Destiny

A bit of misinformation has been spread recently, and just wanted to clear some things up concerning my contract with own3d.

The penalty for leaving was simply paying 60% of the average revenue earned for each of the months that you had remaining on the contract you signed. Nothing was said about “all payments owed to you will be void etc..”

I’m not even sure why I bother with contracts in this industry anymore, to be honest.

This is the contract I signed in its entirety. I have only removed my personal information (address/phone number) for the safety of my family – Own3d.tv contract with Destiny.

Hi. My name is Destiny, and I am one of the most prolific streamers in the world at the moment. I stream League of Legends, primarily, and I used to stream Starcraft 2.

In December of 2011, I was approached by own3d.tv to switch over from twitch.tv. I wrote a relatively detailed article explaining that my decision was primarily motivated by financial reasons. Basically, own3d.tv promised me more money for advertising plus a cash incentive for signing up with them. According to the contract, own3d.tv would pay “within 30 (thirty) days of receipt of revenues from advertising.” I was also promised “60% of all Premium Subscription” revenue, referring to the people that subscribed to me via the $5/month system on own3d.

Let’s look at a few different things that I was promised as part of my contract:

Signing Bonus

Upon signing up with own3d.tv, they agreed to pay me a cash incentive bonus for signing up with their service. According to the contract, “50% upfront payments for the first month” was to be paid out. I also had a smaller amount ($5,000) to be used for an event of my choice, such as hosting a tournament or showmatch series, that own3d.tv would put up for me. In requesting whether or not the cash incentive would be paid out, I contacted Oleg (COO of own3d.tv) multiple times [1] [2]. After the first three times, he said that it would be wired to me next week, back in April. I inquired again about it and received no response, then was assured sometime in May that I’d be receiving it within the week. Finally, on May 25th, Oleg assured me that the signing bonus was wired to me. Of course, later I’d find out it was only 1/3rd of what I was owed, and that I’d be receiving it in 1/3rd “chunks” over the next few months. So after 7 months of streaming with own3d, I was finally paid my cash incentive for signing up with them. Not the greatest, but at least I received all of it.

Event Bonus

I was given a certain dollar amount “to be managed by own3D.tv to run events for the Publisher.” As time went on with own3d.tv, my paychecks gradually came in later and later. They were incredibly unreliable with paying me, and I was incredibly uncomfortable trying to manage an event with them being responsible for paying anything out. I wasn’t willing to risk my name and reputation with them in regards to paying out prizes or payments. As a compromise, I inquired about using my event budget to schedule a trip to Poland to stay at the Ministry of Win with my family. Although this wasn’t in the contract, Oleg assured me it would be okay via Skype on June 12th. At this time, I told Ministry of Win I would be coming to visit them and entered contract negotiations with them for my stay. I messaged Oleg later asking how I would go about booking the plane tickets, but (as usual) received no response. Eventually I received an e-mail from someone working with own3d.tv that it would be impossible to use it unless I signed another contract with them to “unlock” the money. Since they were incredibly shaky with payments (among other things) I imagine they were worried that I would be switching streaming platforms upon the expiration of my contract. That’s just conjecture, of course. Finally, Oleg told me on Skype that it would be impossible to use said funds for traveling.

As of January 17th, I haven’t been able to use this event money for anything, and I assume that I’ll never have the opportunity to.

If you’re into PC gaming, it seems like everyone these days has a custom built rig. Even the suggestion that you purchase a pre-built box can cause people to ridicule you in the gaming world.

Building a PC today is actually an incredibly simple process. The parts fit together almost like lego pieces (even easier, in some instances; some of those larger-box lego instructions were incredibly confusing!) and everything comes with incredibly detailed instruction manuals. That being said, there are still a lot of people who are hesitant and squeamish about building their own. What if you bend one of the CPU pins? What if you break a PCI slot trying to install a graphics card? etc…etc.. While anyone can learn to build a PC, it’s understandable that some are a bit nervous when it comes to putting one together.

Overclocking is another thing that people are a bit shy of. While a bit more complicated, this is something else that people will struggle with due to the risks you run of destroying a PC part. Overclocking does, however, offer undeniable benefits. It’s essentially free additional performance out of parts you already purchased. And then there’s the whole idea of delidding a CPU…

Who am I? Why am I qualified to build your PC?

I’m one of the first individuals to ever make a living off of live-streaming PC games on the internet. I first started streaming on an E-6750 box I put together several years ago.

I’ve built and owned my own PCs that I use every day to stream for the past 2 years. I’ve also got a great interest in technology and I keep up with the current PC builds and parts. I’ve put together dozens of systems for different people, from pro gamers to college students looking for a cheap rig for school.

Who should use this service?

Honestly, no one! There are a great number of amazing online resources you can use to learn how to put together a PC. There are also a number of websites available online to consult when it comes to picking out parts as well.

Sometimes, gathering and synthesizing all of this information can be daunting. If you’re someone who’s interested in having a custom-built PC, but you’re too afraid or don’t want to dedicate the necessary time to do it yourself, I can (for a small charge) put it together and overclock it for you.

