First Off…HAPPY NEW YEAR !!🎆🎉🎊

Now To The Real Thing.

This is not my usual blog post where I talk about something technical to get a reader’s attention. Instead, this post is going to be more about me talking about the way things are currently for bigger content creators and how things should be for people who have smaller audiences. Because of that, I have no hope of this blog reaching millions of readers, I simply just want to get my thoughts down and set a goal for 2024. As always there is something that inspires my blog post and lights a fire under me to write about these things.

WHAT INSPIRED THIS ARTICLE?

I won’t lie to you, seeing the amount of money that top streamers made from the Twitch hack in 2019, along with the streamers who were nominated in this year’s Game Awards category has made me realize how much we spend too much time on people who already have their success. While the rest of the world struggles to get bills paid someone can just turn on their computer and launch their stream to earn a few extra bucks within a single hour.

Yes, the money is split with Twitch. Yes, it takes hard work to stream every day. Yes, everyone starts with zero views. But considering that there are things that prevent people from becoming popular (gender/race). As well as things that can boost someone to being popular immediately (voyeur / sexual nudity). It bothers me that people are being rewarded over and over constantly simply for having a higher view count. It bothers me that people get sponsored streams for games that they don’t care for just for the sake of advertising it to their audience to help that said company. Again, I am aware that some people deserve this for the work they put in and everyone can’t be a winner and get a first-place trophy. Where there is competition, sometimes only luck can decide whether or not someone can achieve this.

As the title reads, I truly think that 2024 is the year we start supporting other streamers and content creators who are not hugely popular and instead give more appreciation to people who have just as much passion and enthusiasm for gaming as the top streamers who always get rewarded. I know you're saying to yourself “Well yeah, but why do we have to wait for 2024 to start supporting other streamers?” Your right, it shouldn’t be something that we put on our calendar for the whole year of 2024 and I’m sure that people already have gone out of their way to support streamers of all kinds.

What I’m saying is that we as a community of gamers should start supporting other people to shake the tree that is content creation and social media.

IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THE STREAMER THAT’S OKAY 👍

I’m not saying you should force yourself to watch people you don’t vibe with. Just like that weird guy at the office nobody wants to have a chat with by the water cooler. If you feel a disconnect or find yourself to be bored or feeling cringe, you should take your time elsewhere and maybe find another channel to view. Also if they are obnoxious and ask for you to subscribe to them without giving you anything in return as far as entertainment then no. I once had an interaction with a streamer who immediately requested/hinted that because I have an Amazon Prime account I should subscribe to them when all I wanted to do was watch gameplay of a game I was interested in. So I left and even took my follow away from them as well. If someone doesn’t vibe with you just forget them and move on. Regardless if it’s your favorite game category or not.

SUPPORTING SOMEONES MENTAL HEALTH 🧠

Streaming can be very taxing regardless if you have 2 viewers or even 1,000. Supporting smaller streamers empowers emerging talent and encourages those who might otherwise be discouraged by the daunting challenge of breaking into the streaming scene dominated by larger personalities. As people, we need to remember that a simple hello in someone’s chat can make someone’s day. The streamer with large views can’t have the same heartfelt reaction if they have repeatedly received a 50-gift sub-donation, without forcing some over-the-top reaction and sounding super excited. We all know the “streamer personality” that most people force themselves to do to sound like a genuine person whom we can trust. I call it the news anchor/tonight show personality where you have to throw your voice differently and smile constantly to make people think you are this person all the time. Instead, we should spend that money on someone who we also believe has what it takes to entertain people naturally.

WE NEED DIVERSITY FOR F$!% SAKE

I know I can’t control who is put on the front page of Twitch but normally when I log in it is usually the same person on the front page from a few days ago. Someone DJ’ing their favorite hits with lights in the background or someone in a hot tub doing body paint over their breast(I rarely see a guy doing body paint). The only time adversity strikes Twitch is when it’s Pride Month or Black History Month. Once that is done things usually go back to normal with the same people who play First Person Shooters a lot. But why else would streamers begin to do V tubing? One main reason is OUT OF FEAR FOR BEING JUDGED! Some streamers have gone out of their way to even set up a random PNG of an anime character on their stream to attract more views. It was humorous at first glance until everyone realized the nature of how bad audience members can hate a person just on their appearance. Some have even tested this on their stream just for laughs and ended up becoming full-time V-Tubers rather than showing themselves on camera. Granted I’m not against that and my heart goes out to anyone is is camera shy or worried about whether someone might make fun of them in person. People should not have to go through this and trick others at first glance to watch their streams in the same manner that a catchy YouTube thumbnail works to get someone to watch their videos.

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT MONEY 🤑

I am not saying that you should go out of your way to just throw money at someone to make them happier especially if you are already struggling with your bills yourself. For several reasons, you should not do this blindly, and here is why…

• There have been several times when a streamer appears to be a cool and humble person only for them to turn out to be a terrible person who doesn’t fit the same values as their audience members.
• TWITCH gets the most out of what you give. If you want to support them. Engage with that person and find out if you can donate or buy something from their wishlist. If they don’t have that stuff set up then you can simply subscribe to them and offer to help them in some way. Even becoming a moderator is a great way to show support and make friends.
• That person may not have the time to stream, so if they stream perhaps once a week or once a month it may not be in your best interest to offer money for someone you never see active ( unless you are super generous and don’t care due to having funds of your own).

Am I being too obvious? Am I delusional and simply want to complain because my view content doesn’t compare to other creators out there? Yes maybe I am, but at least I’m willing to say what’s true about myself and my opinions to show that the same truth about this issue is real. We need to stop constantly supporting streamers who already have their audience and popularity and start encouraging lower view counts to stream more. Please, If you can jump into someone else stream, you don’t have to follow every single person but just know that making their view count go up from 3 viewers to 4 is enough to help put a smile on someone’s face.