How to talk to yourself on stream?

Now they say talking to yourself is one of the first signs of madness… but it is a skill one needs to develop if they are planning to become a streamer, or in fact any type of content creator. Once you start to establish a community this can become easier as you will have people to reply to, but first and foremost you’ll need to break the ice and start to make friends with, well your camera.

When I say friends, I don’t necessarily mean unplug the camera and take it to a movie (although each to their own of course) but just become comfortable with talking to it. Practice being in a space where it’s just you and the camera and you’re talking about your day, which type of game you are thinking of picking up next or some goals for the next 12 months of your content creation or streaming journey.

Practice makes perfect and the more you do it, the more confident you’ll feel. Bring the energy and help to distinguish your show from all the other shows out there on Twitch.

But just what exactly can you talk to yourself about? I’ve compiled a few ideas to help you get started:

1. The Game!

Now this might seem an obvious one but you can narrate about the game you are actually playing, with many different forms.

• Playing the narrator – works best for new games, you are describing your experience as you are playing “what’s around this corner?” “ah I don’t like the look of this” “Wonder if these skills are upgradeable?”
• Playing the historian – works best for games you’ve already put a lot of time into, for example World of Warcraft is ideal for talking about past events, how the game has evolved over the years you’ve been playing
• Playing the beginner – works best for new games or games with different classes / skills you’ve not a lot of experience with. This is where you take a confident / all guns blazing style approach and throw yourself into the game and work it out as you play – this works well for interactivity too as you can ask chat for advice or help as viewers start to increase
• Playing the know-it-all (or expert) – works best for games you know, this one can be a lot of fun as you can try and bait your audience into starting conversations. As you play you can comment on “this being the best way to do this” or the “ideal way to handle a level” – and you’re looking to entice chat into a debate / discussion around how you are playing it

Consider trying a classic game you’ve never played!

2. Current Events – personal life / favourite media / gaming news

This can give you some framework for topics to talk about, but also help your audience to get to know you a bit better and give them prompts to share things about themselves too, e.g. pet stories or their opinions on a video game or playstyle.

• Family / Pets – This can be a great one as talking about pets or family can feel very natural and help people to connect with you based on similar experiences
• Favourite Films / TV shows – This a rich repository of potential topics and again shows people what you’re about, also sharing some debatable opinions (e.g. best Batman or bad sequels) can really help to kickstart conversations in chat
• Upcoming games / re-releases of classics – Another good way of connecting with people, talking about you video game history and what you’re next looking forward to.

3. Controversial topics – friendly opinions to debate!

It sounds like baiting people, but not in a bad way! Think of it more like a friendly nudge into prompting conversations from viewers – but also something with plenty of depth for you to talk about solo.

• How a popular video game “should” have ended
• Sequels to classic games that should / should never have been
• Classic genre defining battles – the time honoured tradition of things like “Star Trek vs Star Wars”
• But remember – you’re not looking to cause heated arguments and negativity – choose topics carefully and keep it light-hearted and fun!

and Finally…

Don’t worry this doesn’t have to be perfect on day 1! It takes time and practice to feel comfortable on stream and talking to yourself and interacting with chat.

Some topics and ideas will work better for some streamers than others, there’s not really a “one size fits all approach” and it’s all about finding what works best for you.

What helps you to cultivate the kind community you want to build as well as complimenting your streaming style and the games you want to play?