Leveling up the streaming game
Since achieving affiliate status on Twitch late last year as a videogame streamer, I’ve been continuing to stream about three times a week. I may not stream for work, but a lot of work still goes into this activity!
I’ve done a few things in 2021 so far to improve the quality of my stream – to make it look more professional, although I’m not a professional… It’s something fun to do and a source of pride and achievement during a time when not much else is happening.
Things I’ve done:
- I moved my desk so I would have a visually more neutral background for the stream (with the exception of a cat tree, since cat guest appearances are a win)
- I looked for some good DMCA free music to use in my stream; I aim to avoid any copyright issues. A lot of the available music is synthwave or lofi (or otherwise electronic), which I also like, but isn’t exactly “my thing”. But I finally found Slamhaus who has pretty cool alternative rock and jam playlists, and I like to use those now!
- I finished working on a new emote for my stream after finally unlocking another emote slot. I’m not at all a graphics expert, so it took a while for me to work on the emote that still clearly looks amateurish, but it’s mine and looks mine.
- I bought a set of sub/bit badges to use. These are badges that appear next to one’s name in chat if they have a subscription to the stream or have donated bits to the stream. (Bits are Twitch’s currency that you can buy and use in different ways to support a stream.) The appearance of the badges changes based on how long they have been subbed or how many bits they have donated. I chose a batch of cat images to choose from, so anyone who supports the stream can have a cute cat badge. Nyan nyan.
- I also purchased some quirky, cat-themed BRB, stream starting and ending screens, as well as frames. I love having some colourful, animated visual details to the stream that I genuinely enjoy looking at myself. (This is where I got them – the exact same set is no longer available)
- After doing the above, I re-did my stream’s description page (the text and topic banners) and icon to match the colours of the new cat-themed graphics.
- Figuring out other small fine-tuning things like boosting my microphone’s audio level on OBS (streaming platform)
As you may have noticed, I’ve now actually invested some money into my stream by buying visuals made by others. I used to think I’d be happy just using anything I made myself, but the experience of trying to make emotes was humbling and made me realize that if I really wanted to be pleased with my stream’s appearance, I’d have to rely at least a little bit on professionals (which I consider people who sell their work on etsy to be – at least more professional than me!). Now that it’s all done, I don’t regret the choice at all.
And to think, it all started when a friend linked me a page to a cute cat-themed stream overlay that made me wonder if there was anything more suitable to my tastes out there… I still ended up with a cat theme, but just… a quirkier style!
Of course, the most important thing I’ve done is still missing from the list of things I’ve done… Streaming. There are things you learn as you stream more, like what kinds of games work for you as a streamer and which ones don’t. You only learn by experimenting. For example, I’ve had some good experiences streaming The Lord of the Rings Online not only because it’s been a fun semi-roleplaying experience, but also since it has brought some new people to my stream who also stream or watch others stream this game. It seems to be a small, but tight-knit community, which doesn’t surprise me for its Tolkien affiliation. Other games have made me wonder if I should never stream them again, simply because they don’t fit my personality or what I want to do with my stream.
Another thing I still have to learn is how to respond to some chat messages. I don’t really get sexist/misogynist comments, but I’ve had some backseaters especially every time I play a new game. Backseating is when a viewer starts to constantly give the streamer advice on what they could or should do in the game. Usually streamers just want to do their own thing and learn things in their own pace. That’s why it’s really annoying to have someone constantly trying to influence what the streamer “should” do or know. I’ve (just now!) added “no backseating” into my chat rules, so now if people keep doing it I can simply ask them to review the rules…
Most of the time, however, I love interacting with chat. New people who come in tend to be friendly and interesting (when they share something about their lives). Friends I already know from other communities tend to burn each other and myself… lovingly. The good thing about streaming being so oversaturated right now is possibly that there are too many streams for trolls to harass. The number of awkward comments, mostly related to appearance, that I’ve received I can still count on one hand. For a female streamer, that’s very little.
Something that isn’t often mentioned is how watching streams is also a part of a streamer’s activities. Why? To make friends, support other streamers, stay informed about what everyone is doing, get inspiration for what you could be doing… Often, this isn’t consciously done research. To me, Twitch is my radio. As in, the same way as some turn on a radio or tv to have some background noise, I turn on Twitch streams. Sometimes I see something that makes me think “huh, I wonder what I’d do in that situation” or “hm, I wonder if I should have something like that in my stream”.
But in the end, streaming relies so much on individual personalities that no matter how you set up your stream, it’s you who needs to draw and keep people in, if you don’t wish to only talk to yourself (which is also perfectly fine, and something that some people do). It takes time, work and commitment.
Today, I’ll continue this rewarding learning experience with another stream!
