Lessons From My First Twitch Stream
By: Caitlin Jill Anders
Tags: Gaming, Features, Life, Twitch, Videogames

Lessons From My First Twitch Stream

I streamed The Sims 4, which turned out to be a great choice for my Twitch debut

It took me a while to build up the courage, but I finally started streaming on Twitch. As an introvert, the idea of sitting in front of a camera and talking live to people on the internet is mildly horrifying. What if I say something wrong? What if no one watches? What if everyone watches?! The anxieties are endless.

Starting is always the hardest part for most things though, and I did it. I’ve now streamed a handful of times, and I have to say, I actually kind of love it. I’m still learning and building, but I’m very excited about the process.

Even though streaming is the same basic concept every time, every stream is going to be different. Different people watch and chime in, your energy levels will probably fluctuate from stream to stream, and each game you play is going to make for an entirely new experience.

To begin my streaming journey, the very first game I played was The Sims 4. I chose it to start because The Sims franchise in general has always been my favorite. I grew up playing those games and I’ll always be a Sims kid at heart. It seemed only fitting that my first stream game is the first game I ever fell in love with. I like the poetry of it.

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash.

Like I said, every time you stream a new game, it’s going to feel a little different. Here are some thoughts on what it’s like to stream The Sims 4 specifically:

The “create-a-sim” feature is a great way to engage your audience. As you choose the little details of your sims, their hair, their clothes, the shape of their nose or eyebrows, you can ask whoever’s watching to help you decide. “Should her hair be straight or curly? Chat, what do you think?” When you’re streaming, it’s natural to talk about the things you’re doing in the game as you do them, and creating a sim from scratch definitely gives you a lot to talk about.

For me, there was a lot to get used to in the build and buy sections of the game. It was a bit different than The Sims 3, which I’ve probably logged the most hours on. I didn’t take the time to explore it before I streamed (oops), so I was really learning as I went. If you’re not hell-bent on figuring out things on your own, The Sims 4 is a great game in which to engage your audience by asking questions. My biggest question so far has been, how on earth are you supposed to build a roof effectively? I still need to know. I’m majorly struggling.

There’s no “right way” to stream the game. Since it’s such a free play kind of game, you can choose how you want to spend your time, and there’s no right or wrong answer. There isn’t a story you must follow like in other games. If you want to spend the entire stream creating sims, great. If you want to focus on gameplay, great. If you want to build a huge mansion that would cost millions to have in real life, great. There isn’t a script you have to follow. You can just do what feels right for you and your stream.

The Sims 4 is a very universal game, so a lot of people are going to feel compelled to chime in while you’re streaming — and that’s awesome. A big part of streaming is engaging with the people who are watching. If they want to talk about how to play Sims and fun things to do in the game, that’s going to make for a super fun, engaging stream.

My first three streams were all playing The Sims 4 before I moved on to other games, but I’m definitely planning on revisiting it in future streams. This is the game I’ll never be able to quit, and I’m totally ok with that.

I’m an incredibly new streamer, so there’s a ton I don’t know yet. I’m a writer though, and my instinct is to share this journey as I embark on it, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.