Community Interview: Xinixia

Quick Facts

Name: Xin

Age: 28

Favorite Game Genre: Story Based/Point n Click/Puzzle

Favorite Game: The Longest Journey

Favorite Food: Lobster & Chili Linguine

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite Streamer: NorthernLion

Random Fact About You: I speak 5 languages decently, & know a lot of phrases in lots of others.

In-Depth Questions

When did you start streaming and who or what influenced you?

• Started streaming seriously in July 2018, influenced by needing a change of pace, and wanting to hang out with like minded, game interested people.

What do you like to stream and when do you typically stream?

• I stream Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed & Fri, and each day has a different style/genre associated. Sundays are long play, usually AAA games like Red Dead Redemption 2 or God of War, Mondays are chilled, funny, Point n Click games, Tuesdays are something a bit of a mix between lesser known story based titles & puzzle games, Wednesdays are weirder indie titles & Fridays are community multiplayer games.

What platform do you stream from? Where do you publish your content?

• PC, PS4 via capture card, I've recently started publishing VODs to YouTube again for storage purposes. Very low effort.

What is the very first game you ever remember playing?

• Thunderstruck for the BBC Micro.

What about you and your stream do you feel sets you apart from other streamers?

• I do extreme variety, such that people should always be able to stop by at least once or twice a week, to avoid games they either don't want spoiled, or aren't interested in. I also heavily curate my community, such that people who just want to do nothing but be obnoxious, spam, meme, or such are removed asap. Everyone should be comfortable with everyone else in my community! People who want to hang out, chat, play games & have fun have nothing to fear though :D

What are your goals for your streaming community?

• I'm hoping to reach 1k followers by the end of the year, & grow to an average of 15 viewers in a 1 month period for at least 2 months. Moving forward I would love it if I could make enough money through twitch to do it as a job, or supplement to a job, but regardless I have no plans to stop for at least 3 more years.

How do you personally balance your streaming with work and your personal life?

• I don't work, & my stream is a large part of my personal life. I've recently gone back to university to study Games Design/Programming, so I stream in the evenings when I'm not at school. I consider the people in my community my friends, and I have a very active & supportive discord server that I hang out with a lot, and play games with off-stream at times.

Have you encountered any hardships with streaming? How have you worked through them and what advice do you have for your fellow streamers?

• Networking is the biggest struggle. A good number of people who live their lives on the internet are often a strange combination of fragile & arrogant, especially when it comes to streaming, so trying to reach out to people in a genuine way without being considered a "leech" is very difficult. Becoming friends with people online who suddenly decide without warning that you're no longer interesting to them, and being thrown aside, is also very hard to deal with. It's much easier to be an asshole to someone you can block. My advice is to be as thick skinned as you can, when it comes to streaming. Be prepared for disappointment. Be prepared for bad days. Be prepared to be in this for the long haul before you see serious results. People are mean, people can be unthinking, but you can't let that get to you. Don't stop trying, never give up on trusting people, because even getting treated like shit 100 times is worth it if it leads you to a few real connections.

What are some of your long term goals outside of your streaming career?

• Hoping to graduate with the best degree quality possible, survive living with my parents the next 3 years & then go on to create my own games alongside streaming. Being able to split my working time between streaming and programming would be an absolute dream. Longer term, moving out of the city to a more quiet village, still within easy reach of the city itself & allowing my brain to finally rest for a bit.

Do you have any streaming tips or suggestions for your fellow True members, or anyone looking to start streaming?

• Don't listen to the big streamers. If you serious advice, look to the people who are one or two steps ahead of you. If you have 0 viewers, ask people who have 4 or 5 for help. If you have 4 or 5, ask those with 10-20. The current big streamers made it to where they are under very, very different conditions, and while we should all respect what they've created, they haven't a clue how things work down at the bottom right now. My personal top tips, as a 13 avg. view streamer who makes things harder on himself through various game choices:

1. Talk CONSTANTLY. If you're sitting at 0 viewers, you might think there's no point in talking, but someone coming in is going to need a hook, a reason to stay, and they're under no obligation to be the one to start the conversation. Talk about anything, tell a story, talk about your thought process in game. The more you do this, the better you get at it, and the more you can fill in those quieter moments.

2. For the love of god, unless you're needing it for specifically avoiding trolls, do NOT put your channel in follower only mode. Everyone says how good this is, but imagine, you're scrolling the channels, click on one, watch the 30s ad, and then this fucker with 10 followers & 0 viewers insists that you follow for the privilege of chatting to them? Taken to the extreme, of course, but it's a massive turn off. I did an experiment where I put my channel in 1second follow only mode for two weeks, and my growth dropped by about 15% overall, and I even had one person follow me specifically to tell me to fuck off for having follow only mode on :D DON'T DO IT.

3. Don't cover your entire screen with an overlay. Having something eye catching is good, but be minimalist. If your overlay covers more than 10% of the screen, you're likely turning off a lot of people who would just like to see the game.

4. Play what you want, but be smart about it. If you're brand new to streaming, and your plan is to stream Overwatch at Silver rank for 15 hours a week, you're going to struggle to get people stopping by. For newer people, try finding a game you enjoy with around 500-1000 viewers total on twitch (but make sure they aren't ALL due to one single streamer) and see if you can find some people who have a passion for the same games you do, that don't have many options for people to watch.

5. Pay attention to chat CONSTANTLY. Put it somewhere you can always see it. If that means you have to play your game in a window, then play your game in a window. If someone comes into your chat and says hi and doesn't get a hi back within about 10 seconds, they're gone. Chat interaction is what twitch is about, it's why people come to twitch over youtube, and if you're going to ignore your audience, they're going to leave.

Is there anything else you'd like us or the community to know?

• I talk too much.