2020 is finally coming to an end. Riddled with natural disasters and fights for equality, all while trying to survive in a year long global pandemic, it has certainly been a tough year for every one of us. For me personally, it has not been entirely bad, as I have been blessed with the opportunity to make a ton of new friends from all over the world. I’d like to take some time to reflect on some of that personal growth I saw happen this year.
I actually had my first opportunity to live stream on YouTube back in October 2019 through my job. My first ever stream was showing how to create UI elements such as health bars in Adobe Illustrator and setting it up in Unity to create your own video games. I had wonderful producers at my side in Jason and Dan. Although there was very little chat interaction, I was nervous as all hell. Needless to say, I didn’t last very long and I ended up bowing out after about 2 or 3 sessions.
Fast forward to March 2020 and enter COVID-19. I had to cancel my trip to the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, CA and begin working from home. This is where Twitch comes in. I had been a viewer on the platform for the last few years, mostly watching Halo players like Roy and Ninja. (yes, that Ninja) At this point, I was already 3 months into my subscription to BigBradBrad_, so I was really getting to know him and all of the other lovely people within his community ❤ Since I was already borrowing a headset and webcam from my job, and countless words of encouragement from Brad, I figured I’d give streaming another shot.
My first ever stream was on March 21, 2020. I played an hour and 16 minutes of Halo CE with an average of 1 viewer. I reached affiliate status on April 18 and held my first ever affiliate stream on May 3. My first ever sub came on May 8 from my IRL friend Rob. Thanks DeloranDoran, you da best ❤
I set up my Discord server on May 18, with our first ever member being the homie MyMomsLasagna ❤ I had absolutely no prior experience managing a server. Though growth was small at first, over time it’s become more active, neater, and most importantly, safer.
June 26th. This was the day I realized that this newly found platform had global reach. A viewer from Japan had entered my chat, and without even saying a word gifted a sub to NolskiBot. I was shocked, as this had only been the 2nd time I’d even seen a subscription, let alone from a total stranger on the other side of the world. Of course, I gifted a sub right back to her. Manami is a total sweetheart and still pops in every once in awhile to say hello and chat ❤
I completed my first graphic design commission on August 18th. Prior to this, I was mostly just creating assets for my own stream. Huge shoutout to Chaddyw1ck for believing in me enough to make 2 of his emotes ❤ We’ve done a few more things together since then and it’s been amazing to see how fast he’s been grown. Doing these gave me the confidence to reach out to NoLifeShaq, one of my favorite YouTubers, to inquire about making him some Twitch emotes and he ended up commissioning 10 of them!
Looking to improve my content, I began finding channels such as Harris Heller, Sam Woodhall, GaelLevel. Gael reviewed my stream on one of his weekly stream reviews and was extremely impressed by my panels, so that was a pretty cool moment for me. Through my search to find more individuals like this is what eventually brought me to ArryBo on August 20th ❤ Within my first couple of days in his stream, he gave me some advice on my own stream, which I desperately needed to hear, and at one point he also stopped his Minecraft gameplay to give me a lesson on crumpets, which nearly made me fall out of my chair due to laughing so hard. He has become a true friend over the last couple of months and it’s been a pleasure getting to know him. I tell so many people this, but I don’t think I’ve ever told him this directly, but he is my biggest inspiration to continue to grow and evolve my content.
At some point around this time, both FEVDweller and CynicalDunk trusted me enough to make me a moderator in their own channels ❤ These were my first 2 swords and as long as I’m not a monumental disappointment to either of them, I’ll consider that a success. Shoutout to my own awesome mods as well, which just so happen to be FEVDweller, CynicalDunk, Dark_KissQ121, and TheCenastor ❤
My first proper YouTube video was posted on Oct 29th. I compared various options for DMCA free music for livestreams and prerecorded videos. Despite streaming on Twitch for 8 months up to this point, I still had those same exact nerves as I did back when I did my first live stream. I continued posting 1–2 videos a week anyway, determined to both conquer my fear of sitting down in front of a camera, and improving my editing skills. On Dec 16th, DanDMWG popped into chat ❤ He was incredibly nice, and let me know that he came over after seeing one of my YouTube videos and was kind enough to use his Prime Gaming subscription on me. To my knowledge, this is the first time somebody had come over to Twitch from the YouTube channel, so that was a incredible feeling.
On December 18th, I posted my highly controversial, 50th subscriber special video on YouTube, in which I tried pineapple pizza for the first time. We are quickly approaching our next goal of 100 subscribers on YouTube, which will allow us to get a custom URL!
Just yesterday, on December 30th, I was shocked to see that someone other than myself had purchased some merch from my store! Jessysshameless, who has been ultra supportive in the short time we’ve known each other, picked up a coffee mug with my logo design on it ❤ I hope it gets filled with tons of strong coffee and delicious mixed drinks.
Never in a million years did I think any of these “firsts” would come to fruition, but I’m so grateful that they did. It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know each and every one of you. Thank you to each and every one of you for being apart of my journey thus far. Streaming has been incredibly rewarding and I can’t wait to see all the positive things 2021 brings us all.
-Nolan
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