Streaming I: "Wait, you stream now?"

Honey, I’m home! It’s been a while but I didn’t forget you, I just wanted to wait until I actually had something good to say. Turns out we could be waiting a long while for that, so in the meantime, here’s something else.

Working from home was a weird thing to get used to this year, and I've never been known for my ability to write in silence. As I write this, I'm even listening to a podcast in the background! But British daytime TV quickly gets very boring indeed, so I rediscovered something I hadn't watched in years and logged into Twitch to watch something a little more interesting. It was actually really great to jump back into some streams that I used to watch a few years ago, and look at how they have (or haven't) changed!

Twitch has very quickly replaced TV as my main entertainment source for the moment! I think there's something in knowing that I can watch virtually any game I want to, or jump into someone 'just chatting', or something I haven't even thought of yet! And on top of all of that, there's the chance to actually converse live with the person creating the content, or with the audience watching. But the thing that comes out of watching bigger streamers is that you realise that your voice is lost among the thousands of others, all jostling and screaming for attention. You type out your witty message, press Enter, and by the time you see it, it's disappearing off the edge of the screen, and... it's gone. And if it passes you by that fast, think how quickly it must flash by for the streamer or the rest of the audience! There's almost no point trying.

However, back in late September/early October, one of the big streamers I watch dropped a raid on a much smaller streamer who happened to be playing the same game. There was several hundred of us in the raid on this guy, and I could see it really made his day! So I stuck around for the rest of the stream, because I loved being there. Most of the raiders left over 10-20 minutes, and I realised that I could actually engage in conversation with the streamer. It was the first time I'd actually been able to experience that, and it changed so much - I actually felt involved rather than passive, and it made it so much more fun as an experience. That streamer was - as many of you will know if we met on Twitch - SGTheo, who is a genuinely kind and funny guy. If you've not dropped by one of his streams before, definitely give it a try, I'm putting a link here. Even if you don't like the gameplay, you'll love his humour and the way he makes every single person there feel valued. I don't think I've missed a stream of his since that raid now that I think about it!!

Having watched Theo's streams, I quickly discovered so many more great streams - in particular (although not forgetting others) the wonderful Haiimax. Through Max's streams I've become a part of this online community and made actual friends, which for an introvert like me is usually immensely difficult. To name all of those I've met through Max and his streams would be dangerous, because I'd definitely forget people, but you guys know who you are, and I love you all, especially if you're reading this mess 🤣 It seems insane that in the middle of various lockdowns and a global pandemic, I've actually been able to make more friends - people I probably would never have met otherwise,  often from places I've never been to.

I'd never really considered streaming before October. It wasn't something that really appealed to me, particularly with my low self-image and self-esteem. I didn't really believe that I had much of a personality for streaming, and I'm hardly known for my gaming prowess. But having finally bought my first gaming PC - eight years after I said I wanted to build one - I figured maybe I could try one. Just to try. If it sucked - no worries. I could just delete it, never talk about it again and move on. Several streams later, I've now joined the ranks of Twitch affiliates. So apparently I'm still going with that one.

Streaming has taught me new things about myself and my mental health though. That's a story for the next blog post (which for you is almost certainly out). For now - Merry Christmas, wherever you are <3

(also shameless plug: if you wanna pop by one of my streams, the link to my channel is here hahaha!)
Location: United Kingdom

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