What is this about?
It was a bathroom thought I just made the realization on.
So let's give you some backstory.
Back in the day, I was addicted to Artix Entertainment games. I was literally a DragonFable Beta tester, and was playing well before then. MechQuest when it came out, Adventure Quest Worlds when it came out, Dragon Lord, MechQuest purchased, etc.
I was on the forums for Artix Entertainment, the (rather archaic) Battleon Forums.
This location was one of my first two internet homes, and where the name of mastina traces its origins to.
Eventually, I ended up in the writing forum. I wanted to post stories online, and did so rather prominently.
But eventually, I grew more attached to reading the stories of others and supporting them on theirs. I was actively giving my best attempts at critiques (they weren't good in hindsight), I was actively commenting, I was consuming their content and trying to support them because I enjoyed what they were doing.
That came to a halt after the site was blocked by my parents eventually, but it was a highlight of my life I won't forget as it is how I got my first online friends.
The second time something like this happened was much later.
On ComicFury.
I wanted to create webcomics.
I did so.
But I kept on consuming the content of others.
I did support some big time names and read big time comics, but I also went out of my way to support and advertise the small-time webcomics. Newer comics, being their first commenter/subscriber. Obscure comics, finding them and loving them. Leaving comics, supporting them. I would let others know about them and give detailed writeups about everything I loved about them.
I ended up crashing and burning, because I couldn't keep my own content up while also consuming the content of others and there was an ever-increasing amount that I was trying to consume, because I kept on trying to find the next big thing and give encouragement, support, love, etc., to them so that they would know their work was appreciated and that they were doing good and had a fan.
And I meant it. And I was happy. And I was very very good at it, too. I was a failure of a content creator, but I still loved to be actively engaging with folks on comics.
Fast-forward to today and my realization.
These days, the platform of this mindset is twitch, the site I watch all the streamers I watch on.
It's not an exact repeat, because the chronology is slightly different, but the effect is still similar.
I will still watch big-time streamers with thousands of viewers, but I also love to engage with streamers with smaller communities numbering in the dozens or hundreds, including my favorite streamer.
But more than that--I am supporting people I've networked with, watching their streams, supporting them, talking with them, bonding with them, etc. Smaller, sub-50, often sub-20, viewer, streamers. Some who aren't even affiliates yet. I try to catch their streams (I can't always as I can only watch a maximum of two streams at the same time and so many people stream), and when I am there I am doing my best to engage with them, not to force it, not out of obligation, but because I sincerely, genuinely, want to be there.
After all, if I didn't want to be there--I'd have other streams I'd be going to. I chose them over those other streams tho because I legitimately wanted to be there with THEM because I like their vibe just that much more, where I am happy and content watching them and chilling with them and chatting when I can and so on and so forth.
The similarity comes in the fact that I am also trying to get into streaming myself...but I am prioritizing watching the streams of others over streaming myself.
I am also developing an idea to, with the consent of the streamer in question, shoutout streams that I watch, an idea incredibly similar to how I would shout out webcomics I read, praising them for all the good. In this case, thanking them for making my days be brighter.
This could of course be a bad thing.
Both prior times ended up crashing and burning, after all.
But it could also be a good thing.
Because I know that I can make a difference, even if it's just by letting people know that, yes. I DO enjoy watching them. I DO enjoy being part of their communities. I DO want to see more of them and watch them and be there in their streams, chatting when I can, because they actually make my days be better, being worthy of thanks.
Only time will tell, but I still thought it neat a parallel that I made.