Board 8 > Just under a month ago I quit my job to be a professional Twitch Streamer

(+) Yeah! (+)

Those of you who hang out in discord are almost certainly aware of it, it's the reason for my recent name change there and here. I don't know if it's going to work out long term.

But it's a thing I did and today I am 1 follower short of getting Twitch Affiliated after just under 3 weeks of streaming 7 hours a day M-F, 14.00-21.00 GMT.

https://www.twitch.tv/gildedfool/

Watch the stream if you're around when I'm live, once I get my paperwork through, maybe some of you will donate Twitch Prime subs my way, that's up to you. But I'd super appreciate that last follower. :D

And ask me anything I guess?
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Who are you? What games do you mostly play?
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Who is this
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(User formerly known as Terastodon)

I play 2 hours of Rocket League at the start of every stream. I'm bad at it. Real bad. Bronze I bad.

After that I'm playing through a variety of games, I've beaten DOOM and Night in the Woods on stream, and am currently playing Dark Souls 3. I've also played a handful of games of Heroes of the Storm.
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Why didn't you just call yourself Tera on Twitch
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Oh
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Terastodon has a lot of baggage attached to it, it's the name of a Magic: The Gathering card and while that's fine, I wanted to avoid that reference and create a clear brand identity.

GildedFool, alongside imagery of the jester is an easier name to remember and spell, and an easier concept to grasp. So the short answer is "GildedFool" is an easier product to market.
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GildedFool is a way better streaming name

he's good guys
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The name does fit.
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Who went hunting out my facebook page? Jeez, good job, that's not even doing anything yet.
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whoa I was sure this was going to be a joke topic

good luck though
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i watch tons of twitch. if you're live and none of my favorite streamers are streaming i'll definitely check your stream out!
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Oh ok. Cool
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I don't watch streamers very often but you're entertaining. I've never had any interest in the souls games but I enjoyed watching the little bit that I was able to catch earlier

The best piece of advice I could offer with my limited knowledge on the subject is try to find the next Fortnite and get really good at it before it blows up. Which seems obvious now that I've actually typed it out but I'm not deleting it now. The next best piece of advice I could offer is to just keep being yourself and your audience will find you. Which seems cheesy now that I've actually typed it out but I'm not deleting it now. Anyway, wishing you nothing but the best
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Wait, were you streaming when we were playing HotS last night?
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...Well now I feel particularly unobservant. This answers some questions I had, haha.

Congrats man, good stuff.
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I wasn't no.

1, I wouldn't do that to you without telling
2. I'm keeping my stream at UK hours to avoid upsetting my housemates with noise at night. I can talk over discord to you guys without projecting into my mic.
3. When I'm streaming I'm narrating to my audience, be they 2 people or 400. You'll know.
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my tips for becoming a big video game streamer on twitch:

- stream something popular (fortnite is a good example)
- have a consistent schedule
- be entertaining

that's about it. obviously "be a hot girl with big boobs" helps a ton too but yeah.
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ProfitProphet posted...

I don't watch streamers very often but you're entertaining. I've never had any interest in the souls games but I enjoyed watching the little bit that I was able to catch earlier

The best piece of advice I could offer with my limited knowledge on the subject is try to find the next Fortnite and get really good at it before it blows up. Which seems obvious now that I've actually typed it out but I'm not deleting it now. The next best piece of advice I could offer is to just keep being yourself and your audience will find you. Which seems cheesy now that I've actually typed it out but I'm not deleting it now. Anyway, wishing you nothing but the best

As regards this, yes - the best way to hit success is to be at the top of the pole for a certain game - any game. However, I don't think I personally am interested in that style of streaming. I want to be a variety streamer and if that means my limit is only 1,000 concurrent viewers (let's dream pretty big here) I'd rather that than play 7 hours of any one game.

I think as a person, I would burn out that way. The two hours of RL every day is as much as I would want to commit to one game, but I do think it is important to have something, especially when starting out as an identity hook.

So yes, being the best at something is a good plan - I just don't think it's my plan. I intend to build my longterm brand as a non-toxic videogamer and a decent person. Not as "the best at X". Plus I believe it to be far more achievable and sustainable.
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Mr Lasastryke posted...

obviously "be a hot girl with big boobs" helps a ton too but yeah.

Little known fact about Gilded...
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See I agree with your last two points for sure (and your 4th), but I think if you are trying to really make a name for yourself just by streaming Fortnite or League or something of that caliber you will struggle to find your place.

Rocket League is popular to play and stream, but if someone wants to watch Rocket League, there are 20-40 streams, not thousands.

I got hosted today by a Rocket League pro (Jessie), because of the strength of my title (which is a part of my brand image -"Life in the Bronze Lane, Losing at Rocket League with a Smile) and because there weren't that many other options.

If I was streaming Fortnite, he would have never scrolled through the hundreds of streams to find me. There's a balance between popularity and obscurity you need to hit I think. You can't stream a game no-one is watching, but streaming the same thing as everyone else isn't going to get you noticed.

You can move into those games once you're pulling 25+ average audiences because that elevates you above enough other streams to get noticed and that is where the most eyes will be.
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GildedFool posted...

See I agree with your last two points for sure (and your 4th), but I think if you are trying to really make a name for yourself just by streaming Fortnite or League or something of that caliber you will struggle to find your place.

Oh you already perfectly understand what I was going to come in and recommend.

Good luck.

I am unlikely to ever check out your stream because it will only ever be while I'm at work according to your posted schedule, but if I find a day where the schedule lines up then maybe, we'll see.
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Gave you a follow, I'll keep the stream on if I ever notice you're streaming
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so that's why I've been seeing that name pop up

followed! although I am pretty much never actually on twitch
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If it is a blind DS3 run, I may tune in if I see you online when I am looking.
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yea it's blind, he's having fun times in the Cathedral
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Thanks solio.

