Buffalo Retro

Behind The Stream: the_wee_

After having a couple of technical issues on my end, the_wee_ and I finally connected for a brief interview about her Streaming career and it was well worth the wait. Energetic, sweet and positive, the_wee_ offers valuable insight to beginner streamers and an infectious grrrrl power vibe. An uplifting interview with the goal of changing the world one smalThank you for doing this, Wee!

Twitch handle/demographics:

• the_wee_
• 27
• Born: Bellingham, WA
• Currently: Tempe, AZ
• I’m a registered nurse and currently work bedside at a Children’s Hospital (I LOVE babies and kiddos!)

When did your streaming journey begin?

• It was actually around Christmastime last year (2021) that I pitched the idea off my brother, someone who would absolutely tell me if starting a stream would be a dumb idea. To my suprise, he was the most for it out of everyone I asked. Naturally, the streaming journey then started as a New Year’s resolution and opportunity. I consider myself to be somewhat of an introverted extrovert, and meeting new people can be both wonderful and terrifying for someone like me with social anxiety. I WANT to seemlessly meet new people but I worry too much about what everyone else is thinking. I figured streaming could be a new way for me to push myself to learn different, unconventional ways to gain the confidence to be unforgivingly me without the feeling of inadequacy, in front of a camera, playing video games. At the time of the resolution, I was only really playing Destiny 2 and would play with one of my best friends and her family from my homestate of WA. Our party would always hear at least one person go “dang that was hilarious, we should be streaming this right now,” and those moments just started stacking up the more we played. I buckled down, did a LOT of research and a couple months later finally decided to go for it. I got my Twitch page (mostly) together; I made my own banners, streaming announcements, everything. I made an Instagram and Beacons page, and after making my banners, I made my first stream!

“People claim to hate people but we really just strive to connect and understand. I love to learn about people and the different places we’ve been, done, and seen. If I have the ability to make at least one person smile or laugh, can’t really go wrong with that.”

Do you have a type of genre of game you prefer to stream?

• FPS/RPGs like Destiny!
• Survival/Psychological Horror like Outlast or Resident Evil!

Do you have a schedule?

• Unfortunately, right now, I do not. My work schedule changes weekly as I work 3, 12.5-hour shifts and they are rarely on the same weekdays/weekends. I try my best to post announcements on my Intsagram page when I plan on streaming next! I plan to come out with a weekly schedule moving forward!

What was the first game you streamed?

• Destiny 2

Do you have other streaming partners?

• Nope! Just me, myself and I!

What is the most outlandish thing that has happened to you while streaming or while you were watching someone stream?

• Being female, there are constantly meatheads constantly trying to berate female gamers. The “make me a sandwich” ego or that girls dont belong in the community has grown so tired. I have seen SO many female streamers absolutely kick the teeth out of male streamers that the sexist remarks are just ridiculous and just to get a rise out of of you. There are people out there who think it’ll be funny to come to your stream and be sexist, racist, homophobic, you name it. I do not, nor will I ever support or have a community that supports sexism, racism, or bullying of any kind. It’s posted on my community rules and I stand by banning anyone who is unwilling to be a good human.

What is your ideal Twitch community?

• My ideal Twitch community is one that is equal parts inclusive, fun, and entertaining. I want to show people my personality and have fun meeting people while playing some kick ass video games! I want to support my followers the way they support me. I have a LOT of learning to do still, and I’m excited to see where my community goes from here.

What do you want to see in your Twitch community?

• I would love to see a positive change, not that the Twitch community is toxic, but I feel like more people are preferring streams where women are nearly naked and in inflatable indoor pools or hot tubs. (Which, again, cheers if you do it, but I’m not about it, those streams just have zero sustenance.) There is so much more that people could do with their platforms and popularity rather than purely for selfish gain.

What makes your stream unique?

Before even starting a stream I asked myself the same question, how was I going to stand out, what makes me special, why should anyone even bother finding me? I’m not the type to flash my body on social media or take to the stream many females do now which is turning streaming into softcore OnlyFans. (No disrespect to those who do it, I’m pro-sexual positivity, it’s just not my specific vibe.) I first researched different female twitch accounts, seeing what works for them, what doesn’t. Hilariously, it’s almost kind of like high school. If you have the looks, your page will seemingly get a lot of traffic. But that’s not the route I wanted to take. I wanted to build a genuine community that isn’t based around what I look like or to have followers beg me or only follow me if I look like what I think they want me to look like or sound like. I’ve never been the girl to outwardly show my body and receive limitless attention, so how the hell am I going to get traffic on my page, how am I different? The more I thought of other women twitch streamers’ approach, the more I started to doubt my ability to be different and grow, how I wouldn’t fit in the community, my looks or whatever not. But then I thought about my day-to-day self. What I DIDNT find while researching pages, was personalities like mine, and what originally seemed to me as being against the grain or unpopular, was this huge epiphany for me. I like being very “girl-bro-y” (that’s a term… right?), just easy going vibes with the occasional sweaty competitive streak.

