The Gaming Persona

Doc is a Twitch Partner!!!! - A Gamer's Path to Community and Success

• Daniel Kaufmann Ph.D. | Dr. Gameology • Season 5 • Episode 4

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Our podcast dives deep into the world of gaming, focusing on how it shapes our identities and personal growth. We explore the connections between gameplay experiences and the life lessons that emerge, highlighting Doc’s journey to becoming a Twitch partner and Marcus's engagement with new gaming adventures.

• Discussing Marcus' recent playthrough of Octopath Traveler 2 
• Exploring the challenges of Elden Ring and its psychological implications 
• Highlighting Doc's achievement of becoming a Twitch partner 
• Emphasizing community building through gaming 
• Reflecting on the broader narrative of identity in gaming 
• Encouraging listeners to leverage gaming experiences for personal growth

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Thanks for Listening, and Continue The Journey!

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Gaming Persona podcast. This is the show that explores who we become when we play games, whether you're saving kingdoms, leading epic raids or just vibing in cozy indie worlds. Join me, dr Gamology and my good friend Marcus as we search for all the ways gaming and personal growth collide. Grab your controllers and let's continue the journey Now. Continue the journey now.

Speaker 2:

So my gaming week has been a little funky, we're going to call it so. Since the last episode, I actually did a lot of like in-person things. I think I played four hockey games since the last time I saw you.

Speaker 2:

But I've been really lazy with the video games and let me explain. And is it lazy? You're gonna answer it for me. So I didn't sit at my tv and play a video game, I was on my switch and I've been playing octopath traveler 2 it's that turn-based jrpg that I was telling you about like I'm going through and like building the squad, because you know it's like a four-person team but you have to go out and recruit all the recruits and then you can pick your main squad. I'm gonna pull out this guy, but I'm gonna put this girl in blah blah, blah. So I've been doing that. So it's basically like all of their intro quests I think I got six of them done and they're all so good in their own way, like this one.

Speaker 2:

The main character, hakari. He's like your traditional warrior perfect class. For me. He's gonna be my main when he's all about swinging a sword and doing damage, okay, and his story is your typical samurai kind of destiny guy the father is old, the brother is like the head of the army. But then there's Hikari, who is like nice to the people and he's just a good person and he's still a fierce warrior, but he's not like his brother, who just wants war everywhere. And the father decides that hakari should be the king. Well, the son doesn't like that and offs the dad. Oh no, and. And hakari isn't strong enough to defeat his brother right now, so he goes on his quest to get stronger, so then he can take the land back from his brother. So I started that and like immediately, and now I haven't played a turn-based rt rpg. I can't even tell you the last one really like, yeah, like I don't play turn nah, I'm not like I've no matter how many times I've tried.

Speaker 2:

I've never played a persona game, um, like maybe it was final fantasy. 8 or 9 was the last turn-based game that's 20 to 30 years ago, correct?

Speaker 2:

wow, so this is not your genre no, it's not, and I'm completely hooked on. You were talking about like that save lock where you save your spot and you can't do anything about it. I actually did that and I actually reverted back to before I collected the next character and started that save again and then deleted the others because I didn't do enough of so each character has a job it can do. Because I didn't do enough of, so each character has a job it can do Like one can steal, one can persuade with information to get information, stuff like that, and I didn't do enough of it. So I feel like, if you don't do enough of it in your intro area, hurt yourself for the main game.

Speaker 2:

I see. So I've been like legit, I've put like 12 hours into this game this week. Wow, like out of nowhere I go in bed and I like just explore and fight a couple of fights and then I pass out or like just don't tell my work, I've been bringing it to work and if I have downtime at work I just pull it out and do a couple of battles to level up and you know what.

Speaker 1:

I mean.

Speaker 2:

But it's not on company time, it's just I'm enjoying the game so much, but it's been so cold here. When I leave my Switch in the van and I turn it on, the thing is like an icebox.

Speaker 1:

Does it still work? Yeah, okay, because if you're going to tell me it's that bad, I was going to say there is a place you could live where that would not happen. It has its own, floridaida. I don't know, there's probably better states that you could pick florida's the best.

Speaker 2:

Who doesn't want palm trees and the coast?

Speaker 1:

let the record reflect that I do not agree with what my co-host just said. That's really cool, though, that you found a new genre and a new way to play a game that still gives you a story and characters that feel compelling to you, and you want to keep leveling them up and building them up to be your squad, and it's hard?

