Professional Gamers - What Are They and What Is It?

Hello, hello! Welcome to hump day and September! I can’t believe that we’ve already reached September but at the same time, the back half the year could not come quick enough! Today, I thought we would talk about something that I think a lot of people have been watching these last 7 months; that ever growing profession of streamers/content creators/Esports. Now, I am not either of these professions, but I have spent the last 10 years of my life watching them, so I like to think that I know a little bit about it, at least from an outsider’s view. So, I am going to give my take on them and hopefully give a bit of an explanation for the people who don’t fully understand what they are.

Youtube.com has been around for a long time now. While funny cat videos are still aplenty, it’s made a new category as it’s forefront, revolving around videogames and content creators. People playing videogames and posting them online has quickly taken over the internet in the last few years and continues to keep its rapid growth. However, Youtube.com is not the only place that this can be found now, despite it still probably being the most popular one. Amazon owned Twitch.tv has become one of the biggest websites for gaming channels, housing some of the well known streamers on the internet. Let’s break it down into different sections to talk about it.

STREAMERS

This is probably the main character that most videos are found and created now. While twitch.tv is the forefront for streaming, youtube.com has also expanded into something that they have called YouTube Gaming. But what is streaming? In the simplest terms, streaming is a live video feed of someone doing things. It can be many different things, such as building, cooking, just chatting and of course, playing videogames. It allows for people to go to those websites and watch those people do any of those things. What twitch.tv and YouTube Gaming also have is a live chat. This is basically a live chat room within the stream itself that allows the viewers to talk to the streamer by the way of typing in that chat. This lets both the viewer and the streamer form some kind of relationship. From this, viewers can do one of two things, or both if they want to. For twitch.tv, viewers can follow their favourite streamers. This a free option that allows for them to get a notification when their favourite streamers have started a live stream. The other or next option is called subscribing. This is where the viewer pays a certain amount each month to that streamer. Usually when doing this, the viewer gets access to exclusive emotes (a sort of customised emoji) associated with that streamer, as well as the ability to talk in subscriber only chats. There are often other small things as well, such as some kind of badge or symbol next to your username in the chat that also changes colour or style depending on how long you had been subscribed to that channel consecutively.

For YouTube Gaming, it’s much of the same but with different names. Streamers on youtube.com have the same style chat rooms in order to be able to communicate with that streamer. With their channels however, subscribing is the free option just like every other channel on youtube.com. So, when you subscribe to a streamers channel, you’re also subscribing to the channel as a whole, not just the streaming side. This allows for you to see when the streamer goes live as well as any other videos that they put up on their channel. From there, YouTube Gaming also have a paid option called memberships. Much like subscribing on twitch.tv, memberships unlock exclusive badges and emotes related to that streamer.

The third option that viewers have for both websites are donations. This is a simple as it sounds; you give different amounts of money to the streamer of your choice. Twitch.tv have a couple of extra things associated with donations, such as bits, which is Twitch’s own form of currency. Streamers on twitch.tv can also set up different alerts for their donations if a certain amount of money is donated. Both websites also give the option to write a brief message when donating money, when more often then not the streamer will read out when receiving it.

While YouTube Gaming is definitely growing in the streaming aspect, twitch.tv still reigns top, housing some of the biggest streamers at the moment, to name a few: NICKMERCS, TimTheTatman, Shroud, Pokimane, DrLupo, RayNarvezJr and Ninja (although he is currently streaming on both websites). Youtube.com is holding its own but with streamers such as Pewdiepie, Lazarbeam, CourageJD, Valkyrae and Dr. Disrespect.

Streamers often stick to one particular game, such as Fortnite or Call of Duty. However, from time to time they will often play other games either for a break from their main game, to play with friends or just to try something different. There are, however, variety streamers who play numerous games and not sticking to just one kind. This allows for many different viewers across different platforms and allows for them to keep things interesting.

CONTENT CREATORS

Content creators can mean so many different things. Streamers are often considered content creators as well. To me, the main thing for a content creator is just that, to create content. A lot of the time these days is doing something in videogames. For example, it might be a one gun only challenge or a no kill challenge or a speed run. But it is not limited to just that aspect. It could maybe be a vlog style video where they show us their new house or doing some kind of challenge in real life. The main point of content creators is to do something that both they and the viewers will like, which can be almost literally anything these days. Some of my favourite content creators at the moment are Pewdiepie, Jesser, Achievement Hunter’s Let’s Play, Eamon and Bec and Nick Bare.

