A little over 3 years ago, I decided that I wanted to record myself playing Minecraft and other games. I had seen others do it, thought it would be a fun little hobby, and felt I could do the same. I didn't know what FPS was, how to edit anything, or really anything about the process. I had very little knowledge of what I would need to do to get started with recording game footage. From afar, I initially had the impression that you had either a card or software on your computer that recorded what you did and you just could drop it on YouTube without even breaking a sweat. Of course, I learned quickly that isn't the case. Thankfully, PaulsoaresJr, the man who inspired me to get started with all this (and got me into Minecraft), explained the process he went through regularly to his viewers, even going so far as to record the process he goes through to record and edit hit footage. Edit. I had no idea how much work some of the bigger (and frankly better) YouTubers were putting into their videos. It wasn't so simple as record and upload. No, most of them recorded hours of footage, whittled it down into manageable chunks, added whatever touches they felt were needed, rendered out the footage, compressed the footage, created thumbnails, created descriptions, and THEN uploaded the footage to YouTube. It turned out to be an intensely time-consuming process, one that I hadn't completely thought through. Of course, there was a bigger issue in regards to getting going with the idea of recording my gameplay: I didn't have a computer to record with. I hit Ebay, scouring the site for a laptop that I thought could handle the load and eventually settled on bidding on an HP Compaq Presario with Nvidia graphics. It seemed like it would work, but I wasn't completely sure as I didn't really do the research necessary ahead of time. I won the bid, paid for the laptop, and upon receiving it, installed Minecraft and FRAPS, a recording software, on it. I booted everything up and learned very quickly I had NO clue what I had gotten myself into. My game didn't run well without FRAPS, but really took a beating once the recording software started. This of course was because I was using an older laptop that had didn't have a very good video card in it. It simply wasn't going to be able to run the game at high settings and record. Luckily, I learned of a mod called Optifine that allowed me to get the most out of the game while recording with a fairly steady framerate. I wasn't getting anything remarkable, but I could get it in the 20-25 FPS (frames per second) for the most part, which was acceptable. I didn't have a mic, and much like the laptop, didn't invest much into it as I bought a super cheap $10 headset thinking that would be adequate. Like with the laptop, I was dreadfully wrong. The audio was horrible, often providing tremendous feedback and buzzing while I was recording, making it hard to hear.
That didn't deter me though, and I made the most of my experience while I played and recorded. I started off using Windows Movie Maker as my editor, which helped me learn the basics of editing. Of course, I wasn't very good at it and I was limited in what I could do, but I was doing my best and occasionally, people would comment with advice. Eventually, I realized I was going to have to upgrade my equipment and software if my channel was ever going to get noticed. Sure, I could promote myself and get people to watch, but the truth was, most weren't going to put up with poor frame rates and bad audio. Top it off with lackluster editing, and you don't have much that's appealing. The first thing I did was get a new mic. I purchased an Audio Technica ATR2500 USB mic that improved things substantially once I figured out how to set it up correctly. Of course, it didn't improve things all the way as a downside to using laptops to record is the loud fan that most have. That aside, my audio was better, which at least made the videos somewhat tolerable. I then went ahead and purchased Sony Movie Studio 11, which allowed me greater freedom with editing, even if I had to learn a whole lot of new things that Movie Maker didn't explain. I had access to better titles, transitions, and effects, and I sought to use them even though it wasn't necessary. I learned that a fancier editor meant longer render times, and also required me to get a compressor since the files were pretty big. I also had to remember to disable the resampling that Movie Studio did automatically, causing a motion blur effect. About a year and a half ago, the next major upgrade took place, a move that greatly enhanced what I could do with my channel. I bought a better laptop, one that was much better at handling more games, better recording software (I now use Dxtory because it allows me to split game audio from my commentary), and more powerful editing software. My HP Envy won't blow anyone away, but if you watch videos prior to March of 2014 (excluding the first MesaBuilt episodes), then watch videos afterwards, you can tell the difference the laptop has made. I've even been able to record certain games at 60FPS (30FPS has been the standard for years now), although that takes longer to render out. I was gifted Adobe Premiere Pro from a close friend, which was vastly different, yet similar to editing in Movie Studio. I also have learned to get a bit better with Photoshop, thus improving my thumbnails. I've learned how to edit videos better, not overdo things, and improve the commentary (now with an Audio Technica AT2020USB+ mic). Yet my videos could still be better. One day, I'll have a powerful desktop PC. I'll be able to record at minimum 1080p 60FPS without a loud laptop fan causing me to have to do a ton of audio editing. I'll have the ability to record and stream any game I want, only limited by time, not resources. But right now, I can't complain too much. I can stream if I want (daveycracker80 on Twitch) and can record most games comfortably. I've upgraded my hard drive, added external storage, added a full HD web cam, and have improved as an editor. But I'm always learning, always trying to figure out new and better ways to do things. 