My Experience with YouTube and Twitch Content Creation

With regard to my history with YouTube, I had already been a member of YouTube since 2007. When I signed up for Gmail, I was automatically granted with a YouTube account as well because they are both tied to Google. I had only posted on YouTube for the first time in 2010 with gameplay from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and from Star Wars: The Old Republic. All of this was done without video capture hardware or any kind of dedicated streaming setup. All I had was a MSi gaming laptop equipped with a GeForce Video card and screen recording software.

In 2015 and 2016, I really struggled with home life and my relationship, and I also struggled with sustained stability in my employment, which led to financial struggle, and issues with my mental health. I needed to make some changes, and I became motivated. I had been watching various streamers on Twitch for at least a year and began researching how to go about using Twitch. That same year I quit my main job and focused on my own side-business Phresh New Media which I started in 2000.

For years, I had really wanted to figure out how to stream video games and put my gameplay on the internet. In 2016, I researched, and bought various types of video capturing hardware and finally got everything to work. However, it was always an uphill battle even up to now after 6 years. I primarily wanted to figure out the technology which I did, but I also wanted to see if I could catch a lucky break and get a big following online. Once I had everything set up for streaming, I first started out with Overwatch and then moved onto Destiny and The Division.

Starting out on Twitch, I realized that it was very difficult to get followers and subscribers, and I also had to broadcast myself while playing games. I had joined a Facebook group for Twitch Streamers from the Vancouver and lower mainland areas and was greeted pretty coldly when I asked people to check out my channel. I couldn't understand why others were greeted so warmly and why I was getting slapped by negative comments and cold shoulders. It still boggles my mind and I felt like I was being treated like an immature teenager rather than a grown adult by others in the streaming community and it really turned me off but I kept at it.

By 2017 I had over 300+ followers on Twitch but decided I wanted to switch my focus to YouTube instead. Twitch had various limitations in place and the biggest thing that changed my mind was gaming itself. I felt that having to do commentary, or talk while I played, massively took away from my gaming experience. I did not feel immersed any longer and I could not concentrate on playing a game well. To me IMHO it was like having to talk through a movie I was watching but not really being able to enjoy it because I couldn't concentrate on the story or the visuals as I would if I could just be silent and absorb the experience.
On top of that I was limited to low bitrates and low quality video streaming in Twitch until I hit a certain subscriber threshold, which I was never able to get to.

However, by moving to YouTube, I was able to produce considerably higher quality videos with much higher bitrates, and without limitations. It also freed me from having to do commentary, that took away from my enjoyment of the game I had been focusing on.

Fast forward to 2022, 5 years later and I finally have over 120+ subscribers on YouTube, nearly 800 uploaded videos, and nearly 90,000 combined views on all internet sources. I still feel however that this number is incredibly low compared to other people and their channels, considering the amount of work and effort I've put into my own YouTube channel.

There are still issues with how the YouTube algorithm works and how it handles traffic and redirects. My channel and videos receive far less views than other channels that have much lower quality. Those lower quality channels and videos somehow receive far more views and hits numbering in the thousands. When I post a video, I couldn't understand why I only received 12 or so views while someone with similar content was getting 12,000 views or more. It is something that is still ongoing and is really unfair. I'm struggling to get thousands of views on certain video clips while ten-year olds with iPhones are getting millions of views on their silly, effortless video clips.

Over the years, my hardware has gotten much more expensive but also much better. My company has transitioned from Phresh New Media to Phresh Digital Arts & Consulting. I'm still enjoying playing various video games and sharing the high-fidelity visuals with anyone and everyone on the internet that is interested. Gaming is not just for kids and is actually self-care. It provides an escape from stresses and hardships in real life and really improves mental health.

Check out my channel here:
(https://www.youtube.com/user/phreshninja)

also recommended viewing:
(10 Misconceptions About Gamers from Non-Gamers)

Toxicity, Criticism and Psychology 101

I'm not a fan of toxicity or criticism and I used to have a major anger management issue before I learned martial arts. I often diffuse the frustration of criticism by boiling it down to the psychology of the fragile person doing the criticizing. It always comes down to one of two things.

 1.) They perceive you as a threat to their own position. They know that you can do something better than than themselves or have some value greater than theirs and jealousy kicks in. They try to take you down a notch by fabricating or constructing things that you have done in error while in the eyes of others. They will refuse to be constructive in your case and won't support any positive accomplishments.

 2.) They perceive you as weak and feel they can further assert dominance over you. It can be something you've done by mistake or that you haven't pushed back when pushed.

The solution is always to play it cool but know when to turn up the heat. You can often find a way to show how they are a valued asset as a team member instead of competition, or you can rip them a new asshole and show them why you've accomplished what you've accomplished and that they haven't even done as much as you have.

These are some of the things that run through my own mind every time I hear criticism in conversations:

Social Media and misinformation in the 2020's is the most dangerous weapon the world has ever seen in our entire human history. It is absolutely mind-fuckingly ridiculous how fake news, unproven opinions and misinformation can somehow outweigh and overrule scientific, truthful facts.

We are in a new digital age. The internet can be amazing but it can also be filled with toxic people. Trolls and whiney complainers are too common. Just remember this saying "those that mind, don't matter, and those that matter, don't mind".

There are people out there who only want to undermine you. Just know that they are usually less capable of doing what you can do. It usually means the only way they can falsely establish importance over you is to demean you in front of others or talk behind your back. Challenge them to do it better in solo competition, and then do it better than they can. Win. Tarnish their reputation instead.

If the comment is negative without even being just a little constructive, the only thing that I will hear are farts and plops of shit coming out of an asshole.

The truth about human psychology is that everyone's a critic until they have to do the very exact work that they are criticizing. STFU already. Hypocrites are insignificant. Be constructive or GTFO.

Criticizing makes people feel big or important. That's why they do it because they are insignificant while trying to be significant.

Just because you like to offend people doesn't mean that YOU are right. If you are proud of being an asshole, you are just proving to everyone that you are a feeble attention whore.

Oh wah. Underestimation is a bitch isn't it. I bet it makes you mad that what you said about me isn't true.

Sorry this is a team effort. Stop complaining about how I do it. If you don't like the way I do it, then feel free to do it yourself. When you attempt to do it ,I will gladly aggravate you right back.

Either way, if you are criticizing in a non-constructive way without a comment on how to improve something, I already automatically know that you've lost. That is textbook loser behaviour.

Unbanning People On Twitter Is A Bad Idea

If Elon Musk makes changes to Twitter that will allow people like Donald Chump back onto the platform, I probably don't want to stay on it anymore. (Yes, I purposely spelled his name wrong because I absolutely detest this person.) Just because D.J.T. is a rich, shark-like businessman, that does not make him a good leader or a good person at all. People that believe in him are either misinformed or have a Lemming mind-set.

For one thing, it could probably incite more protests, more riots, and a massive escalation of misinformation and fake stories. DJ Chump is notorious for lying and spreading misinformation more than anyone on the planet.

I understand Elon's want for free-speech, but it shouldn't be at the cost of peace. Hate-speech, misinformation will be empowered if he allows this kind of change. Censorship exists for a reason. Certain people dislike it because it is another form of control, which they deem oppressive, but in actuality censorship is more of a safety mechanism.