If you have a love of gaming, you might decide that you want to have a shot at being a professional gamer. However, this is not as easy as it might first seem. Though this could be a good and very fulfilling career for you, it is going to take a lot of work. Here are some of the things you are going to need if you want to be a professional gamer and streamer.

A Platform

The first decision that you need to make is where you are going to be streaming. There are many options out there that you could choose. Popular gaming platforms include Twitch and YouTube but there are several others that you might wish to think about.

The advantage of these is that they often come with live chats. This means that you will be able to interact with your audience as much as you want. It does not matter what you decide to play, there will probably be someone willing to watch it. However, you can’t expect an audience to come to you. You are going to need to put the work in to build a brand as a streamer.

The platform that you choose can be a big part of this. It can be a good idea to build dual platforms so that you can get a bit of crossover between the two. For example, if your primary platform is Twitch, you could decide to upload stream highlights on YouTube. This can be a great way to introduce some extra interest in your brand, and you could manage to build two income streams from each platform with enough work.

A Schedule

You need to make sure that you have a good schedule set out for streaming and gaming, no matter what platform you decide to use. By having a set schedule, not only will you be able to organize your days better, but you will also be able to establish a stable audience as they know when you will be streaming or uploading. Having strict times that you stick to can really make all the difference, though you might not expect it to.

Not all of this schedule will be on stream or in front of the camera. If you have edited videos that you upload to a YouTube channel, you might have dedicated hours in which you need to plan videos, shoot footage, and edit them. You might also need to research for future videos and streams. When you’re signing up here, there could be certain verification checks that you need to go through, and you need to make sure that these are handled properly. You don’t want to be left having to delay your stream or make changes when you could be playing.

Having a good schedule means that you will appear to be a consistent streamer. Your audience will always appreciate knowing that there will be fresh content for them to look at on the same days or the same time if you are a daily streamer. If you want to build an audience that will keep coming back time and time again, you need to make sure that you can offer them reliable and interesting content!

Direction

Twitch might have a “Just Chatting” section, but that does not mean you should just log in and ramble aimlessly. You need to make sure that you have the direction for the stream. This could end up derailed and you could have to improvise, but it is better to go in blind and have to make adjustments as needed.

Think about the games that you want to play, not just for each stream but overall. Some gamers prefer to play just the one game. They could spend one day a week trying out something else, but their other games are focused on one day. You will frequently find esports players following this format. They obviously want to focus their attention on improving their skills in the game overall. Streaming gives them the chance to collect an income at the same time as doing so.

The other option is to play games that interest you. You might play a different title each stream, mixing popular franchises with indie games and hidden gems. There is definitely a market for this type of streamer. What’s more, exploring these types of games can often lead to some hilarious moments that happen in the blink of an eye. Being able to share these moments with an audience is part of the reason why streaming and gaming can be so fun.

Passion

You need to have passion if you are to make it as a gamer. There is so much competition out there, so you need to make sure you are prepared to fight it out. Building an audience can be very difficult as a gamer, so you need to be persistent so you are able to attract as much interest as possible. There could be some days when you only get a few people in your stream. You can’t be disheartened – you need to push forward and keep creating content.

On top of this, you might attract trolls and other nefarious parties who could not send you the nicest messages. You need to make sure that you don’t let comments like this get to you. No matter what, you need to make sure that focus is kept on the games and building your brand positively.

Streaming and gaming should always be done for the love of the games themselves. Though you might end up having to put in long hours to keep up with demands, you can’t let things get you down too much. Keep your passion for gaming alive, and this will never feel like a job to you! If you feel like gaming could be a good move for you, look into what it will take now!