Streaming aint Easy~

I get this a lot, "so you just sit in front of a camera and play video games all day?"

There's a dark cloud in the air that streamers are just weirdos in basements that open up a camera while they game. Some believe it's effortless and takes nothing out a person by doing this. I beg to differ. I admire streamers and those who make content for others online. The struggle is real, but it took me living the life to see this.

For a dedicated streamer its a full time never ending job. It's a job you don't have to show up to if you don't want to. Takes will power to show up everyday when you just want to hide from the world.

Streamers take time out of their days to spend it with you, this is a select amount of hours they could be with friends, family, thier dog or cat, or just playing a game with surrond sound on and drift off in their minds. But they don't, for whatever reason drives them, they turn on that camera and put on a smile and get ready to share their lives with you.

Question for you: Have you ever tried to play a video game, not suck at it, while paying attention to lines of chat flying accross your screen? And not just reading these lines of chat, understanding them, replying to them even when the topics are all not the same? and the cherry on top is to be entertaining?

Not an easy task, especially for someone who's just playin a game right? GOD forbid if that person is doing all of this and having to pay attention to whats going on in their own homes.

True fact, I know a partnered streamer who did not stream for a week. Thats 7 days no stream. Came home. 70 people unsubscribed from his channel since he did not stream for a week. Thats a large chunk of a monthly revenue lost just because he wasn't available to entertain for a week. Imagine the pressure thats put on a streamer to feel the need to show up everyday?

Competition is at an all time high, Streamer Giants are falling from the top of the charts due to everyone and their dog can stream these days thanks to next gen consoles. The competition is real. People now come into live streams and do stupid crap like follow to have their names pop up thinking others will go oh wow whos that and follow them. Some are even going into larger channels and advertsing themselves to hopefully catch a break. Its super crazy competitive.

On top of all of this for many streamers the job is not done when the camera turns off, There is social media to keep up with, developers to communicate with to hopefully get access to the latest game to give your channel an edge. There is people to talk to that just need someone to talk to and they chose the streamer to talk to. Not all streamers are asshats who ignore people, some are, some are overloaded, others answer every message that lands their way. And all of that takes time, time from them, time from other important thing.

So if you were to ask me, is streaming easy? I would tell you no, it's a commitment, if it's something you enjoy, if it's a dream to make something out of your work, DO NOT GIVE UP. Need a break, take one you deserve it. But don't let anyone shit on the amount of work you have done this far.

From a Streamer Dad to all other streamers.

Streaming aint easy, but you got this.