It feels like only yesterday when I announced I was going to start streaming.
Yet, here we are. More than a year later, I’m still streaming on Twitch. In fact, it’s fairly obvious to anyone following that I’m streaming more than I’m writing blog posts. If that doesn’t mean to you, let me tell you – it means I’m absolutely loving streaming.
I spent so long debating about whether to start streaming or not. I’m no means the best at games, and I wasn’t sure if I’d find a place on the platform. But – news flash! – being good at games doesn’t matter. There are so many things you can do on Twitch, it’s arguably got the same amount of flexibility regarding content as WordPress. There are gamers, sure, but there are also artists, travellers, podcasters, musicians, people sleeping…
I needn’t worry about not finding a place on the platform, either. I love my little community on Twitch. Our small corner of Twitch is always so friendly, and never fails to cheer me up after a bad day working my 9 to 5, especially during turbulent times such as the global pandemic. To anyone from my Twitch community, thank you for being there. <3
That spiel out of the way, let me answer some questions that people may want to ask about me and my Twitch streaming journey so far…
What made you want to start streaming?
Honestly? I just wanted a new project! Something completely new, something that I hadn’t done before. I wanted a project that wasn’t a blog or a YouTube channel. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone a little. And this definitely worked! I was so nervous for my first stream, but thankfully, I had the support of friends who I had spoken about this to behind the scenes. They were incredibly supportive about it all, possibly because some had been in my position before with their own channels, which helped massively.
Arguably, the actual inspiration to start streaming came from the streamers who I was watching a lot of content from during the peak of the pandemic. Streamers like TinaKitten and CDawgVA were amongst the many that had been entertaining to me throughout the difficult months of 2020, and were definitely a big inspiration for me to start my own channel. During those turbulent times, Twitch definitely became my platform of choice in terms of entertainment.
What was the first game you streamed?
Funnily enough, my first stream wasn’t a gaming stream. Instead, it was a “Just Chatting” stream, embodying the “What am I watching?” posts I used to make at the start of every season. Seasonal anime discussion streams have remained on my channel, and I look forward to each one. The only issue with them is that they’re incredibly long. I like to take my time and give each anime a fair shot, looking into each upcoming show as much as I can. This, however, is no good when you’re time-restricted like I am in my current set up. Hopefully, one day we can have a seasonal anime discussion without the said restrictions. 😅
My second stream, however, was a gaming stream. Considering it was October, I decided to stream a game with a little bit of a spooky theme to it. Having been sat in my Steam library for a while, I decided to pick up Trick & Treat – a Halloween-themed RPG created by RabbitonGames. It follows a young witch called Charlotte and her maid, Amelia, as they decided to go trick-and-treating and visit a cursed mansion. A light-hearted game, there were a couple of issues with me being a little ditzy, but it was such a sweet little game. I’m glad I picked it for my first game to stream, and I already feel a little nostalgic about it when I think about it!
RELATED: Trick & Treat VoD Playlist – YouTube
What were the highlights of your first year?
Undoubtedly, a lot of streamers will say “hitting affiliate” was a highlight. But… they’re right. It absolutely was a highlight for me. I didn’t expect to feel so happy about hitting the milestone, but after putting in the time and effort to reach it, in March 2021, I did become a Twitch Affiliate. It gave me a confidence boost. It allowed me to experiment and customise my channel, and my streams, in the ways I actually wanted to. Those who have followed even the blog for a while now will know that I like to change things around every now and again. Trust me, it’s the same with my Twitch channel! I’m constantly fiddling around changing settings here and there, and secretly adding bot commands. 🤫
But a highlight that constantly keeps repeating itself is simply just getting to know other people through Twitch. I’ve been welcomed in to so many communities over the past year, and learnt so much from different streamers that I’ve been able to apply in different areas of my life. I’ve learnt how to work more efficiently from Rumple‘s co-working streams. I’ve learnt how to play Viper in Valorant thanks to Lou‘s streams. And, finally, I’ve learnt just how kind and generous people can be through the weekly charity streams that Z hosts. Every single community on Twitch offers something different and discovering different things is always a highlight to me!
Any low points during your first year?
You know what? Despite the scuffed streams and the sometimes last-minute cancelled streams, I don’t think there’s been any “low points”. I guess recently the only thing that has negatively impacted me has been my own awareness of the recent bots and hate raids. Although I am still quite fortunate in that I haven’t had the raids at full whack, even being followed by the bots 10 seconds after starting stream put a downer on me and consequently ruined the stream for me. I was sitting on edge the entire time that I’d have to enter Safety Mode or even end stream full stop. Definitely not a fun experience, but the highs certainly outweigh the lows for me!
What are the harder aspects of streaming?
There are a couple of aspects that I find difficult. The main thing has been trying to keep a balance of everything I’ve wanted to do. Wanting to stream, but also wanting to play games with friends. Wanting to stream, but also wanting to write blog posts. Wanting to stream, but also wanting to hang out with family. It’s been a bit of a juggling act at times. Thankfully, I have been able to balance it all sometimes. For starters, my friends often join in on games being played, my Teamfight Tactics streams being a good example of that. I’ve also managed to balance making content for different platforms during my brief co-working stream stint. It’s been difficult, but it is absolutely possible to do everything you wish to do. Like I said earlier, there’s so much flexibility with Twitch.
Sometimes, just pressing the button to start streaming is the most difficult thing to do. I often just feel overwhelmed with everything else in life that I just don’t want to add the pressure of needing to socialise and entertain on top of it all. Sometimes, my mental health dips and I just want to take some time to make sure I’m taking time to do what I want to do. This means I sometimes cancel streams, which is often done last minute. This is another hard thing to cope with. I feel so much guilt every time I cancel a stream, despite knowing that it’s more than OK to do so. Streaming, I’ve found, is made up of weird balances and sometimes it’s confusing. But, ultimately, you’ve got to make sure you’re looking after yourself – that should be first and foremost for any streamer.
What next?
I’m definitely going to continue streaming, that’s for sure! One of my goals is to try and get through my Steam backlog, which is… quite big. 😅 But streaming is far too much fun to just give up on. I definitely don’t have the best setup in the world, and streams can be kinda scuffed, but there’s no way I’m stopping because of that.
Once I move back to my own place, I’m sure there’ll be a couple of schedule changes. Perhaps I’ll even do more. But I plan to stream some ‘spooky’ themed games after my brief break whilst October is still around, and I have some plans for the near future, but apart from that? I’m just going to go with the flow.
Streaming has given me so much and I know I’m not finished with this journey. It has been more of a personal journey than other platforms have offered me before now, and I am super excited to continue on it.
You can follow me on Twitch to know when I’m live! Find me at twitch.tv/Tinselia!
Well good luck
Thank you! 😀
No problem