paxw-1

This is an update about me, some recent experiences & my stream

I'm someone who's been very much into the niche microcosm of speedrunning within modern gaming as a whole, which is a very very small subset of what's going on globally. I've appreciated the role speedrunning plays - it caters to specific gamers and a somewhat less-specific audience. I've been very auxiliarily aware of what's going on with the rest of the gaming industry, but considering most of the content I've played are through speedrunning platforms, I don't know a ton of what's current.

This past weekend I went to my first PAX. As someone who's gone to many Games Done Quick events and a RPG Limit Break, this event was definitely different. On paper- there's tons of people, lots of cool people (& lots of weirdos), lots of production value, lots of shmoozing, and lots of modern games. It's interesting to see how modern gaming companies view what sells and what they prioritize trying to push. At a surface level I didn't relate to most of what was there, but I still like being aware of what's going on. Overall cool event, I could take or leave the massive crowds, but trying out some new content, hanging out with some friends I know, and meeting new people from both speedrunning and Twitch was stellar.

What I walked away from the event was an appreciation of what opportunities there are in streaming to grow viewer interest & forge relationships. Twitch is a dynamo in so many aspects of modern gaming, and their presence at the event & seeing all the other Twitch partners and people interested in Twitch was pretty cool. Honestly I've always somewhat misunderstood the label "content-creator" as a Twitch partner tagline, but I think it's fitting with some perspective. Whether you interpret it as actually producing tangible content or simply putting on an entertaining stream, there's value in furthering your stream goals, making someone laugh, giving someone advice or just providing an entertainment outlet for someone to wind down their day from. What I realized from this PAX is that we're in the middle of something seriously growing larger and larger (yes, something many people know, but honestly not a ton of people capitalize upon), something that hasn't slowed down in the last few years and will continue to flourish.

Another quick observation about the event was the type of people within this system. To be frank, there's a lot of people that I've met over the last ~10 years or so as "gamers" that are not sociable, not friendly, not well-kept or value their health or hygiene, are rude & demanding, on and on. I felt sorta on the outside sidelines for most of my life as someone interested in gaming but 1) someone who's retained other interests, 2) never relied on it for income and 3) felt relatively normal. However, I had a different experience specifically this time with most of the people I met and events I went to- basically a lot of people had their act together, and I saw a side of people talk about real ideas, smart people thinking about their streams & their development as individuals, and what teamwork (people banding together) can accomplish. People I saw generally looked sharp, professional, and serious about their ideas, but not overly corporate or industrial, and it was honestly very refreshing.

I've somewhat taken for granted being a Twitch partner honestly - I initially pushed for it as a representative my commitment to the speedrunning community, and I am very glad to have it. But as I watch the power of live streaming and where in the growth of global gaming we are, I want to take my role more seriously. I'm someone who will never rely on gaming for income, and I think it gives me an opportunity to take ideas and maybe some directional risks to grow. Although I work a full time job, I can't help but find myself always thinking about my stream, my role in speedrunning, and what's next. I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't half-ass anything in your life - you live once and I've seen so many bright minds and talented people just honestly be disappointing in terms of what they accomplish because they can't handle fighting against apathy or can't produce a commitment to anything. It actually makes me irritated, there's so many people worldwide that aren't given the ability or opportunity to have the luxury of opportunity, and so many people who do have that opportunity & talent squander it (I'm digressing a bit.)

That being said, I've got some work cut out for me. I've got ideas about what viewers want to see & how to capitalize upon making my own stream more entertaining. There are aspects about the basic donation/subscriber/bit money formula as a source of entertainment value that I think is somewhat stale, and there's so much you can do with the power of Twitch, OBS/Xsplit and an energetic caster to make a stream a cool experience. I need to figure out what my role is, where speedrunning fits into that, what other content is viable, and what relationships I need to strengthen to get there. I want to take it seriously while I can - to be frank, before I'm too old or before I can't relate to the cogs of gaming culture anymore.

I'll be pushing my stream a bit beyond speedrunning, but I do have a new speedrunning project (a bit more modern) I've been working on, but won't be ready for a while. Speedrunning really helped me build the foundation of meeting some really awesome people and grow my stream, but simply put, there's more out there way past speedrunning. My goal is to figure out how my persona & interests can align with others' viewing & participation interests. I firmly believe there are things I can learn from others, and things I can do better than others.

(Very quick diversion, DQIII might be a great challenging speedgame, but as I've said in multiple pastebins before, unless I'm driving the entirety of the experience, it's very difficult to relate to the game as a casual viewer, and I'm not sure Twitch is the best platform for it. Not sure where this stands in my future TBH - if someone actually shows up with the drive to combat my Western time then I'll be very inspired, so we'll see)

I'm moving to a new apartment somewhat soon and sometime in October I'm going to perhaps try streaming somewhat more regularly, it's all a bit in the air in the short term. I'm sorta busy all the time but there's always pockets where I want to work on my gaming persona, and I think I'm going to try filling that time with more streaming. We'll see.

Thanks for reading