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I became a new writer for All Ages of Geek and I started to wonder what type of content should I create for this brand? Being that I am a streamer, there are a handful of people who understand what my Twitch journey was like, but there are a lot of times where we don’t know anything about other streamers. I figured since I’m going to keep streaming anyways, I might as well have a new segment on my stream where I play games with another streamer, but also get to know them.
For the first episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing fellow All Ages of Geek member and streamer, DioStreams!
So first things first, when did you start streaming and how long has been since you started streaming?
Since, 2017, December 2017. I was still in highschool at that point . I was in my Senior Year and I had always wanted to get into streaming because content creation was a little on the difficult side of things. It is very difficult to stream and go through high school.
Because of college and stuff like that?
Even then I didn’t want to go to college. I was like screw college, I didn’t want to waste my money on an education with things I won’t use in my life.
When was it when you went consistent with streaming?
Pretty much instantaneously. Everyday I would just stream. Once I got my PS4 for Christmas, I just started. I had Battlefield 1, I had crappy internet and I still made it work. I had GTA5, you know games that you know made sense to have for Twitch gaming, and I had friends to play with. My goal was to stream at least once a week. My goal was to become a full time streamer.
Where did the name DioStreamz come from?
So originally my name was Lightlord13 and that was a name I had since I was 11. After 10 years it wasn’t sticking especially with Youtube, but it did stick with streaming, but I felt I needed to switch it up because it wasn’t sticking. Eventually as I got older, I realized it was a Final Fantasy reference even though I never played a Final Fantasy game. I was like “yeah I’m gonna have to change this. I never played the game”.
The time felt right. Everyone called me Dio and almost nobody called me Light so I was like alright DioStreamz it is.
What kind of streamer are you? What kind of games, what kind of content do you produce on Twitch?
Recently because I’m trying to get back into the once a week grind, I’ll sit down and chat with people, talk about somethings that are going on in the week. I’ve been playing Bioshock recently, but that’s like the one game that I’ve played, but I do want to play more, it’s just I haven’t found the time because I’ve been switching it up.
I’ve been going from “I want to play Bioshock” to now “I’m sitting down talking” to now recently I’ve been reading George Orwell’s “1984” on stream. I do a variation of things. I don’t want to be like a one and done streamer where I focus on one thing. I know that it’s a thing on Twitch where you should be consistent with one thing, but once you switch it up you start losing followers. I wanna be myself, I do gaming, I do commentary stuff.
So you’ve been streaming for about 5 years now, what are some of some setbacks you’ve experienced during this stream journey?
Work. Pretty much just work or college, it was consuming a lot of my time. When I started it was school and I was juggling between trying to be a Youtube and streamer at the same time. Then work got busy and then I was also in a band that took a lot of time. But mostly work has kept me from being consistent in some form or fashion.
Was there any difficulties that you faced within your own community or do you think it’s just finding that balance?
I say it’s a mix of both. Initially when I first started streaming, I was already a part of a community with this Irish streamer, HaggisMctavish. When I knew him on his stream, I was very well known in his community, because I got busy and he got busy and Scotland is a completely different life from here. When I first started streaming, I got a push to keep it going, but school got busy and I tried to keep it consistent. But then college came and I was like “shit”. Even though I missed streaming, it was still fun being a college student.
I had a strong movement at first, but once everything got busy everything slowed down, I wasn’t getting as much viewers and followers as I used to. My discord was dying and now nobody talks nowadays.
We talked about some difficulties you faced with streaming, what have been some positives during your stream journey?
I’ve gotten raids, donations, I’ve met some new people, I’ve laughed and cried and got some good friends out of it. In general just streaming in general. I love the fun that comes with it. Yeah there is a grind with it but you have to learn the game with it. It is a little difficult to go against the meta. Let’s be honest a lot of people like to stream Apex and Valorant and there’s nothing wrong with those games, they’re popular for a reason or even Among Us.
I don’t want to play games that are overstaying their welcome and then finding the next game that we have to move to. I had a problem with the oversaturation problem that exists that prevents smaller creators from making it as their job.
One of the biggest things I’m curious about being that you’ve been a Twitch streamer for a while now, what are your thoughts on the current landscape of Twitch?
