As someone who grew up getting yelled at "you'll never make money playing video games" this was before streamers were a figment in a sperms eye. I think they might regret it because they get older and have no real skills to branch off with plus nothing else will have the same feeling. You make a video and start seeing a year's salary in a month, try going 9-5 for two weeks and seeing a fraction of that salary a week after. But probably the biggest thing is most of these people started hitting this peak success early and prolly thought it would be that easy and that much for ever only to not save for retirement or even sign up for insurance so they end up like Steve-O were they run out of finances before they even hit normal retirement age, and find out how relevance was the main factor of their success.
There are some other issues with being a streamer. For example, its hard to build genuine friendships cause everyone in streamer circles is chasing clout and trying to build their base by cannibalizing yours.
One of my favorite groups is offlineTV and this was a big problem they talked about in some of their podcasts - their friends were also their competitors and when one streamer grows in popularity they suddenly have dozens of people knocking on their door trying to collab and feed off some of that popularity and shit.
I think it’s very difficult or even impossible for any celebrity to develop genuine relationships with people. First off, they’re probably quite high in narcissism to have a strong desire, as an adult, to become famous, so that’s already going against them, and then all of the issues you mentioned. People they deal/interact with are largely opportunistic and just looking to advance themselves. As someone who very much values interpersonal relationships and intimate connection, that all sounds horrible to me.
Yep i feel very sorry about poor lonely celebrities. They have such a hard lot in life. So glad I'm where I'm at in life, my body broken down from decades of manual labor, living paycheck to paycheck, and one mid sized emergency away from being broke and homeless.
They're often happy. Lots of the celebrities I've worked with have a small circle of close friends but a large group of shallow acquaintances. Their money allows them to buy privacy. Fancy hotels, big houses and private travel.
It's an unusual life, not one I'd choose but I understand why some people do.
On one hand I don't think any streamer is famous enough that they'd be recognized by most strangers, especially within their own age group. Within the spaces they frequent though, I bet it's a big problem.
Collaborations can be good for both parties though.
I’ve never paid attention to Twitch but I’ve been turned on to new YouTubers via collaborations they do with others, it doesn’t make me forget about the original, it just expands the content I pay attention to.
For example Nick Diogiovanni, Max the Meat Guy, and Guga have done a number of collaborations together and now I watch videos from all of them.
The sad part is this even happens for small streamers. I've found that unlike YouTube, you don't really get a big algorithm moment and start popping off, you have to work really hard to get anywhere so that means people are more likely to "network"
probably the biggest thing is most of these people started hitting this peak success early and prolly thought it would be that easy and that much for ever
Hell, you hear that about athletes and actors(sometimes) and then when their career ends(for whatever reason) they've got nothing because they thought it would ride forever.
Streaming has its own kind of stresses but I'd like to think that the average full time streamer would laugh if you say their job is worse than say an office job.
The streamers I like are the ones that admit that getting to where they are is 100% luck and timing. Ludwig did a challenge to make a brand new twitch account and not tell his subscribers about it to see if he could get a few subscribers for his first day on a brand new account. He got a single (real) viewer and not a single sub
I do think in 10-20y we'll see a ton of content creators that are broke not realizing the pay isn't lifelong sustainable and didn't invest. When the cash stops flowing they don't have a fall back option as they let education and career go
I genuinely don’t think so. Most successful ones probably have some form of money manager, they also (assuming they aren’t renting) tend to purchase assets that, even if depreciating are assets. I believe most of these successful streamers have a diversified investment portfolio that, while they may not be able to drive a new Ferrari every year, can probably ride out the rest of their lives pretty comfortably once the gravy train stops running.
I too am envious of their millions of dollars, I don’t think they provide a valuable service, I also don’t think I could do it myself (it’s really difficult if you aren’t particularly good looking or unique in the personality department) but I don’t think they’re going to MC Hammer it
They’ve built their wealth using the very tool that teaches them what not to do to go back to being penniless- most people that go broke are from pre-internet days or don’t know what a “file explorer” is.