Speaker 2:

I don't. I'm a terrible turn-based gamer because I I don't use the spell to boost everybody's attack power, I just attack and you can't just do that. You know what I mean. And as you're fighting like these things and you're like dude, I'm annihilating them and then they just destroy you because you didn't boost the rest of your team. You're just, I'm just like trying to power through and you can't.

Speaker 1:

It's like that meme you can see with different anime characters and stuff on Instagram where it's eight year old me, would you like to use a move that doesn't take down HP? No, exactly. Yeah, you look at your Pokemon. Traditionally each Pokemon game is a turn based attack kind of game and 12 year old me would have my six pokemon in my party and all of them just have four attack moves and then you can win pokemon games that way. But when you get a japanese style role-playing game that has turn-based combat and you're playing on a higher difficulty, like in Persona or Metaphor Refantasio, you have to play strategically. You can't just go in and do a wholly extreme attack to every enemy and expect to win that match, because sooner or later they're going to have a counter for that or it's going to be reduced damage or even reflect the damage back at you. And you're done because you have no strategy.

Speaker 2:

So you and I are speaking the same language. It's just a new way of thinking and I think I don't want to say it's because I'm old, but I just think that I'm enjoying taking some time because it's the complete opposite of an elden Ring, where the second you turn on Elden Ring, there is no calm.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, debatable.

Speaker 2:

I think there are moments of calm, maybe when you're exploring, riding your horse, your noble steed through Limgrave, sure, but there's not really any Once you're through Lindell.

Speaker 1:

There's really no calm to that game If you have the right meditation and mindfulness skills, any game can be calm.

Speaker 2:

Well, that game is stressful, from the moment I click play until the moment it turns off. Okay.

Speaker 1:

At least you enjoy all the games that you purposely stress yourself out with well, elden ring is the greatest game ever made. It's just that I don't know, can that be our topic? Can we just like swap topics and take that for an hour and just spar back and forth?

Speaker 2:

well, of course, everybody's gonna have their own opinion, but when you think about a game games that have an incredible story, incredible side quests, the most vast open world you could ever be in the combat is incredible. Every aspect of the game can be leveled up and made stronger, better and whatever. That's Elden ring. Yeah, there's nothing that has ever been made in my opinion and I've played a lot of games that is more thought out than this game.

Speaker 2:

But give an example, I just be. And when I did, I I don't know what made me go back, but I went back to Stormvale Castle, to where I killed what was his name? Godric or Godric, oh Godric and I ran into the room and there was an NPC there. They were like oh hey, thanks for coming back to the castle. You finished the quest, you killed the Lindell stuff, thanks. I'm going to go chill, but before I go, here's something freaking epic. And I was like what, how does that even happen? Where you show up to another spot and this person's dying and like he talks to you and you go do one thing for him and the game is just Wow.

Speaker 1:

And those characters do not have little flashy markers on top of their head like if it was an MMO Nope, which. There's nothing signaling to you that this conversation is going to be significant. You have to listen to what they say and remember it, or take a note, and that is why the discoverable features in the world of Elden Ring are so immersive, because it doesn't baby you like you're playing a video game, it's. You're living in this world. You better pay attention, right, or it's going to be very painful, right. And also, my ego is going to get into this here when you say that's the greatest game ever made, and I'm actually OK with that now. But do you want to know why, marcus? Of course I do, because I wrote a chapter in the psychology of Elden Ring and if there's ever going to be the best game ever made, I'm going to be in that book writing about it.

Speaker 2:

So it is the greatest game of all time because you wrote the final chapter in that book.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I am the Omega Statement on the Elden Ring and also if there is ever a game that's better than Elden Ring.

Speaker 2:

I'll write a chapter for that game as well. I just wrote my review for that book on Amazon. What? And I gave it four stars. Oh no, the only reason why is because the editor did not notify every single author that they didn't need to start every single chapter with explaining to the world what Elden Ring was. Whoever wrote the first chapter should have just said hey, this is Elden Ring and everybody else should have just built off of it. But every single author goes into it and goes you're a tarnished and you're starting out in the lands between blah, blah, blah. It was the same first page in every chapter. That's the only reason why I got four stars. Okay, but the last chapter was epic.

Speaker 1:

Thank you. None of us collaborate when we're writing our chapters in a book that's designed that way.

Speaker 2:

But maybe the person that's at the head of the table should notify people that, hey, this is a continuous book. Maybe everybody shouldn't explain to people what Tarnished are. Okay.

Speaker 1:

Then you've done over Right.

