Pursuing a university degree vs playing games/boardgames professionally

[Valka D'Ur]

If it's viewers you want, I follow some YT channels that have hundreds of thousands of subscribers and hundreds of views during their livestreams (Wauquikuna had a lot more when Fabian and Luis played together; no idea why they stopped doing that, but Fabian has continued with his 2 weekend livestreams/week and gets between 200-300/week). The livestreams are online busking, and a way to advertise their CDs.

Not sure how many people watch the cruise channel livestreams, as some of those are limited to Patreon members, and that's something I'm not about to get sucked into. But between the Patreon subscribers and the travel websites and agencies, some of these people basically make a living taking cruises and filming themselves while doing it. Their content includes everything from travel agent-type information to shore excursions they take (La Lido Loca had an enjoyable series of episodes where they visited Iceland), and of course everyone's interested in the food.

 

[Bestbank Tiger]

Hate to break it to you, but most people who went through higher education make little to no contribution to the advancement of humanity. Most end up working pointless jobs for a living, and the best they can do is not to create harm - which many can't even manage.

Just because someone doesn't have a Wikipedia page doesn't mean they didn't contribute.

The ones who are better known are standing on the shoulders of the teachers who educated them, the doctors and nurses who kept them healthy, the coaches who taught them how to work with others toward a goal, the farmers who produced their food so they can focus on other concerns....

 

[aelf]

Just because someone doesn't have a Wikipedia page doesn't mean they didn't contribute.

The ones who are better known are standing on the shoulders of the teachers who educated them, the doctors and nurses who kept them healthy, the coaches who taught them how to work with others toward a goal, the farmers who produced their food so they can focus on other concerns....

That's a limited list of jobs. Cherry-picked even. Whereas more and more people are working pointless jobs.

You should read about BS jobs. The wiki link doesn't work here because the word bullfeathers is apparently a strict no-no (incidentally, that's the kind of red tape that creates a lot of BS jobs out there because it takes more work to get around such stupidity to achieve outcomes).

 

[Takhisis]

back in the Seventies, video/computer games were few and far between unless you wanted to feed quarters into a machine to play Mortal Combat

No, no, no, Mortal Kombat (with a K) is a 1990s game.

 

[stfoskey12]

I chose to pursue a university degree and not play board games professionally. Right now I'm working on a PhD, and I question why I'm doing that instead of going into industry where I could make more money.
But if I was really good at board games maybe I would be doing that instead. However, I kind of agree with the other posters who said it would take the fun out of it.

 

[bene_legionary]

It really depends on how you translate it into a living, yeah. At least for boardgame development, new boardgame designs and designers are dime a dozen (you’d be surprised, if you’re not that familiar with hobbyist boardgaming) and it takes quite a bit to turn design into something worthwhile. Cole Wehrle, one of the most prolific boardgame designers of the last decade, recounted his journey on (of all places) Soren Johnson’s website/podcast Designer Notes, it’s interesting to me because he studied at university but then translated his university study into his boardgame hobby, and when his designs became more well known, he became a full time designer. Of course he was both lucky and in the right time and space, but it is a fascinating example. (https://www.designer-notes.com/designer-notes-77-cole-wehrle/)

Translating a hobby or interest into a career is rather odd. I would find it pretty difficult to make my nerf modification hobby (I don’t talk about that much here) into something that could turn a profit, but there are a surprising number of shops and outfits online which turn over specialised aftermarket nerf supplies, motors, even entire 3D printed blasters, and are quite successful.

 

[EvaDK]

I agree that the entertainment value aspect is in some cases more important than the rest, regarding those making a living of playing games. The most entertaining YouTubers also have a certain panache that helps make them stand out from the crowd.

As an example, when I played World of Warships I followed Jingles a lot; not because he was the best player (he always considered himself mid-range), but because of his warm personality, sense of humor (very English which I just jive with) and all the trivia and anecdotes he share with his community regarding navy stuff and his career in the Royal Navy. I still watch/listen to his podcasts from time to time, even though I stopped playing the game years ago, because he's just so entertaining.

 

[Kyriakos]

I agree that the entertainment value aspect is in some cases more important than the rest, regarding those making a living of playing games. The most entertaining YouTubers also have a certain panache that helps make them stand out from the crowd.

As an example, when I played World of Warships I followed Jingles a lot; not because he was the best player (he always considered himself mid-range), but because of his warm personality, sense of humor (very English which I just jive with) and all the trivia and anecdotes he share with his community regarding navy stuff and his career in the Royal Navy. I still watch/listen to his podcasts from time to time, even though I stopped playing the game years ago, because he's just so entertaining.

Then again, it's a safer bet to not rely on being charismatic, for example

His youtube channel would suck.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I agree that the entertainment value aspect is in some cases more important than the rest, regarding those making a living of playing games. The most entertaining YouTubers also have a certain panache that helps make them stand out from the crowd.

As an example, when I played World of Warships I followed Jingles a lot; not because he was the best player (he always considered himself mid-range), but because of his warm personality, sense of humor (very English which I just jive with) and all the trivia and anecdotes he share with his community regarding navy stuff and his career in the Royal Navy. I still watch/listen to his podcasts from time to time, even though I stopped playing the game years ago, because he's just so entertaining.

Celebrity status in our age of video and internet channels largely follows one's personality. Those who can connect with others easily over a topic and communicate concern and interest have an easier time succeeding than those who lack those skills. Most people fail to collect large followings. It is hard work in general that often is hidden.

