The Evolution of Childhood Dreams: Gaming, Streaming and Parenting

Has your child ever dreamt of being the next YouTube sensation, all the while playing with their ‘Influencer Packs’ toys? We're realizing that our kids aspire to careers that didn't exist when we were growing up - they're dreaming of becoming gaming superstars like Ninja. With the rise of subscription-based streaming and the growing acceptance of gaming as a viable career path, it's an intriguing new landscape that we explore in this episode. We share our experiences as parents navigating these new aspirations, and discuss the realities that come with dreaming of being a top streamer, from the dedication required to the importance of time management.

As parents, we realize that the landscape is vastly different from our childhood experiences, with the digital age bringing about new challenges and opportunities. We delve into strategies on how to best support and protect our kids while they navigate this digital world. We discuss the importance of staying current with trends in social media and gaming to guide and safeguard our children in this new world filled with opportunities. It's a journey, and we're inviting you to join us on Dad Mode as we explore the uncharted waters of gaming, streaming, and parenting.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Dad mode, a podcast that is to try for us to game streaming and dad laughing, All right period.

Speaker 2: 0:06

So when we were growing up, there were always video games, but they're they were a lot less comprehensive than they are today, if that makes any sense. Today, games are giant. They are all encompassing, they are social events. They are over competitive. There are sports leagues, esports leagues based around video games. Nothing like games when I was growing up, and I imagine that's the same way for you.

Speaker 1: 0:38

Yeah, yeah, it's a totally different landscape. The more and more digital era and the internet coming on board. It changed gaming. And what children for gaming growing up?

Speaker 2: 0:54

Yeah, you know we had we were talking about? We were talking about people like Ninja, you know, one of the most well known gamers in the world. I would imagine, yeah, a career like he has made. That wasn't a thing. You didn't make a career in gaming, you didn't grow when I was going to be a gamer when I got older.

Speaker 1: 1:21

You didn't. I didn't go for a primary school, gone cool. When I get older, I want to do YouTube and and I want to play video games. That wasn't a thing you can say you want to make video games. That was, that was something, but not make a living playing video game.

Speaker 2: 1:40

Right, right. So, in addition to the games themselves, changing the world, the industry of gaming is is different. Like you can have a viral career. You and I make money streaming games online. Like that's not a lot of money, but we make money streaming games online. That wasn't a thing. No, that wasn't a thing. That'd be equivalent to me having my friends come watch me play on the Super Nintendo. Like I need five bucks from each one of you if you're going to play. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:13

The subscription to come into my house and play me Exactly.

Speaker 2: 2:16

Exactly, and it's interesting.

Speaker 1: 2:21

You grow as you get older and going through primary school into high school and career options and people talking this, things that more and more of it comes up at a younger and younger age of these kids going well, I want to be, I want to do, you know, I want to be YouTube. Stuff that's a thing. Instead of saying I want to be a police officer or join the army, I want to be a doctor, be a vet, etc. I want to be a YouTube. Star is now right up there with all this aspiration.

Speaker 2: 2:55

It is and it boggles my mind, even though I'm someone that, as you know, I Make my living that, no, I make my living at a regular job. But I make my online living giving people advice on how to do that while also warning them about the pitfalls of that, but it still blows my mind that people do that now. I think it's attractive to kids Because it's easy. Anyone can get into it.

Speaker 1: 3:24

I see the fun.

Speaker 2: 3:24

You're. You don't need to be a certain age other than like 13 or whatever, to create an account on the site. You don't have to have any specific equipment, so, or any specific skills. You don't have to go to school. Anybody can get into it and anybody can start earning money. And I think, I think that they see guys like ninja and they see guys like Harris Heller or whatever, who makes their their living doing this thing, making tons of money and like that's what I'm gonna do. But I was as a mention, you like. The equivalent I give is you're just as likely to become that level famous as your art become a pro athlete. It's. It's not happening. Yeah, sorry, it's not happening.

Speaker 1: 4:08

But it's, it's, but it's ingrained as well. It's sadly, it's not just watching Watching creators and that's where they get these ideas from. You go to toy shops now and you can get Influences creator pack, where it comes with a fake camera and a fake ring light and a fake microphone and all these things like. What else are they gonna think with that if they got all these little tools to to to play, make believe? Yeah, it's, it's interesting. Has any of your kids ever brought up the topic like have any of them ever said something like that? No, they, they haven't.

