Stumbling Into Success: How a Recent Gaming Obsession Turned Into One of My Most Successful Content Creation Ventures

For almost the entirety of my content creation career, I have been fairly aimless in my approach. The content I created would jump between games, genres, and even mediums (board games and comics), as I simply made what I wanted at the moment I was ready to create something.

This has served me well in the sense that I had no shortage of material to work with in order to make something personally fulfilling, but it’s a real struggle for audiences to stick with my work. Most people don’t want read a review about Yoshi’s Crafted World, followed by a live stream VOD of Rogue Company, followed by a video about my goals for collecting board games, followed by a guide on how to set up your microphone for streaming. Without any real focus, the only people who truly followed my work were those who really like me as a person, as I was the only common thread between a disparate set of subject matter.

I’ve always known this was a problem if growing In Third Person was ever to be a priority for me. However, I always chose my personal fulfillment first. This led to me being happy with creating content of any sort at my leisure at the expense of growth. I was content with that reality.

…and then I stumbled on the Pokemon Trading Card Game.

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Factors Impacting My Content for In Third Person

Whether I’m writing in-depth fighting game guides, sharing streaming advice, or recommending games for your next board game night, In Third Person has always been a reflection of my life situation and interests at any given moment in time. It makes for an experience that’s difficult to follow on an ongoing basis, but my top priority has always been to give myself the freedom to make whatever I want with the time I have available to commit to this passion project.

These last few years have been no different. Due to some major global events, lifestyle changes, and new hobbies, my output continues to change with me.

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Why I Treat Playing Video Games and Streaming Video Games on Twitch as Two Different Things

At a certain point in my streaming journey, I made a very important distinction for myself:

Playing video games and streaming are two separate activities.

Making this adjustment has helped me manage managing my mental health while also putting myself in a better position to work towards my streaming goals. Here’s how I differentiate between the two and how I benefit.

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Someone Stole My YouTube Video. Then YouTube Terminated My Account.

“Also, did you know that a spambot reposted our video?”

My brother Randy sent over a screenshot. On the bottom was the listing of our video that I uploaded 13 years ago to my personal YouTube account. Above it, a listing of our video but uploaded by someone else. Even though the illegal rip of my video had only accrued one view in eight months, it’s my legal right to stop the unauthorized distribution of my creative works.

Within minutes, I filed my first DMCA on YouTube. A few days later, YouTube…terminated my account.

Huh?

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Lessons Learned from Creating YouTube Content

My big goal for In Third Person in 2020 was to establish a presence on YouTube. Though my channel has been in existence for over a decade, creating content optimized to work on that platform has eluded me.

For a few months, I was on a roll. Then the pandemic hit. Then I got a new PC. Then a bunch of other stuff came up and the project fell by the wayside.

Maybe I didn’t get all the way towards my goal. But I made forward progress and learned so much along the way. Here are some of the lessons I’ll take with me going forward.

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Content Efficiency: Get the Most Out of Your Content By Turning One Piece Into Many

When In Third Person expanded into the world of video many moons ago, I did so with an eye on efficiency. The first video I ever uploaded to the In Third Person YouTube channel effectively turned into two pieces of content when I wrote a post about it on WordPress. Doing so gave me the opportunity to add supplemental video content to my written work while also establishing a presence on a new platform for others to discover me. If you want to count auto posts from my blog to Twitter, then that one video turns into three.

As I’ve expanded my presence in other mediums and platforms, the concept of efficiency has become even more important. While the workload is already too much for me to handle, I’m still able to crank out a lot by being as economical as I can with the pieces I make.

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Three New Emotes for My Twitch Channel!

For many months now, viewers have been spamming the “Mind Blown” emote every time I go live. Still love seeing my head explode, but my signature emote now has company. If you’ve got a tier 1 sub to twitch.tv/inthirdperson, I hope you enjoy this trio of new emotes!

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5 Mistakes I Made as a Twitch Streamer (And How You Can Avoid Them)

Streaming for the past few years has taught me that it’s basically impossible for one to be a natural streamer. Being good at it requires one to possess skills in a myriad of otherwise-disparate disciplines, from video production, audio production, public speaking, marketing, and more. Furthermore, there’s a bunch of weird skills that you’re not going to develop until you go live. Heck, the actual part where you play video games is but a small part of the discipline.

Because of this, making mistakes is inevitable. Lord knows I’ve made many. It might be embarrassing in the moment, but what’s important are the lessons learned from those experiences and how you recover going forward. Here’s are just a fraction of the mistakes I made and how you can address them faster than I did.

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Twitch vs. YouTube: Comparing the Processes Behind Making Live Streaming Content vs. Pre-Produced Content

My big focus for 2020 is video content. I want to continue growing as a streamer on Twitch while also establishing a presence in the realm of pre-produced YouTube content. For those who’ve taken the time to check out my streams or my recent run at YouTube content, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Both platforms require creators to work with video, but the processes for creating content for each are very different. Here’s what I’ve learned so far based on my time working with both.

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