It was around two years and a facebook comment ago when my friend suggested that he would be down to watch me stream if I ever did it.
“Right. Like streaming me playing a game? Well, if I ever do, I’ll let you know.”
An anime-style two-year timeskip later, through the wonder of the internet I meet a man who goes by Ninbinz and we form a bond. He has around himself a community of people who do all manner of creative things which include streaming. At this point, I take my laptop and download OBS. I google and ask people annoying questions I could have also googled and make an account on Twitch and I start streaming FFXI because that was the game I wanted to play at the time.
People came by and enjoyed and hit the follow button.
Like… holy crap. People want to see me do this. I’m not prepared for all of this, but I figure if people want to hang out and enjoy FFXI with me, I’d be happy to have their company.
Months later, I start thinking about how to make that experience better and take a break to re-emerge a bit more organized (read as: I finally got a functional layout) and with more games (read as: I decided to play League of Legends on stream, too). It’s been an adventure of improvement and connections ever since with some subs for flavor.
While I still play League and FFXI most of the time, I’ve also started adding more D&D and just time being creative and working on bits of art. I’m still surprised on so many levels that people continue to just be there for whatever I’m up for playing that day.
It’s wild and wonderful and I hope that whenever people come by, even for a little while, that they feel like they can be themselves.
Part of my effort in that direction was helping Ninbinz reform the Project PBR crew, but that’s a story for a different entry… or you could just visit their website.
I hope that the way I go about playing my games and interacting makes everyone think about how to be better people. I hope my interactions with people on and offline enriches them somehow in a meaningful way.
Maybe I’ll get to play more games and connect with people who make them. Maybe I’ll just stream on a day that saves someone’s life. Maybe I’ll meet a bunch of people just like me or a bunch of people waiting for me to do what I enjoy so they can find their own joy.
Unintended as it was at the beginning, I’m down for all of this now and whatever it becomes in the future whether much or little.