CohhCarnage/Twitch; Samantha Lee/Business Insider
- Professional video-game playing is becoming an increasingly common profession - but it's not all fun and games.
- We spoke to eight professional gamers, many of which live-stream themselves on websites like Twitch, to discuss the biggest downsides of their profession.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Video games are better than ever. But playing them for a living isn't all sunshine and roses.
Game-streaming has taken off in recent years, thanks to the lowered barriers to entry: Webcams and microphones aren't too expensive, and there are so many computers out there with more than enough power to handle playing a game and streaming it online simultaneously.
Thousands of people have turned their game-playing habits into full-fledged careers. Many don't reach the heights of, say, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, who rose to fame after rappers Drake and Travis Scott played "Fortnite" with him on Twitch one fateful night (he's also one of the best players of "Fortnite," one of the most popular games in the world, which totally helps). But even if you don't become a celebrity through streaming, people can still make a decent living from playing video games in front of a live audience.
Still, playing games for a living isn't as easy as it might seem.
We talked to eight professional gamers, who stream games and play them professionally in tournaments around the world, to ask them about the biggest upsides and downsides to their chosen profession. We have a separate story focused solely on the upsides of gaming, but this story is meant to emphasize the darker side of this profession, where it's often difficult to find time for family and friends, and trolls often go to great lengths to harass broadcasters.
