Gaming is fast becoming commercially recognised and shaking off the archaic stereotype of being a grunge and anti-social past time for the young adult. One of the key elements to be taken serious as a gamer is to increase your online presence in ‘streaming’.
According to Julia Robson aka Bish, an Esports contender and keynote speaker at this year’s Vodacom rAge event in Johannesburg, the need for gamers to share their gaming experience online is becoming prevalent. “Streaming allows any gamer to share and create content for their followers whether this is for Twitch.tv, YouTube, Facebook or Mixer,” says Bish. “These platforms create a space for gamers to share their live gameplay with an audience and interact with a community of other streamers and players.” If you are a ‘noob’ (new to the industry) you should not feel overwhelmed by streaming. Simply record and share on social platforms you are comfortable and familiar with and as your confidence grows as a gamer you can explore additional options.
Gamers have the option of live streaming or pre-recording sessions. Editing pre-recorded sessions allows the user to create edited videos orVOD (Video-On-Demand) which can be more user friendly for their audience and the ‘noob, but it is not as authentic as a live stream. Bish uses her Predator gaming laptop to stream and recommends software calledWondershare Filmora which assists in uploading to various social platforms.
“It is important to grow with your channel, learn from others and find your niche.” Bish identifies her top influencers as Samplayze, HutchieOGand Shazz, which she deems entertaining and reliable. As with all influencers on social networks it is about creative content and knowing what your audience is looking for. “It may be easier for you to start to stream to friends and getting their thoughts and feedback first.”
In summary building a streaming channel is a process and requires originality and dedication. With Twitch.tv gaining up to 15 million unique viewers per day and these viewers spending on average 95 minutes on the channel, the goal should be to eventually stream live from this channel and ultimately become an Esports star.
Bish shares her top tips for the starting your channel:
- Have fun and be original: It can be daunting to have a camera focused on you but soon it will become easy to interact and have fun with the audience. It is important to think about what would engage you as an individual and then populate that and make it unique to your channel
- Find your niche: Whether this is summary of your play at the end of each stream, cosplaying during your stream or having quirky terms during your game play, think of ‘what you like’ and ‘what you are good at’.
- Security and Privacy: Never give away any personal details or sensitive information. It’s easy to get comfortable with the camera but always remember that content is streamed across the world and the same cautions apply as mainstream channels like Facebook and Instagram. Trolls and cyber bullies are not restricted to streaming and implementing NightBot as a chat moderator can assist with keeping unwanted attention at a minimum.
- Gear: A decent camera with a frame 1080p 60FPS or webcam with a minimum 720p will ensure the quality of your stream is decent. A stable fibre line of at least 10/10 mb with a stable upload and download speed. Other baseline requirements include, i5 Intel processor, GTX 1060 graphics card and 16gb of DDR4 RAM. Anything over and above these specs will add to the viewer pleasure.