Wow, I can go so deep with this. I think with my account, it has been around since 2014.
It has grown a lot, but it has grown to a point where it makes it difficult for small streamers to be able to dethrone the big cats. You have Pokimane and it’s impossible to dethrone her. You got Ninja and it’s impossible to dethrone him. Then you have HasanAbi who everyone would love to dethrone him because not a lot of people agree with his political views. I feel he is shitposting at this point because admittedly it is way too radical at this point.
The landscape of Twitch, it makes me miss the days of Mixer. I’m always someone who’s always big on alternatives for any kind of main competition. With Youtube, there’s Dailymotion, Rumble, Vimeo. With Twitter you have Getter, which already has a bad rep as is. Even then I’m for alternatives because it gives competition for what has been the normal for the last decade. If there is an alternative it should be seen as a good thing.
With the landscape, we can be ourselves but we also can’t be ourselves. There is that cap, we can’t be edgy like we used to be like in the old days, certain words are censored, there was a mod problem that came up recently. I do see the trajectory of Twitch, but it is trying to be as neutral as possible, but it is difficult to be against the grain. You have to play the Meta game or find a way to stand out. If my way of standing out is being a political commentator or reading books on stream or not playing games that everyone is playing, if it means me being myself then I’m willing to be myself.
It is difficult to be yourself on Twitch because keep in mind, Ninja got big off their characters, Shroud, Tfue and even Pokimane to an extent. There is a certain Meta where it is beneficial to some, but detrimental for smaller streamers. The censorship of words on Twitch, you’re not allowed to say words like “simp”.
They do have recommended channels but it’s like a rare shot that you will get on that page. It’s not impossible, but very difficult. Don’t get me wrong if that time comes, hey that’s great but that’s because of the grind. The 9 to 5 job is slowly starting to die because of the pandemic. I would love to stream as a full time job one day where I can just stream 3 to 4 hours where I make a boatload of money. There are some people who do stream 9 to 5 everyday and I respect that because they went from a job that was a boring 9 to 5 to where their 9 to 5 is playing Minecraft. There’s a lot of uncertainty with Twitch streaming. There’s a lot of discourse with Twitch and streaming.
What are your goals for the upcoming year?
I’ve been asking myself this question recently given that I’ve been a streamer roughly over 4 to 5 years and not only that I’ve been a content creator since 2011. The question I asked myself is “what do I want to get out of this?”
I seek an alternative from working a monotonous 9 to 5 job. Being your own DIY type of person is my goal. Look at All Ages of Geek, it’s made by two people who didn’t want to work a regular job and work around their passion project. I want to work around my passion project which is to be a content creator. Being a streamer it’s more live and raw.
One of the hardest things of getting big into Youtube or Streaming is that it used to be solo, but now you have to be in a group and then get big off of it. I’m cool with it because if you make funny ass content with friends I’m all for it. Sometimes you are at your best when you are with your friends and then see individual success afterwards. I’m glad that type of content is getting big in its own way.
Any advice for anyone that wants to get into streaming?
You won’t get famous right away and that’s okay. Don’t expect success to come immediately, it will come overtime. Patience is key when it comes to streaming.
Quick hitters sections: first answer that comes to your mind
One album you can listen to without any skips
Vaporwave “I’m Trying to Live like This”
5 dinner guests dead or alive
Michael Jackson, Kobe, Lemmy Kilmister, Ronnie James Dio, Ozzy Osbourn and if there’s a waiter Joey Ramone
Top 5 Cereals
Frosted Flakes, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Fruity Pebbles, Reese Puffs, Waffle Crisps
Go to Gas Station Snack
Big bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos and a big bottle of Sprite
Before we wrap this up if you want to promote yourself feel free:
I stream every Wednesday at 3PM
Twitch.tv/diostreamz
I’m a host on Toonecasters on All Ages of Geek. Make sure to check out All Ages of Geek.
I also released an EP called “Dead Nights of December”.
bandcamp.com/diostreamzmusic
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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Need coverage? Please send an email to Allagesofhr@gmail.com
Ernie Kim is a writer at All Ages of Geek. You can follow him on:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDAMjgorPZhYhmNHA2ZajSQ
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/itsthego
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itstheg0/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/itstheg0
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