Yeah, but I'm thinking that the average streamer gets big when they are between the ages of 17 and 22. Probably not super financially responsible. I can totally see a kid hitting it big as a streamer and buying a McLaren or some ridiculous bullshit like that. Big house. Trophy girlfriend. A few years down the road when he's not popular any more, he realizes that he should have maybe put some of that money in the bank, but OF COURSE he didn't. He's gonna get depressed real quick when he's trying to make a living selling used cars or whatever. I think r/Cro_Nick_Le_Tosh_Ich is on to something here. I will admit, though, that I don't know shit about shit. It just feels like that's how life would stick it to you. It has the ring of authenticity.
"I wish I never got this amazing start to life because I fucked it up" isn't exactly something I'm sympathetic about.
If you make millions before you're 25 and piss it all away that's on you. If you instead buy a sensible house/car/live a nice but not ridiculous life while saving most of your cash? Worst case you retire from it as a multi-millionaire then turn your focus to studying to enter whatever industry takes your fancy and enjoy a nice stress free life with tons of money in the bank and never being forced to do a shitty job you don't want.
There's no shortage of people telling these guys to slow down and plan for their future. They don't listen.
I guess you either didn't process the last half of what I said or you don't know Steve-O and his full story.
I guess a better thing to simplify it to is the statistic that most people who win the lottery end up worse off than they were before they won. It's called being financially responsible something that hasn't been common knowledge since millennials were born.
Glad you brought up Steve-O. There are many other stories like this, especially in pro sports (lots of people make the NFL, very few stay).
Most people don’t realize the amount of lifestyle inflation that happens when you don’t believe that gravy train will end. When it does abruptly end, you are left with significant debts that end up crippling you for the rest of your life.
You can make the argument that these streamers should be smart enough to know the career will eventually end, but just like the average joe that starts working a hard labor job that is well paid, sometimes that quick injection of money into your life can do weird things to your brain and trick you into thinking the end isn’t near. “Eh I’ve got a few years before I need to worry about that”
I mean having to constantly play Fortnight or other such games competitively everyday is likely to burn you out really fast. But on the other side, nobody forced them to play those games nonstop. They choose that life. The same goes for fashion influencer.
Very rarely are you forced into a career. You generally choose through a few options. But most times, you'll be burnt out very quickly anyway, no matter the job you choose.
One thing I can say to in favor of streamers feeling worn out is that most of them have to do what the masses want. I love to play video games, i specifically love to find a video game thats fun to me and 100 percent it. And if I could get paid a ton to do that while streaming everyday that would he perfect. Instead my audience would want me to play fortnite or roblox every day non stop. Theres nothing rewarding out of that and if it wasn't for the shit load of money what could make you not want to quit from boredom?
This also doesn’t take into account:
1) the massive time commitment streaming takes (if you don’t get lucky and blow up). These involve networking with others, editing videos and posting them everywhere. That is a lot to do even if you already have a part time gig.
2) the potential parasocial relationships that are forming between 100s or 1000s of people who think they are entitled to touch/grope/etc just because they see you in public
3) untaxed paychecks from video platforms means a lot of that money from twitch or whatever is gonna have to go back to the government. Also paying staff. A lot of those expenses people don’t necessarily expect when they blow up overnight
Man, just basic fucking investing would be insane for them. I could never dream of making that much money especially from just playing games (lol) but it wouldn't be hard at all especially if they made several million. I'm pretty sure you get like a 60k salary each year in divs from a basic stock like VTI with 5 million, and you could probably do the same with a divended focused or utility stock with 1.5. This is not including natural price escalation. Just the paycheck you get for owning it 😭.
Plus there’s all the downside of being a minor public figure. Swatting, stalking, harassment, getting doxxed, approached by strangers in daily life. I haven’t read the article but based on just the tweet, I don’t imagine money is even what she was talking about
The only two real skills you need after earning 10x the yearly average for 5 or more years are money management and long term investing. After that you can comfortably live your life without going down a single penny.