Speaker 2: 4:49

I think. But it's interesting, I haven't seen those kids in stores. But that kind of just legitimizes in kids minds that it's a real career. Yes, but it's really not. But in fact my youngest son doesn't really understand what I do out here. You know what I say. I mean like in this studio, even though I hate saying that my older son has no in. He'll ask me how many followers I have every now and then, but he has no interest in being on here and watching what I do. None of it really. So I know.

Speaker 1: 5:19

Really yes to my son. It's a big thing that my dad streams on Twitch and I was stuff and every softening watches some of the YouTube content like long-form Gameplay yeah, done that. And then I said we talked about first week my my oldest wanted to do TikTok and that for a while, so she's had to deal with me over the years. Yeah, and then the youngest, the two younger ones, they ask questions every softening. Oh, it's it that to do with your streaming or something like you remember I remember I had a sponsorship there for a while with you foods I showed you because you can have it over there, but it was pretty major, right, pretty great Meals that got delivered to the house and it was just microwave. I'm not sure if you can see it, but I'm not sure if you can see it.

Speaker 1: 6:04

But I'm not sure if you can see it, but I'm not sure if you can see it, it was just microwave meals but they were all fresh and delicious and that you know boxes of these food showing up and the kids like I can have some. It's like no, no, no. I like, oh, can I open the box? I said no, I need to open the box on street. This is, this is paid work and this, yeah, heads wrapping around the sense of you got that some company has sent you all this food because you play video games like yes, yeah, yes, that's did you just do like a live read ad just now?

Speaker 1: 6:39

pretty much did I didn't even plan on this episode about you by you food, yeah turns out, you ran the quarter from my work to. I didn't even know that. I didn't even know, since the state um it's a given you.

Speaker 2: 6:55

What is differences is like I have merch, we'll have merch, right, yeah? And I had a shirt and my hey boys, you want a shirt. And they're like why would anybody want that? I'm like, wow, that hurts, thank you, thank you, yeah my oldest.

Speaker 1: 7:12

Yeah, my oldest has got a jumper from me, a hoodie, she loves it really she wears it everywhere. I, I my son is one of the first, the first production runs of the hats. When I was trying to sort out the hat I gave him money, doesn't? Always wear it, but he occasionally wears it, and this one's got her merch, but she's that young that she can't. She can't tell me otherwise, so I'm just waiting for her right. You can have to fit into it by the way, this is.

Speaker 2: 7:45

We talked about efficiency before and how you juggle things, he's yeah, so that's how, that's how we do it.

Speaker 1: 7:51

No, I think.

Speaker 2: 7:56

I'm wondering if they don't care because I'm I don't enjoy playing games with them and like this is just their way of hitting back at me. But I mean, in truth I do a lot of just chatting, so they probably wouldn't enjoy my kind of stream anyway no, no, your content is a little different.

Speaker 1: 8:14

My content it's not.

Speaker 2: 8:16

Yeah, it's not really for kids. You know, not that I swear or anything, but well, I mean I do, but it's just, it's probably be. If I was their age, like 13, 12, I'd be bored by watching my content yeah, yeah, yeah, your content, some might fit that that I anyway, but no, but, um, right, but see, even your kids, my kids, they see us.

Speaker 2: 8:44

We're saying it's not legitimate, but they see us doing it, you know. But I think what they don't? And they see all the equipment and like, oh my god, my kids are like it looks like a spaceship out here, you know, but what they don't realize is, dude, I don't make shit, I don't make this is all coming from my my extra.

Speaker 2: 9:03

Yes, it's, that's what it is. It's an expensive hobby, do I wish I could make something more of it? Yes, but as we've talked about before, the financial stability isn't there not, so you know my wife would be.

Speaker 1: 9:17

All you kids go away, let's go away. I'm living by myself in an apartment. Yeah, yeah, I'm, and I explain that. Yes, that I've said. My young fella tried streaming on the side on one stage, just a little bit of streaming. In that he understands that. You know people just don't show up in your chat that I'm like no, they don't they don't thank you.

Speaker 2: 9:43

Thank you for reminding me. You're pointing that out yeah, well wasn't?

Speaker 1: 9:46

my channel is actually his own one. He's spun off his own one stage, but you know I can't just click live and then there'd be a hundred people there. That dawned on him at a young age like hold on this, this isn't. This isn't as simple as I thought it is.