Speaker 2:

That's the only reason why I got a four.

Speaker 1:

I'm racking my brain now. Did I write my chapter that way too? Yes, you did also. I didn't know. We don't even know what sequence we are going to be in the book. It's like christmas morning news update when the book finally gets to your mailbox.

Speaker 2:

Let me ask you a question If you're hiring an editor to just go through the book and organize the book right, wouldn't you send okay? Hey, doc, you're chapter 10, take out. I don't need you to explain what the tarnished are by chapter 10, everybody knows what the tarnished is. Adjust your story. You know what I mean. It's an easy thing to make the reading better for your consumer.

Speaker 1:

Even better, you don't even have to ask the author. There is an entire section of my Psychology of Pokemon chapter that nobody has ever gotten to read and I included it at Orlando Nerd Night when I did a panel talk about my chapter and I told them you are the only people that are ever going to know that this content was meant to be in the book. It was a really fascinating neuroscience study where they put the connectors on different areas of a person's brain and can predict which starter they are going to pick before they play the game with over 99% accuracy for Charmander and Squirtle and in the 90% of accuracy for Bulbasaur. And I wrote at least a page about this and it got cut. It never made it into the book. So if you have that kind of power, you can just delete sentences and make sure the flow still works. But I'm the writer up to this point, not the editor. So I got to stay in my lane.

Speaker 2:

Okay, egos aside, moving on about Elden Ring, I'm going to play this by play-by-play. So the other day I'm just hanging out, I'm working, doing something I don't remember what the hell I was doing and I get this message and it's Doc's and it's a screenshot of his channel. It's got the check mark next to it. I fucking threw my phone in the air. I think it was in the air like eight feet smashed to the ground. I was like, oh my god. So dr gamology is now a twitch partner and I went fucking bananas for him and I know he went during that process sending that that to me. It was probably like a little like schoolgirl from the personas thing.

Speaker 1:

My my thumb was shaking trying to get the words out. It was insane. And also it was like six in the morning too. I got that email at 930 pm the night before. But get this I fell asleep at 9.15 pm the night before, so I woke up at 5, like I always do on weekdays. I made my coffee, I'm sitting on the couch, I'm checking my notifications and making sure I didn't fall behind on threads and blue sky and Twitter and Instagram sky. Blue sky is a Twitter alternative for people who are politically upset with the people who own Twitter, so it's just a Twitter.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's yeah, it looks exactly the same as Twitter used to look before it was bought, and they did like the X re theming to try and make it sleeker, but actually it's not sleeker.

Speaker 1:

Everything just goes transparent until you scroll. Anyway, I'm not not a fan anyway. So I got done with all the social media apps and then I decided to check my email and I had been checking my email, marcus, about 50 times a day for the last nine days, and the reason is this was my third time applying for Twitch partner since I completed the Twitch achievement called Path to Partner, and so what that means when you're a content creator and you're doing streaming on Twitch for people who don't know, this achievement is the first gatekeeper between you becoming a Twitch partner and remaining a Twitch affiliate, and those are the two levels of people that are able to basically treat Twitch like it's a career, if you want to. And so the first two times I applied, they rejected my application in 48 hours both times, and they tell you when you apply it seven to 10 days turnaround. So when I applied the third time, and they give you an explanation like here's what we're seeing in your channel.

Speaker 1:

We like your enthusiasm, we like what your community is doing. We want to see more of this. We want to see if you can maintain this. They set goals.

Speaker 2:

They just wanted you to be a fly by night person, and then they give it to you and then you have five people watching your street exactly so.

Speaker 1:

It's a business both months. You have to wait 30 days to apply again as well. Actually 28, 30, right? So I was expecting another rejection email for my january application. It was becoming a monthly thing, uh, november, december, january and I was expecting about January 15th for them to tell me no again and give me a new goal. And it never came. And instead of me feeling good about that, my brain was like oh no, you just got to keep checking your email impulsively the entire rest of the week. No, you just got to keep checking your email impulsively the entire rest of the week. And it's so ironic, marcus, that the time I fall asleep early is when they send the email. It is the best. And they totally did the thing I'm always talking about with time zones, because I do a lot of work in all the different time zones of the US and sometimes it affects how I do my job.