ESPORTS

Esports has come an incredibly long way since they first started. When most people think of people playing videogames for a living, they think of Esports. Esports is played by people who have signed to an Esports organization. From there, they represent their organization in various tournaments, either solo or a part of a team depending on the game. Some of the biggest organizations include 100 Thieves, Faze Clan, Envy, NRG, Team Liquid, Cloud9, Luminosity and OpTic Gaming. There are of course plenty of others, depending on what game is being played. Like I said before, players have the opportunity to play by themselves or as a team depending on the game. For example, Fortnite has the opportunity to play as a Solo but also has tournaments for Duos, Trios and Squads. The World Cup that Fortnite holds however, is mainly based around a solo tournament. So, for example, the latest winner was signed to the Esports organization of Sentinels. For other games such as Call of Duty, Overwatch and League of Legends, you play as a team for that particular organization. Just like in regular sports, players have contracts and free agency periods where they can sign with different teams if they want. These players then practice their particular game with their particular team in order to make sure they have their tactics remembered. These are often called scrims in Esports terminology and are sometimes streamed but the participants. What they compete for is obviously bragging rights but also championship trophies, rings and of course that sweet prize money. Tournaments are often held over a few days and also have a regular season leading up to championship tournaments. Depending on what game they play, players can earn a LOT of money. For example, Fortnite’s first ever World Cup Tournament in 2019 had a prize pool of $30.4 million, with the solo winner “Bugha” taking home $3 million of it. However, for Dota 2 players, the 2020 prize pool is the biggest ever in Esports history, coming in at a staggering $34 million.

 

I have spent a lot of my time watching all of these different kinds of videos. I think a lot of people my age has spent some of their childhood watching Pewdiepie videos and it absolutely blows me away that not only is he still doing it, he also has over 100 million people subscribed to his channel. From there, I got into Achievement Hunter, (which is the sister company of Rooster Teeth) content creators that play various games, making me laugh along the way. Then I found the Esports scene because of my love with Call of Duty. I became a big fan of OpTic Gaming and from that with one of the players, Matthew “Nadeshot” Hagg. Because I was such a big fan of his, I became a fan of the Esports Organization that he created, 100 Thieves. I remember staying up till 2am to watch them compete and win nail biters to send them to the championship only to lose the championship game. For me, it was like watching my favourite sport team compete for the title after fighting all season for the chance. From this, my love for creation just grows. I find different content creators and streamers because they’re friends with the ones I currently watch. I personally think that this profession is one of the best ones out there. Not only is a large amount of the content free and accessible, it also allows for people to show off their skills and the best parts of them. A lot of streamers, content creators and organizations have been able to donate thousands and millions of dollars to charities and people in need. They’ve been able to financially support love ones and secure their own futures through their hard work and dedication. Rooster Teeth and, by association Achievement Hunter, hold an event each year called Extra Life. It is a 24 hour stream where they play videogames, host talk shows, play board games and do ridiculous things in order to raise money for the Dell Children’s Medical centre in Texas. The 2019 event raised over a million dollars for this cause. These are the few things that I think make this a great profession. But getting into this profession isn’t as easy as people often think. To be able to make that kind of money, it takes years and years. Both twitch.tv and youtube.com have specific requirements that you need to reach before you can start being paid. Often it is a certain number of subscribers, which can take years to build. It makes it hard when you’re trying to reach an audience that is already invested in another streamer of the same game and you need to find something that makes your channel unique and exciting. Then on top of that you also need the skills to be able to film and edit a video with voice overs. But before you can even start that, you need to have something to record on and game to play. You need the PC powerful enough to run editing software, as well as being able to record it and hold the stream as well. All of these things can be quite expensive and if you don’t get ones that make your videos look and sound good, then you may never get far enough to even start being paid. It often leads to many sleepless nights and missed events because if you don’t get a video out then you don’t grow your audience and if you don’t grow your audience then you don’t get paid.

Streaming/content creators/Esports is something I think is only going to keep growing. Technology is forever improving making it easier for better games and recording abilities. The people who do it now are only going to get bigger and the up-and-coming people are always around the corner, making the jump into the big leagues. Who knows? I could be one of them in future or it could be you or your neighbour or your current work colleague. So, check some out and even you might be able to find a new love for this era of gaming professions!