Speaker 2: 10:04

It's like I just need a camera and I mean the camera's not gonna change yeah, this my kid was tracking my progress on YouTube and it should go from a 7,000 8,000 subscribers. Took me quite a while because I my momentum slowed and he would ask me every month or two. I'm like, yeah, I'm at 7,200 really, because you were just at 7,000. I'm like I'm thinking like you. I'm like you go start a YouTube channel and tell me how long it takes you to get there, you know pick up your gay.

Speaker 1: 10:37

Your content's not aware it should be is what he's trying to say, obviously basically he's saying my content is trash. Yeah, thanks, kid it's, it's, it's, it's a difficult thing to do, and the other part is they see other kids achieving it. You know what's his name, not my. Nothing with the kid that unboxes toys on YouTube. There's a kid that unboxes toys.

Speaker 1: 11:14

But he's one of the biggest youtubers, massive really. Yeah, just a kid and shit load of money. His job is, you know, toy companies send him toys to unbox and he just unbox toys and reviews toys.

Speaker 2: 11:26

Yeah, yeah well that's a nice gig.

Speaker 1: 11:30

Yeah, but his parents are living off him. That's a time you could imagine being one of the biggest youtubers parents absolutely living off him. Wait, now I want to set that up with my kids.

Speaker 2: 11:40

I know right, but I am discreetly doing this off-camera. I saw the top. I don't know what you're talking about. It's hot. Look at the cup and I'm using. Look at that.

Speaker 1: 12:00

No, I like it's, yeah it's. It's a different landscape for him it is.

Speaker 2: 12:12

You know in in being that this wasn't a thing growing up, not, and I feel that you and I are better prepared to talk to our kids about the realities of this then Parents that don't know about this at all. Kind of sad. Some parents might think, oh yeah, it is an opportunity to go for it. Some might say there's nothing to it. We don't even start Bitted, and I would hear to tell you it's a little bit of both. It is, it's a little bit of both.

Speaker 1: 12:49

Don't just guys your children, but I think you got to give them the. Don't discharge your children from the trying to achieve these things. But I think it's painting that picture like a Reptis. To my eldest that sounds it sounds like a mean thing to say, but I remember her going through Primary school. She's in high school now and earliest I want to be a vet Lovely idea.

Speaker 1: 13:17

You socked at school like horrible grides and everyone around her was encouraging her like I should be a vet, to be a vet. I said you can be a vet, but I'm going to give you the reality of it. It's not easy. I said you need your grades to be up here. They need to be higher, a lot higher, which means you've got to put in a lot of work. I'm not saying you can't do it, but it's going to take you so much work to achieve it and by all means I will encourage you to help you where I can to get that goal. But I want you to know it's not something that you can just say I want to be this and you're going to get it.

Speaker 1: 13:54

Like everyone's everyone in her life was saying yeah, you will be, but no one was telling her the work involved to get to now it's changed. She wants to be a primary school teacher, but that's the same with being in sports or content creation for children growing up and how they want to be. Encourage it. Yeah, by all means encourage it. You guys want to do that. That's great to see where there's work involved still.

Speaker 2: 14:19

Yeah, and if your kids there's, there's different things, like if they want to be a professional sports player versus they want to be a professional streamer right. One thing is they're going to get into this when they're younger, because they can, because there's nothing stopping them. But the thing to watch out for my opinion focus at eSports is the amount of time that they have to invest in. We've many of you. If you listen to any of these other episodes, you know we say this. The time management is hard and it's not just because we're working and we have families. It's also because there's a lot to do to be successful in gaming and streaming and podcasting, whatever right, and eSports is no different. You have to stream to build an audience. You have to be active on social media to build an audience.

Speaker 1: 15:06

You have to be good at your game, which means playing your game endlessly and you see, if they do those days or training or they get there, it's a lot of us, a lot of eSports teams seem to be teaming up around colleges and stuff through universities and colleges that create an eSports teams inside.

Speaker 2: 15:24

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 15:25

You know we we're in here, we're practicing games so many days a week, so many hours. Yeah, it is a job. It's no different than another physical sport as such being out there. That's the same type of regimen routine, yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:41

And on top of that, these kids we're talking about, they're 13, 14, 15, 16, 17,. They have to be in school legally, so somehow they've got to be in school and do good in school and do all this other stuff too, yeah, so time management becomes critical. And it's not something my mom had to worry about because it didn't exist.