Speaker 1:

My one of my main roles is based in Arizona, and so I have to do things in a calculated way based on Arizona time. And I got this email very clearly 630 pm California time, probably OK. 930 pm florida time. So I woke up, I saw it and my brain? I was awake, I was drinking my coffee, I had tears of the kingdom turned on. I was about to start running around and find shrines until it's time to wake up my son for school. And I saw the email and I was like, okay, I got a email from the Twitch partner department. I've seen emails from them to other times. What do they want me to do this time? And I opened it and I saw the picture and we all know the picture because of social media. Like when people put that picture on their feed and say we did it, guys. Everybody who creates content knows that cartoon of the wizard girl with the bird flying away and that picture was in my email. I didn't even see the words, marcus, I just was like holy shit, like they sent me the picture of the witch girl.

Speaker 1:

So just really big moment for me and for my message and and for being able to talk with people about what the gamer's journey is live and connect it directly to different games while we're doing it. That's why I stream on Twitch and I didn't always know why I was streaming on Twitch and I think that's why it's so important that this happened now, because I think it's just so cool how everything's fitting together and people care about what the gamer's journey is, whether they read the book or they use different words to describe it. By being a gamer and living in this world, we're looking for something, we're trying to have something alive inside us, and video games can let us have that. We just can't always put it into words, and so the reason I stream and talk about this stuff the way I do is so that people can find their own words for what they get when they play their favorite games. So I'm just so excited for what the future has. It really is going to help me share the message of my book.

Speaker 1:

Talk about what KindBridge does and what I do for counselors and mental health professionals using video games, for counselors and mental health professionals using video games, and the sky is the limit. Now, marcus, it's like the end of a very frustrating journey, because it took me seven years to really figure out what I needed to get here.

Speaker 2:

But you know, when you walk through another door, there's another hallway and another place to go, so there's a couple of things I can say, and it may not be sound like it's the I look at. The journey as an affiliate is a journey to find out when you hit partner, you have found out. When you hit partner, you have found out who you are as a creator, because you've made it to that point and now it's time to hone your craft and continue, whatever that craft may be that sets you apart than everybody else, because, doc, you're not the guy that's screaming, raging, doing all that stuff. You're talking about all the games and what they make you feel and how they do things to mess with your head, to end the games and you bring a different message than anybody else out there.

Speaker 2:

We said this seven years ago and you know, you left Twitch for a little while and you focused on YouTube and you achieved YouTube partner, and that was just a small step. And then you realize that there were so many extra things you could do while streaming that can appeal to all of the people in your world, whether they're, you know, other docs or people from the universities, or people that read your studies, or just gamers or students. And it has all culminated to this moment to where it's okay, you're a doctor of gameology, you're a Twitch partner, now it's time to get to work. Again, you walk through the new hallway and now this is a long hallway and now you've got to figure out. Okay, what's the next step? Is it monetization? Is it building, getting partners or sponsors to sponsor the channel for you to partner with? Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1:

I'm just looking at this yeah.

Speaker 2:

General voice visions where they just what's a X system and you already have the awesome backing of Cambridge behind you and the awesome work they're doing. So the you have so many positives. It's just time to really focus on those and push forward and set those goals for the next step.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, the really big thing, like we're not having this conversation without this one change in my perspective, and it came in July. I did a keynote presentation at GeekEdCon. I was talking about the gamer's journey as a therapeutic tool to use mythology and video games to help people find their path through their therapy, and really fun talk, met a lot of good people. The room was into it and that event is where I started telling people point blank, as direct as I could. People point blank, as direct as I could. I am streaming on Twitch Sunday, monday, thursday.

Speaker 1:

The goal is, if you're sitting at home doing any kind of work, for you to get your coffee, sit there, have me on the background, talk with me. I'm there to talk about this presentation in different ways. Whatever game I'm playing, I want to see you there, even if you can't chat, even if you can't pay your full attention. And then I started bringing my LinkedIn people in. I started making sure to do social media a little bit more responsibly and make sure people knew when I'm going to do this, because you know people come watch if they know you're doing something cool. If you keep it to yourself, no one's going to be there. I was so bad about that in 2023. But, marcus, thank you so much also for all the conversations where you would just challenge me to focus on what I can do right now. Focus on the small steps, don't worry about the big steps. So many times you told me don't worry about partner, worry about building your community, worry about honing your craft Schedule.

Speaker 2:

Like that was the biggest thing you need to pick the days you're doing it.

