I scream internally every time I see someone online ask ‘how do I make a career in TTRPGs?’ and they’re told to ‘Start a YouTube or TikTok channel’. It’s ass backwards advice! You don’t get better at oil painting by learning piano, why would you get better at making games by making video content?! - ThreadSky

elainelithgow.bsky.social • 14 days ago

I scream internally every time I see someone online ask ‘how do I make a career in TTRPGs?’ and they’re told to ‘Start a YouTube or TikTok channel’.

It’s ass backwards advice!

You don’t get better at oil painting by learning piano, why would you get better at making games by making video content?!

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elainelithgow.bsky.social•14 days ago

I assume it comes from folk who see successful DnD content creators put out books… but in almost all cases they’re content creators first (cause that’s a hard enough job as it is) and TTRPG devs second.

George Foreman didn’t become a boxer to sell grills!

Terrible advice.

Just write the book!

bennewbon.itch.io•13 days ago

Oh jeez who is telling these ppl that!?

elainelithgow.bsky.social•13 days ago

Ah I see it all over the place. This particular incident (and a repeat offender) came from the TTRPG Design subreddit.

bennewbon.itch.io•13 days ago

Wow this is extremely dumb

whodo.bsky.social•13 days ago

So much this. I hate the number of times I've come across people talking about how successful their first RPG release was but ignore the fact they had already built an audience elsewhere that they could tap into.

whodo.bsky.social•13 days ago

Obviously not saying building an audience on YouTube, tiktok, twitch or anything else is easy but it's also not going to automatically make you a good game dev.

kayarath.bsky.social•14 days ago

Honestly, making TTRPGs really doesn't pay the bills. Content makers can build audiences relatively easier.

elainelithgow.bsky.social•13 days ago

It’s been paying my bills for the last 5 years. 🤔

kayarath.bsky.social•13 days ago

And for every success like you, there are dozens of Heartbreakers, wood league https://Itch.io products, and failed companies. It's not impossible, but quite implausible.

elainelithgow.bsky.social•12 days ago

I'd say the same for YT/TikTok etc. For every successful content creator, there's countless channels which never get off the ground.

They're both hard gigs which take tonnes of skill, determination, and a bit of luck to live off of.

elainelithgow.bsky.social•12 days ago

I'd say the biggest difference is scale.

If you get ~1,000 regular viewers on YouTube etc, it won't pay your bills (most creators need supplemental income from sponsors, merch, patreon etc).

But if ~1,000 people regularly show up to buy your TTRPG content, you can absolutely make a living from it.

kayarath.bsky.social•12 days ago

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