This was an enlightening experience that I came into with the intent to accomplish two things:
- Meeting people I already knew. I’m not necessarily one for being starstruck, but there was plenty of potential here. Instead, I focused more on spending time with the people that, partner or unknown, had taken the time to extend their friendship to me and making new friends as they appeared.
- Education + Empathy. I did want information about how to grow and all of that, but I feel that my experience would be wasted if I just picked things that benefitted me, so I picked panels that helped me understand the perspectives of others as well.
If you’d care to know which panels I attended, here’s a list for the entire event:
- Storytelling through Statistcs
- How to Grow & Navigate Twitch as a streamer of color
- Rolling Over Your Obstacles: Streaming with Disabilities
- What does it REALLY take to grow on twitch?
- We’re Listening! User Research at Twitch
- Variety Streaming: Brainstorming, Strategies, and Finding What Works
- How Streamers Should Work with Publishers & Developers
I picked 2-3 things per day to leave plenty of time open for hugs and trust, I got plenty of them. I brought no business cards or other swag; it seemed a bit pretentious on my part as a person who was just as new as everyone else.
My panel choices and the experience of attending them left me feeling two things:
- Confirmed in what direction I needed to take. I had many things related to the Mori community in mind when I came to this con and the panels and people I met confirmed that my intuition on a few things was correct.
- Left with a big question regarding my community. We’ll speak on that shortly.
In terms of direction, I am a variety streamer/caster, but I also know I like cooperative games (LoL), good stories (FFXI, Lucy), and solving puzzles (Hollow Knight). So while I have a lot of lingo to learn for games that fit those descriptions, I think I’ve found where I’m going to be most comfortable and with that, I can explore those to their proper ends. This wasn’t a discovery, but rather a solid “Yes. Keep going in this direction” and those are important.
In terms of community, I’ve tried for a very long time to give as much as I can while asking for as little as possible; most things I want I can get, but what builds the bonds of a community are things they accomplish together. I’ve realized through TwitchCon and a bunch of smaller moments leading to it, that I need to tell you that story and give you other ways to contribute and give to this community. I owe that chance to all of you in Mori; I’ve gone as far as I think I can without including others and that means you.
One more thing: I’ve realized is that keeping Discord tucked away and such is a bit contrary to my goals; moderation tools exist. I’ve tried to be super selective about who can join the Discord to prevent certain issues, but I think it’s time to open the gates and see what happens. We’re all super sassy anyway, so if someone is disrespectful, we’ll have no problems with saying so.
Next post will be that vision and what I hope to make with the community because Discord has a character limit.
Thanks for reading. o/
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