But really, truly, when I originally pitched my idea of a stream to my brother, I couldn’t help but have this grandiose idea of creating a community that I could utilize into spreading awareness and opening discussions over mental health. As a pediatric nurse, I can’t even tell you how many teens, adolescents, and even adults of any age today feel like they have no voice, no one to advocate for them, and really no one to lend them a hand, heart, or ear. Gaming has almost always been stereotyped as being bad for you, how strangers you play with are dangerous, when it’s actually saved so many people. I myself lost a best friend in high school who was like a younger brother to me from suicide, and let me tell you, the pain never goes away from losing someone who felt that much pain and felt as though he couldn’t tell anyone. Twitch has a way of creating communities for ANYONE, anyone can fit in SOMEWHERE, and if someone feels like they cant fit-in in real life, what’s so wrong with an escape? That’s what playing provides! Video games can be beautiful, and create realms of fantasy that is otherwise lacking in most peoples’ everyday lives. Mental health is SO important, and the more time goes on, the more it’s becoming normalized to talk about. It’s an AMAZING step but I feel like there’s always more we can do. People are suffering in their heads every day, so how and why do countries not announce mental health as an epidemic crisis similar to that of opioids and work on providing necessary education and resources? It’s a global issue that I would love to use my Twitch community for opening these conversations. I’m a little small now to open forums for conversation, but I’m hoping if I ever “get big” so to speak, that I can do something positive for other people of any age. 

And to those who follow me on Instagram already, my inbox/DMs/email are open to anyone who may be feeling low or alone and needs a heartbeat to listen. Support is important, you all are important, and you all deserve to be important.

National 24-Hour ANONYMOUS Crisis Hotlines

Phone

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:
  1-800-273-TALK (8255)
• National Substance Use and Disorder Issues Referral and Treatment Hotline:
  1-800-662-HELP (4357)

Text

• Text the word “HOME” to 741741

What would you tell a brand new streamer or wish that someone told you when you were first starting out?

• BE PATIENT! If you’re among the few that just can pop popularity overnight, all the power to you. But for the most part, you’ll have to work your way. You’ll have few followers at first, but if you actually take the time to network and network smart, your numbers will, for sure go up. A really good way to get followers is to post other gamer’s videos/reels/etc and tag their usertags. Tagging notifies the streamer, and more often than not they’ll repost your story to their feed. Not only will followers see your post but the other streamer’s tag of you will be public to their followers.

• Post FREQUENTLY! Especially on your social media platform(s), whether it’s a reel, story, highlight, etc.. 

• Make a schedule! Anyone can view it and it lets people know the next time you’ll be live! It’s incredibly hard for me to create a solid schedule with my line of work, but I do plan on setting weekly schedules so that I can stream on my nights off.

• Any time youre about to stream, post on social media to let your followers know. A really common way streamers do this is announcing it on an Instagram story and posting a link to your twitch. It allows followers to get to your stream faster, especially on mobile.

• If you go on a follow spree, don’t be a jerk and unfollow them later so your following is purposefully less than your following. This is super common among other new streamers and I myself have found many streamers doing this with me as well. You’ll lose followers here and there anyway, but if you keep networking and show your audience how active you are, you’re more likely to keep your following. Additionally, if you add a streamer on social media and you notice they have a link to their twitch page, don’t just follow their social account, actually go and follow their Twitch page too. I made the mistake of not going that far and just assume by posting on Instagram people would follow automatically that way– NOPE, big humble moment. Always, always, always, give them a follow on their Twitch page, you’ll grow faster that way! 

• For the first couple streams, it may seem a little awkward to be talking to yourself when there aren’t many (or any) viewers. Take advantage of that time and practice different ways you’d like your stream to go for further down the road.

What is rewarding about streaming?

• Everyone will probably tell you it’s community, and they aren’t wrong. The aspect of community and impact anyone can have, let alone build something from nothing, is tremendous. It’s opening forums and making connections with people and getting to have discussions with great people. I’m far from being where I want to be. I’m a small account right now, but I hope to grow to where I can make more of a positive impact. People claim to hate people but we really just strive to connect and understand. I love to learn about people and the different places we’ve been, done, and seen. If I have the ability to make at least one person smile or laugh, can’t really go wrong with that. We have busy adult lives and if the pandemic was anything to show for it, we could ALL use a little positivity and take ourselves a little less seriously from time to time!

Parting words/ shout outs?

• One thing I recognize is that streaming without versus with your face included can have exponential differences in views, follows, etc. I know I’ve been saying for too long now I’ll show my face soon, however between the pandemic and my recent health issues, my original timeframe of acquiring a new place was postponed. I will be moving into a bigger place by the end of May and I’m hoping to acquire a space to legitimaize my streams and having at least an amateur set up. I have most the equipment but no room. I’ll be streaming with my ugly mug soon I promise!

• When I first got started last year, I ran the idea of streaming past an online Among Us group that I had. Come to find out one of the girls had a friend who streams on Twitch and sent me her contact info to reach out. At first I was hesitant, for whatever reason I had it in my head that reaching out to ANY streamer would be a shot in the dark, how would they respond to nobody like me, you know? Regardless, I grew a pair and contacted the friend, struck up an amazing conversation with her. We had never met before that point nor did she know anything about me, and still gave me incredibly handy tips and tricks as to how to treat your profile like a business to meet and acquire a following. So I would love to give an ENORMOUS thank you shout out to my OG streamer queen SweetMonte. She’s a wonderful part of this community and I hope her stream takes off even more than it has so far.

• I also want to shout out everyone who has shown me support thus far. My stream and supporting socials are nothing without followers, and the fact that someone like me can start a community means the world. HUGE THANK YOU WEE FAM!

Thank you to the_wee_ for participating and sharing your time! If you enjoyed this interview please follow her at:

TWITCH

INSTAGRAM

If you are a twitch streamer and would like to be interviewed please do not hesitate to reach out!