From nine to five, seven days a week, Robert Schill plays video games sitting on a brown couch in central Florida. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people watch him. His web channel has more than 35 million views in a year. And Schill gets paid for it.

He's a shift worker, a cog in a brave and strange economy that rewards a Big Brother-like existence combined with entrepreneurial drive.

Schill isn't alone in this venture, not even in his own house. When the 26-year-old ends his shift, he unplugs his game controller and his roommate, Adam Young, 29, sinks into the couch and plays until 1 a.m. Then a third roommate, Brett Borden, 26, enters for his eight-hour shift.

They're the stars of StreamerHouse. They broadcast on Twitch.tv, an online network that attracts tens of millions of visitors, most of whom watch recordings of other people playing video games.

StreamerHouse is set in a 1920s Mediterranean-revival home rigged with 20 cameras and at least 15 computer screens. It's part reality TV, part talk radio, and part performance art.

The trio plays, chats with fans, and narrates their daily lives via an expensive microphone setup. They make money from a cut of Twitch advertising, subscriptions, video game sales, and fan donations.

In October, a Middle Eastern admirer donated $6,000 to StreamerHouse.

"Game content production"— essentially, playing video games—is now a viable career.