Video game house in Lakeland closing in on 500th day of playing games 24/7
Three gamers in Lakeland are passing a big milestone Friday: Playing video games for 12,000 hours straight.
Three gamers in Lakeland are passing a big milestone Friday: Playing video games for 12,000 hours straight.
Why? It's their job.
StreamerHouse was launched a year and a half ago by a couple of guys who thought they could make some money streaming themselves playing video games non-stop.
And they were right.
"We kind of harvested a community of like-minded people," said Ryan Carmichael, known as Tree in the online world.
At the moment, the house consists of three gamers who take turns -- eight hour shifts -- to cover the full day.
The gamers play non-stop and stream it all for the world to see. Viewers can log on to www.twitch.tv/streamerhouse and always find one of the guys sitting on the couch, playing the game.
The stream is actually viewed from every corner of the globe -- 36 million views and counting. At any given moment, they may have a couple hundred people watching, or a couple thousand.
"For me now, playing for eight hours seems normal," said Adam Young, another one of the gamers in the house.
It isn't just a hobby for them, it's work. It's how they earn their living.
StreamerHouse makes money through advertisers on their website. Hundreds of premium subscribers also pay a monthly fee.
They also get thousands of dollars in donations.
"It's a lot of work and we get compensation for that work. It's a job just like anything else," Carmichael said.
On Friday, the 500th day of streaming, Carmichael said they plan to give away money and gaming consoles to their viewers online.
"We may crack open or beer or something," he said.
StreamerHouse is showing no signs of slowing down.
At the end of last year, the crew moved into a six bedroom house and plan to add an additional gamer in the coming weeks so they can focus on expanding the project.
All the gamers actually live at the home.
"It's difficult to find someone just willing to uproot their lives where they are at currently and come in here and say, ‘I want to play video games all day,’" Young said.
All the money made is put into a single account. The gamers aren't given a paycheck, but Carmichael said they buy anything they need.
"We have to be frugal with the money we do make, but we certainly make enough," he said.
They haven't had a day off in months, but no one is complaining.