How can I make money at 14 with games?
Gearing up: Playing (E-sports)
“Wow, you have a beautiful hands.” My mom asked during her monthly soak through my hair after playing Mario Kart on Youtube, a lifelong game addict. “Do you want a job?”
I spent my first week of 14 playing “web games” — a colorful tutorial for choosing a keyboard and console set-up to download a game and link to it. The simulator was quite intense at first, so I could assume that I would be doing productive games.
From night to morning, I’d play for about 12 hours straight: Elite 2: Revolutionary Order, Camp’s Mirror — I had friends invite me to join their games, because I was reliable and skittish at first. Without a sweatband of waterproof cloth to touch, my eyes still puffed up with tears. After my first three hours of playing, I sat down at my desk and told myself to take a nap because my toddler son was picking a fight.
By the time I was supposed to watch my son, the next thing I remember was waking up, covered in sleep. Three days later, I was exhausted. I realized that my internet-sickness was a set-in.
My mom has had internet disease since my day at kindergarten: “Only the best go out to work!” My mom would say. “Wake up early for classes.” We’d have those long, sleepless nights, and she’d cry in my stomach. I’m not exaggerating — the sad thing is that I, at 14, still missed out on much of life. My mom hardly ever played the carpool line. I watched her trying to crush the piano with her eyes so the teacher wouldn’t notice.
I played my first “programming game” and found myself laughing so hard at my friend’s rap. It was fun, and it gave me a little dopamine boost. My eyes still puffed up with tears when I had my first dinner out. One of my friends invited me to her birthday party. I ran and came right home. I loved partying, so I played every opportunity that came my way.
On July 20, I became a teen — I had one week to decide how I was going to make money. Whether I wanted to become a YouTube creator, become a fashion model, or be a Microsoft engineer didn’t matter, because I didn’t want to own anything.
Instead, my company partnered with a food service and asked me to sweep the floors of their stores for ten hours a week. I had never worked in a food service before — could I make my waitressing experience better?
I took the job in hopes of making some extra money and helping my mom. The cleaning jobs were easy, and it helped my mom pay for all her bills. Each night, I climbed up in bed, played a game on my phone, and grabbed my throw pillows and put them on top of the kids’ beds.
The company told me it was hiring teenagers with autism for the job, so I thought to myself, I will fit in. The hours were busy, but the company knew exactly what it was looking for — someone who could work on the floor in front of customers.
Every night, no matter where, my mom greeted me with a lengthy gratitude hug, a sincere smile, and a warm hug. To this day, I can only imagine the joy and happiness she felt when she called out, “Enjoy yourself” to me.
My parents bought me a Nintendo Switch and we bought a tea set. I only used the Switch only once, and my mom bought me a puppy — she’s got a strong bond with furry animals, and she took care of my needs.
A few days later, I heard my boyfriend had been cut off from work. From then on, I avoided “Joe” and started playing more “web games.”
I never really lived off of the money my company would send me. I started to eat food I didn’t need, and I learned not to run my bedroom like I was eighteen again. I started playing more “programming games” because my friend suggested it. My mom began to trust me as I cleaned the kitchen and started to be more hospitable towards people who slept on the floor. I stopped crying, made more friends, and I become more empathetic.
Now I think of working at the restaurant again and I understand why my boss treated me poorly. I can’t read their mind, so I didn’t care about how they would treat me. I simply tried to do my best.
I’m not good at any of these kinds of jobs — I don’t want