Speaker 2:

Whatever those times are, I tell everybody. If you're so where, listen, I did it. I never achieved partner, but the one thing that I did have was a wonderful community that surrounded myself and the podcast and the stream channel. And the one thing that I understand is I look at everything as a business. It's just who I am and I've always told Doc and everybody else if you're going to do this, you set a schedule and you're married to that schedule, no matter what that schedule is your life. I can't tell you how many times my wife wanted to go out to dinner and I was like no, I have to stream because you're married to those times. I'm switching to the mornings. Doc is not a night owl. I am, by the time we're done, hanging out doing the podcast. He's tired and I'm still raring to go.

Speaker 1:

Because I've been working for 16 hours. Well, me too.

Speaker 2:

But you and I are built different and my time for me is always at night, where you get your time in the mornings.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And that's where you being on Arizona time for work is way better than being stuck in Florida time for work.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and then the other things that I do research teams and stuff. That's where it gets really bananas, because, interacting with people in Australia and Europe consistently, you just have to be available for meetings that occur at odd times. Anyway, the morning time is when I could make Twitch work and treat it like this is an appointment Right, and I'm so glad that I did that. I can't believe it, marcus. That's good, because I promise I'm so glad that I did that. I can't believe it, marcus. That's good, because I promise I'm telling the truth.

Speaker 2:

I can't I can tell you that you can't believe it because I know you For seven. Okay, everybody, I'm going to give you guys a little backstory. Seven years ago, when I met Doc, he was just a junior. He was a junior Dr Woodchuck, and he was just a baby and he wanted to take over the whole world. I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to do this and I want to do this. And I always was the calm in his storm of pick. One thing, dude, one thing at a time. People are going to find out who you are. No, they're not. It's taking too long. They're not recognizing me. Acknowledge me, acknowledge.

Speaker 2:

And I remember these conversations from five years ago, like doc, it's going to happen one day, and I'll never forget this day. Doc called me Marcus, you were right and I was like hold on the saw's running in the back. Doc and I were going to talk for two hours while I'm working in my shop and I would like to let me turn off the saw. You were right. What happened? Oh, my god, the director of x thing, that is, the head of this, which is the president of this just asked me if I marcus. Do you know how incredible that is? Well, it was just a matter of time. Why do you have to be right? And I'll never forget that conversation with Doc. So the whole point is and I'm not here to bash him this has been a culmination of years of grinding to get you to this point, and this is something you should hold your head high for, because not everybody makes Twitch partner, not everybody makes YouTube partner, not everybody is recognized by the regional director of sales at Dunder Mifflin.

Speaker 1:

Junior assistant to the regional manager.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's, it's. It's a long time coming, friend, and it's about time you got the recognition you deserve.

Speaker 1:

I earned it too, yeah, but you deserve it more than you earn it. Okay, I guess we'll let that slide you work so hard.

Speaker 2:

dude, people don't understand you and I. Our work ethic is the same in complete different ways.

Speaker 1:

Different fields, but it's the same mentality. Yes, we are workers. It's the Mamba mentality, marcus. It's Kobe Bryant's whole approach to life.

Speaker 2:

Can I just ask you one question, what? Who's the greatest basketball player ever?

Speaker 1:

kobe bryant, larry bird, baby. No, there, it's, there's. I did a whole segment about kobe this morning on my stream. I have to support myself no, I get it.

Speaker 2:

But hey, man, congratulations. If you guys see doc go over to twitchtv, slash dr gamology, give them a follow, pop in, even if it's for five minutes, and if you really want to get them, just drop the text.

Speaker 1:

Boomba, yeah, he'll know that you heard this, and I'll know you're one of the Marcus and what we call people from the capital of Marcusville.

Speaker 2:

How about just fans of doc Larry Bird fans?

Speaker 1:

All right, we are so deep into this episode and we have not even started our topic.

Speaker 2:

Wait we're not talking about that topic tonight. That's just not happening Today's. A Twitch partner topic I like that yeah. Like we're not starting a show after 33 minutes. But, Doc, you didn't even tell me what games you played.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, that's right. I played Tears of the Kingdom. I'm actually loving it. I think it's a better game than Breath of the.

Speaker 2:

Wild. Oh God, Shots fired.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I just really enjoy the powers that they give Link. He has this ridiculous elevator jump where he goes through the ceiling and comes out a portal on the other side of the roof. It's so ridiculous that I love it. He also has this in my opinion somewhat broken ability to just fuse whatever is sitting on the ground with his sword. You have a broadsword but you have this pile of rubble and you just use this magical power and then you just have two giant rocks attached to the end of your broadsword and now you do plus seven damage on every swing and it's more durable because the stones are what's hitting the enemy instead of the rusted iron right.

