STACK #184 Feb 2020

LIFE TECH FEATURE

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Are you a dab hand at video games? Like to entertain? Have you ever thought about becoming a games’ streamer? There’s no time like the present. Words Bec Summer

Why did you consider getting into streaming in the first place? Friends would keep telling me that they would love to see me stream. Personally, I didn’t think I could do it but I kept getting pushed by my friends. I wanted to do something that was a little different from my usual work and family commitments, so I started jumping on streams to see what it was all about, got myself set up at home and just thought, ‘I’ll see where it takes me”. Like every new streamer I went in thinking nobody would watch me and I still feel like that today, despite the fact that I do get hundreds and hundreds of people coming in! I actually didn’t, which goes against all advice I would give someone. But once I’d made up my mind that I was going to do it, it kinda felt like the right thing to do. I had the means to do it at the time and I did about four months of research before I started, to ensure I was set from the very start. Did you start with a barebones set up?

I t’s virtually impossible trying to explain to a non-gamer what streaming is all about: “What, you sit and watch people playing video games?” For gamers, the concept isn’t so alien. If you grew up in a household with an older sibling, it was a rite of passage to sit in silence and watch for hours on end while brothers or sisters played games, taking any bone thrown your way. Watching a stream is no different from any spectator sport. If it’s entertaining, then it’ll get your attention. Think of a popular streamer as a TV show. You know in advance what time a particular favourite TV show is airing and consequently, if you want to catch it live, you tune in. It’s the same with streamers who cite broadcast consistency as one of the key pillars of success – their followers know what time the stream will start and be ready to jump in. To get a bit of perspective: the largest streaming platform, Twitch, can register up to 3.2 million broadcasts monthly and has more than 15 million

those that get views utilising that angle) and you want to jump in and try it. We’ll deal more specifically with the ins and outs of what you’ll need to kickstart a career in streaming on pages 40-46, but essentially arm yourself with a good computer, a camera and microphone, some software to stream on and a platform from which to broadcast, and away you go. To get some background information and tips from someone who has made the step into streaming, we reached out to STACK regular The Duke of

daily viewers. Now while Twitch is the most popular, roll Microsoft’s Mixer, YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming into that, and the global reach is phenomenal. So, hypothetically, you’re a pretty decent gamer (or a terrible one – there are plenty of

Twitch, can register up to

Flukes, who streams on Mixer. The Duke juggles streaming with full time employment and a family and we asked how he started and what advice he would give to someone about to start the journey.

3.2 million broadcasts monthly and has more

than 15 million daily viewers

38 FEBRUARY 2020

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