Achieving work-life balance | My Gamer Life
Arthars is a full-time Twitch streamer who mainly streams MMORPGs - namely Final Fantasy XIV. He began streaming after his wife encouraged him to try it out, during a period when he was taking a career break from the IT firm he was working at.
Arthars sits down with AsiaOne to share his story of meeting his wife through an MMORPG, and how he’s achieved financial security as a livestreamer while also balancing his work with spending quality time together with his wife and kids.
Arthars sits down with AsiaOne to share his story of meeting his wife through an MMORPG, and how he’s achieved financial security as a livestreamer while also balancing his work with spending quality time together with his wife and kids.
Transcript
00:00 Why would anybody watch a 31, 32 year old guy streaming?
00:05 I don't look nice, I'm not handsome and stuff, you know?
00:08 So it's like, so where is this gonna go?
00:10 Who is gonna watch me?
00:11 (upbeat music)
00:14 Hello, I'm Artus, father of three, 43 years old this year.
00:28 I'm a partner Twitch streamer.
00:30 I have no idea what to do, but let's one shot it.
00:33 Oh!
00:34 Ew, who aggroed this?
00:37 I mainly stream MMORPG, although over these seven, eight
00:41 years, I've been doing a lot of other variety,
00:44 like FPS, single player games.
00:47 I play a lot of games since I'm young.
00:49 So back then when I play video games, it's mainly console.
00:52 You know, JRPGs, I start venturing into online games.
00:55 So, you know, we have Counter-Strike, FPS games,
00:57 and then we have like, you know, Warcraft.
01:00 At some point, you know, MMORPG genre came in as well, right?
01:04 And I was like, wow, this is relaxing.
01:06 You know, I personally like progressive stuff.
01:08 So MMORPG really got me into it
01:10 because of also the social aspect.
01:12 You know, you meet actual real players.
01:14 When MMORPG first came out, I was just playing nonstop
01:17 15, 16 hours a day.
01:18 It was very unhealthy, but I'm glad the days are over
01:21 and now I'm more like relaxed.
01:23 I get to spend time with my family.
01:25 It doesn't matter what you do in life.
01:27 Doing too much is always unhealthy.
01:28 It's just how you can balance it.
01:31 I mean, what's the difference?
01:32 Me sitting there and play games 16 hours
01:33 or eight hours a day versus an IT personnel like myself
01:37 before streaming, sitting there also another eight hours
01:39 doing programming.
01:40 I don't think that's a difference.
01:42 Working is clearly stressful.
01:43 It doesn't matter how much you enjoy your work,
01:45 your line of view, right?
01:46 Working is always come with a stress.
01:48 Actually, I've been doing IT stuff
01:50 since I was like 13 years old,
01:51 since the internet came about, you know?
01:52 I've been like programming websites,
01:54 learn programming a little bit.
01:55 So I was really into programming.
01:57 So when I go to Polytechnic University,
02:00 I decided to major in information technology,
02:03 get a decent job, work in IT film, everything was fine.
02:06 You start to realize that it gets a little bit tiring.
02:10 I mean, working is tiring.
02:12 At some point, everybody feels the same.
02:13 Let's be honest, right?
02:14 Eventually I worked in IT film for like eight years.
02:18 It was okay, but then I realized
02:21 that it was kind of going nowhere.
02:22 So I decided to take a break, do what I do,
02:25 play video games.
02:27 That was such a good time, right?
02:28 After I stopped working and then I was able to just relax,
02:31 just play video games.
02:32 Yeah, that was the life before streaming.
02:35 It's funny because although I knew about streaming,
02:37 I knew about like live streaming and content creation,
02:40 like, you know, YouTube videos and stuff.
02:42 But live streaming was kind of like niche
02:44 during the time, kind of like new.
02:45 My wife also happens to be a gamer,
02:47 but it was surprise to me that she was the one
02:49 that say it out loud, you know?
02:50 I was like, "I heard people streaming video games.
02:53 Why don't you just stream?"
02:54 I'm like, "Why would anybody watch a 31,
02:58 32 year old guy streaming?"
03:00 And I'm really loud.
03:02 I don't have like a super nice personality.
03:04 I don't look nice.
03:06 I'm not handsome and stuff, you know?
03:07 So it's like, so where is this gonna go?
03:10 Who is gonna watch me?
03:11 You're sitting here taking a break for like, what?
03:13 Three, six months?
03:14 Why don't you just see whether
03:15 you can do something more, right?
03:18 And I'm like, "Okay."
03:19 Then that very day we went to Challenger
03:22 and then we just pick up a microphone
03:24 and then she's like, "Get a webcam as well."
03:26 I was like, "Why?"
03:27 I was very excited, but at the same time, very nervous
03:29 because I don't know what type of reception I'm gonna get.
03:32 I was a nobody, right?
03:33 I'm not like a professional gamer,
03:35 just a random 30 year old guy playing game in a room, right?
03:38 Progressively, friends came in, my classmates came in.