Speaker 1: 16:07

I was on just to worry about me going to bed on time. What are you up at midnight doing? Are you playing Counter Strike on a dial up connection? What is this Counter Strike thing? Oh, it's a mod for Half-Life. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:18

My, my mom was more like hey, you're 16. You haven't been home in two days. Where are you? Um, you know, so we did that. Issues.

Speaker 1: 16:28

We both rule remote Dance growing up. Yeah, I did that on weekends. It was Friday afternoon, which meant I wasn't coming home. They weren't seeing me till Monday because I was staying in the city at Fred's house.

Speaker 2: 16:39

It's still been, but yeah, and I had no cell phone, so I was just disappeared and she'd hope that I'd all show up. Land lawn.

Speaker 1: 16:48

You didn't call me off the land lawn when you got to your friend's house.

Speaker 2: 16:52

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 16:54

Welcome to the old gamer show. This brought back that feeling of I'm going to a friend's house, ride my bike a few miles over to a friend's place and then I make sure you call me when you get there. And I get there and I'm too excited to do whatever the hell we're doing there?

Speaker 1: 17:10

We're going to go blow up a box down the park. Let's go do that. Forget to call my mother Next thing. You know I'm getting a phone these mothers coming up to me later and I go and your mom's on the phone. I think you need to apologize. Oh my gosh, what I do, that's right, yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:25

When I got there.

Speaker 2: 17:27

Yeah, yeah. So even that is different. There it is, but you know. So if you're listening to this podcast, you know, because you're a gamer, because you're a streamer, then you probably know all this. But if you're not, then honestly, we're just here to tell you that you know it's, it's you want to encourage your kids? Just understand the things we're saying about what's involved in it and stop trying to do, stop doing what I have done in the past and try to compare how you grew up to how different your kids who are in a gaming group, because it is completely different and, honestly bearded, if I didn't get into streaming and if I didn't get to stay into gaming, I don't know how I would relate to the kids, my kids.

Speaker 2: 18:13

I couldn't understand it. I wouldn't understand it at all. Social media I didn't really do much with social media until I started streaming because then I had to. My wife doesn't reduce social media. She doesn't get it at all, and I'm thinking if I didn't get it at all, I wouldn't be able to protect my kids from the BS out there. Oh 100%.

Speaker 1: 18:30

I don't think staying relevant and keeping up with all these things has made it huge difference in how how I relate to the children and understand the things that they go for and and even in the day we talked about age controls, online bullying the rest of the rest of it it's, it's a thing, no matter what age they are I don't even know it's an adult. And, yeah, getting used to this new digital age and the changes and challenges and career paths and everything around it is something that everyone should do and just keep up to date a little bit with what's going on, because we are going more digital. You will see this change in careers and goals and social media managers.

Speaker 2: 19:15

Yeah, that's a job.

Speaker 1: 19:16

It's a job. I didn't know that was a job, but you know what was that? That was PR before. Now it's a social media manager.

Speaker 2: 19:26

We can all talk for a minute.

Speaker 1: 19:28

Yeah, I go for it, but that's that's. But no, that's keeping updated. We got to keep updated and move forward because it's not what it was when we started.

Speaker 2: 19:38

It isn't and there are, like we've already mentioned, like live streaming and pro gamer or eSports player, as careers that didn't exist when probably you who are listening to this were a kid. He just mentioned social media manager. Social like Facebook has only been around since what? 90, no, 2000 or 96 or something like that 99, 99, 99, 99.

Speaker 1: 20:03

All of that, I was there, I thought it was. Thank you, Okay.

Speaker 2: 20:07

I swear.

Speaker 1: 20:08

Facebook was a thing until 2000.

Speaker 2: 20:11

When did Facebook? Because I happen to have chat GPT open, like I do all the time.

Speaker 1: 20:15

This is the test slide tab, but Facebook started in 2004.

Speaker 2: 20:21

Yeah, yeah, so Facebook has been 20 years, yeah.

Speaker 1: 20:29

Facebook's finally almost at a legal age of drinking over there, you guys.

Speaker 2: 20:33

Right, if you were over the age of 20, then Facebook didn't. Social media really didn't exist when you were, when you were younger, and so the idea of a social media manager didn't exist either.