And yeah Reg - I've not gone into this blindly, I spent time creating an overlay and setting a consistent colour scheme and theme. I have a reasonable idea what I'm doing. I'm not going to say I'm doing everything right, I'm almost certainly not, but I didn't just decide one day I was fed up work and I'd sit at home and play videogames instead.

I've set aside a Facebook and Youtube page under the GildedFool name which I intend to expand into. You may have noticed I am still trying to reassure myself in this topic I made a good decision. I am. But I also believe this is not crazier than any of the people who move to LA/NY to try and become actors and that I am capable of making it.
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Bane_Of_Despair posted...

yea it's blind, he's having fun times in the Cathedral

Sounds fun.
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I'm enjoying it!
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Why did you steal my name
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How much do you make from this, if you don't mind revealing that?
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how much do you make doing this? completely out of the loop on this sort of thing but I imagine it's pretty small.
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HotDogButts posted...

how much do you make doing this? completely out of the loop on this sort of thing but I imagine it's pretty small.

Same brain
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Good luck!
Have a follow.

I haven't used my Amazon/Twitch Prime free sub in a few months so let me know when you are affiliated so i can throw it your way.
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At the moment I've made $5 which was from a donation from one of the viewers today. Which is notable, because I didn't advertise my donation link anywhere, they went and looked for it.

Before you can monetize on Twitch you need to hit 4 benchmarks -
8 hours of stream time in the last 30 days
Stream on 7 unique days
50 followers
An average of 3 viewers per stream over the last 30 days.

You also need to hit them all at the same time, so you can't have 3 viewers for one stream and then sit on it for a month to hit that checkpoint as they're rolling checks. I got the onboard message from twitch... 7 minutes ago.
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Forceful_Dragon posted...

Good luck!
Have a follow.

I haven't used my Amazon/Twitch Prime free sub in a few months so let me know when you are affiliated so i can throw it your way.

I don't even know how to use mine lol
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Corrik posted...

I don't even know how to use mine lol

If you have Amazon prime and if you have a twitch account you can link them. I think its easier to link from the Amazon side of things.

Then when you are viewing a stream and press the "subscribe" button you have a choice to pay out of pocket or use your free prime sub which you get 1 each month.

Edit:

This seems to be the link from the amazon side of things:

https://twitch.amazon.com/manage?ref_=ya_d_l_twitch_acct
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out of curiosity how much do you see yourself making once you monetize?
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Oh hey, nice. Good luck Tera. Sadly I don't watch streams at all but I followed you on Twitch and FB.

Also...what was your previous job?
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HotDogButts posted...

out of curiosity how much do you see yourself making once you monetize?

I'm hoping that I can get it to around $1,000 per month by the end of the year. I don't know how viable that is, but we'll find out. :D

Raka, I was a restaurant manager.
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As someone who is hopefully about to be the beficiary of these things, you currently have to reactivate your Prime Subscription every month and there isn't a way to have it roll-over which is annoying to the subs and the streamers.

I'm hoping it's something they change soon as having the option would be nice.
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GildedFool posted...

See I agree with your last two points for sure (and your 4th), but I think if you are trying to really make a name for yourself just by streaming Fortnite or League or something of that caliber you will struggle to find your place.

Rocket League is popular to play and stream, but if someone wants to watch Rocket League, there are 20-40 streams, not thousands.

I got hosted today by a Rocket League pro (Jessie), because of the strength of my title (which is a part of my brand image -"Life in the Bronze Lane, Losing at Rocket League with a Smile) and because there weren't that many other options.

If I was streaming Fortnite, he would have never scrolled through the hundreds of streams to find me. There's a balance between popularity and obscurity you need to hit I think. You can't stream a game no-one is watching, but streaming the same thing as everyone else isn't going to get you noticed.

You can move into those games once you're pulling 25+ average audiences because that elevates you above enough other streams to get noticed and that is where the most eyes will be.

i agree with this, i just didn't go into detail when i gave that advice. i meant like, if your favorite game is dr. jekyll and mr. hyde and you don't want to stream anything but that, good luck becoming a big streamer. streaming fortnite is better than that. but yeah, streaming rocket league is still better.
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Hey, I didn't know you were doing this.

That's literally 9-4 EST so I will never ever be watching you but I wish you success!
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GildedFool posted...

As someone who is hopefully about to be the beficiary of these things, you currently have to reactivate your Prime Subscription every month and there isn't a way to have it roll-over which is annoying to the subs and the streamers.

I'm hoping it's something they change soon as having the option would be nice.

As someone who somewhat frequently uses my prime sub (maybe 8-9 months out of the year) I don't mind this. When I don't visit a stream for awhile and forget to renew it then that's an eye opening way for me to realize that perhaps I don't visit that stream often enough for it to warrant the sub and I use it somewhere else. And it's nice having it available so I can put it towards AGDQ and SGDQ so the proceeds go somewhere nice.

As opposed to the few times I've had a full sub set up, and decided I was going to cancel it, only to forget and remember 3+ months later.
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GildedFool posted...

50 followers

thats it? man okay

I was expecting like 1000 or something like Youtube wants now
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Added, good luck to you!
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It shouldn't be necessary to auto-roll the prime sub, but I think it'd be nice to have as an option, since it exists for a regular sub.
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If I could figure out how to give you my prime sub, I would, but I can't find the option anywhere
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SgtSphynx posted...

If I could figure out how to give you my prime sub, I would, but I can't find the option anywhere

Its not available yet. But if he's getting affiliated it will be soon.
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The shorthand for Gilded Fool is Fool, and we already have a Fool.

good luck dude, being British gives you a leg up from every doofy-ass American wannabe streamer.
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