Growth, and Why It Isn’t The Most Important Thing
Growth, and Why It Isn’t The Most Important Thing
Written by Th0rNd
Twitter.com/Th0rNd
Twitch.tv/th0rnd
If you ask any streamer their goals for the new year, one of the most common answers will be “I want to grow!” Growth is always an important goal, but many of us view and place too much emphasis on growth. I’m guilty of this.
The problem with “growth” is that you can’t really measure it. It is such an ambiguous term and many of us, myself included, don’t take the time to define what growth we would like to see. Want more follows, more viewers, more subscribers, more bits/cheers? What and where would you like to see growth? There are so many areas of streaming where a person could see honest and sustained growth, but unless they are looking in the specific area, they may accidentally ignore the growth.
This is why I say growth isn’t the most important thing.
Over the past year, I’ve gained over 1000 followers. I really started paying attention to streaming in February of 2017. I tried to pay attention to what other streamers were doing, I joined a couple groups out there who said they would help streamers grow. This isn’t a knock on them, I did see growth. 1000 followers in less than a year’s time isn’t anything to be discouraged about. The problem comes in that I entered into these relationships with these groups, promising growth, and I never clearly defined to myself what type of growth I wanted to see.
I networked, I supported others. My numbers went up, but it never felt like it translated into something successful. There again, it was my misconception about growth that lead to the empty feeling. You know, that feeling you get when you are “going live” night in, night out, getting one or two viewers in your channel, but they don’t talk. You struggle, you try to stay upbeat, and in the back of your mind you are wondering what you are doing wrong.
I placed entirely too much emphasis on a very generic, immeasurable term. Immeasurable because I had not defined to myself what the term meant to me. And growth means something different to everyone.
Growth isn’t the most important thing, and it never should be. There also isn’t an easy 3 step process to becoming a successful internet streamer. NO GROUP out there is going to make you an internet star. There are so many factors that go into becoming a successful streamer. Some of them you can control (networking, engaging viewers, etc), others you cannot (timing of interest in a particular game/topic). Thing is, I can sit here and analyze, compare myself to other streamers who have “made it”, and I could come up with a million different things where I could improve, and the list would change every time.
Don’t compare yourself to others.
The number one thing you should focus on is your comfort/fun level with what you are streaming. I mistakenly thought that I could simply buy the latest game and play it, and people would be interested, would stop by and watch me. The problem here is that when a new game comes out, the market is SOOOOOO saturated with streamers playing it, and the big names will most certainly take center stage. Don’t get me wrong, if you like/love the game and genuinely want to play it, then do so. If you’re having fun playing it, then it shouldn’t matter if you are getting views or not. You’re already getting that return on investment. Viewers are smart (not that anyone is stupid), they will be able to tell if a streamer has fun playing a game or if they are just trying their hand at what is popular.
The second thing is to cut out all the noise. By noise, I mean the internal noise that I’m sure we all experience. Take yourself back to the days before streaming - I would sit in front of a TV for hours playing a video game, with not a single person watching me, and I look back on those days as some of the most fond memories since I started gaming. I look back to the days where we would have tournaments on my street for games (OMG Goldeneye), and it was SO MUCH FUN.
Don’t chase a number. Instead, build something you would be comfortable watching. I’ve watched some of my past streams, and I can tell when I wasn’t comfortable. I can look back on those and identify the times when I went Live when I really should have just stepped away because I wasn’t engaged on playing the game I was streaming. I thought people would come to watch me when, honestly, I would not have even watched myself. If you find yourself feeling this way, step away. You’ll only frustrate yourself more.
Find some friends you can game with. Find people that you love to game with when the cameras aren’t rolling. That way, when the cameras are rolling, it will be easy to still have fun, and it will be natural. Forced, contrived streams are some of the most painful to go through, both for streamer and for viewer.
If you can’t be yourself on stream, then don’t stream. I don’t go to streams to watch a soap opera or acting. If you aren’t being yourself, then why are you even doing this? Honestly answer that question to yourself.
It’s cliche, but the saying holds true - “Love what you do and you’ll never work another day in your life.” How accurate that is…
I’m like many others, gaming and streaming is more of a hobby at the moment. I would love to turn that hobby into something that is sustainable for myself and my family, but not at the expense of my enjoyment. I have a job - I don’t want streaming/gaming to be my job. I don’t want to rely on so many circumstances that may or may not go my way.
All in all, enjoy the ride. Regardless of where it takes you, identify what you want out of it and set realistic goals. Be honest with yourself, find your fun, and everything else will fall into place.