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Even More Posts About Streaming! #BloggersWhoStream

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[This post is part of a blogging collaboration by Later Levels and Hundstrasse called #BloggersWhoStream. Make sure to give them both credit and follow the hashtag on Twitter for more posts from the community!]

My efforts for #BloggersWhoStream are technically wrapping up today. However, writing about streaming is something that I have a deep passion for. I write posts about the subject on most Fridays and I’ll continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

If you enjoyed my work this week and wanted more, here’s a handy post that compiles links to a number of my previous efforts. Give it a look and I hope you enjoy!

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The Writer’s Advantage: Using Your Writing Experience to Stand Out in a Streaming World #BloggersWhoStream

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[This post is part of a blogging collaboration by Later Levels and Hundstrasse called #BloggersWhoStream. Make sure to give them both credit and follow the hashtag on Twitter for more posts from the community!]

As a writer with ambitions of streaming, it’s easy to feel like you’re at a disadvantage. In a number of ways, you probably are. While you’re comfortable communicating your words through a keyboard, streaming requires you to learn a number of new technologies that you likely have little-to-no experience with. Even scarier is the thought of communicating through a camera and microphone with your voice, facial expressions, and body language. Oh yeah, and everyone will be judging how you look. Are you ready for your closeup?

Millions of other streamers have already figured out their tech and have no qualms with pointing a camera at their face. Is it too late for you as a writer to follow suit? Absolutely not. Even if the tech gives you plenty of headaches and you may forever be camera shy, your writing experience gives you a distinct advantage over many others in the space. Let me explain.

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10 Years of In Third Person – Impact

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Every now and then, I think about this one hip-hop site I used to visit in the late 90s. It was run by one guy who updated his site almost daily with album reviews, news, editorials, and stories of his personal life. After a few years, he put up a post saying that he was pulling down the site. In an age long before social media, he essentially erased himself from the internet, never to be seen again.

He may have just been one person running a hip-hop site from his bedroom without an audience other than me, but he made an impact on my life through his work. He opened my ears to music that I wouldn’t have listened to otherwise. I cared about his well-being when he lost his job and was concerned when he got suspended for performing a rap song at a school talent show that was apparently a bit too heavy on the coarse language. It was one of the first times I felt a connection to someone through their online work.

Having done this now for a decade, it makes me wonder if I’ve had that kind of impact on those who read this.

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10 Years of In Third Person: Finding My Voice

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In high school, an essay I wrote changed my life. It was a four-page piece reflecting on my childhood and how much I’d grown and matured since. It was my first time writing for reasons beyond completing an assignment. Instead, it was an opportunity to dig deep into my soul and speak on my life in a way that I hadn’t before. A lot of emotion poured out of my heart and into that piece, as those thoughts and feelings were just bottled up this whole time. Doesn’t hurt that I got a perfect score on the assignment, but it only served as further validation that pouring my heart out in that manner was ultimately a good thing for me.

From that point forward, that emotional slant became the approach to everything I wrote. Besides being an effective vehicle for getting my thoughts and feelings across, I selfishly liked writing this way to clear my mind and soul of whatever was percolating in my brain. It’s therapeutic in a way.

In Third Person was no exception. Treating this as if it were my personal online journal about video games, I tried to write everything with that same passion and thoughtfulness, regardless of the content type or subject matter. It’s been an interesting experience trying to make this voice of mine work with this subject.

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London and Paris Recap and AMA Live Stream

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Before we get back into the swing of playing video games on stream, we have a lot of catching up to do! I take the opportunity to share with you a ton of photos, a plethora of stories, and answer any questions you may have about these two world-class cities!

Highlights

Shout-outs!

Make sure to never miss a stream by following my channel and turning your notifications on! You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram for stream updates and other cool stuff posted daily!

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Content Creation and Load Management

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One of the trendiest phrases in NBA jargon is “load management”. This is the practice of forcing healthy players to sit out regular season games as a means of keeping them fresh for the playoffs. Though it’s a touchy subject – as it devalues the NBA season while robbing paying fans of their opportunities to see the best players at times – we’re starting to see the potential benefits in this strategy. Case in point: Kawhi Leonard on the Toronto Raptors this past season.

