As a viewer or as a streamer, what rubs you the wrong way? Twitch streamer Gullible Gambit posed the question on Twitter and got a lot of great responses. I know this thread is a few weeks old now, but I wasn’t able to squeeze this in before my trip. The subject is still worth covering though! Thanks for the question Gullible Gambit!
Let’s do this!
https://twitter.com/GullibleGambit/status/1136608979788812289
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.
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!
Wishing you all the best while I’m out! We’ll catch up when I get back on the 24th!
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.
There are real advantages to only streaming one video game. Doing so makes it easier for you to attract and maintain an audience that loves that game. Ninja’s fans love him as a skilled player and as an on-screen personality, but they also love Fortnite and can count on him streaming it daily. As much as I would love his money and at least some of his fame, I struggle to wrap my head around how and other single-game streamers keep their sanity playing only one game for that long.
Being a variety streamer can help you stay sane. Streaming games as they move in and out of my life is a more natural way for me to play games and the approach I’ve planned on taking from the start. However, I lose the stability that comes with streaming only one game. I even see this phenomenon with my own small stream, where certain viewers only tune in for Overwatch and others only drop by for Paper Mario. Can’t blame people for wanting to watch games they like, versus sticking with me regardless of what game I’m playing.
In spite of my vow to not get monogamous with any one game, the thought of getting steady with Tetris 99 heats up every time I stream that game.
I love my original Elgato Stream Deck. It may just look like a set of buttons, but being able to program each one with a growing set of functions has streamlined my experience so much. From being able to quickly trigger the airhorn sound that starts every stream, to switching between overlays, to running elaborate game shows on Boss Rush, I can easily perform all of these functions and more without breaking the flow of the show.
If I had one wish, it would be for the Stream Deck to have more buttons. While you do get the option of adding folders to the mix, my default setup uses more than the 15 buttons available. In particular, Boss Rush can require upwards of 60 (!) buttons, making it a hassle at times to fish between folders for certain functions.
Elgato heard me. The new Stream Deck XL is out now, with a whopping 32 buttons. It’s not quite 60, but it’s more than what you’d get from running up two regular Stream Decks at once.
A few months back, I streamed Tetris Effect for a few nights. At launch, the game seemingly had a lot of buzz. Critics raved about it. The game has incredible music and gorgeous visuals. And not to toot my own horn too much, but I’m pretty good at Tetris too, completing expert mode without losing once. All of those things made me think that this was going to be a great game for me to stream in terms of pulling in an audience.
Nope.
While I had a blast playing the game, it bombed hard in terms of viewership. When I look back at the timing, it’s unfortunately part of the reason why I didn’t hit Twitch Affiliate late last year when I was right on the brink. Some of that blame could be my own performance and lack of promotion, but I think it’s much bigger than that. At the time, there were about five streamers broadcasting for an audience of under 20 viewers. As I type this, there is one streamer playing the game and zero people watching.
Tetris Effect might be an amazing game, but it’s a terrible streaming game if your goal as a streamer is to draw in an audience. Streaming adds an extra variable to the game selection process that can feel scummy, but it’s something you have to reconcile every time you play with the camera on.
I did not enter the world of streaming in 2017 with visions of being the next Ninja. Already doing Let’s Play videos for my YouTube channel, I figured that if I was going to spend the time adding commentary to my videos in real time anyway, I might as well stream it. Could potentially hit two birds with one stone that way.
As I’ve built up my presence on Twitch, it’s been fascinating to follow the culture around streamers attempting to “make it big”, whatever that means to them. This includes thousands of resources on how to make game streaming your career, Reddit threads on users asking for advice on how to generate more money from their stream, a deluge of stories from streamers ready to call it quits after falling short of their expectations, and countless #roadtoaffiliate tweets. Heck, even I have sent a #roadtoaffiliate tweet or two.
Having hit Twitch Affiliate somewhat recently, it’s gotten me thinking about the possibility of making this a full-time gig. Others have made it happen, but is it something I could achieve if I really wanted to?
Streamers and viewers of squads rejoice!
Twitch has finally rolled out the ability for streamers to broadcast together as a squad! Up to four streamers can have their streams appear in one nifty interface. Viewers can then watch every feed simultaneously while also having the ability to flip between each streamer’s chat.
In Third Person 