Probably one of the biggest dreams of any serious gamer out there is finding a way to turn their favorite hobby into a professional career. And if you consider all the opportunities this day and age is presenting us with, it really becomes more plausible than an average dream. Not only is it far easier nowadays to take the thing you like and turn it into an actually business, but with the technology we have at our disposal, not giving it a shot is borderline lazy.
So, with that in mind, here are 5 easy ways you can take your favorite hobby and turn it into a lucrative career.
1. Stream your gaming sessions
Live streaming really rose in popularity over the last decade. Twitch became such a huge success in such a short time, that streamers are almost regarded as celebrities of this age.
The best part – anyone can try their hand at becoming a streamer. No matter what type of games you prefer playing and no matter how good you actually are at playing them, you will easily find an audience that’s going to be interested in what you have to say. If you are already pending time playing your favorite games, there really is no reason not to share the experience with others. The only thing you’ll need is a gaming rig – which you already own, a good web cam, a decent mic and voila! If you actually decide to give this idea a try, you’ll be surprised just how fast and how many people will start flocking to your streams.
2. Start coaching new gamers
Next, if you are quite good at the games you play and you like sharing various tips and tricks of your own with other players, why not start coaching new gamers? There are plenty of platforms you can choose from where you’ll get the chance to share your input with others. Alternatively, you can even create a YouTube channel and share your tips, tricks and how-to guides there. No matter how big of a player base a certain game has, you’ll always find players how are interested in getting some additional help. Of course, if you feel like your in-person communicational skills are not your best feature or you don’t really like having to repeat yourself over and over again, starting a YouTube channel may be a better idea for you personally than live streams and courses.
3. Take part in tournaments
Almost every single game genre out there has some sort of related tournaments or competitions. One of the most interesting ways you can use this to your favor is managing to take part in them. That being said, it’s important to understand that the majority of these tournaments won’t bring you millions but they are a good way to not only have some fun but also earn money while doing what you like. For instance, if you like playing slot games, there are plenty of fun slot tournaments you can easily sign up to. A full tournament list can be found here: https://www.askgamblers.com/gambling-news/blog/how-do-slot-tournaments-work/. Of course, in order to ensure that you actually have a fighting chance, you’ll also have to prepare yourself for the tournament. But that only means spending more time doing what you love, so you can say it’s a win-win situation.
4. Give eSports a try
Moreover, if you enjoy playing eSport games, you can really turn this love into serious profit. Becoming an eSports player is the ultimate dream of many gamers. Here, not only will you get the chance to participate in numerous gaming tournaments, but you’ll also get paid to literally sit and play your favorite games. And, the better you are, the more chances you’ll get to become spotted by talent hunters, which will only propel your career even further. Needless to say, in order to become relevant in this sphere you’ll have to entirely devote every given moment to practice and perfecting your gaming skills. But it will all more than pay out in the end.
5. Start blogging
Finally, if none of the aforementioned ideas sound too appealing to you, you can always choose to somewhat hide your identity behind words. By becoming a gaming blogger, you will get the chance to create content that’s related to your favorite games without necessarily having to share much else about you with the rest of the internet. Even though the blogging sphere is quite heavily saturated, there’s always room for new people and ideas. Here, you will be entirely in control regarding the type of content you wish to produce and the type of vibe you want your blog to have. What’s best, you don’t have to focus on a single aspect of the gaming world but you can easily choose to explore various parts of it.
6. Use social media
It doesn’t matter how good you are as a gamer or what kind of gaming blog you decide to run, without the help of social media and potential exposure that could be gained through social media channels you cannot reach the level of traction you will need at the start.
Social media can be easily handled even if it does sound time-consuming, especially with the help of social media tools for post scheduling and publishing for multiple audiences.
Let us list a few well known:
- Facebook. Facebook has more than 2.5 billion active users and is generally considered the most popular social media website.
- YouTube. YT holds the title of the most influential channel for game marketing.
- Discord. If you haven’t used Discord before it is a major platform to find a good audience and build it revolving you when playing the game.
- Steam. Steam is a game distribution service by Valve. All the games that matter are listed on Steam.
- Twitch. Twich is very similar to YT and can be used to live streaming your gaming.
Instead of conclusion
Starting a gaming career, especially in this day and age, is far easier than it may seem at first glance. That being said, don’t go into it thinking you’ll only need to sit down and play the game you like. Instead, you’ll have to take a meticulous approach to the whole matter if you’re hoping of ever reaching true success with your endeavor.