Coming off the previous season where he only played 9 out of a possible 82 games due to injury, the Toronto Raptors put Kawhi on an aggressive load management program to keep him fresh. Instead of playing all 82 games, he played about 60, while skipping at least one of two games that were scheduled on consecutive days. Kawhi might have been visibly limping by the end of this past season, but he had enough gas in the tank to lead the Raptors to their first ever NBA championship. Though we’ll never know for certain, there’s a chance his body would have broken down prematurely had he played the season in full.

While I am not a superstar basketball player, applying the concept of load management to the way I manage In Third Person may not be a bad idea.

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What’s Happening with In Third Person While I’m Away on Vacation

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On June 9th, Steff and I will going on a trip to Europe! We’ll be enjoying the sights and sounds of London and Paris for a few weeks. Can’t wait to take a vacation!

That said, I can’t leave you alone! Tons of stuff scheduled to make it feel like I’m not gone at all!

  • The website will still have new content going up every day while I’m gone. Two major features will be rolling out: Arcade Week and GameCube Week!
  • As awesome as it would be to live stream from Europe, that’s not happening. Instead, I’ll be scheduling in a number of Twitch Premieres. The schedule is as follows:
    • June 10th, 7pm EST – LOST TAPES: The Show That Became Boss Rush
    • June 12th, 7pm EST – LOST TAPES: NES Classic Mix Featuring Castlevania I and II, Double Dragon II, and Ninja Gaiden!
    • June 14th, 7pm EST – In Third Person Comic Book Show Marathon
    • June 18th, 7pm EST – Board Game Talk Marathon
    • June 20th, 7pm EST – Boss Rush: All Game Show Marathon

      • Side note, if you haven’t already, make sure to follow twitch.tv/xdoublejump and twitch.tv/jsick06! Kris and Rachel over at Double Jump run a fantastic show and they stream multiple times a week. As for Jason, he’s probably going to stream something weird and retro that you haven’t seen before!
  • Social media updates will be…sporadic. I’ll be taking lots of pictures while I’m out there, and I should have regular access to wifi from our accommodations. If I do post, it will probably be light on gaming-related stuff and more heavy on tourism. But hey, I’m no stranger to deviating from my core content strategy in order to indulge in my other personal interests.

Wishing you all the best while I’m out! We’ll catch up when I get back on the 24th!

Establishing a Foothold on YouTube

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Over the past year or so, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to establish the In Third Person footprint across different online platforms. The blog is home base and should continue to be for the foreseeable future. Twitch has been a major focus of late, having spent hundreds of hours streaming, tinkering with my equipment, building episodes of Boss Rush, and repurposing content for other platforms. Much of that content goes into my Instagram, where it’s used as a space for stream highlights, screenshots, conversation starters, and sneak peeks into my life outside of gaming.

I’ve achieved some success, but there’s also been a lot of failure. The most notable of those is my presence on YouTube.

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Reviewing Games as an Independent Content Creator

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I’m in the midst of writing my review for Mortal Kombat 11. Taking a moment to reflect on what I’d written thus far, it was over 1,000 words long, with the vast majority of it being focused on a handful of new gameplay adjustments that I find really cool. Whether I keep it all or not, being my own boss here at In Third Person gives me the wiggle room to approach my evaluation of the game in any way I so choose.

Having that freedom is really important to me with regards to the work I do here. While reviews are a staple of the video game content mix, I also find them to be a chore. Especially when you’re writing them with the goal of covering every aspect of what a game has to offer so that your readers can make an informed purchasing decision. It’s an unnatural way to consume and write about games that can really wear someone down over time. If it’s a game you don’t like, the strain to complete the game and review is amplified further.

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The Hannie Corner and I Team Up for “Navigating Written and Video Content”

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Are you a blogger looking to make the jump into video content? Maybe you’ve already made the leap and want to trade war stories? Or maybe you’re just interested in the process of creators transitioning from one medium to another? Hannie from The Hannie Corner and I have the post for you!

In “Navigating Written and Video Content“, we go in-depth on our experiences as bloggers going through this process. We share our motivations for getting in front of the camera, a number of the production challenges we face, as well as a few words of wisdom. It was a pleasure working with Hannie on this, and you should head over to her site for the full story!

Head over to The Hannie Corner for “Navigating Written and Video Content“!