The Protagonist

So you woke up on New Year’s Day and decided that your New Year’s Resolution is to become a streamer in 2026?

You’d be surprised how many people have been there. Streaming is a lot of fun and it’s a good way to meet others in the community.

I’ve been reflecting on my time as a Twitch streamer a lot recently. Maybe it’s the New Year effect. Or maybe Nostalgia for the Good Old Days has consumed me yet again. Either way, I realised that I have a lot of things I still want to say when it comes to video game streaming- so much so that I’ve decided I’ll start up a series on this blog to help anyone else navigate this daunting terrain!

Hell, maybe it might even convince me to come back to it.

It starts with a question (or five)…

So you’ve set up the basics like your display name, page, streaming equipment and software and are almost ready to set a ‘go live’ date.

As many people will tell you (including me), there is so much that goes on when you’re not live. Before you do start streaming, I strongly urge you to ask yourself the questions below. Knowing the answer to these or at least having thought about them will help set you up for success. These aren’t here to give you analysis paralysis. But, by having an idea of the following, your streaming journey will feel more like you’re walking on a beaten path instead of wading through the depths of the unknown and flailing your arms.

And yes, the answer to these questions can and will change over time as you grow and refine what you want. But if you’re going to start somewhere, you might as well start strong.

Not to get all philosophical (or maybe we should), but first things first:

1. What do you want to achieve from streaming?

Yes. The dreaded goals. I agree. But for real, what do you want to get out of streaming? This will dictate your ‘strategic direction’, if you will. It’ll also determine your mindset and give your stream purpose.

For example, here are some popular goals and routes to get there:

The ‘For Fun’ route

If your goal with streaming is just to meet new people, then your focus is to go with the flow. You’ll stream what you want and when you want with little expectations. This route is quite common for people who have a day job and are time poor. You’re just hoping to enjoy yourself and get a feel for streaming.

The ‘Community’ route

Maybe you want to build a community of like-minded gamers to be the friends you never had. You might make it your mission to follow other streamers who play the same games as you and be an active part of their communities. Maybe you’ll even collaborate with them. You’ll focus on community engagement such as community streams or Discord hangouts. You might create content on other platforms in the hopes of finding others to grow this community, but it’s optional if you don’t mind how long it takes to do it without.

The ‘Growth’ route

If your goal is to grow viewership, earn an income from streaming or become renowned for how great you are at a particular game, your level of investment changes. Not only will you do the above in the other routes, but you’ll need to take it a step further.

This includes investing more time and energy to become discoverable on other platforms such as TikTok, Youtube and Instagram. You’ll plan specific content and work on social media engagement, branding and finding your niche. All the ‘off stream’ stuff. I can talk more about these in a later post, but just to give you an idea for now of the difference in approach depending on the route you want to take!

Also, it’s perfectly fine to start in the ‘For Fun’ route if you don’t know if streaming is for you. Most people do.

2. What game/s will you play?

This ties in with the first question of what your goals are and what route you want to take. If you’re taking the ‘Community’ route, then you may want to consider choosing games that your viewers can hop into on stream.

In my time, we did a lot of max raid battles in Pokemon Shield. This allowed my viewers to join in on the raids live. Other games we played were Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Fall Guys. There are plenty of other multiplayer games where your viewers can jump in.

Downtime to engage with chat is important too. Multi-tasking is very hard and having to talk to others in chat while live on stream is even more so. You’re also likely to play worse on stream (especially if you’re not used to having an audience) so keep that in mind for ranked games. Games like Pokemon or even Teamfight Tactics have a fair bit of downtime between actions and its during these times where you can read and respond to your chat and get people sticking around.

3. What’s your streaming schedule?

Another thing to think about is when are you going to stream, and can you pick times that are consistent? If you’re trying to grow as a streamer or want to build that community, people need to know when they can catch you live. The number of times I’ve naturally become a part of a community by tuning into a stream weekly because I know when a streamer is live is underrated.

I also think of it like going to a class or social event IRL. You might not know anyone day one, but if you keep turning up, you start to see familiar faces. If you can be consistent with your viewers (and all other things considered), they will eventually start to build a schedule with you in it. And, the more you (and your viewers) start to see the same people around, the higher likelihood that a connection is formed and you get repeat viewers.

It’s such a good feeling when viewers come by to talk to others in your community because they became friends through you!

4. What’s your streaming personality?

This will develop naturally over time but it’s worth thinking about early on. Most people just become a higher energy version of themselves, but you can definitely adopt a streaming persona or character if you want to. Are there any traits that you want to be known for?

A persona can be useful for all sorts of reasons- for example, for privacy by creating a boundary for your real self and the online world. Or maybe you want to create a certain style or lean into a niche.

I became known as the purple haired, beanie wearing, plant loving Aussie Pokemon streamer!

Anything goes, as long as you’re following the code of conduct and not harming yourself or others.

5. How do you deal with troublesome viewers?

I’ve saved the easiest question for last (I think).

Since it’s your stream, you get to determine the rules by which others engage with you (subject to platform code of conduct of course).

Nobody should have to deal with problematic viewers, and I’m sincerely hoping you won’t, especially in the early days. The question still remains though: what will you do if someone doesn’t interact with you in an appropriate manner? Will you ignore them and hope they go away? Give them a benefit of the doubt at first with warnings? Or will you have zero tolerance and ban them immediately?

It’s worth taking a minute and thinking about housekeeping. Having rules visible on your Twitch page and Discord server promotes transparency and sets an expectation for how your community behaves. Even a pop up when new viewers hit the Follow button can be useful, or a command such as !rules so they’re ready when you need them on stream.

Your stream should be a safe space for you, so you do what you need to.

Well, that’s it for now! Hope this gave you heaps to think about.

Look after yourself,

Elena