A Place for Streamers

[draemn]

Nice, congrats! I say it's never too early to think about the business side of things. Not saying you need to promote the crap out of it, but at the very least you could just have a button/link on your twitch page where people can donate/tip if they want to and it won't be invasive. I will say, I'm not very good at the promoting thing, I hate trying to go find places to self promote without coming off as a spammer.

I just hit a few milestones myself recently. I now have 2 patreons ($4) and just got accepted for youtube partnership (i.e. ad revenue)

 

[Soultribunal]

Nice, congrats! I say it's never too early to think about the business side of things. Not saying you need to promote the crap out of it, but at the very least you could just have a button/link on your twitch page where people can donate/tip if they want to and it won't be invasive. I will say, I'm not very good at the promoting thing, I hate trying to go find places to self promote without coming off as a spammer.

I just hit a few milestones myself recently. I now have 2 patreons ($4) and just got accepted for youtube partnership (i.e. ad revenue)

Gratz on hitting that partnership Level and getting 2 Patreons, I think that might be something I look at doing in the near future, but currently I want to get my Twitch Page looking better, and more content, clips, etc.

Once that is done I will worry about the business side of things. I am more interested in promoting the game I love, helping new players, and just having fun

Feel free to drop me a follow though. I only have 21 to go for Affiliate!

-ST

 

[CMetaphor]

I'm still waiting on the fence to start streaming. Ive got all the hardware already, webcams, etc... But I can't seem to make myself take the leap. Too shy I guess. Any advice from you guys?

 

[Dwayne]

I'm still waiting on the fence to start streaming. Ive got all the hardware already, webcams, etc... But I can't seem to make myself take the leap. Too shy I guess. Any advice from you guys?

I don't stream, but I watch sometimes. My advice is to do it for yourself. Don't worry about drawing an audience at all. You might not enjoy the process, but if you are worried about what other people think or say, well, it would probably become less enjoyment and more job.

I find the most engaging streamers are the one who are not talking constantly, but are making comments on what they are doing in the game. Why they are doing something, to what purpose, explaining their reasoning for things, etc. I watch to get tips, hints, tricks, and to understand what I am doing wrong, or right.

One other bit of advice. Try to set and maintain a schedule. If you do enjoy it, and if you build a following, you and your followers will appreciate knowing when you are going to be streaming. Nothing wrong with doing more, but setting a schedule gives you a purpose and gives followers a time to expect you on.

Good luck, and perhaps I will see you on Twitch some day.

 

[Soultribunal]

I'm still waiting on the fence to start streaming. Ive got all the hardware already, webcams, etc... But I can't seem to make myself take the leap. Too shy I guess. Any advice from you guys?

I'm gonna just copy Paste the advice I gave you earlier in this thread.

"
I'll give you a little advice that will hopefully help CM.
The first thing you do before you start going live, is record yourself (Video and Audio, or just Audio) to get the lighting and Mic Positioning correct, and to make sure there are no issues with clarity of Audio (which I encountered, and resulted in me getting a new Headphone Mic Setup).
The next is you have to talk like you are chatting with your best friend, loved one, family member etc.
Don't look at how many viewers or lack thereof at the beginning. That is not important. You need to be comfortable first, so make sure whatever game, or such you are interested in streaming is something you have a passion for. Get someone to help critique you as well.

I took theater for years, and I was pretty good at it. But still I had friends and family view what I was doing so that I way I found my 'voice' in doing what I was doing. Don't be afraid of being critiqued. IF you watch a lot of streamers, many of them 'changed' their personalities over the time that they started till now because they adapted their persona to something that worked best.

Also, don't assume your gonna get rich, or have 10's of thousands of followers / subscribers. If you put that pressure on yourself, you'll stress too much recording, and trust me, it will show.
Its taken me a month to get 10 followers, and subscribers.
But they are trickling in.

You need to 'tweet' and use all other forms of social media constantly in order to help build your presence.
Keep a rigid schedule at first too, make sure people know when and where they can watch you (Twitch makes this easy as it has a built in calendar).
Also make sure you have your channel manager open on a separate screen from your game so you can interact with your watchers and chat as required.

That's about all I can think of for now.

For myself, because I am far from rich, I still have some equipment to add including a Light Because the lighting where I stream is not as good.
But that has to wait till I save some $$$.

Feel free to drop me a line if you have questions, and come take a look at my content. It might give you some inspiration as to finding your own 'online' identity.

I came from having some forms of social anxiety, to doing this. So anyone can do it. You just need to believe.

-ST"

 

[Soultribunal]

I don't stream, but I watch sometimes. My advice is to do it for yourself. Don't worry about drawing an audience at all. You might not enjoy the process, but if you are worried about what other people think or say, well, it would probably become less enjoyment and more job.

I find the most engaging streamers are the one who are not talking constantly, but are making comments on what they are doing in the game. Why they are doing something, to what purpose, explaining their reasoning for things, etc. I watch to get tips, hints, tricks, and to understand what I am doing wrong, or right.

One other bit of advice. Try to set and maintain a schedule. If you do enjoy it, and if you build a following, you and your followers will appreciate knowing when you are going to be streaming. Nothing wrong with doing more, but setting a schedule gives you a purpose and gives followers a time to expect you on.

Good luck, and perhaps I will see you on Twitch some day.

Good advice. I am not doing it for myself per se (other than watching my own gameplay at times and figuring out how to adjust my playstyle a bit). The reason I started was to teach players and newbies to the game, the ins and outs and mechanics. As well as hopefully providing good enough gameplay as well.

As well, you are correct in what you say about talking, though I do usually have a running dialog going while I play to try and assist people to understand what it is I am doing, or my team mates are doing, or something along those lines.

Schedule is very important, I try and make mine as robust as I possibly can, though it is a hobby so life will get in the way and I adjust.
I also try and be interactive. Its gotten good enough that Wednesdays (or some Thursdays) are my 'Fraggin' with Friends' edition of the game, where we are all on Comms and just out to have a good time.
I now play with a YouTuber from Germany, and a Twitcher from New Zealand. Its actually really cool to meet and play with other streamers and get their advice.

One thing I will say too that is important, is support the small guys doing the same thing as you are. Find other streamers, watch and Follow them too. Sometimes they will follow back. Support them, get advice. The worst thing to do is isolate yourself from everyone else or think that you are better. Working as a community is a way better way of getting good interactions with members and add more support to your own streams.

This was me hungover streaming on a Monday:

 

[draemn]

I'm still waiting on the fence to start streaming. Ive got all the hardware already, webcams, etc... But I can't seem to make myself take the leap. Too shy I guess. Any advice from you guys?

Just set up your OBS, and hit stream. Nobody will watch you. At the beginning chances are 0 that someone will randomly watch your channel. You can also practice by talking out loud to yourself when you're playing but not streaming.