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But that 95% of streamers also like just put a couple of hours into it, no? Or just turn Twitch on while they're playing without actually doing anything. The qu

But that 95% of streamers also like just put a couple of hours into it, no? Or just turn Twitch on while they're playing without actually doing anything. The question is, out of the ones trying to make a living as a creator what ratio succeed.

meheleventyone 5y ago
I did some napkin math when the Twitch leak happened and it’s something like 0.04% of people trying make a livable wage. If you count all the people active streaming it was 0.01%. Will look up the post and edit it in. Edit: And I was off in remembering by quite a bit the figures are 0.008% and 0.002%. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28771960 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28771960
supernes 5y ago
It's an important distinction to make, a lot of people stream just for fun and those are the ones I personally enjoy watching the most. The premise of the article and many others like it however is that this is supposed to be the future of creative work, and that somehow it's a way of making a living out of that. Speaking of Twitch specifically, a lot of people are lured into streaming with the promise of earning money doing what they love. And a lot of them don't make it, despite streaming 8+ hour sessions most days of the week. The unfortunate reality is that success is not purely proportional to dedication, and it quickly leads to horrible problems like burnout and depression.
- taurusnoises 5y ago
  Exactly, it's pretty well documented at this point that labor put in is not an indicator of payment earned. Especially, when that labor is tethered to a heavily stratified economy with big biz at the top. I do feel that this changes when people act outside platforms and companies. For example, a surfboard maker, putting in a ton of labor should see some return on the time invested, but it won't necessarily be in money earned. Which brings up another point entirely. These pieces that used money earned as a metric for success are dated af. Thanks for the advice, dad.

meheleventyone 5y ago

I did some napkin math when the Twitch leak happened and it’s something like 0.04% of people trying make a livable wage. If you count all the people active streaming it was 0.01%. Will look up the post and edit it in. Edit: And I was off in remembering by quite a bit the figures are 0.008% and 0.002%. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28771960 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28771960

supernes 5y ago

It's an important distinction to make, a lot of people stream just for fun and those are the ones I personally enjoy watching the most. The premise of the article and many others like it however is that this is supposed to be the future of creative work, and that somehow it's a way of making a living out of that. Speaking of Twitch specifically, a lot of people are lured into streaming with the promise of earning money doing what they love. And a lot of them don't make it, despite streaming 8+ hour sessions most days of the week. The unfortunate reality is that success is not purely proportional to dedication, and it quickly leads to horrible problems like burnout and depression.

taurusnoises 5y ago
Exactly, it's pretty well documented at this point that labor put in is not an indicator of payment earned. Especially, when that labor is tethered to a heavily stratified economy with big biz at the top. I do feel that this changes when people act outside platforms and companies. For example, a surfboard maker, putting in a ton of labor should see some return on the time invested, but it won't necessarily be in money earned. Which brings up another point entirely. These pieces that used money earned as a metric for success are dated af. Thanks for the advice, dad.