Internet commenters were quick to call out one 37-year-old man who accused his fiancée of “ruining his career” after she refused to buy him a new gaming computer.
Posting on Reddit’s r/AmITheA**hole, Redditor u/Content_Profession63 (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said the man moved into her home six months ago and revealed how his constant ridicule and empty threats of becoming a Twitch streamer has shoved a major wedge between the engaged couple.
Titled, “[Am I the a**hole] for refusing to buy my fiancé a gaming laptop for a few grand after he told me to find a real job?” the post has received more than 14,500 upvotes and 1,000 comments in the last seven hours.
“A month after moving in, he quit his job saying how much he hated it and that he’s going to try and do Twitch streaming for a living,” OP began. “I am in [the] financial position to support us both but it felt off.”
Explaining that she runs an online business that allows her to “live rather comfortably,” the original poster said she was initially supportive of her fiancé’s career change.
But after several months of recreational gaming with no progress towards establishing a Twitch channel, it became painfully clear that any notion of making a living with video games would never come to fruition.
“Nothing happened with his Twitch channel,” OP wrote. “I’ve had conversations with him suggesting he finds work but he keeps telling me that I’m unsupportive.”
Despite his unemployed status and proclivity to play video games for fun, the original poster also said her fiancé frequently criticizes her work—even when he’s looking for handouts.
“He wanted us to buy a bigger house together but I said that I’m fine with my current one and that since he doesn’t have a job, I don’t want to get [a] mortgaged and be left with paying everything,” OP wrote. “He told me that if I found a real job maybe I wouldn’t have financial problems.
“Now, he’s been hinting at needing [a] new gaming laptop which costs a few grand and I’ve been ignoring it so he asked outright for me to buy it for his birthday,” OP continued. “I told him…that my fake job doesn’t cover new laptops and he got really pissed…telling me I’m selfish and ruining his career.”
Once viewed as time wasters for distracted teenagers, video games are a pillar of the modern digital landscape, as well as a viable career path.
Currently, data collected by Statista shows more than 3 billion active video game players across the world, marking an impressive billion-player jump from 2015.
Arguably even more impressive, however, is the number of people who watch others play video games.
Unlike previous gaming eras, in which individual conquest reigned supreme and being the best player in your immediate friend group was top priority, recent years have brought about a new phenomenon.
Twitch, an Amazon-owned live streaming platform launched in 2011, currently boasts more than 30 million daily users, according to business and tech website EarthWeb.
Of those 30 million users, Twitch itself reports that just 2 million are active broadcasters, streaming gameplay footage while building massive fanbases—and bank accounts—in the process.
Earlier this year, Dot Esports published its list of the top-ten highest paid Twitch streamers in the world.
None of the ten make less than $2 million per year.
Sped up by the global pandemic and billions of people spending more time consuming online content than ever before, broadcasting gameplay on Twitch or other streaming platforms has become a legitimate career path for gamers.
But the key to making a career out of streaming video games is just that: streaming video games.
Vadym Petrochenko/iStock / Getty Images Plus
In her viral Reddit post, the original poster said that despite her fiancé’s insistence on becoming a well paid streamer, he never put the wheels in motion, opting instead to “game for pleasure.”
Throughout the post’s comment section, Redditors slammed the original poster’s fiancé for failing to follow through, and for demanding OP purchase him an expensive gaming computer, despite his claims that her online business is illegitimate.
“I was wondering what he brings to the relationship other than entitlement and laziness,” Redditor u/Craftyallthetime quipped, in a comment which has received more than 9,000 upvotes.
“[Not the a**hole],” they continued. “He’s taking advantage of you.”
Redditor u/Holmes221bBSt, whose comment has received more than 7,500 upvotes, offered a simple assessment of the original poster’s relationship.
“He saw you make money with your own business & decided you can be his sugar momma,” they wrote. “You have a real job, he has NO job…He’ll be 40 soon. HE needs a real job, not you.”
“Somehow running an online business that provides for the both of them isn’t a real job, but starting a gaming career when you’re pushing forty is totally viable,” Redditor u/bumjiggy chimed in, receiving more than 5,000 upvotes.
Newsweek reached out to u/Content_Profession63 for comment.
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