Speaker 1: 20:45

No, no, even online careers. Like I know professional gamers from the mid 90s, you were playing for a thousand dollars. You know I mean it's a thousand dollars for a two competition top prize a thousand dollars. Nothing was serious. I bought some by Intel for a thousand dollars. Yeah, Now you're talking about. You know legal legends for a three million dollar price pool or stuff like that. It's a different landscape.

Speaker 2: 21:16

XQC signed a three year hundred million dollar contract with kick streaming.

Speaker 1: 21:21

I believe this respects in that same path at the moment.

Speaker 2: 21:25

Yeah, yeah, that is insane to me, yeah, but you know what it's become? It's because it's become it's not just a game anymore, it's entertain, it's entered entertainment territory and so the money just a little loons.

Speaker 1: 21:40

That was the other day. Co-worker asked me why don't get? I just get online and do this way more. I'm more involved and she's younger than me because I don't understand how people just, you know, live stream because it's entertainment. So it's entertainment. It's no different than watching live television. I said that's all right. What streaming is? It's just a new era of live television. Instead of, instead of turning on and watching a live sports game, you're now turning on and watching someone you know get slapped in the face by because someone gifted on 20 subs or something like. It's a little bit of an interactive live experience.

Speaker 2: 22:18

Right, or you get somebody 20 subs and I don't know. They wear a bikini on the street.

Speaker 1: 22:21

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2: 22:25

That's the same kind of thing and so like with that. I think it takes a certain kind of personality as well to be a streamer, to be a podcast, to be maybe not a gamer, because you it is kind of you and the machine you know, but those other two things definitely. I'm an introvert but I still enjoy doing this because I have confidence in my ability to entertain people, to teach people, even though I don't like to talk to people.

Speaker 1: 22:54

So if you're kidding me, I don't like calling.

Speaker 2: 22:56

Right. If your kids getting into this at all, you recognize that they probably want to be that way. Even if they don't seem like that way in their normal, in their day to day, they have those aspirations, so kind of lean into that. Or I can tell you that I'm going to encourage my kids to get into streaming if that's what they want to do because of the skills you learn doing this, things you didn't learn anyway. I said it's easy to get into, it is and. But your chances of being a professional game professional streamer are low. But what you can become a professional at is audio engineer, a producer social media manager, graphic designer.

Speaker 2: 23:37

There are so many intricacies and skills that you need to be successful. Doing this in every one of them becomes an entire career that you can tell your kid. Ok, maybe you can't get 100 people in your chat at once, but the videos you produce, man, they're, they're fire Like, they're amazing. And yeah, that was an old man using that word, but whatever, you know what I mean and and they can think they could lead into that and that could be a career for the rest of their life. Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot to like about this.

Speaker 1: 24:15

No, but I'm happy to end that there, almost. But I mean I'll just add in my bit, like I've already started that process. I did that with my oldest. It was she wanted to do tick tock. Ok, cool, you're holding your phone wrong. That's not how you film a tick tock. You know film it this way. Ok, you need better lighting. Come down to the shop or bought your better lighting or bought a stand for your phone. Ok, cool, you're recording off the phone Microphone will look like you can buy this little microphone for really cheap.

Speaker 1: 24:39

Plug this in. That's going to give you better audio. That'll give you better. You was like things I've learned that I was able to pass on already to my children and start teaching them bits and pieces of things that I've learned all the way. And you know, I was outside of high school. I became a carpenter, yeah, and now I can work and I set up this. I've worked with my lighting and you know how lights work, how sound works, how this works, creating a good shadow line, editing bits and pieces like that A lot to pick up.

Speaker 2: 25:15

It is a lot to pick up, and so if streaming, gaming, content creation aren't things that you're familiar with, but your kid is starting to show some interest, show some interest in that too. Learn about it yourself, and so you can help them along, because there's a lot to know and they're going to need your support, because this is not easy and their time management can get way away from them and start impacting other things, because they may not have the maturity to handle everything they have to do and the mental health strain and stress that comes along with it too, which is a topic for another day. But there's a lot to know.

Speaker 1: 26:01

There's a lot to know, but I think we started this with introduction Lots different. Yeah, it is.

Speaker 2: 26:09

Hey, thanks for you know tuning into the podcast today. If you like it, be sure to share it, leave comments and we'll catch you next time on the Wand and Watch the보. In Gaming, my friend, you need to go love oil and if you do, send us your likes and comments. Thank you.