BlueNile101’s First Year of Streaming
- Nathaniel Hope
- Mar 1, 2018
- 9 min read
Updated: Dec 15, 2021
March 1st, 2017 was the day I started streaming on Twitch. It is now one year later. Boy oh boy, what a ride it has been. You know, I never ever saw myself as a ‘streamer’. I used to steer clear of streamers back in the day. What was dominating the internet space back in the day when it comes to streamers was YouTube. I didn’t like what I was seeing on YouTube because a lot of the streamers were just loud. Loud and obnoxious. And there were A LOT of them.
What I saw was just a bunch of people constantly trying to grab your attention while self-promoting themselves. I mean, I get it. You gotta do what you gotta do. I respect anyone who goes in front of a camera and wants to make a name for themselves. But that whole scene just wasn’t for me.
The video below best depicts what I’m talking about.
So Loud...
For those that know me, I’m super chill. When I was younger, I was the quiet guy in the back of the room minding my own business. I did not want to attract attention and I certainly didn’t want the spotlight to be on me. I get nervous and anxious and I have a tendency to over think everything. Sometimes so much that I just freeze and shut down. It’s one of the reasons it took me so long to get on Twitch in the first place. Streaming just didn’t seem like it was something for me so, like I said, I steered clear of it. And when it came to Twitch, I honestly didn’t know what it really was. My assumption was that it was just another platform for what I was already experiencing on YouTube. Nothing but loud and obnoxious streamers. So in my ignorance, I never really looked into it. That is until Derptaku discovered Twitch and started utilizing it. After that, everything changed.
Back in the day, when Derptaku and I started Paradigm Gaming together, it was primarily a joint venture utilizing both YouTube and Facebook. While Derptaku was creating gaming content on YouTube, I felt my skill set would best serve Paradigm Gaming in the background. I provided information about the gaming industry through Facebook as well as contributing my time to all the video editing and Photoshop stuff. I have a passion for video editing and Photoshop. It’s been that way since high school. But yeah, that was me, the background guy trying to make Paradigm Gaming shine. It was awesome. And hey, for two best friends working together to create something fun and keep that friend train rolling, I was having the time of my life.
Then Derptaku found Twitch
Derptaku found Twitch and fell in love with it. He decided to shift his focus there which left YouTube wide open. That’s when I became even more involved on YouTube and started to create new gaming content. We figured we could have a presence on both platforms. It adds variety. We all know variety is the spice of life, right? But still, I wasn’t out to be a YouTube streamer. I made the focus on our channel to be primarily “let’s plays” with no commentary and random game videos that celebrated gaming. Since we started Paradigm Gaming we have well over 360 videos found on our YouTube channel and counting.
After a while, Derptaku started talking to me about how much he loves Twitch over YouTube. Turns out that my preconceptions and assumptions of Twitch and streamers were far from what I was seeing on YouTube. Sure there are loud and obnoxious streamers out there. But not everyone on Twitch was like that. It can be whatever you want it to be. It was a relief to hear. Clearly he was enjoying so much that he’s been dedicating all of his time to it. So I was beginning to be open to the idea of it all. From there, he started telling me that I should start streaming. I was reluctant about it at first. I had a good thing going and was getting creative with all the new videos I was making. I shrugged it off. But Derptaku, being the best-est friend I know him to be, he was persistent. For the good part of about a year it was all about “Twitch this” and “Twitch that”. In the end, he won, and I decided to check it out.
The way I would describe my early Twitch experience, it would be like a kid going to the swimming pool with his friends. Everyone was diving in immediately but me. I’d be the guy standing out on the edge of the pool, occasionally sticking my foot in the water to see how cold it was. Other kids were jumping off the diving board and I was on the kiddie side slowly trying to walk my way down the steps into the pool. Needless to say, I took it very slow. Like I said, I was a bit shy back then. I honestly had no idea what I was doing or what I was getting into. So I started watching Derptaku play games on our channel to see what it was like. The more I visited and the more I watched Derptaku play games, the more I was starting to really like it. Here I was watching my best friend play games and it was like we were still kids in school. We live a couple states away from each other and I don’t have the ability to visit as often as I would like. But here was Twitch, allowing me the ability to hang out with my friend as if I never left. This was awesome.
One day I got a chance to travel back to my home state to visit Derptaku and stayed over for a few days. Guess what he made me do? He got me to stream with him that week. I was his guest on Twitch and we streamed Resident Evil 2 together. He put me in the front seat and I got a chance to experience what Twitch was like, first hand, as a streamer. I got to learn the ropes, see how he broadcasts on his computer with OBS Studio, talk with Paradigm Gaming viewers as a streamer, and play old school games with my best friend like the old days. It was a total blast and opened my eyes to the possibilities.