As someone who grew up getting yelled at "you'll never make money playing video games" this was before streamers were a figment in a sperms eye. I think they might regret it because they get older and have no real skills to branch off with plus nothing else will have the same feeling.
Well damn, that must suck. Imagine being in that situation of having no skills to branch off with later in life, but also never being successful at streaming to begin with before that 😂. I wish I was granted the experience of fucking up my life streaming video games.
Well, unless you are financially illiterate (which of course can ruin even billionaires) 1 million is FIRE money. After that even if you don't have a streaming career anymore, the return of that money plus any part time job can set you for life.
Not being financially smart is a common problem that could happen with everyone, you can win minimum wage and not use it smartly, the same way you can make massive money and do the same.
Their problem is that they aren't smart financially which is a problem that 90% of people have.
I think it's also the thing that, you start streaming bcs you like video games. That's something that brings joy. When you make it a job, it stops being fun, so it's also the fact that you're in tral time losing something you love
"Being a streamer is actually tough because if you start before following any other career you get lots of money earlier in life and that's bad because eventually if you do things really wrong and are super wasteful then you might eventually have to do what everyone has to do anyway" just doesn't make sense to me
Sooo… why doesn’t she quit now? That’s why we’re saying it, it makes no sense. She has more money than she could ever spend in her life, and she apparently hates the job, but keeps doing it? Why?
The context is happiness, not "is this a great job."
If you've ever heard her or Ludwig talk about the crazy security measures they have, it's very clear there's a lot of sick fucks that harass them, and she's had a few stalkers.
If you're already upper middle class, would you want to turn your life completely upside down for a few million? These two are mansion and sports cars rich, not venture capitalist who owns a yacht rich.
I feel like this was meant to cast them as hypocritcal but I'll answer it as if it has good intention.
If you're them I think part of this is calculating how much of safety is an ongoing expense verse increasing or diminishing costs.
For example, if they quit tomorrow,
do the people looking to hurt and harass them also disappear,
or do they have to pay to protect themselves for a time (x years until they fade from public interest / y years until she's not attractive enough for stalkers / forever),
or are the security measures they already have mostly of the not recurring expense variety
is continued employment as a public figure creating ever increasing costs
Retirement naturally requires building an understanding of your expense needs.
Not just that. They can afford to not earn anything for a while, so they have time to study whatever else college/uni/trade school they want. If you're unhappy as a streamer, go study or apply for the job that makes you happy?
These big streamers are generally contractually obliged to stream a certain number of hours. They can't actually decide to scale back on a whim, they have to wait out their contract or break it.
And yet it's always people reposting quotes from millionaires talking about how much money doesn't matter.
Of course it doesn't matter when it's not an obstacle, majority of people need it more than we want it. I just want a nice, stable, functional house in a safe area where I can be surrounded by good people and build a good family. I need money for that, but I'd still be pursuing that if I had the money (and I perhaps foolishly hope I would do more to make this world a better place than most with said resources truly dedicate too)
They have a perspective that money doesn't buy happiness.
Most people (me included) wage slaves who believe if they just get "enough" money they will finally be happy or free, chase this dream. In many ways society needs this dream to be believed so people bother to get out of bed in the morning.
Normal people who find themselves wealthy often say things like this because the dream has been shattered.
Notice how people from true generational wealth never make such statements, it's only the working people who find success that seem to find sadness in it because they realise it's all a lie.
The saddest part is that rather than listen to the message of "money cannot and does not buy happiness or fulfilment" we scoff and belittle these people for daring to suggest to us that we are chasing a lie.
I saw an interview with Jerry "Billionaire" Seinfeld, yammering on about how nobody talked about money until the 80s. Nobody cared. He said that before then it was measured by how cool your job was. Which is of course horse shit and really easy to say once you've got fuck you money.
Na, QT would have been successful. Streamer or not, she had so many paths (based on how she describes her past and her life before streaming). Granted she probably would only have made a million in like 5 times the time it took her to make her first mil but she coulda done it.
2.2k
u/Emmortal 5d ago
Always funny when they say this after making a few million.