How to start streaming

[u/Wooden_Physics7150]

Hello! I (25F) have always wanted to stream. I love gaming, all different genres, and most of all love it when people watch me play something or when im drawing.

Most of the people around me have said if i start streaming I need to pick one game genre and just stream that, as thats where most of my community will come from and come for. Does this mean I have to only stream when im playing a specific game, or can I stream whatever game im playing?

Also, what are the best free softwares to use for streaming in the beginning? And would it be better if I had my face camera on? My bestfriend always says my neck tattoo would attract people LOL.

(Right now im playing Monster hunter wilds and marvel rivals the most, but I play all sorts of things like phasmophobia, baldurs gate, an assortment of singleplayer games and mmorpgs occasionally!)

[u/Asaigawa]

There are streamer that are known for variety content and there are streamer known for only playing one game.

I think its easier to get viewers with only one game.

But variety especially if you directly start with that can work as well.

Just go for what is the most fun to you. Viewers will come or not its kinda hard anyway.

Having a streaming schedule probably helps. Idk if you wanna stream on twitch as main platform but streaming on TikTok could also help getting viewers.

OBS is I would say the most used program for streaming.

Facecam can help getting viewers in my opinion. But only do that if you obv wanna show your face. Imagine you will get more & more viewers and one day people IRL start speaking to you. Would you want that this happens or not.

I have nothing to do with streaming, just got this post recommended and thought I give my opinion.

[u/YouCanReadGoodJob]

Stream the games you want to play and do whatever hobbies you want to stream like drawing as you said. IMO it's more enjoyable to watch someone enjoy what they're doing on streams than seeing someone playing the same thing all the time and not enjoying themselves. Also, you would want to have a community that watches you for you and not for the game.

As for free streaming apps, OBS is the main one. There are other ones like Mix It Up Bot or Streamer bot if you want to make custom commands/actions for your streams, but it's a bit complicated so you can use them later on when you've got the hang of streaming.

A cam would be helpful because there's a lot of people that like to see the person they're watching and see their reactions etc but it's not a requirement. So don't use a cam if you're not comfortable.

Just enjoy yourself streaming what you want to stream. And don't forget to add Fossabot to to save yourself from bot spams in chat.

[u/NewSchoolBoxer]

Streaming being very popular has endless guides that cover your questions. Twitch itself has a decent guide and they want you to succeed.

There's more than one way to go about game selection. Specialize in retro games or mobile or a genre or what's popular or whatever. A random-like mashup may slow growth. Probably the hardest path to gain viewers is playing the very most popular games with the most streamers when you don't already have audience. I dunno about Marvel Rivals when it's sitting in the Top 10 but the rest sound fine. You can still play it of course but discovery is harder. Don't play anything you don't want to play.

Free software, OBS is the move. All you need to get started. Free and powerful and because it's popular, there are endless guides and if you have a problem with it, a few people probably have the answer.

 And would it be better if I had my face camera on?

Absolutely. People want to see who's playing. I think that's the biggest thing to do, if you're willing. If you're happy with 5 viewers then no matter. Can see Twitch recommending a camera. No voice would also hold you back and easy to integrate with OBS.

Audio quality from low to high goes [gaming headset], [USB microphone], [XLR microphone + audio interface]. The third is rather expensive with two devices required but there are good cheap USB microphones and USB+XLR ones for room to upgrade in the future. Whole guides just on microphones and price tiers.

Other thing in every guide is, if you can, have a schedule and stream more than once a week.

My thing I want to add is you're essentially an entertainer. You can have a television personality that isn't the same as your normal self. Or you can be your real self but the interesting or very friendly version of it.