Just two best friends living the dream
And the more I got involved in chat, the more I found many Paradigm Gaming viewers were also streamers themselves. That’s when I started branching out and seeing what it was like in their channels.
I’ll never forget the first time I ventured into Twitch to watch other people stream. You should have seen the look on my face when I posted a comment in someone’s chat and the streamer responded back. My eyes went wide, jaw dropped to the floor. I was like “dude, this guy is talking to me!” And right after that, he started asking how my day was and began to initiate a conversation while I watched him play games. It was the coolest feeling man. It was in that moment where I started to realize how much Twitch was actually different than anything else I have experienced. I still find myself getting star struck in people streams. It’s funny but I love it. I remember I spent months on Twitch before I finally got comfortable with the idea of streaming myself. My issue with streaming initially was a genuine fear of streaming. Especially by myself. It’s a lot easier when you have two people. You get to work through it all together and sometimes they can take the wheel and you can just chill and be present. But by myself? I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of being in front of a camera. I didn’t like the idea of talking out loud as if someone was actually here, but wasn’t. It was scary to think that I could stream and feel like I was just talking to myself like a crazy person. And overall, I didn’t know how well I’d do. I didn’t know if people would like me. I ended up over thinking it and it just added fuel to my fears and anxieties.
But the more time I saw others and how they streamed, and the more Derptaku kept encouraging me, the more my attitude was “just do it”.
The day that changed my world
I took a dive right in the deep end.
The verdict?
I ended up having the time of my life.
You want to hear something crazy? Twitch has actually helped me overcome many of my fears and anxieties. Over the past year, streaming has helped me develop a greater confidence in myself and it has helped me feel comfortable just talking to people. I have met some amazing people on this platform and have watched so many games I never thought I’d ever play myself. It’s amazing. Twitch has also has fueled the fire for my desire to be creative. Because of Twitch, I’ve kept working and honing my Photoshop and video editing skills. The more I created something, the better I got. And I must say, I have made some pretty fun things. Looking back at all the things I’ve created over the past year alone, dude, I have made a lot...
I’ve made a variety of templates for my streams this past year. I have found that what games I stream fuels my creativity and adds fun. Fun to the game I’m playing and to the streams themselves. I’ve also made some pretty cool looking game announcements in Photoshop to build that stream hype. I would usually post them on Facebook, Twitter, and in the Paradigm Gaming Discord. I don’t like to be the guy who just types “hey guys I’m going live now” and that’s it. I want to design stuff to make it fun and engaging and get people pumped up.
I’ve also created a variety of different designs for our channel panels on Twitch as well as cover photos and profile pictures on all of our social media platforms. I’ve even designed logos for our channel as well as logos for all of our streamers in Paradigm Gaming. I’ve created a variety of videos for our channel’s streams such as “starting soon, be right back, and closing stream” videos. I’ve even made a variety of promotional videos to build hype for our channel, our streams, and our extra curricular activities beyond Twitch. I think my favorite is probably all the clips we’ve all generated in all of our streams. I’ve taken those and turn them into collages and random moments to share across the web.
One of the coolest things I have had the privilege of doing was creating a variety of videos for other streamers on Twitch for their channels. Want to see an example? Check out the video below. I made this for Sakura Tsubasa’s channel.
Follow her at www.twitch.tv/sakuratsubasa
I’ve created so much in the span of a year and it’s all because of Twitch and everyone I’ve met within the community. I kid you not when I say that this has been AMAZING. Being a part of Twitch, not to mention the community of streamers I’ve gotten to know, it makes me feel like I am a part of something greater than myself. This has been the best ride ever. The best part of all of this is I have been able to take all of this experience and apply them to real life. Twitch has helped me conquer my fears and anxieties not only in the streaming world, but also in the real world. I feel much more relaxed and confident with myself as I go to work, when I interact with others, especially with people I don’t know. I feel it when I’m at home, living life in general. It’s been truly amazing.
When it comes to video games, it turns out that I’ve streamed over 30 games in the span of a year! How crazy is that?! My gaming collection is huge and is something that I am proud of. All those consoles and games I’ve gotten since I was a kid to today, I still have ‘em and I still use ‘em. You know those memes where you see stacks of games but it says “I have nothing to play”? In terms of actually playing games, that used to be me. But now, Twitch is breathing in new life into games I haven’t touched in years. And when you add in our channel’s viewers who start chatting about the game, how they loved playing it, striking up conversations, and creating things around your own streams, it’s so much fun. For me, it’s like the game is fresh and new again. I love all the experiences I have interacting with everyone, all because of our mutual love for video games. Being a part of Twitch has been a rewarding experience.
And for that, to all of you who are a part of Paradigm Gaming and support us and our community, I humbly say thank you. You are what makes Twitch the best place to be and I’m very happy to have found it and to be a part of it.
Here’s to another year and many more to come. Cheers.
Sincerely,
BlueNile101
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