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Wrathy wrote:
Karl wrote:You're sponsored now? Does that mean you're, like, going pro? (Is it possible to make a living playing TCG?)

sadly not, at this stage in my career the sponsorship is more of a status thing than something which provides tangible benefits for me. A new team being sponsored at all is pretty good and our roster is one of the strongest in the UK, so we have a lot of potential to grow with it which is the real intention.

Even at the highest level I don't think it's a good life playing TCG. A lot of them have to have content creation (youtube/twitch/articles) or sell cards/run Leagues to stay afloat, both of which aren't really for me right now. I am sort of thinking about streaming in a few months but it's a lot of commitment and effort to do to the standards I would expect... and I also hate playing the TCG Online game, which is a big hurdle.

Ah, it's a shame there's not a more direct way to go full-time as it sounds like you're well on your way to being good enough. It's still pretty cool though, it's great you've been recognised like that. Good luck to you and your team!

You should drop a post on here somewhere if you start streaming, I'm sure people would check it out!

Another planner thing from Hobonichi. This one is called the "Weeks" and I got the denim cover one. The other Hobonichi one I posted previously has a page per day but this one has seven days on one page and a blank page on the opposite side for notes and stuff, also has 60-odd blank pages at the back. This one is basically just going to be used for college stuff.

Came with a Japanese subway/railway line map and a transparent pocked that you can stick in the front or back cover that fits a few bank cards or whatever.

Mafro wrote:college stuff

Is it web app dev you're studying at college Maf? You mentioned React a while ago.

For some reason maff strikes me as the up and coming trendy app maker type, basically just do the studies and look expensive in meetings and you're rolling lol.

I pleaded and picked up a Mimikyu from Tesco's today

50% adorbz 50% dread

Green Gecko wrote:I pleaded and picked up a Mimikyu from Tesco's today

50% adorbz 50% dread

Mimikyu buddies!

Karl wrote:
Mafro wrote:college stuff

Is it web app dev you're studying at college Maf? You mentioned React a while ago.

Yeah web development and mobile application development.

Woot woot! It's the exact same one as well by Wicked Cool Toys. I wanted it because it's seamed in the right places where it's more difficult like the flaps/nubbins at he bottom and only one around the base. The softness of plush and sewing patterns seem to vary a lot with pokemon plushies so its hit or miss whether you get a well shaped one.

Cuddly in many different ways or a good buddy on grim winter days. He is here right now convincing me posting on GRcade at 10 to midnight is the correct thing to do rather than billing my client for the money I need to live. Good job little dude :wub:

Karl wrote:
Wrathy wrote:
Karl wrote:You're sponsored now? Does that mean you're, like, going pro? (Is it possible to make a living playing TCG?)

sadly not, at this stage in my career the sponsorship is more of a status thing than something which provides tangible benefits for me. A new team being sponsored at all is pretty good and our roster is one of the strongest in the UK, so we have a lot of potential to grow with it which is the real intention.

Even at the highest level I don't think it's a good life playing TCG. A lot of them have to have content creation (youtube/twitch/articles) or sell cards/run Leagues to stay afloat, both of which aren't really for me right now. I am sort of thinking about streaming in a few months but it's a lot of commitment and effort to do to the standards I would expect... and I also hate playing the TCG Online game, which is a big hurdle.

Ah, it's a shame there's not a more direct way to go full-time as it sounds like you're well on your way to being good enough. It's still pretty cool though, it's great you've been recognised like that. Good luck to you and your team!

You should drop a post on here somewhere if you start streaming, I'm sure people would check it out!

Yeah some people do OK with the prize money (first at a large tournament = $5k) but the odds of getting that income is astronomically small and I don't see it ever being sufficient to cover costs because there simply aren't that many events paying that much money, even before you consider how difficult it is in a game with so many elements of luck and variation to consistently play at that level.

I will do though! I've been told by at least two dozen people on twitter and twitch that they'd enjoy it, so that definitely counts for something. I'd just be swearing and playing badly - apparently there's a market for that

Wrathy wrote:I'd just be swearing and playing badly - apparently there's a market for that

AKA the Game Grumps business model

I went to get a top up voucher and I noticed they were selling phones for £4.99 when you buy a £10 top-up

You even get a usb plug charger and hands free head phones! surprisingly the phone even has a App Store, Bluetooth, tourch and a 2mp camera, surely there is no profit in selling these at that price

Sure there is. It's made possible by new SOC (System On Chip) silicone which is basically everything you need to run a mobile phone on one microchip (such as bluetooth, a microwave radio, graphics controller, sound processor, logic unit, memory etc) for about 50p at the right scale. Then you just mould a lot of plastic around that, add a battery, low resolution LCD display, microphone, 1watt speaker and some microswitches and you're good to go.

A high end smarphone processor like a Qualcomm Snapdragom however costs around £85 for a low order of say a few thousand units. Obviously this is not a high end smartphone, it has more power in common with something like a GameBoy Color or a Calculator doing the least possible processing whilst still appearing tolerable to use and comparable to some other offerings for the consumer.

There is actually a huge market for low cost cellphones, and so manufacturing these at massive quantities enabled by the SOC and allowing assembly cost to go down, they are popular in places like China and India where nobody really cares who makes their phone because they know its made in the same place anyway. It's quite common to find people using devices that look exactly the same as smartphones or are even branded the same but are kind of fake because nobody gives a gooseberry fool, it's a phone that makes calls and runs WeChat.

The most expensive part of that phone is probably the battery.

Brands like Huwai and Xiaomi pay lower taxes, operational and distribution costs for local manufacture and literally just take less profit on shelf price because they can profit on volume instead whilst their products are as good or almost as good as something like an iPhone, a strange western brand that is popular because it's expensive and that's about it. Whatever, the more manufacturing owned by China for maximum Western $$$ the better until they suddenly start charging actual money, then we'll need real engineers and plants and stuff.

Burner phones now :lol:

Dodgy as strawberry float :lol:

Ad7 wrote:Burner phones now

Next update will be a home chemistry set.

Spends thousands at the church of Apple, yet he uses a pay as you go sim?!?

Karl wrote:
Green Gecko wrote:I pleaded and picked up a Mimikyu from Tesco's today

50% adorbz 50% dread

Mimikyu buddies!
(Sorry Ad7 for the bad photo)

Yoshimi wrote:Spends thousands at the church of Apple, yet he uses a pay as you go sim?!?

That's what I was thinking. Very strange.

Handset is probably stolen

Yoshimi wrote:Spends thousands at the church of Apple, yet he uses a pay as you go sim?!?

I hate random amounts of money being taken from my account, I have had various contacts over the years and they have always ran up massive bills, I would rather buy my phone outright and then just top it up every month, I don't use much data every month (under 3GB) because I'm with BT for my home broadband and they have Wi-Fi hotspots everywhere, even with Apple Music (and I love Apple) I would rather buy gift cards and top up my account rather than setting up a direct debit and giving them my card details, I do the same with Xbox Live, Netflix, Now TV etc

Dual wrote:
Yoshimi wrote:Spends thousands at the church of Apple, yet he uses a pay as you go sim?!?

That's what I was thinking. Very strange.

Handset is probably stolen

Ad7 wrote:Burner phones now

Why didn't you get a fixed contract? You know how much is coming out of your account each month.

I've just bought some silicone moulds, I bought some UV resin the other week and two moulds so I'm just expanding on that.

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