Madness Monday - Playing Games For A Living

Hello and welcome to Madness Monday; the day where I talk about the madness that is online commentary, and wonder how that ever caught on.

This image of Markiplier pulling a rather fantastic face while waving is from here.

I've spoken about the strange YouTube Commentators that have taken the world by storm a few times on this blog in the past. However, it's never occurred to me just how many people in the world make their livings by playing games. Isn't it maddening to think that maybe you've got the wrong job?

If you're a frequent purveyor of this blog, you probably know about my frequent watching of YouTube video's and it's many commentators. I have not, however, actually ever considered just how many people base their lives on playing games, and how ridiculous it is that it works. (I mean, come on, getting paid to play games? I'm in the wrong business. Teehee)

Consider for a moment, the people I have mentioned in the past to start with. They get up in the morning each day, get dressed for work, just to simply sit down in their study behind a microphone and camera and record their reactions and opinions to games. Sure perhaps I'm glancing over the difficulty of performing before a camera, or the fact that they do have to somewhat edit their videos, but the point remains, playing games is not exactly the hardest job in the world. (And they get paid pretty well to do it too. :O )

The maddening thing is, they aren't the only people who do it. I've mentioned a few times in the past that Esports are quickly becoming considered to be the same as playing physical sports. (Not that I can remember where I said that. *Facedesk*) And so there are people being paid like national athletes and sports stars to sit behind a computer and be the best of the best at a game. If this article from Gamespot is anything to extrapolate from, being good at League of Legends but not World Championship material is enough to see you earning $1 000 000 a year, which is obviously a fair bit more than most of us make in a decade. (And here I thought being a salesman sounded like a good idea. Maybe I should start playing LoL again.)

And then there are the people we don't know as much about, but know they exist. The game testers. Perhaps less paid than the other two I've mentioned, they sit, play games and then let the developers know how the game plays or about bugs so that the game can be polished. In all honesty, their is perhaps the hardest of all the jobs I've mentioned in this post, but they get paid the least of the three technically. (This sounds like a trend strangely. Work more for less or work less for more. Because you know.

In any case, I gotta say, I think I'm gonna start playing games more (again). Seems lucrative these days. If you think that sounds like a good idea, make sure to let me know in the comments below, or over Facebook and Twitter if you like. Also, don't forget to share this with any friends who think it's a waste of time to play games. (Teehee) If you thought this was funny or interesting, and would like to see more articles like it, make sure to follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the right. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again tomorrow.

Later folks.