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I think one thing that changed in recent years is that there are more possibilities for hitting it big. Sure, it's survivor bias and all, but it takes one succe

I think one thing that changed in recent years is that there are more possibilities for hitting it big. Sure, it's survivor bias and all, but it takes one successful indie game (Minecraft, Flappy Bird), a good investment in the right time (early Bitcoin, early Ethereum, GME in December) and you can never work again in your life. Similarly if you are lucky enough and your Twitch channel becomes popular, you can stream some videogames and take donations which equate to multiply of what a "normal" job would give you.

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jrockway 5y ago
I don't think any of these things are possible at any scale that matters. There are a handful of people rich from Bitcoin, Etherium, and Twitch streaming. Then there are 300,000,000 other Americans. Many of them bought high and sold low, or just aren't good at streaming games, and now they're just farther in the hole -- they have an investment account valued at $0, an overpriced mining GPU they bought from a scalper, and a bunch of A/V hardware they never use. The real winners in the gold rush are the people selling pickaxes -- I'm sure that elgato is making a killing selling Stream Decks to people with an average viewership of 0, and someone is sure making money on GPUs. Meanwhile, the people that saw crypto speculation or streaming as their ticket out of here are back to working 14 hour days for $8 an hour and praying they don't get sick.
- medvezhenok 5y ago
  Yeah, especially since the people that hit it big on Bitcoin, GME, Ethereum are cashing out at the expense of the people getting in late; it's a wealth transfer mechanism akin to a pyramid scheme (and it keeps going until it runs out of people to pull in, just like any other pyramid scheme). Twitch streamers / YouTube creators at least provide some entertainment/educational value at scale, so it's more "legitimate" as a source of success, if you can call it that. It might not be as much of an issue if the people getting in late are already well off (then it's just redistribution), but otherwise it's people rising up on the backs of the misfortune (or cluelessness) of others.

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jrockway 5y ago

I don't think any of these things are possible at any scale that matters. There are a handful of people rich from Bitcoin, Etherium, and Twitch streaming. Then there are 300,000,000 other Americans. Many of them bought high and sold low, or just aren't good at streaming games, and now they're just farther in the hole -- they have an investment account valued at $0, an overpriced mining GPU they bought from a scalper, and a bunch of A/V hardware they never use. The real winners in the gold rush are the people selling pickaxes -- I'm sure that elgato is making a killing selling Stream Decks to people with an average viewership of 0, and someone is sure making money on GPUs. Meanwhile, the people that saw crypto speculation or streaming as their ticket out of here are back to working 14 hour days for $8 an hour and praying they don't get sick.

medvezhenok 5y ago
Yeah, especially since the people that hit it big on Bitcoin, GME, Ethereum are cashing out at the expense of the people getting in late; it's a wealth transfer mechanism akin to a pyramid scheme (and it keeps going until it runs out of people to pull in, just like any other pyramid scheme). Twitch streamers / YouTube creators at least provide some entertainment/educational value at scale, so it's more "legitimate" as a source of success, if you can call it that. It might not be as much of an issue if the people getting in late are already well off (then it's just redistribution), but otherwise it's people rising up on the backs of the misfortune (or cluelessness) of others.