10/10/2020
"We're small streamers, but our ambitions are big"
Hi! I'm Yen, and like 95% of the FB game streaming community, I'm labelled as a small streamer. No manager. No agency. No official sponsor. No media partnership. No tie up. No high budget for advertising and promotion. Everything from scratch. Everything from savings. Everything from pure support of my friends and family.
I've experienced collaborations, some of which became my friends, some of which only used me to do free designs and stream set ups and then forgot me. I've experienced sponsors that ghosted me after giving them the advertising they wanted. I've experienced partnerships where I had to beg for their side of the promise to be fulfilled because I fulfilled mine. It's a tough world for small streamers. We manage our own risks. We can lose it all. But because we love what we do, and we genuinely gain happiness everytime we stream, we continue on.
No thank you is enough for every like, share, comment and star I receive. I deeply appreciate all the support from the people who drop by the streams, even for just a few seconds. I will never stop saying thank you to you guys because you are all what makes it "worth it"
This is me on a typical night, It might not seem like it, but streaming a game takes a lot of time, effort, money and energy. It seems like a very easy task to do (stream). But behind it, I:
- Rewatch my stream for quality control and check what I did wrong to improve it
- Check my streaming settings to see if my computer and internet can handle a higher quality for my viewers
- Train on Aimlabs to get better at aiming because really, who would want to watch somebody so weak?
- Watch YouTube videos of pros and see how they play
- Watch my idol streamers to see what they are doing right and put effort to put myself on the same level
- Learn more design skills (because I simply cannot afford to buy it)
- Save up for future games/gadgets for my own playing pleasure, and for your better viewer entertainment.
Kudos to the small streamers who still keep going even though we feel like we simply cannot make it like all the others.
Kudos to the small streamers who help others in the community to push each other forward.
Kudos to the small streamers who keeps asking questions to step up their quality.
If you're reading this, I have a few requests. It's not too big for you, but it is extremely huge for us.
- Next time you see a small streamer, please be kind enough to click the "follow" button. It's only another notification for you. But it might mean the world to them.
- Next time you see a small streamer who has put a lot of effort into making the stream layout as beautiful as possbile whether they made it themselves or paid for it, be kind enough to comment "nice stream design!" on their stream. It is only 3 seconds for you. But it might have been a week of sleepless nights of planning and creativity for them.
- Next time you see a small streamer who is really good at their game (not cheaters), share their stream. It may be simply another timeline post for you, but it may mean countless hours of training and future esports careers for them.
- Next time you see a small streamer who has entertainment value, watch them for a few minutes. It's only dead time to you, but it might mean extreme fight of camera anxiety and sponsorships for them.
Thank you for all of you who support small streamers, because as much as you think we are only playing games, we also put in a lot of time and effort to give you the best entertainment we can provide to hopefully, just in a few moments of time, your smile was the result of our "simply playing"
