passion for writing completely and it caused me to get literal writer's block for almost 3 years after that.

As for the unique hook that I could feature on my channel, it would probably be VR games at the moment, since I got heavily into them in the past year and I'm always really psyched to write about my experiences. I checked out some of the gaming channels that put out VR reviews but a lot of them have that overproduced feel about them like it's an IGN review or something. Seems like there are not a lot of gamers out there who would put out more edgy or laid-back reviews in the style of Accursed Farms or Grim Beard but for VR games so maybe there's a niche that I could slip into. But other than that, honestly, it would just be a bunch of videogame-related topics revolving around what you could very loosely describe as academic analysis, which I think is an important field that's worth exploring.

 

[Chiggs]

Fuck and no.

 

[Stainless]

No, I don't have a lot of hobbies so I wouldn't want to try to turn my favorite one into a career and ruin it by getting burned out.

 

[Calverz]

I make a comfortable living and wouldn’t want this to become work in all honesty. I tend to jump from game to game which wouldn’t go down well with viewers I’d imagine so I hate the idea of just playing one game at a time until it’s complete.

 

[StueyDuck]

You'd need alot of resources and a trustfund or rich parents to foot the bill.

Alot of it now is paying for promotion through those services. The content is only half (if even) the battle.

We (a bunch of friends who have grown up lives and jobs) gave it a fair shake but it just requires so much investment to even get off the ground that it's not worth it.

But if I was a trust fund kid who can permanently employ 3 editors and could stream 10 hours a day without Any impact on my financial life then sure... why not. I already enjoy games. Who cares if people are watching or not

 

[Sakura]

There are all sorts of types of video game content creators.
You don't have to create detailed reviews or essays, or put a lot of work into editing or anything (if you are successful you can just pay someone else to edit anyway).
You can play whatever games you want, when you want.

The only thing you have to be, is entertaining. This is probably the hardest part, but I would consider this a skill in the "assuming you had the skills".

There are youtubers I watch who don't show their face or anything, don't write scripts, and just play whatever game they want (sometimes games that came out years ago) and still get million + views per video.
So yeah, if I was entertaining enough/was a good talker, then sure, I'd do it. Probably more as a hobby though.

You seem to be talking about being a specific kind of video game content creator though, which is obviously going to be different.

but on the other hand I know that I have something to say about what I'm passionate about and I'd like to put it out there for everyone to see.

If you have something you want to say about something you are passionate about, and want to put it out there, then just do it?
Why does it have to be about making a living? Just say it and put it out there because you want to. If it is just as a hobby you don't need to put in a ton of hours video editing and script writing.

Sometimes there are discussions about certain things on this forum that I am interested in and want to talk about, and maybe I will spend an hour coming up with a post. I don't do it to get paid or anything, but just because I want to.

 

[StereoVsn]

No way. I watch YouTube or play games to relax. If it becomes my job... Then gaming itself will pretty much become a job.

Same reason why I never went to work for game developer companies or publishers.

 

[MagiusNecros]

I entertained the notion but you need to interact with an audience, stream 5 days a week and also take the time to edit and refine your footage. You basically build a prison for yourself and have no time to yourself. And turning a hobby into a job is soul killing.

Plus if you are naturally introverted you gonna have a tough time.

If I were to stream it would be for fun. Pure and simple.

 

[Humdinger]

No. I'm not interested enough in videogames to make them my life's work. There are few games that interest me enough to play and complete -- to say nothing of taking deep dives, the way many Youtubers do. In order to generate Youtube content, I'd have to play a bunch of videogames I have no interest in.

I don't know how old you are, but my interest in games has fluctuated a lot over the years. In the beginning, I was very enthusiastic, but for the past several years, I've been pretty disengaged. I wouldn't want to commit to a "career" like that, when my interest could plummet later in life. It would become a total chore. And what happens if it tanks for whatever reason, five years in? Do I put "Youtube personality" on my resume, when I try to apply for a real job?

Plus, I just don't like being on camera, trying to appeal to an audience. Not for me.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Streamer? Hell no. Unless it was one of those X-rated ones where I'm the prop and can play games while someone else does most of the work.

YT? Possibly. But more akin to Dunkey than the likes of PewDiePie.

 

[Lasha]

I would just turn tricks if I wanted to be a whore.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Streamer?

Nahh I want to play games and be entertained and not try to do the entertaining

 

[BlackTron]

I'd have thought it would be a cool thing to be able to do years ago. Today, I'm not too keen on being any type of known personality due to the culture wars. You have to precisely measure everything you say so carefully I prefer to not even go there and skip the stress. You will find yourself in situations where your "stance" is made important and explanations are expected. I hate lying, pandering or selling out, but I also hate inviting a huge problem in my life, so the result would be to sidestep it. Some may see this as cowardly, but if my role was actually important (such as a CEO or political figure) I might deal with it. Not to talk about games on youtube.

It also doesn't seem that easy to make it today just applying your love of playing games. You might find just doing what you like doesn't work, while the tactics that create results become more apparent. Not necessarily of course -exactly because of all this, you could be the streamer making unique "no bullshit" content that connects with the real gamer, and has the balls to show up and do it. Game content is overall pretty cringe but the worse the overall picture gets, the more opportunity you have to stand out.

Not the only aspects though. When I was growing up everyone said "wow you should work for LEGO!" and I said I didn't want to. When they asked why I said it's because I didn't want my favorite thing to become a job.

 

[Hunnybun]

No because I'd rather be a pornstar and fuck endless lines of women in the ass.

 

[Northeastmonk]

The development side sounds super stressful and I feel more creative playing games made by other people. I’d spend too much time playing what someone else did than working on my own. I went to ITT for their game design program and I felt like I wouldn’t go anywhere. There’s nothing here in town, so I’d have to move. Plus I wasn’t guaranteed a job with my talent. This was before there was a huge push with free engines. I felt like I had no direction and no control over my career. I had worked for GameStop and it really got me down. After a year there was no sense of making more than $6 an hour. I couldn’t afford gas if I wanted to buy a game that week. You read about these $100k+ jobs in game design, but they’re 10+ hours away from where I live. They also require experience that I didn’t know how to get. The retail side of gaming is like a whole other world. It also felt like you were working with people who were working there to satisfy their own curiosity.

I’ve always wanted to write about games or do something about games even if I never got paid for it. As a kid I felt something special about owning a particular game or understanding video games. I still feel that way as an adult, but I never took the initiative to do anything besides chat about them online. That’s something important to me. Maybe I’ve just ignored that part of me because I play games instead of doing that type of work. It would be fun. My spouse does reviews for cosmetics and it would be awesome to have cosmetics = games. I’d love to do more. I need to find the motivation.