Photo by Simone Secci on Unsplash
I asked my cohort community for questions related to streaming and gaming in general! Let’s get started.
Q: “What drew you to Magic: the Gathering? What is the Magic community like? Is it a female friendly environment?”
A: I remember my first experience with Magic like it was yesterday! I was at my local game store (RIP Game Factory) playing Star Wars miniatures and some older guys that my friend and I knew through just hanging around the shop were playing Magic. I have always enjoyed card games and the artwork and gameplay I witnessed immediately drew me in. They were kind enough to gift my friend and I some cards to build a deck and we were both hooked right then and there. The overall Magic community is quite a bit different when you compare the local scene to the online community. Magic players online tend to complain a lot and wish for changes in terms of bans or tournament structures. Of course, that is not every Magic player, since there are a lot of positive influencers online in the community, but the majority of content out there is fairly negative or “click baity”. However, the local community we have here in Victoria is phenomenal! Everyone is extremely friendly and welcoming to newer players. I am close friends with many of the players in the community and I cherish any opportunity to hang out and play in person as it is always a blast. Magic has come a long way with making spaces more friendly for women, but the online community, as mentioned before, can be toxic and demeaning. I do believe that is the minority of online interactions, but it unfortunately does still exist. Our local scene mostly consists of male players, but we have a few female players come out on occasion who seem to enjoy the experience and often return for future events. We always are happy to have new players join us and everyone is welcome to play and enjoy Magic!
Q: “Is Magic related to D&D in any way?”
A: Magic and D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) are both managed by Wizards of the Coast! There was a Magic and D&D crossover set, Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, released in July of last year that incorporated some D&D concepts, such as rolling twenty sided dice and entering dungeons, into Magic gameplay. While the set was a huge success in terms of flavour and storytelling, it was fairly underpowered and did not make a big splash into competitive play.
Q: “How do you make money on Twitch?”
A: Since I am now an affiliate member on Twitch I am able to make money in a few different ways. The main way of making money on Twitch is through subscribers. Just like you would subscribe to any service or website, you can subscribe to your favourite Twitch streamers to receive special benefits, such as access to premium content, the ability to use custom emotes in chat, or basically anything they choose to include. Another way to make money is through Twitch users cheering with bits, which is the digital equivalent of a tip jar. Each bit is worth $0.01 and can be donated at any point during streams. The last popular way of making money is through running advertisements on your channel. Most streamers either run an advertisement when you first tune into a stream or at regular intervals during the stream, for example every hour or during breaks in gameplay. I am currently making money through my three subscribers and running the occasional advertisement here and there!
Q: “Can you explain what it [streaming] is in simple terms to someone who has no idea?”
A: Of course I can! Streaming is essentially broadcasting your favourite activity over the internet so people can watch. Twitch and YouTube are the two largest platforms that support streaming and I am currently streaming on Twitch. It is a great way to share your hobbies or passions with like-minded individuals who want to watch you enjoy yourself and build a community!
Q: “Has the levels of reading decreased in students as gaming/streaming increased in popularity/accessibility?”
A: Great question! I do not have any empirical evidence to support my opinion, but I believe that reading levels have not decreased among students who watch or participate in gaming or streaming. If anything, reading levels may have actually increased. Depending on the type of content, reading may be required and it definitely is required to participate in chatting while streamers are live. I think that gaming in general gets a bad reputation for being harmful for youth, but many skills are learned and practiced through gaming that they may not have been learned otherwise.
Q: “Do you need special equipment to stream yourself playing an online game?”
A: Absolutely not! My set-up is pretty bare bones and I find it to work just fine for streaming Magic. I have a fairly new computer with access to one monitor, a webcam, and a microphone. I did need to set-up OBS (Open Broadcaster Softfare) on my desktop and configure my settings to make my stream function as intended, but that was not a difficult task at all. There are also lots of YouTube tutorials and content creators out there who are willing to help those who are interested in beginning to stream!
Q: “Favorite card designs?”
A: Oh boy, I could go on for hours and hours talking about card designs, but I will limit myself to a few different categories of cards. First, I genuinely love cards that are clearly either pushed or straight up too good. I routinely find the decks that I enjoy playing end up getting one or more cards in them banned. Second, I like playing with cards that are generic answers to any potential problems that I may face while in a game. Some cards require certain conditions in order to be good or even function properly, but I prefer my cards to always have a purpose and work as intended in a variety of potential situations. Finally, I am always pleased to play cards that are able to “snowball” an advantage. This means that certain cards, when played while you are winning the game or at parity, create an insurmountable advantage at a key moment during the game. Of course being on the opposite side of these cards is immensely frustrating, but it is cool and fun when I do it to other people!
Q: “How do you gain a following / supporters?”
A: I was lucky enough to already have a decent following from playing competitive Magic and being active on Twitter. Especially over the pandemic, I was able to play in lots of online events and make a name for myself. I hope that my opponents all cower in fear when they are paired versus the Baron of Bacon! I was able to network those connections I made through competitive Magic to gain supporters for my stream fairly quickly and reach affiliate status after my first month. I always tweet when I am about to go live on Twitch and I make sure to let my friends know over messenger on Facebook so they can come hang out and have fun. Having a consistent schedule also helps build a following so my supporters know when I will be going live. Consistency and networking would be the two best ways, in my opinion, to help grow a stream!
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