We announced last week that we would be starting our Featured Streamer Program and without further ado, we have our first nominee: BattleDrum.
Alexander or BattleDrum, caught our eye due to his consistent streaming schedule and amassing almost 40 hours of streaming in one week. To say that he is determined would be an understatement. We sat down with Alexander briefly to hear a little bit about why he got hooked to streaming, what he’s learned, and more. Read on for the interview.
>What got you into Streaming?
Alex: Around my Sophomore/Junior year in high school, I started to see this “thing” blow up on YouTube with people posting video games in videos either to inform, educate or entertain. Since then, I have always wanted to do exactly that, but I lacked a decent computer, and I didn’t know how to capture video games or edit videos. After I had graduated high school in 2010, I started to get more into it by subscribing to channels like Roosterteeth or Machinima – where a lot of these video game videos were featured. In 2012, I finally built my own computer powerful enough to be able to record and edit footage for my YouTube channel that I made soon after. For the next year or so, I posted, “Let’s Plays” of me playing Warcraft III, one of my favorite RTS games, Assassin’s Creed III multiplayer matches and Halo 4. Though I didn’t expect to get a lot of traction posting these videos, it was more to see if I wanted to do this “thing” on the internet. However, it wasn’t until summer 2013 that I saw a channel I was subbed to on YouTube uploading something about him streaming on this website called Twitch. I was intrigued what streaming was so I hopped over to the site, and I couldn’t describe this sense of “wow”. There’s just people here playing video games, and doing it “live” instead of recording. Now, something about me is that I can definitely be lazy. It was hard for me to schedule time to record something, figure out what I wanted to record, how to edit it, and just a lot of thought about making videos. On Twitch, all I had to do was press “Start” and from then on I wanted to do it live, not just because it was easy, but because the interaction that you have in a live environment is just way more fun.
> What kind of streams do you put on?
Alex: Personally, it’s all about the variety of games. I love playing so many different genres that it’s hard to find the commonality between them all, but i’m a sucker for a great story, great characters, and gameplay that makes me feel like a badass. For the most part, I play a certain game in bursts – meaning i’ll play this new game that just came out and after I’ve beaten it or got bored of it I would move onto something else. The same idea would apply for continuous games like Overwatch or similar titles where the game gets updates and changes rather than sequels. Variety is definitely key to my stream, but I try to pertain to my audience to satisfy their gameplay needs as well as my own. In a normal stream however, i’d expect to see me playing 1-2 games for the entirety of the stream, I try not to switch to too many games in one stream just to keep the day consistent.
> What’s been the biggest learning experience through streaming?
Alex: Public Speaking, definitely. I was probably considered one of the quietest guys in my high school, and was told the same by my own family. Talking to complete strangers over the internet has been an eye-opening experience because any insecurities, fears or anything don’t apply to strangers. They don’t know me, and I don’t know them. With that mindset, I could talk freely about anything I wanted and it was a huge relief for me. With this new found ability, let’s just say that I did really well in my public speaking class in college.
> Which Streams (if any) do you regularly watch? If so, which and why?
Alex: Oh boy, there have been a lot of streamers that came into my life, mainly for inspiration, but there are some I usually come back to when i’m not streaming or bored, or at work. For me, it’s about the similarities that the streamer and I share, but also the entertainment value I get from them and the quality of stream I wish to achieve for myself one day. Summit1G has to be one the biggest inspirations I have for streaming and also one of the main channels I watch when bored. Ducksauce is also a big inspiration for me as a broadcaster instead of a gamer, he also took my sub-virginity. Hutch is a YouTuber/Twitch Streamer that I watch because I’ve been watching him since I originally wanted to do YouTube videos and he inspires me for what he’s gone through to overcome any obstacles to achieve what you want, and to be happy. Though these 3 streamers I mentioned are all partnered and pretty famous in the Twitch community, there are also streams I watch who aren’t partnered like ItsWoofy, therealjikz, and Barrow34, who all stream for the same reason I do: it’s fun to do and we enjoy doing it.
> What are your next plans or hopes along your journey as a streamer?
Alex: To be completely honest, growing my community as big as I can. Increasing concurrent viewership is definitely the goal, but I want nothing more than a group of people who like to watch my content, chill in my stream, hangout, talk about whatever, and just have a good time. I believe I can be this streamer to others and I think I have what it takes. As far as plans for the stream, something pretty cool that I’ve been wanting to do for a while is adding in an electric drum set as part of the stream. I still have other things to figure out of course like adding some hardware and/or software to make it all work, but the idea is still new and exciting. In high school, I was part of the drumline all four years, so adding a drum feature into the stream would up the entertainment value significantly.
Follow BattleDrum:
Twitch (Live Monday – Saturday @ 2PM PDT)
