Need help making point to son...

Hi everyone -

Read a troubling post from my eldest son this morning on his Instagram, indicating he’s moving towards looking at a potential full-time gaming career…unclear if he’s talking streaming or competitive gaming. Either way, he doesn’t have a bloody chance and I can’t see him throwing away a solid career (he’s a Chef de partie at Four Seasons in FL) let alone the $100k I put into his culinary education. :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

I want to set him a bar on Twitch followers that he has to surpass before he even THINKS of doing something rash. I figure with the number of members we have here, that can be pretty significant.

How can ya’ help? Just follow up on me on Twitch (BalekFekete) if you don’t mind. Don’t worry…I don’t stream…less people who see how mediocre I am the better. :slight_smile:

The help is much appreciated!

Balek/Matt

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The bar should be he has to be accepted as a twitch partner. With out that he isn’t going to make enough money.

He will get affilaite status first which apparently isn’t too hard as Zombie Sweeper got it fairly fast. Affilate can monitize but the cut is much smaller.

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Thanks @D1G1TALC1PHERS - don’t know much of anything about the monitization of streaming, so the info is super valuable and appreciated!

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most people are going Patron these days. I would tell him to do that on the side when he is not working until he is a twitch partner and has a substantial “regular” following.

Though I would suggest that if you set lup a Patreon people expect to get something for their money (even just more content or something), so it requires even more of a time dedication than just streaming.

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I really like the idea of getting accepted as a Partner where that has, as it appears, a pretty high bar to meet - something he ain’t doing anytime soon. Assuming I A. get him to agree he doesn’t adjust his current situation until that happens and B. he stays true to that, then I shouldn’t have too much to worry about. #kidssucksometimes

Something that no matter how old your kids are is relevant.

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Calling out @OmniscientShark on this one. I think he may have some good information for you. He streams on Mixer , but the grind is the same.

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How old is he?

22 and been on his own since 19 after getting his A.S. in Culinary. However, knowing how I was at 22, I can’t trust him not to do something foolish.

Good news is I’ve already passed some texts this AM, and it’s not a situation where he is/was on the verge of stupidity. Still will be talking to him this weekend and using a lot of the advice above regardless.

Has he given any indication why he’s not happy with his current situation? If you can get a dialog going on that, it may help him to see that there may be other paths he could take (different restaurant, different career path within his A.S., ect) that aren’t such drastic shifts in what he’s doing.

For humor purposes mention how old dudes like me get really pissed off that people don’t work anymore in life.

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It would suck to see him fail. But we all have to fail to see where we really need to be in life. As long as he doesn’t burn any bridges or set himself up to not be able to return to his culinary roots.

Maybe instead of gaming he could do culinary oriented video stuff on youtube or streaming…something to do that also includes his skills. Keep the gaming part as a side thing.

Streaming full time takes a lot of effort and I’ve seen a lot of people burn out just trying to be successful in it.

He’s going through a rough patch at work due to his hotel being severely short staffed due to some critical people leaving. That, combined with being smack in the middle of their busiest time of the year, is leading to some long hours and long stretches without time off. So the frustration is totally understandable and I’ve been coaching him that these stints come and go but don’t last forever. Combined with the idea that manning up and really showing his chops now during this time, I’m working him to understand the significant upside these tough times can hold.

Were it either of my other two kids, I wouldn’t be as worried. This one…well is a little impulsive, or at least was as a teenager, so keeping close tabs on him. :slight_smile:

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Tell him welcome to the service industry. The turn over rate is huge, the hours are long, and you get fucked over more than you would at any other job. It is why I stopped doing it after 20 years.

The bad news is if he just switched to a different hotel/restaurant he will run into the same situations. So I can see why he would be unhappy and want out.

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Tell him to join the service and go see the world!

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Oof, full-time streaming is damn near impossible. It’s the equivalent of being in a “famous band” at this point. The likliehood of being able to live a comfortable lifestyle from it is slim to none. I mean your only 2 options are being top 100 in the World at a super popular game, or to have a stand-up comedian level sense of humor and wit that people find relatable. Even then, chances are pretty freaking low.

Whether it’s Twitch, Mixer, Youtube, etc. the main issue is exposure. Frankly, none of these platforms (for live streaming anyways) are super big on promoting the visibility of small and/or new streamers. The growth curve on any of them is definitely exponential after a certain level, but the thing no one tells you is how flat and straight that line is at the beginning, and for a long time.

Not to mention that it is a lot of work, and for very little return. I have no ambitions of doing this full time, I accept that it’s impossible. I do it mostly as a socially fulfilling hobby (I’m a bit of a homebody) and for some supplementary income (very very little. Mostly use funds for games/pc parts to improve my stream, there is no take home). Even still, I have a regular stream schedule that I keep, 6 days a week. I constantly try to change up my content (overlays, alerts, etc.) to keep it fresh and interesting. It’s a job for all intents and purposes, and one where your pay is next to nothing for a long time.

It’s also very expensive. There is a certain quality standard that viewers expect. You have to have a decent webcam ($50), a decent semi-pro mic ($75), green screens are encouraged ($60), and that’s all low end prices and just what they can see. Without going in to specific cost of parts, you’re going to at least need like a gen 6 i7 processor or equivalent, a gtx 970 or equivalent, 16 gigs of ram, 2 monitors, and a bare minimum interent speed of 60 down and 6 up (which, admittedly, is much more common these days). Now I know some people might say “I stream and I don’t have these things,” and that’s totally fine, that’s just a rough estimate of items that I generally see consistent amongst a variety of streams that I would consider “quality.”

Going a little more off of what I said about hardware, here is why those things are important. Streams without cameras are the VAST majority of the time unsuccessful. If being a successful streamer is like being a rockstar, doing it without a camera is like winning the fucking lottery. Viewers want to see the streamer. they want to identify with the person playing the games. They want to see you smile, they want to see you rage, etc. Mic quality is a little more subtle, but trust me people notice. Your standard PC or xbox headset (yes, even you logitech and turtle beach) sound like shit on a stream. The dual monitors are more a necessity for PC gaming (one for the game and 1 for all else) but even if you’re streaming on your xbox to a cap card, having everything open on a single monitor is a pain in the ass. Your stream should bare minimum be a quality of 720p and 30 fps, and your game should be 60 fps on your side as well. That’s where the hardware is important (as well as the internet connection). And that’s not even accounting for all the other programs you’ll have running to monitor your stream and other things.

Ok I just realized this got way more ranty than I intended, so I’m gonna shut up now lol.

TL;DR It’s fucking impossible if your starting goal is to do this full-time, you will fail. End of story.

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Thanks Shark.

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Nah, that was really interesting.
I knew some of it and had assumed other parts but a lot of the detail I had no idea about.

Glad Balek brought this up / Dig tagged you.

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@D1G1TALC1PHERS you know I’m way too much of a smart ass to help you.
But reading your post made me think of something I saw that Mike Rowe did.
I really think this is really great advice.

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