On May 30th 2017, after long thoughts and careful consideration regarding my exposure to the public, i did my first broadcast on Twitch. I remember switching my console on and putting Resident Evil 7 in. My hand trembled as i pressed the broadcast button on Xbox One’s User Interface, but i eventually did it. I did not know what i had to do. Fancy overlays, chat boxes, alerts all this streaming stuff was unknown to me. Imagine, that, because i did not have a clue about OBS, i used Kinect as my camera (tough times…)

Now, about a year after, i can pretty much say that i have evolved. I have invested about 500 euros on essential streaming equipment (cameras, capture cards, sound interfaces, microphones and the list goes on) and i managed (after a lot of research and help by my online buddy Rawstylerzz91) to broadcast myself decently enough. By no means i consider myself a professional. Unfortunately, right now i do not have the time to become one. My day job is very demanding and stressful and my social life does everything it can to keep me busy. All these things my friends absorb precious time. They say, that in order to become a master at something, you have to invest on it about 10000 hours. I believe that not even in 2 lives i will manage to have that much time! But i am trying hard to become better at it, day by day!

Question is: Is it worth it? Well…it depends. What do you expect? If you are dreamed about getting “quick bucks” from this activity, then i would suggest you to forget about it. Yesterday. If you want to meet new people from around the world that might have the same interests as you, play with them, practice a foreign language and generally have fun, well yes mates, it IS worth it. Every single penny. Moreover, all my research made me realize that my PC was much more than a simple mean to write an e-mail, watch a movie or listen to music. I also managed to learn a lot of things about computer networking in general and even reach a level of understanding that i was able to communicate effectively with my telephone provider and contest my rights as a customer!

My advice to you; Silence all the voices from the inside and the outside. Stop listening to those around you that only know to say to you is: “You cannot do it, it is not worth it, stick with your day job” blah blah blah. There are two possibilities: Either you will hate streaming (meaning that you will have to take up another hobby) or you will like it, which means that a new world will be available to you for exploring. As simple as that. Just do it. You do not have to buy all this equipment that professional streamers already have in their possession. Do your research about what equipment is suitable for you (will you stream from a console or a pc?), start small and if you feel good, invest time and money gradually. You will make a lot of mistakes but you will succeed eventually. Who knows? If you are good at it, you might even have to switch careers in a few months 😉