3 years ago, FPS didn't mean much to me. I had no idea how to put transitions into a video, how to find a good balance between voice audio and background music, how to make a thumbnail (or how to use Photoshop for that matter), what to talk about in my videos, or how to get my videos out to the masses. While my channel hasn't grown much, I feel I have grown a lot as a gamer, as a video editor, and have a pretty good understanding of what I would have to do differently if there's a next time. Will there be a next time? It depends. If I end up being in position to buy/build a more powerful PC, I will relaunch my YouTube channel. I would keep the old channel up (maybe use it strictly for Vlogs?) to preserve the older videos, but I wouldn't be bringing much older content over with me (with the exception of any series that are in process at the time of switching over). The art would likely stay similar to how it is now, but maybe with a refreshed look and new ideas on what games I'd record and how I carry myself on the channel. This is likely at least a year or so away, as I don't anticipate having the money for a new PC anytime soon (there are FAR more pressing things to worry about short-term), but it's something that I'll be keeping in the back of my mind for the future. My stream would likely only receive a matching refresh of art (which is in flux anyway since I keep changing my mind on how I want things to look) as I'm satisfied with how I've started with streaming, even if it's super infrequent (and not likely to resume until after I move in the future). I doubt I'll ever be much of a big name on YouTube, and that's fine with me. I don't do it for accolades or to get a ton of viewers. I do it because it's fun to think that someone, somewhere might watch me play a game, and possibly enjoy it. I don't care if I become a big name or not, because frankly the odds aren't good. Too many people are trying to do it and be the next big name, so it's hard to get your voice heard. For now, I'm going to enjoy the process when I get a chance to do it. Recording games is fun, editing can be fun, and I enjoy when I do get feedback on my videos. Maybe some day I'll be in position to do unboxing videos, give things away, and be sponsored by a company or two, but if not, I'll make the most of the views I do get and try to have as much fun as I can. 3 years ago I started on a journey into YouTube that I don't regret. I went from knowing virtually nothing to at least being competent with this hobby that I picked up. I've learned a lot from the process and hope to continue to grow as a content creator in the future. Thanks for reading and if you've watched any of my content, thanks for the view!
I was going to continue with my social media conversation today, but I've decided to pursue a different topic based upon what my streaming friend Jon decided to do with his stream recently. Live-streaming and recording game play has become an increasingly popular thing for gamers to do. The most successful people have managed to make the practice of sharing their gaming experiences a full-time, and lucrative, job, but it's a relatively small segment of the population that's been that successful. For the rest, it's a struggle to find a foothold, even if you manage to become partnered and make a little bit of money. Some are trying to make it a full-time job, others, such as myself, do it strictly as a hobby. Many though have unrealistic expectations of what's going to happen and fail to understand how much work it takes to grow a successful gaming channel. I wanted to talk about this because Jon recently made a decision to make the chat in his stream subscriber-only, meaning those who aren't subscribed to his stream can watch, but they can't actively participate in the chat. It wasn't an easy decision for him to make, but he laid out his decision in a VOD (video on demand) on his Twitch profile that was well-thought out and helped me understand why he was making his decision. It's easy for me to be okay with it though. I've been subscribed to his stream since he was partnered last summer and will stay subscribed as long as he continues to stay active with it. Yet I can understand why those who were unable (or unwilling) to subscribe might find this upsetting; Jon's chat is one of my favorite parts of the stream. I've known many of the active members since I started watching him 2 years ago and they've been a tremendous help anytime I've had a computer-related question or issue. However, it may hurt his audience in the short-term as people are turned off by the notion of not being able to chat unless being subbed. His decision is sound though. I won't get into too much detail about why he made the decision, but he essentially has a one year time frame to grow the channel or he may have to walk away. For more details, you're going to want to watch this as he lays it out clearly and even gets a little emotional about 30 minutes in, which was very touching and clearly was touching towards the people watching him live. This post isn't just about that kind of decision. I fully support any streamer that makes a decision that they think is best for their channel. As Jon said, you can still watch the stream at high quality for free, you just can't chat unless you sub. I know other streamers have either made their chat sub-only permanently or have select sub-only streams. No, this post is about how difficult it really is to operate a stream or gaming channel and grow. A good portion of people who watch have no clue how much work goes into it, how much money these people are investing in this. Some have put thousands of dollars of their own money into PC/recording/editing equipment in exchange for only getting a few hundred follows (or subscribers on YouTube). The first problem is there are a TON of people trying to record and stream right now. The idea of putting your gameplay up on the internet caught on a few years ago and has exploded recently as the tools to do so have become relatively affordable. Most anyone with a decent PC can download recording software for under $50, a microphone for under $100, and OBS (streaming software) for free and get up and running with YouTube and/or Twitch (or any other streaming service that's available). Many see the bigger names apparently raking in the money and think that they can do the same. They start streaming/uploading their games and wait for the views/follows/likes/subs to start rolling in. When the success isn't instantaneous, many just stop out of the blue and cease video production. They learn it isn't as simple as recording or streaming some gameplay, that there's actual work involved. Yes, it takes work to put out high quality videos and streams. You have to have a machine capable of maintaining a good frame rate while recording/streaming, good internet for uploading your content, and some artistic ability to create overlays and such. For YouTube, you need to be able to at the very least do basic editing and be able to create decent thumbnails. For Twitch, the overlay is more important. It also helps to have a web cam, a "bot" to handle advance chat options, and a good set of moderators once you become more popular. It's a lot of work and it's very time consuming for most, which often leads to people becoming burned out when the growth isn't as fast as they would have hoped. Let's be honest. If you put hundreds of hours of work into your channel and you weren't seeing any growth, you'd probably become frustrated and wonder why you should even bother to continue going forward. For me, this isn't really an issue. I'm not doing this full-time and have no plans or aspirations of doing it full-time. It's strictly a hobby and nothing else. But for people like Jon who are trying to make it work full-time, lack of growth can become increasingly frustrating as time goes on. You start to wonder why you're even bothering and the pressure to do better makes the games themselves less fun. I've seen it with Jon. He doesn't appear to be having as much fun as he did a year ago. The pressure of trying to get his channel to grow has been wearing on him for a while and once you get in a funk, it becomes very difficult to break out of it if things don't turn around quickly. I'll give Jon credit for fighting through it, but it's not easy to do and he seems to be hard on himself, which isn't a bad quality at all. Most people don't think about playing games as being stressful, they don't think it can burn you out, but in reality, if it's what you're doing to try and earn a living, it becomes a job, and jobs can become stressful no matter how "fun" they might be. Imagine you HAVE to stream or upload videos 4-5 days a week, every week, and if you don't, you lose your audience. Imagine if you miss a couple of days, people stop watching your content and never come back. Imagine if your audience wants you to play certain games in order to stick around. It can become pretty stressful very quickly, and that's without the rude viewers who show up simply to harass you until you finally ban them, only to have them sign up under new names and continue the assault. Imagine if people are telling you awful things about your content, or worse, you and/or people you know. Now, it's not necessarily going to be always be that bad, but it could happen and I've seen a few people give up YouTube/streaming because they couldn't handle the noise. I've seen people burn out because the pressure of keeping up daily content became too much for them to handle, or they actually got sick of playing games and trying to keep them interesting. I myself, even only doing YouTube on occasion and just starting up with streaming, have grown tired at times of it. I burned out on Minecraft a while back and have struggled to consistently get back into it even with new updates pushing across recently. My reasons are more due to having a 40 hour work schedule and a two year old I'm often chasing when I'm off work. It leaves me a small window at night to do my recordings/streams, and often I'm just tired and don't have the energy to make content, which sounds absurd since it's not the most strenuous thing in the world. But trust me, it isn't that easy. You have to be into the game you're playing, be up to recording/streaming it, and if you record it, you have to have the motivation to sit and edit the footage into something interesting. If you're like me, you also have to go through and do noise removal because you have a noisy PC fan, which adds to the process. Then you have to wait for the render to finish up, compress it (if the file is big), and upload it with a description and thumbnail ready-made. It's time-consuming, and when you don't have a lot of time, it can make you feel a little pressure to go a little faster, which sometimes leads to mistakes. It's why I am constantly telling people who have no kids and can afford to work on videos full-time to appreciate it and enjoy it as much as you can. That time isn't always there forever and before you know it, you're trying to do as much work in a smaller window of opportunity, which can deter you as well. I know I've made it sound like a chore, but it's still something that I enjoy doing. I don't have the same time as others, and I certainly don't have the same resources, but I make the most of what I have and when I do record/stream, I try to enjoy it as much as possible. For example, my third stream was me playing "Goat Simulator." I didn't have many viewers (in fact, I don't think it went above 3 at any point and virtually no one chatted with me), but I enjoyed the hell out of the game regardless and if anyone did watch, they got to see me run around with an NPC glitching into my goat most of the time. I eventually gave the character the name of Jerry and turned it into a game of "what can we do with Jerry next." My next stream was "Borderlands," which garnered me a few more views (as high as 10), and a new follower and again I enjoyed it despite not garnering a lot of attention. But it can be frustrating for those who want to see their channel and brand grow and make something of it. Live streaming and recording your gameplay has become a very popular thing to do over the last couple of years. While some have become successful, many struggle to retain viewers. Here's to hoping if you're considering jumping in you keep your expectations reasonable.