What about other third party services that offer customized, pre-built PCs?

I wrote an article describing some of the problems with those sites, and I recommend not using them.

What is included in my service?

If you’re interested in having me put together a PC for you but you’re not sure where to start, I will help you pick out the parts you’re interested in (based on what your needs are), have you ship the parts to my house, assemble and overclock your system (will require some time since I need to stress the OC for stability), then ship the completed build to your house. I’ll stream the entire construction and overclocking process. I’ll also sign or autograph anything you specify, if you’re a fan of me for my streaming/gaming achievements.

Is there a warranty? What if something is destroyed or breaks?

If I break anything or destroy your system, I’ll cover any and all associated charges. I’ll also provide tech support via e-mail or Skype if you have problems after the computer’s been shipped to your house. If a part malfunctions after it’s been shipped and there is a hardware problem, I can assist you with the RMA process if you need help.

How much does this cost?

15% of the price of all of the parts (pre-tax) with you covering the shipping to/from my house.

My contact information:

If this is something you’re interested in, e-mail me at [email protected] with “custom PC” somewhere in the subject and I’ll respond back to you so we can get started! Please include the following information for the fastest response:

1) What is your budget? How much are you able to spend, and how much would you prefer to spend?

2) What exactly are you going to need your computer for? 3D modeling? Gaming? What kind of games?

Processor: I7-2600k (Overclocked to 4.4GHz)

Heat sink: Noctua NH-D14

Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Professional Gen3

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series (2x4GB)

Storage: Crucial M4 CT128M4

GPU: MSI N580GTx Lightning

Case: Cooler Master HAF X Blue Edition RC-942-KKN3

PSU: Corsair AX1200

Monitor: 2x ViewSonic VP2365wb

Headphones: Sennheiser 598 HD

Keyboard: TTEsports Keyboard

Mouse: The Nascita, from Feenix Collections

Mousepad: The Dimora, from Feenix Collections

Webcam/Microphone: Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910

Comments on the build –

Since I do a lot of multi-tasking (streaming + games) and I require a lot of processing power (the encoding process for streaming requires tons of processing power), I figured the 2600k was the best way to go. The ability to overclock it absurdly high (I was stable at 4.8 until my case was severely fucked up in all of the airplane flying, now I’m at 4.4) and the optional hyperthreading seemed like it was a great chip for streaming. The heat sink is a BEAST, a lot of people have commented that it’s the de facto best air heat sink on the market. Since I planned to do quite a bit of overclocking, this was a must.

I splurged a bit on the GPU, I’m not sure why. I think the 560ti was the best buy on the market in terms of price/dollar, but the 580 means I can max out pretty much any game on at the moment (at least at 1920×1080). The 660ti might be a better buy now, but I’d have to go research again.

SSD’s are amazing, the loading and boot times are phenomenal. I don’t know if I’d say you really “need” one, but once you have one, it’s hard to go back to a platter-based drive. Haven’t had a bit of trouble with this SSD.

This motherboard featured the newer Z68 chipset and seemed to have a pretty beefy heatsink on it, leaving me with more room for overclocking. I’m not partial to any brands at the moment even though I generally stick with ASUS, but I tried this and I haven’t had too much trouble with it. It’s nice for newbies who aren’t too familiar with overclocking because it has “auto-overclocking” features in the BIOS that have presets for different chips. I’m not too sure how I feel about these, though, as the presets seems to have the voltage up pretty damn high on some settings.

For RAM, I couldn’t care less. RAM is RAM, meh. 8GB seems fine, even given all that I do. I’ve never used more than 6GB of RAM at any point in time. I think anymore is overkill.

My PSU is HARDCORE OVERKILL, I bought this on mistake a while ago. I could easily get by with 700W or less in this current build.

I really recommend these Cooler Master cases, these things are beasts when it comes to cooling and durability. My Cooler Master survived 6 international flights of being thrown around on airplanes and it’s still in 1 piece.

I’d always wanted to try IPS panels. I have two. They’re pretty, and I like the viewing angle on both of them, though I’m not sure if the extra cost (over $300 per monitor) can be justified over a normal TN panel.

The keyboard sucks balls. I would never, ever, ever recommend black switches on a mechanicl board. Ever. Just get normal dome switches. There’s literally no other point.

The mouse and mousepad are from Feenix. The Mouse is pretty nice, though it’s a bit large compared to some gaming mice. You can adjust the DPI on the fly from 5 different settings using buttons on the mouse. It uses the Avago 9500 sensor, which adds a bit of positive acceleration to your movements, but I don’t really notice it and haven’t had any trouble with it.

The Logitech Cam I have the moment is pretty much the standard at the moment. I think pretty much everyone uses this guy. No complaints here in regards to the webcam or the microphone on it.

January « 2013 « Destiny

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Own3d Contract

Own3d.tv – a beginner’s guide to being an asshole