Dark side of world’s best job: ‘I’ve had friends stalked at events’

CHELSEA makes big bucks from home while people watch. She pulls in six figures from those who “just like her” but it comes at a cost.

SHE can work from home, whenever she likes, and is raking in enough money to be a full-time professional gamer. People pay to watch her play computer games. And they pay her well.

Melbourne online gamer Kathleen — who goes by the name LOSERFRUIT — uses online gaming streaming platform Twitch to make her living. But she knows there is a darker side to the job: online trolls, abuse and sexual harassment. And for some, stalkers.

“I get a bit of heat sometimes,” Kathleen tells 60 Minutes’ Peter Stefanovic in an interview about the rise and rise of e-gaming to air on Sunday night.

“Just some ... stupid things.”

Stupid things like “you’re not good, because you’re a girl”, “attention-seeking whore”. And sexual things: “where do you live?”, “you have a nice body” “I’d like to see you with your clothes off”.

“I’ve had friends that have been stalked at events,” Kathleen says.

“But it’s the one percent, if that”.

“I’ve had friends who have been stalked,” Kathleen tells 60 Minutes. Picture: Channel 9

Viers interact with Kathleen’s live stream. Sometimes the trolls come out. Picture: Channel 9

But Kathleen, who describes herself when she travels as “a live-streamer ... which probably makes them think of a certain other profession ... but that’s OK”, or as a “professional gamer”, knows that the dividends can be huge.

She makes her money not just from Twitch, but also from donations from online viewers who “just like her”.

Asked what the biggest single donation has been, she says it’s more than $1000, and “maybe” $5000, adding “some streamers get a lot of money in one go”.

“This is a very unique opportunity that we have that people before us did not necessarily have,” she says.

“This industry is booming and it’s out of control.”

Chelsea pulls six-figure sums in subscriptions, ad revenue and sponsorships. Picture: 60 Minutes

Another Australian woman, Chelsea, is pulling six-figure sums through online subscriptions, ad revenue and sponsorships as XMINKS on Twitch.

She’s making more money than she did working using her university pharmacy degree. And it’s all thanks to Twitch, the world’s leading video platform and community for gamers.

More than 45 million gamers gather every month on Twitch to broadcast. About 350,000 followers stream Chelsea’s games and watch them live.

“People could make between $1000 to ... there’s probably people that earn millions,” she tells Stefanovic.

Her own earnings are “more than I was making when I was working at the pharmacy”.

E-SPORTS MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS

But it’s in e-Sports the serious money is being made, Stefanovic discovers, meeting professional gamers so killed on their keyboards that they pack stadiums and make a living out of it.

The most prominent gamers in the world compete in teams on an international tournament circuit with prize pools topping $20 million.

We play computer games, for a living: Australian gamers for the Renegades, from left, Karlo ‘USTILO’ Pivac, Aaron ‘AZR’ Ward, and Justin ‘JKS’ Savage

They are mobbed at events, asked for autographs, pack stadiums for tournaments. The live audience is a drop in the ocean. Millions more viewers watch online.

The multi-billion dollar industry has been a slow burn in Australia, thanks to our isolation and slow internet speeds, but it’s catching up, this year hosting its first major tournament.

Three Australians riding the wave of the multi-billion dollar industry are Justin ‘JKS’ Savage, Karlo ‘USTILO’ Pivac and Aaron ‘AZR’ Ward.

They relocated to the USA as part of privately-owned e-Sports team the Renegades, and can spend eight to ten hours a day training — playing computer games — when not competing.

“Basically I say I play a video game professionally as a job,” says Justin. People usually respond: “That sounds like the dream”.

Team-mate Karlo says the earning s are enough ... “liveable”.

How liveable? He’s just brought a property in Queensland.

60 Minutes airs on Sunday at 9pm, Channel 9