Welcome to Streamers on the Rise, where we find streamers who are growing their channels, content, and audiences in extraordinary ways. Each week we’ll talk with a creator about what goes into livestreaming–both on and off camera.
gamergirl has been kicking ass at League of Legends since she was 12 years old.
“I had this dream of being really good at it. I got there and I was like, ‘Wow, this is great. I actually did what I wanted to do,'” she says. She’d hit high elo (meaning that, per League‘s player ranking system, she had indeed become really good at it), but she was ready for another challenge: Streaming to show her skills.
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After hitting Challenger, League‘s top rank, on three separate accounts, she figured the best way to promote herself was to hold a Reddit AMA and plug her Twitch channel.
That AMA, she says, is “where all my growth started.” She shot from around 30 viewers a stream to 100. “I remember being so happy,” she says. “It’s just started growing from there because of Twitch. That was a great head start for me.”
Now, she has nearly 350,000 followers watching as she streams League, and while Twitch previously wasn’t a full-time thing for her (as she’s–understandably–worried about the impact of turning a hobby into a job), she’s just graduated university and is planning to give full-time streaming a go.
Check out our chat with her below.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tubefilter: I’d love to just get some background from you. I know you’re private, so if there’s stuff you don’t want shared, totally fine with me.
gamergirl: Okay. Thank you.
Tubefilter: In general, if somebody is reading this and they have never seen your streams, they don’t know who you are, can you give me a background about you and where you’re from and how you got into Twitch in the first place?
gamergirl: I started playing League since I was 12 and then I had this dream of being really good at it. I got there and I was like, “Wow, this is great. I actually did what I wanted to do.” Then because I hit high elo, I then decided to make it a dream of mine to also go streaming. To make it in streaming. I knew that in streaming you need to– Okay, sorry, I don’t do interviews.
Tubefilter: No, no worries! Totally fine.
gamergirl: Then I knew that if you want to stream, you have to– How do you word it? You need something about you that stands out. I remember making it a goal of mine to get three challenger accounts on League and then I’d make a Reddit AMA, which was very fun to do. Then plug my stream. It’s where all my growth started. I went from, I don’t know, maybe 30-ish viewers to 100. I remember being so happy. Yes, and it’s just started growing from there because of Twitch. That was a great head start for me. That’s basically it.
Tubefilter: When your audience first started growing, you said you jumped up to 100 viewers. Was it Twitch recommendation or Twitch bringing people in, or how do you feel your audience started growing?
gamergirl: I feel like from the 30 to 100 point, it was from Reddit because it brought a lot attention to me. I made the front page of Reddit. Pretty sure that’s how it happened.
Tubefilter: When did you start streaming? What year? Do you remember?
gamergirl: I can take a look because I don’t remember. Let me see. I think, man, I– Oh, wait. Maybe, okay, 57 months. How long? Okay. 57 months.
Tubefilter: Oh no, math.
gamergirl: Maybe like six years. That’s…2017?
Tubefilter: Yes.
gamergirl: Yes.
Tubefilter: How have things changed from when you first started streaming to now, or has anything changed?
gamergirl: Well, yes, definitely with viewer count, dealing with, I guess, trolls and really toxic people. I also feel like it’s because I’m a girl, because I look at other streams in the League section and I see as many people flaming those streamers for what I get flamed for. You’re definitely deal with less trolls when you’re smaller, let’s say.
Tubefilter: Yes, and when you’re a guy.
gamergirl: Yes. I don’t want to make it a gender thing, but I feel like there’s just a lot of weird trolls.
Tubefilter: Yes. Unfortunately it’s a common occurrence. Is streaming your full-time thing? Are you in school? Do you have a job?
gamergirl: I’ve actually never done streaming full-time. I’ve only did it as a hobby. I graduated university a year ago, and yes, full-time. Streaming has always just been a side thing for me. I never really wanted to make it a job because it takes the joy out of it.
Tubefilter: That’s still how you feel?
gamergirl: Okay, it’s different now. I really want to…Since I graduated, I’m not working yet. I probably want to go back to school, but I actually had a goal to try to full-time stream and see where that takes me, see if it’s worth it to go back to school right now. I’m really lazy. I’ve never gotten the chance to actually do it. I’ll do it for a week and then I’ll give it up. I’ll just like give up after that.
Tubefilter: Got you. Do you have a set streaming schedule?
gamergirl: No. I just stream whenever I want, but I know for a fact that if you have a schedule and you’re very consistent, it definitely helps with retaining viewers, gaining viewership, etcetera. Actually, lately, I have been– I don’t have a schedule, but I’ve been trying to stream at 5:00 to 6:00 PM-ish, yes, because I experienced– What do you call it? What’s the word? I don’t know, I experimented in a different time zone and I think I like that scheduled timing.
Tubefilter: For context, I play Apex Legends, and so I’m very familiar with the ranking system in that. I know challenger in League is the predator equivalent.
gamergirl: Yes, the highest rank.
Tubefilter: To reach that, are you only playing on stream or are you playing off-stream? How much time does it take you to maintain that rank?
gamergirl: Oh, oh my god, this is a good question. I think playing on stream is so much harder than playing off-stream for multiple reasons, for me at least. I value interacting with my chat and stuff. I can’t really give my all to the game. When you’re playing off-stream, of course, you can give your full attention to it, because in League, you need to– What is it? You pay a lot of attention to gain everything that’s going on. Yes, I feel the pressure of like when I play on stream. It’s hard. I do most of my climbing off-stream, and then on-stream, I have a stream account where I can just like–
Tubefilter: Oh, you need two different accounts?
gamergirl: Oh, yes. I have multiple. I have multiple accounts, but I have one account that’s what I call a stream account, where I just play, don’t really care about when you’re losing. I’m just there to stream on it. That helps with it.
Tubefilter: Do you get performance anxiety at all?
gamergirl: Oh, yes. That’s what I was talking about. Also, when you’re streaming, you have, I feel like, pressure. When I’m playing bad, it makes me feel so bad because it’s like people are watching and it’s embarrassing and stuff. Just like that. Also, with how it’s harder to perform on stream.
Tubefilter: I would love to talk a little bit more about your community.
gamergirl: I think they’re pretty solid, very nice. Let me think. I feel like I do tolerate a lot more than other people do, but for the most part, I think it’s pretty fun. Every time I go online, I have regulars who are very nice, friendly, chill. I love talking to them, interacting with them. The only problem I really have is just the trolls that come in pretty much every day. I just ban them.
Tubefilter: I know you said you aren’t full-time. Where do you see things going in the future in terms of streaming?
gamergirl: Oh. Well, I think that if I take it more seriously, it could be a really good thing. I could probably substitute a job. Would be equivalent to job, however we say that. If I keep going at it at the pace that I’m doing right now, I think that’s fine too. I never really planned for me to go this far, honestly, so I’m very grateful. I feel very honored, lucky, whatever.
A lot of my friends are telling me to drop out of school to train full-time and it’s sad because– What do you call it? When I was in school, I really wanted to do that because I had a lot of momentum. I was really motivated to take it seriously, do it every day, but my parents didn’t let me. Now I feel like my attitude, motivation, thoughts towards streaming died because of that. Couldn’t really do what I wanted to do. Now it’s just like, I do have the time for it, but it’s not the same anymore. Well, it is the same, but I don’t know. I think the future looks bright, definitely. Even if I don’t take it seriously, it’ll be fine. I’m happy with what I have.
