5 Tips to Immediately Take Your Gaming to the Next Level

If I’m not in the DJ booth or snagging the latest sneaker drop, chances are I’m probably gaming. If you follow me on Twitch, you know exactly how excited I get about each game I play. What I’ve come to understand is that gaming isn’t just something I do, it’s who I am (and no, I will not be apologizing for the cheesiness of that statement at this time :P).

Being a top tier gamer isn’t just about owning all the gadgets, repping all the gear, or adding backlighting to your gaming monitor (although those definitely help you look more legit). Taking your gaming to the next level is mostly about trying new things, challenging yourself, and experiencing different kinds of games, which is exactly what I get to do every month with Humble Bundle. The best part? Humble Bundle offers way better value than just buying different games every month. For just $12 a month, I literally get 8 new games to try and own for life…

In 2022, it’s all about taking your gaming passion to the next level! Let’s do this—come along with me and I’ll teach you all my secrets on how we can level up together.

1. Build a Positive Community

If you’re like me, you get as much enjoyment out of gaming with your friends as you do knowing hundreds of people are watching along at any given time. To the astonishment of millennial parents who always yelled at their kids to “go play outside,” gaming is a viable career option these days—so why not see if it’s a career worth pursuing for yourself? In terms of streaming, the first thing you’ve got to do to take your gaming to the next level is foster a positive community. How might you get started here? Well, some gamers have a knack for it, while others need to take a more methodical approach—both are fine, but overall, community is everything.

Engage with your audience, and create a safe place for people to game, hang, and vibe. Try to surround yourself with people who are like-minded, play the same (or similar) games, and have similar interests. I have my discord server Slayerz Club that is an amazingly supportive community of people of all walks of life that love everything gaming, music, and street style. There are different places to chat about all sorts of topics, voice channels for trending games/the ones we play, and even a place for your cute pet pictures! Hosting community game nights is something I and my community have really enjoyed because they’re super interactive. Humble Bundle helps

Having common interests to bond over is key because then your community can all squad and game together, which makes it way more enjoyable! As gamers, we fall in love with the characters we play as, the missions we set out to achieve, and the storyline that brings the whole experience to life. To become a better gamer, you’ve got to embody the main character role and invite your streamers on a journey they will never forget. Remember, they subscribe to you, not to the games you play. Own it.

2. Game Consistently

Consistency is key with streaming, and if you’re a gamer, that means gaming; so building a weekly schedule is very useful. People want to see you, game with you, and stream with you and it’s easier for them to show up and support you virtually if they know when and where to find you. Help them help you, sort of thing.

I stream nearly everyday around the same time so people know exactly where to find me. I also like to add in speciality monthly events like DJ Sets, streaming with guests, subathons, and giveaways. Mixing it up every now and again is a nice way to bring in more viewers and give people something to look forward to. I like to always end my streams with a host or raid to help grow my community and support other streamers. If you are friendly with those that you raid and interact with streams/chats and like-minded communities, you’d be surprised at how many people are willing to stop by to check out your stream. I have a planner that I like to write upcoming streams, content ideas, and content posting in so I can stay organized and stress free when scheduling. I would say that this was very helpful to me to stay on task for meeting goals I set.

3. Create Engaging Content

Admittedly, this one is tough. You might think you’re the most interesting gamer in the world with the most charming banter and intriguing guests and revelating conversations aplenty, but find that your audience is not growing. At this point you need to ask yourself: How am I tracking and reporting on my audience? and Do I even have the tools and software to track these things? Sadly, most gamers don’t.

I mentioned Humble Bundle before, and I’ll mention them again; but they’ve got these amazing software bundles you should totally take advantage of. You may be thinking, “but Taylor, the same 5 people show up to my stream every day… I already know all there is to know about Ted, Trish, Tammy, Tal, and Trevor…” Perfect, so what that tells me is you’ve got a loyal foundation. This is how I started. The same loyal following—day in and day out. Believe me—that can change VERY quickly, and before it does, you’ll want to have (and know how to use) all the tools necessary to best address your following.

Apart from the data side of things, any gamer who takes themselves seriously should be constantly attempting to create engaging content on multiple platforms to grow. Give viewers, readers, and appreciators a reason to watch your stream whether it be good gameplay, an entertaining personality, or something you can teach them. Make sure all your social media accounts are linked and that all the links are working. In your panels, have a little “about me” blurb or video talking about yourself, your community, and what you do. Of course, post gaming clips, stream highlights, notification stories, and tweets when you go live. You want everyone to know when you’re streaming, and for everything to be organized and fully functional when they get there. Raid a new channel every time you end your stream (bonus points if they are similar to yours). I also think that investing in cool personalized stream overlays and emotes help to make it visually appealing and unique to you. Try and find a niche that makes you different from other streamers and craft content around your niche to stand out! I like to keep everything on all of my socials up to date with new content daily or every other day. Come up with out of the box ideas, stream new games, collaborate with other streamers. Creativity is key!

4. Engage, Engage, and Engage again

What’s a fast track to becoming an engaging gamer? The answer is right above this in larger font… engage, engage, and engage again. It’s not fair to expect engagement out of your audience when you don’t give any out. Be one with your community, and they’ll return the favor.

Welcome people to your stream, and thank them for donations/subs. Another idea is to have some cool channel points redemptions to make your streams more interactive for people who stay in them. Some of my favorites are hydrate, stretch, posture check, and change color of the lights. It’s a super fun and easy way to reward your loyal viewers. I host a weekly “play with viewers” night, movie nights, and get to engage and meet new people in my community. I sometimes run polls on who will win games, what game to play and things like that which helps make the chat more involved.

Always be talkative, positive, bubbly and approachable. If someone comes into your stream, and you are sitting there quietly, then they won’t stay long. One of my favorite lines to ask when we get a new chatter is, “Welcome to the stream (insert viewer name). Where are you from and what games do you play?” I find that this one works well for me because I have traveled to a lot of places and play a decent amount of games that I can usually find a way to connect with them. Another very useful tip is to have a chatbot (i.e. Nightbot, Moobot, or something of the sort). They can help to moderate a chat room and answer questions for you in chat while you’re in a game or have a lot of people in chat. Set up useful commands of things people new to your stream might want to know (for example: !socials !rank !uptime !location !age !specs !donate !schedule).

The more you stream and the more frequently people ask questions will help you figure out what other commands you may want to add. You can also have it automatically put things in chat with specific timers. I like to use this for promoting my other social media accounts, announcing upcoming events/streams, and telling them how they can support the stream by subscribing, donating, etc.

5. HUMBLE BUNDLE

Hey, I told you I’d mention Humble Bundle again… you know I couldn’t lie to you! Like I said, being a top tier gamer isn’t just about owning all the gadgets, repping all the gear, or backlighting to your gaming monitor. Take your gaming to the next level by trying new things, challenging yourself, and experiencing different kinds of games, which is exactly what I get to do every month with Humble Bundle. Sometimes, I find it hard to find new games that I, and my community, would like; but Humble Bundle makes it easy. Rotate between different bundles to keep things fresh with your audience and to keep providing curated value to them. Humble Bundle game bundles make gaming less overwhelming, more cost efficient, and are great for my community to try games with me.

Be the gamer you know you can be. Build, game, create, engage, and Humble Bundle, that’s my recipe you should follow to immediately take your gaming to the next level.