Post by hechelion in I quit my corporate job to make games. Was this a mistake ?

Viewing post in I quit my corporate job to make games. Was this a mistake ?

Let me see if I understand you.

- This person needs to ask if they're making a mistake, which indicates they don't know what they're getting into.

- This person needs to ask why their game has so few downloads. This indicates they haven't studied the market or read the hundreds of post-mortem analyses that discuss the risks of creating video games.

- This person is giving up a job with a secure salary to pursue a dream, without knowing the risks or the reality of the field they want to enter?

And you're telling me you don't consider that a bad decision?

And by the way, I'm not talking about ALL startups or ALL entrepreneurs; I'm talking about this specific case and based on what they've asked.

EDIT:

And by the way, what I meant by mistake was quitting their current job, that is, jumping headfirst into making a living creating video games without a safety net. I made it very clear in my first comment that they should NOT quit their job, but create their video game in their spare time. If their game is successful, then he should quit their current job, NOT before. That's what I meant by the mistake, and that's the question they posed in the title.

That has nothing to do with innovation; it has to do with using their head when venturing into a market that is new to them.

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Melinda24242 days ago(+1)

Reading what he wrote, I understand the situation he was in. I see it every day: people who put their dreams aside to choose a job they don't like. To begin with, that was the first mistake.

Life is more than just making money. It's true that you can't live without money, but a life focused solely on making money is a meaningless life.

This man is not only starting a business, he is going through a process of catharsis. What I see in him are years of accumulated frustration that have exploded.

And if you put out that fire, he will not only lose his job, he will lose his direction completely.

Sometimes people build something and then an external event comes along and destroys what they've done, but that's not a total loss; it's experience that can be used to continue.

In business, the one who succeeds is not the one with the most money, perhaps not even the one who does things best, but the one who perseveres the most, the one who gets up the most after falling down.

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hechelion2 days ago(+1)

I can't agree with what you're saying. A business is successful if it generates profits at a lower cost, period.

I agree that on a personal level, it's not the same. You can consider yourself successful without necessarily generating profits, and I agree that you should pursue your happiness, which isn't the same as just making money.

But in my experience, if someone has to ask questions, it's because they're not clear about what they want. You talk about catharsis, but making a decision like the one he's proposing has consequences, consequences that I think he doesn't fully understand. He's chasing an idealized dream, and if that dream doesn't come true (which is most likely), it turns into a nightmare full of frustrations where he ends up questioning himself. At that point, there's no catharsis, no happiness, no success, but rather depression. And that risk is hidden from him behind pretty words like being persevering.

If he wants to take the risk, it's his life, let him do it, I wish him the best, but he should do it fully aware of the risks and the reality. If he's clear about what he wants and understands the risks, then, normally, those people don't question whether they're making a mistake, because they know what they want and what they're aiming for. That's the difference.

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Viewing post in I quit my corporate job to make games. Was this a mistake ?