03:42 - Solid state, yo!
03:43 That's how you see people.
03:45 Run, snake, run!
03:46 - Never really think about long-term.
03:48 They just try it.
03:49 And then, you know, three months later,
03:51 maybe go back and find a job.
03:53 I don't know why some people liked it.
03:54 It occurred to me that live streaming
03:57 is more than just like, be nice.
03:58 You can be who you want, you can do what you want.
04:01 I'm not even a very skilled player,
04:02 so I decided to just be myself.
04:04 It's nice that 10 years later,
04:06 I don't have to every day wake up and think about script.
04:09 I don't have to every day think about what do I need to do.
04:10 I don't even think about like, you know,
04:12 wear nice clothes or do makeup and stuff, right?
04:15 It's just, okay, I just wanna play games.
04:17 All I want to is to play games and just stream.
04:20 Eventually, I stopped by and was really hooked on
04:25 on this one, Final Fantasy XI, which is an online game.
04:28 MMORPG, there's like an online community,
04:30 so obviously there's also a lot of Singaporeans playing.
04:33 So eventually, I met this character in game.
04:35 And you know, like what we always say even today, right?
04:37 Once you meet online, there's no girls.
04:40 It's all guys, right?
04:41 So when I met this person, "Oh, you're Singaporean?
04:43 "Nice, I'm also Singaporean.
04:44 "Okay, who cares?
04:45 "I mean, I don't know you,
04:46 "we are not gonna meet, whatever."
04:48 So then eventually, over the course of like
04:49 three to five years, I played knowing that she's around,
04:53 we see one another, we do stuff together.
04:55 Because she also studied Japanese,
04:57 I also studied Japanese language.
04:59 And then one day, she just messaged me and asked me,
05:01 "Hey, do you know how to set up Japanese keyboard?"
05:04 And I saw it as an opportunity, right?
05:05 I'm like, "Okay, yeah, I guess I do."
05:08 But I still don't believe she's a girl, right?
05:11 You know what I mean?
05:12 Then eventually, I'm like,
05:13 "You wanna meet up or something?
05:14 "We can go for a movie or something."
05:16 I was so excited.
05:17 All my online friends were like,
05:19 "Yo, you're meeting her, you're meeting her."
05:20 I don't know, is it a girl?
05:22 I don't know.
05:23 The first time I met her, I was like,
05:24 "Yeah, this is the girl."
05:27 I don't wanna sound cringe or corny or anything,
05:29 but sometimes in life, man,
05:30 you meet this special someone, you just know it.
05:34 My wife play a lot of games like me.
05:36 That makes sense now, right?
05:37 How come she's so supportive in streaming?
05:40 How she's like pushing me and don't really like,
05:43 "Why are you sitting at home?"
05:45 She is promoted now because her last favourite game
05:48 is "Final Fantasy XI."
05:50 She can't really get into "XIV,"
05:51 so she kinda just stopped there.
05:52 But you know it's good, yeah.
05:54 I can promote her to professional housewife, yeah.
05:56 The uncertainty is definitely the thing
06:01 I'm most worried about.
06:02 I'm saving everything for my kids, my family.
06:05 Luckily, I am 43.
06:07 If I'm 20-something, I'll be more scared.
06:10 So let's just say the next seven years,
06:11 15 years, 10 years later, I'm already 50-something.
06:15 I guess even if this doesn't work out,
06:17 I can retire already, right?
06:18 And if nothing goes my way,
06:21 at least it's not gonna be a long stretch
06:24 I have to worry about.
06:25 I already put aside savings, my kids' savings,
06:27 my house, everything taken care of already, right?
06:30 You spend half a day working.
06:32 Honestly speaking, you spend more time working
06:34 than spending time with your family, right?
06:36 Let's be honest.
06:37 So I guess even for streaming and gaming, it's the same.
06:39 I also spend about eight hours a day playing games.
06:42 I think it's easier because I'm at home.
06:44 My wife, my children can just find me.
06:46 They need anything.
06:47 I need to see them.
06:48 I just open the door, I can see them.
06:50 When I don't stream, I just try to spend time with them
06:52 because that is a really limited time in the day for me.
06:55 So as much as I can, spending time, we go to eat,
06:58 we talk about stuff in school.
07:00 We don't really talk about gaming, yeah?
07:03 So let alone play games, yeah.
07:04 We need to snack!
07:05 Oh, wait, you don't need to snack.
07:07 We need to snack!
07:08 We need to snack!
07:10 I don't think there's a template of success
07:12 when it comes to streaming.
07:13 I think you do what you like, you do what you want.
07:17 For me, it's very straightforward.
07:18 I play game, I stream, I stream, I play games.
07:21 And then I just have to make money to get by.
07:23 For me, it's, luckily, that's good enough for me.
07:26 (upbeat music)
07:28 (upbeat music)
07:31 (upbeat music)
07:34 (upbeat music)
07:37 (upbeat music)
07:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]