August 22, 2017
Greetings & salutations!
A couple of you already know me; I am known as Mel.
5 years ago, I discovered webcasting.
It was a ridiculous experiment in getting myself out of my comfort zone, in order to snap myself out of the bitterend of a very long depression I was under for quite some time. The culmination of years and years of mucking up my career/social life/eternal soul, (don't ask-we don't have the time) and starting over with a clean slate meant putting myself out there again. I figured, Hey, lemme start small, like online with an anonymous audience, so if I don't like it, I can bail fast.
Anyhoo, long story short, it worked! I mean, I did stumble and make errors. I discovered what it meant to have 'trolls' and 'mods' and all that other hip lingo millenials are easily acquainted with. Because putting yourself out there requires dealing with nonsense in everyday life situations, and casting requires it too, in addition to content moderation. And also, a tall order of excising the mood of the chat room, and preventing it from turning into a foul-mouthed wasteland of garbage people. As many can attest, a few rotten apples can turn one's channel into a complete shit show. It's an element that contaminates the scene.
No joke, it's a lot of work!
But, I was able to pick out a few good gems. Shiny people mixed in the audience, who made this venture worthwhile!
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| A few days into webcasting for the first time ever. |
So I started off on one platform; JTV, then branched out across a few more because...
- Two decided to lock out their FREE users in lieu of charging monthly for services - (Ustream & Livestream)
- One got sold and locked everybody out unless they signed in with Facebook, (NOT giving up my friends/family contacts!) - (Blogtv turned into YouNow)
- Another shut down and their refugees migrated over to JTV (StickCam)
- That one shut down their operation entirely to focus on their moneymaker startup - (JTV went defunct to build up Twitch)
- And another converted from FREE streaming into smartphone casts only - (Streamup)
- There was another incredible service that had fantastic features, even allowing multiple video casters in rooms, but unfortunately, as time went on, the environment went toxic too quickly for my tastes. (Tinychat)
It happens to some social environments as is the fickle audiences of the internets, and all that it brings.
The victor right now it seems is Vaughncast, which is still around. I cast there sometimes, but I'm not crazy about it too much. They're switching over to HTML5 format so there's many buffering issues atm. It's inconvenient for me to cast there now.
Which brings me to now.
Fast forward to January 9, 2022.
Even though I began my Twitch channel in 2014, without a strong enough computer, I was never able to play any games on it, much less broadcast.
Then 3 years ago, I got a tablet. Onward, to mobile games!
Then 1.5 years ago, I got my first Playstation. And a whole bunch of games donated by caring, loyal viewers. Thank you, from the bottom of this lil' weirdo's heart! ♥
I've enjoyed reading in the chat the many voices of all the lurkers and participants who have graced my channel for years, so it only makes sense to also give added incentives. Like better emojis and shit. Got a few up on my channel now. Let's see what the future brings.
I geniunely enjoy engaging socially with people online, and in person. Because every person is a book to be read, with many interesting chapters. We are all incredible, even if we don't know it yet, lol! If you've finished reading all of this, have yourself a beer! jOr a cuppa tea! On you! You deserve it, champ! ;-)
