Eric Plowden is an Interactive Multimedia Major Senior whose current focus is to create and edit videos and Produce content live and offline on media formats on websites such as YouTube and Twitch.

Originally intending to become a Game designer, he has some experiences With minor coding, Game design principles, and Creating small games in Unity. Some minor sets of skills in animation and working with music programs like audacity and Ableton live 10.

In addition to those skills, Eric has Personal and taught experience with some of the Adobe suite programs like Premiere Pro, Photoshop and a bit in After effects. Eric hopes to further his skills as a growing twitch streamer by providing entertaining content live, create some edited works of those streams, and build up his experience of video editing by producing original and inspired videos based off of gaming and storytelling content.

What Is My Project About?

My purpose for this project is to create a video that has 2 goals in mind. One is to share my experiences as a growing streamer, as well as share the experience of other Twitch streamers to shed some light on our stories from how to we started to where we are now as streamers and the journeys we went through to grow. My other goal is to also make it educational by including different stories/perspectives of growing as a twitch streamer, including elements like growing a community, obtaining affiliate status, making connections, and giving tips to newer streamers and those interested in what being a streamer is like. I want to give an inside look to some of the main struggle points, as well as ways of success that Twitch streamers of all variety experience at different levels of growth.

When Will The Video Be Available To View?

The full video will be released sometime around 2 weeks into June. I will post it here when it is finished but I will update its progress to completion on my Twitter and the video will be posted on my YouTube channel. So if you want to stay updated, make sure you follow my Twitter and subscribe to my YouTube linked in the buttons above.

Why Did I Decide To Do My Project Based On Twitch?

Around May 2020, I decided to Stream on Twitch as a fun endeavor and hobby to pursue at the start of Quarantine. I had thought about streaming and done some test streams here and there. From this point, I already had created some content on my YouTube channel and watched a bit of twitch before I started. My original Idea was to create a Smash Ultimate original story, but I changed my mind to something I found more close to heart and personal. After starting to make content on twitch and Involving myself into other Twitch communities for about 7 months, I wanted to take my already established hobby as a streamer and share my own and other experiences from people who have also decided to create content on the Platform. Covid-19 was a big change for people, which played a role in my inspiration to become a content creator on Twitch, and the reason I’ve picked up many Hobbies I never thought I would have today.

The Procedure

• I created a survey with several questions for Twitch streamers to fill out in order to gain an idea of their own experiences and Insights, as well as being able to see if they would be fine with me conducting a live video or voice call interview for additional questions. My goal was to find people from different parts of the twitch journey from people who started out to those who are Twitch partners and beyond.

• Took 2 months or so to contact and ask people to fill out the survey.

• This itself was a learning experience for me to hear different stories and journeys different from mine.

• I scheduled a 2 week period (April 22nd to May 5th) to the Video/voice calls so people can pick days and then I would interview them

• After a couple weeks I conducted these interviews and then for the video I will include and pick out the best parts and most meaningful points of conversations I had with each Person I was able to interview.

The Struggles

One of the hardest things I had to deal with was the Idea of keeping my motivation. Although I’m passionate being a streamer and a viewer on Twitch, getting the word out and contacting streamers about helping me with the project was the thing that was a constant problem. Most of the streamers that filled out my survey were those I knew from communities I were already in, but being able to explain and communicate what my project was about took a while to get down. I would personally email and direct message people to ask them to fill out my survey for the project. Most of the project procedure was waiting for them to respond to it and to get the results.

Another thing that I struggled with was the communication part. I struggled not being nervous when asking streamers, I owe it to the people who told me it doesn’t hurt to ask people if they can me, It took a lot of courage in order for me to ask a streamer during a live stream to help me with this project. I had one streamer open it up during a stream and I was so nervous, but I think this project has given me different exposure to new streamers I had no idea about and increased my Twitch networking capabilities.

Although I was not able to many partnered streamers to do the second interviews or never got the opportunity to get streamers who have been streaming for more than 4-5+ years, I did get permission to use footage from a interview of 7 year full time streamer Natsumii I had emailed previously and never got an answer from. I Initially watched the interview live and it was honestly the best timing for me to happen to watch her stream. Probably the most surprising thing I never expected to work out. And all I had to do was ask someone to pass a message on to ask for permission.

During the second video/voice interviews, the first few I was definitely nervous and did not have a set amount of additional questions to ask people. Although by the end, I was definitely more confident In being the person interviewing. Of course it was different depending on how I interacted with the streamers prior to the project’s start. Some I was best friends with and others I only interacted with less often than others. Overall, it certainly helped with my interviewing skills and social interaction confidence.

While I still have to make the video still, the lack of good equipment like a camera and my own B-roll footage from a high quality camera are things that I feel will set me back, but I am determined to work with what I have and fuel my passion into it. Using some clip footage provided by some streamers and my own made footage, I’ll make it work.

Overall Experience

I think I benefited from abandoning my old thesis Idea and going with my current one socially and its definitely been rewarding. Having the opportunity to network and create new connections on twitch has given me the skills to try to apply it in other situations outside of the twitch community. I think being able to understand a community and contributing by telling the stories of those who may “just” seem like the average twitch streamer is something important to me because we all have a reason to start streaming and I’ve seen so many moments of happiness, sadness, and just pure chaos in the twitch community and I wish I could tell every story I’ve experienced as a viewer and in my own streams.