This article is adapted from an interview between KQEDâs Brian Watt and San Francisco high school student Jimmy Luong. It was produced as part of KQEDâs Youth Takeover Week.
Many high school students in the Bay Area have been learning online for over a year. Jimmy Luong, a junior at Lincoln High School in San Francisco, used the time indoors to revive a passion from his younger days. He’s making videos about video games on YouTube.
Luong, 17, spent several hours a day running a YouTube channel in 9th grade. At the time, the video game Fortnite was all the rage among young people. Luong said he had a niche that gave him a great idea for a YouTube series.
âSee, most people played Fortnite on their computers or consoles like the PS4 or Xbox, but I played on my phone,â he said during an interview with KQED’s Brian Watt. âI was a mobile gamer and I happened to be really good. So I had my own thing. I stood out.â
Fortnite, a Battle Royale game that swept the video game world beginning in the early 2010s, garnered more than 350 million registered players, as of May 2020, during the early months of the pandemic. In a typical game, about 100 people play in a video game âlobby,â and the last one standing wins.
Fortnite now has over 350 million registered players! In April, players spent over 3.2 billion hours in game.
Letâs keep the party going with our Party Royale Premiere LIVE on May 8 at 9PM ET featuring @DillonFrancis @steveaoki @deadmau5: https://t.co/H18c3UgBL1 pic.twitter.com/Cgt3r7LXQO
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) May 6, 2020
Luong found a group of followers: people who both wanted to be good at playing Fortnite on their phones and who wanted to excel at it.
âThe way I played the game, I liked to get as many kills as I could while also landing that victory,â he said. âI’ve tended to get about 20 to 30 kills out of one hundred. So that’s a big percentage of the lobby. That’s what most of my viewers came to watch.â
But staying up past midnight for over 11 months to edit and post YouTube videos proved to be too much time for one single hobby. So Luong decided to stop and focus on school, and off-screen hobbies.
Then the pandemic hit. Luong found himself again in front of screens â like most Americans in lockdown â this time for hours and hours at a time without alternative activities. He decided to give his video game channel another shot, but this time with a newer game in the âCall of Dutyâ franchise.
âThis time around, I don’t feel as… guilty of gaming for so long, because I do it anyways I’m not forced to go outside because, well âI can’t,â he said. âSince I’m already just gaming, I might as well just record it and edit and upload.â
According to a 2019 poll, YouTuber or vlogger was the most popular dream career among U.S. kids surveyed. Luong, whose channel reached 15,000 subscribers at its peak, aspired toward that career goal.
âThe reason I think my channel really blew up was because I was super dedicated. I wanted this to be my job,â he said.
Luong quickly realized he could easily monetize his channel. But to do that, he would need to provide bank information that he didnât have and that his parents refused to provide.
Lately, heâs considering other career options.
âI really want to get into movie acting. I think I like working in the entertainment industry. That’s why I like YouTube so much,â he said.
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