 

[Angst]

Then again, it's a safer bet to not rely on being charismatic, for example

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His youtube channel would suck.

not sure what relying on it means? as in how it would be a problem here irt certainty of outcome? most charismatic people are just that, charismatic. it's somewhat effortless, even if it's often learned (as is just getting good at stuff, ftr). so relying on something you just *do anyways* doesn't sound too bad to me.

 

[Kyriakos]

not sure what relying on it means? as in how it would be a problem here irt certainty of outcome? most charismatic people are just that, charismatic. it's somewhat effortless, even if it's often learned (as is just getting good at stuff, ftr). so relying on something you just *do anyways* doesn't sound too bad to me.

The sentence just meant that it is rare to be what "charismatic" implies, while less rare to get qualifications through university.

 

[Angst]

The sentence just meant that it is rare to be what "charismatic" implies, while less rare to get qualifications through university.

oh yea fsure. lots of jobs are bottlenecks, but they're usually far easier to pull off than being succesful in streaming etc

 

[EvaDK]

Some Diablo 4 streamers/YouTubers faced a dilemma last year, in the following months after launch. The dilemma being that after the first weeks, views dropped significantly on their channels. Crashed even. So, they voiced their concerns on the future prospects of the game and whether it would make sense to cover it. It's very tedious work to make these videos and test the game thoroughly - it's hundreds of hours poured into playing the thing each season.

The game has recovered and is now in a much better state than at launch - just as it happened with Diablo 3. But these guys genuinely felt threatened on their livehoods for a period and considered covering other RPG games instead and ditching D4, even though they didn't prefer that option. I think it illustrates one of the risks of being a streamer making a living of covering mostly just one game. Now, the Maxroll guys cover other games too, but D4 is their primary platform.

 

[Angst]

Some Diablo 4 streamers/YouTubers faced a dilemma last year, in the following months after launch. The dilemma being that after the first weeks, views dropped significantly on their channels. Crashed even. So, they voiced their concerns on the future prospects of the game and whether it would make sense to cover it. It's very tedious work to make these videos and test the game thoroughly - it's hundreds of hours poured into playing the thing each season.

The game has recovered and is now in a much better state than at launch - just as it happened with Diablo 3. But these guys genuinely felt threatened on their livehoods for a period and considered covering other RPG games instead and ditching D4, even though they didn't prefer that option. I think it illustrates one of the risks of being a streamer making a living of covering mostly just one game. Now, the Maxroll guys cover other games too, but D4 is their primary platform.

really appreciate note, and imma +1 it: this is also a huge issue irt the topic of the thread. so; most succesful professional gaming depends on a social media/entertainment presence, and this has a weird cross function with the granularity of gaming audiences. gaming as an industry & practice is incredibly segmented while requiring a large buy-in to understand the intricacies of the language (for example, i have watched a lot of age of empires content, but it's hard to tell the nuances of what's going on without knowing the game in detail); even massive releases like diablo 4 are not a stable environment to produce content this way as an income venue. so for this thread, the question was based around chess, which is, like, the game, and most people understand the basic rules at least because of their immediate simplicity of systems, yet infamously, incredibly few can make a living off it. now, chess is naturally not as flashy as other games, but this showcases the discrepancy; there's a very difficult balance between engaging in niche material that most people don't have an understanding of (not talking gaming at large, but individual systems); and being entertaining enough to have it work on scale as consumable media.

 

[Darsnan]

I think it's a nice topic for discussion: would you rather pursue academic learning or strive to be a top player of a game?
In recent times, the most lucrative (non-sport) games to be a pro in are arguably some e-games with global leagues. The best players (a tiny percentage) make considerable money out of it. Such games include rts like Starcraft and AOEIIDE.

Recently my wife and I challenged ourselves to take on side-hustles, with the intent of pulling in our retirement by as much as a year. One of the jobs I considered was ski instructor at the local resort, as I'd previously been approached to do this. In the end I chose not to go that route, my thought being that I don't think I'd mix work with play well (i.e. I'm not going to go skiing and have the constant reminder of the ski instruction job: work is work, and playtime is a completely separate endeavor that I can lose myself in).
Same goes for gaming: I enjoy gaming immensely, and I've been very good at it in the past, but when I sit down to game that's it - I do it for something fun that I can lose myself in for a few hours.

D

 

[Birdjaguar]

with the intent of pulling in our retirement by as much as a year.

The stock market should be helping!

 

[Darsnan]

The stock market should be helping!

Yes I was calculating that with the market doing so well that I'd be able to pull my retirement in to under 4 years, but then we found our retirement property, and now retirement is back out to just over 6 years.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Yes I was calculating that with the market doing so well that I'd be able to pull my retirement in to under 4 years, but then we found our retirement property, and now retirement is back out to just over 6 years.

Where are you going to retire to?

 

[Darsnan]

Where are you going to retire to?

Adirondacks. Just beyond the river bend where the river disappears into the mist:

 

[Kyriakos]

It looks lovely, Darsnan
But we should bring the thread back on-topic.
Another example of the risks undertaken by a career in the types of games mentioned, is that unless the game is sufficiently established, it can itself fade away. Not an issue with the case of chess, but certainly there in e-games and in particular streaming; many dedicated years to be good in a game only to see it lose prominence and then couldn't move to the next ones in the genre.
Although pro-gaming is different; only exists due to venues.
There's also less of a typical proof of achievement than in a university route; ultimately the degree(s) stay(s) with you, regardless of future choices.