Today I thought to myself ‘Let’s make the next blog a bit different’. Now I’m still getting the hang of it all and I’m learning daily. But I wanted to try and make a more organic blog today, meaning I would like it to feel more like a conversation to you, the reader.
Now the question is what would be a good topic to do so? And suddenly it dawned on me, I did a stream earlier today, so why not share my experiences with it as a beginner. There are lots of people asking how to stream, mostly the interactive part rather than setting up the stream itself. Because let’s face it, anything online is difficult when you first start out. Especially if it involves you directly, this blog for example is easier to just do and build something out of it. You just write about any topic you want and publish it on your site. Sure at first you might not have much traffic, but it’s still easier then streaming with maybe 1-2 people watching you.
The first and most obvious part when you stream is to choose a game that will be able to keep you talking. Preferably a game you haven’t played yet before. Your reactions will be extra genuine and you will have tons of stuff to react to verbally. Talking shows your invested in both the game and your audience ( yes even if you are talking to yourself ), so when someone does decide to pop in, they don’t see just some random gameplay. They also experience you and how you experience the game. Think of it as playing couch co-op with a friend. It’s more fun when people get invested in a game together after all!
Of course if you’re not used to talking that much, like myself, you might find yourself getting quiet a lot and you’ll have to correct that to keep the audience their attention. Trust me, it sounds easier then done, in my experience it’s making sure you have something to drink by your side. You’ll get thristy quickly from all that talking. But when you do have an audience, no matter how small or big, it gives you a feeling of accomplishment and the interaction really energizes you to do your best even more. I’m by no means an entertaining person unless you really get to know me, so my streams are still somewhat awkward. Like everything, practice is key. Know what you want to focus on first, don’t bother trying to be the super professional streamer yet. In my case, I just boot up the game and my streaming program, then just start streaming immediately. No ‘going live/starting soon’ screen for me, I want to pratice being more comfortable speaking and in general be more entertaining while gaming. That way I will be able to build a nice following and perhaps after that I can be a bit more professional in how I start my streams. A welcome message at the start of the stream is only necessary if you want to give your followers some time to grab something to eat and drink before diving into a game.
And who knows, maybe you’ll be streaming one day and suddenly get your first raid, just like I did today. Granted it was a raid of 2 people, but it was so unexpected, it did made my day. Simply because it’s part of being a streamer at some point and it’s those milestones that you want to achieve, experience and share with your viewers. I know it sounds like I’m already a big streamer, but I’m definitely not. Big streamers are still happy when those things happen, but are also more used to it. Yet here I am, a bit baffled about today.
It should be of no suprise either, that concistency is key. For me I try to stream every sunday and when I have my day off from work if nothing comes up. Might even do a quick and short stream if I’m really in the mood. Which brings us to social media. Again, i’m not perfect when it comes to that, but announce your stream any time you can on Twitter atleast. It’s a given if you want to promote anything these days and yet I haven’t even made an Twitter account to promote my own blog.
In short, if you want to stream, just do it. Set up your program of choice, know what you want to achieve and enjoy doing it. Oh and get used to hating how you sound haha. But that will better with time too. And if you’re really unsure about it, but do want to try it, do it together with a friend. Play a co-op game and talk with each other. Hey if it helps, you can always hit me up for help.
