The audio player is loading. As reported by Dot Esports, former CS:GO professional Shroud downplayed the effort he needed for a Twitch streamer while doing commentary on the Valorant tournament this past Monday. Shroud retired from the team Cloud9 and the professional Counter-Strike in 2018 to continue streaming on Twitch full-time. This commentary stream also asked viewers via email if he had the intention of returning to professional esports from his practice as a coach or in other capacities, as well as whether he would not like to take back to work sucks. I’m sorry, I’m not. Shroud said that his refusal to work is the reason he flies. When a viewer dropped a comment about the streaming, Shroud said that: “There isn’t a single broadcaster,” he replied. “Streaming is work? No that’s not a pure work, that’s a goddamed joke. Look, I didn’t sit alone. It is strange to see the practice dismissed by such high-profile streamer. Shroud is a TV channel that’s fast 10 million followers. As far as a whole, Streamers are increasingly conscious of the mental and physical costs that can take the streaming process, and the pressure to broadcast as often as possible. Twitch removed a rule in February 2021 that hindered streamers from filming themselves while asleep. This taxing environment where you have to constantly make the grind is aggravated by the risk of harassment and abuse, demonstrated by phenomena like “hate raids” and the lengths Twitch and its content creators will adapt to combat them. Streamers are inundable performers who compete in a challenging ecosystem. If you’ve ever watched a bad stream, you should know it’s not as simple as plopping down in front of a webcam and playing videogames. You need some kind of manpower to maintain and capture an audience, whether it is the mechanical ability, possessed by speedrunners or esports types, or the ability to nurture parasocial relationships. That’s a huge job, once you have accomplished it, but if it were easier to make a living, 8 million people in the sky would have completely quit their day jobs. With PC Gamer reporting in the past, this field is very crowded. And for the median household income in the United States, paying off streaming, you need to be one of the highest 0.015% of Twitch streams. I don’t think that Shroud tried to enlighten discussion about the nature of tibetic work by saying that he’d tried to be transparent. With that context, I think he’s talking about his own experiences with streaming. For him, the hard part came into his early career, and made a name in esports. He has already got a large audience to pay the bills. While holding onto it seems to be more difficult than returning to the mix and starting an esports organization.
