I suggest you try to have a frank conversation with any video gamer who makes their living off of twitch and/or YT not named Ninja or Imaqtpie (and even maybe these two. These folks love video games, but grow to dislike the game they play for money.

It’s not as easy as it sounds to turn a hobby into a business and have it still be fun. The only real time that happens is if the hobby is building businesses (it happens).

Games are made to keep you occupied, to keep you engaged to give you a sense of accomplishment without any real accomplishment. It's a bit of a hack if you ask me. What really makes you feel accomplishment? What aspect in those games? What do you enjoy? I get that a twitch channel has entertainment value and can be work but in that sense (a source of income). But expecting to be paid for pure, passive entertainment is pretty unrealistic.

Still, there must be a component of your work that you like. If not, there must be some work out there that has such an element? I can not believe there are humans that really only want to sit on a couch with a controller playing a game. I think the situation is pretty troubling in that case. In that case you are only consuming, that has never worked. Same goes for eating.

This is one way to do it, but as others point out, that's potentially going to lead to you being burned out on your work and your hobby, and where does that leave you?

My way is very simple - I have a job that gives me moments I enjoy (adrenaline rush and connection with broad and interesting groups of people), but I would never do it on the weekend - I find it far too mentally draining. On the weekend I do things that are completely different. Whether they be sports, video games, social events or whatever, by being diverse in my work-hobby mix, I make sure that I don't burn out on just one thing.

This does not make me one of the cool kids at programming conferences, does not land me a spot on the olympic team, does not get me 10,000 viewers on Twitch and does not make me a member of the social elite, but it does make me happy, so I guess it's working out.

My observation:

Have you ever been convinced to re-read a horrible book you were forced to read in school, and discover that it's /brilliant/?

Have you ever been forced to re-read one of your favorite books on a strict deadline, and discover that it's a slog?

I've been paid for doing my hobby a couple times, and it quickly becomes work; I don't even enjoy those hobbies anymore.

My 2 cents:

Anything, when forced, is less enjoyable than when you're doing it just for enjoyment.

Don't kill a hobby by turning it into work.

Find tasks, types of work, etc. that you enjoy, and find a job that lets you do those things. It's still work, but most of the time you don't really notice it, and you don't kill a fun hobby.

My hobby says, “implement a solution to control HVAC in a recreational vehicle using a Raspberry Pi.” I work on it when I feel like it, and if I get bored with it I repurpose the Pi for something else.

My job says I have to implement a CSV parser for a customer’s unique idea of “CSV”, and by the end of the week whether I find it interesting or not.

(Well, not my job, thank $DEITY. But for many.)

So.. Have you ever looked for jobs in home automation or contacted your hvac producer?

I currently work on embedded industrial control systems, I get enough of a fix there. :-)

The HVAC application is so niche that it could only be a hobby project. Basically, I don't want to dogs to fry in the RV in the summer. Some temp sensors, a few relays, and the GPIO pins on the Pi, and when it gets too hot it can kick on the generator and turn the A/C on for happy dogs. While I'm there, I might as well program in the algorithm I do in my head to tell the wife whether or not she needs the generator to make supper. "Lessee, if we've got two hours of daylight for solar that is currently putting out 221W, and the battery is at 74%, using a 1200W griddle...". Let the Pi do that math, and turn the generator on or not.

I think what makes a hobby a hobby is the lack of obligation... at least compared to work.

I think a hobby is intrinsically motivating and work can be as well.