If you love gaming, could you turn your hobby into cold, hard cash?

Twitch streamer KittyPlays, whose real name is Kristen Valnicek, is doing just that. She shared her story and advice for making money on this week's episode of The Breakdown.

Valnicek was 21 and studying biomedical science when she found herself spending a lot of time researching Twitch.

"I realized when I was using my study breaks to study for streaming I was probably not on the right path and needed to make the switch," she said.

So she dropped her classes, moved back home and started playing games in her parents' basement. Thanks to her positivity on the platform, as well as her skills, she soon attracted followers and after just a year, she was the most-followed female streamer.

"My community ballooned," she said.

And with followers came earnings. 

So how does she make money through gaming?

"There's lots of different ways to earn revenue on Twitch, and that amount is changing all the time," she said.

First, you can earn on ads. "Every thousand views [of an ad], you get a certain amount of money toward your channel," she said.

Then there are subscriptions, "which is a $4.99, $9.99 or $24.99 amount per month that people will pay to have perks that the streamer designs for them," she said.

Followers can also donate sums of money directly to gamers. The first time Valnicek received a giant donation — nearly $7,000 — from a follower, "I actually blacked out," she said.

There are also sponsored streams or sponsored social media posts — and that's just the beginning.

For more on how KittyPlays earns money through gaming, watch The Breakdown video above.

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