Speaker 1:

And breaking weapons in breath of the wild was out of control, annoying and it is annoying in tears of the kingdom, but out of control, annoying and it is annoying in Tears of the Kingdom, but it feels better and it's allowing me to enjoy being Link and also the building things and assembling them to solve the physics puzzles.

Speaker 1:

I find that really gratifying.

Speaker 1:

Every time you assemble things just right and it works, like I did a shrine this morning where I had to put a long piece of wood that was shaped like a bat so it's a cylinder. I had to attach it to a stake and then shove the stake into this console that rotates 180 degrees and then back the other direction. The noise again. And then back the other direction, the noise again. And so you have to time it so that you hit the giant boulder that rolls at you Indiana Jones style and you hit it into a giant sign on the back left of the room, like hitting a home run. You have to time the swing so that it goes in the left direction, and it's so simple, it's not difficult. You're assembling a batting cage with your magic right hand that can float things through the air and attach things together with your mind. But it's baseball, and just getting Link to successfully hit that home run this morning was such a cool moment now, are you playing it docked on your tv or you with a controller?

Speaker 1:

yes, okay yeah, and I think that's another big reason why I like the game more than I did breath of the wild. I played breath of the wild in my old place, which was a townhome. I had my office. I had a short recliner in my office that I could sit in and play handheld stuff and so I played that whole game handheld. But Tears of the Kingdom I played.

Speaker 1:

100% of the time that I have had that game up has been on my large TV and that is such a cool way to enjoy the game because I'm on my couch, I love my couch, have my controller and I'm just playing it the old way and I really like that. But that's not the only game I played. The final two streams that I have done before the big Twitch partner news was I got to play chapter eight of Final Fantasy seven rebirth on PS five. It just released today yeah, dead on Steam and I did download it on my Steam deck. I have not opened it and started playing it to see how it runs, but it is Steam verified, so I'm sure it's great.

Speaker 1:

And I played final fantasy 14 this morning and my paladin is level 51 doing level 48 missions almost done with a realm reborn and one of my community members, danny, saw that there were not any healers queuing up for the duty and he came in with the save this morning and he played Astrologian for the heals and I played Paladin and we did a four-man dungeon, and so community involvement on the streams. If you enjoy playing Final Fantasy XIV and you have free time on Sunday, monday or Thursday mornings and I happen to be playing that MMO on that particular day I think I'm going to do more of that. It was a really fun way to do it. Maybe even create a voice channel to use in discord so that people can actually have banter with me and stuff. I just I really miss socially playing games. I really do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that is understandable. Right getting the social aspect is what I love about gaming. Which is also what's really shocking about playing like octopath right now is it's solo, and I'm not used to doing that, and elden ring is solo. It is really nice when you can play a social game, yeah.

Speaker 1:

I miss having a social goal. This is going to sound insane, Marcus, but do you ever want to fight Revan again? Never again.

Speaker 2:

I don't feel that way at all. Hard mode Tithe all day, really.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

That's my favorite fight in the whole game, the whole mechanic, yeah not even isaac's. You're just happy to go and fight, type, yeah, but isaac's is like too like there's too much, it's over the top right like it's the final boss of yeah, my opinion, yeah, but the best operation I like Tithe because the mechanics are amazing.

Speaker 2:

The push-pull, the DPS, check the swipes, even the sisters is the best fight in the whole game With the color swaps and all that. You know what I mean. That is like that I miss, but like the Revan fight, I have zero interest in ever doing that again.

Speaker 1:

Ever. I'm going to break some news here. People might be surprised. You might not be surprised, Marcus, but I got to email with Broadsword yesterday and I let them know about my Twitch partner news and that now I don't have to worry about my average viewer number. I can play whatever I want.

Speaker 2:

Marcus, Well, I'm going to tell you right now. Actually, broad Sword helps your numbers right now because SWOTOR has Twitch, drops Yep, and when people watch your stream while you're playing swotor, they earn stuff yeah, free stuff.

Speaker 1:

I have already told them about some content for youtube that I'm at various stages of working on, because my dissertation is on star wars the old republic. Eventually I'm going to get videos done that talk about some of the key insights from that game and why I love it. And also I do want to do some streams in SWTOR sometime soon because I miss it now. I think it's been three years since I logged in, years since I logged in. I'm pretty sure I don't have an exact date on the right now. As I used to be as a Raider, I think I understand that it's okay now.

Speaker 2:

It's different, it's because you realize that you're not doing it for the achievement, you're doing it to be social, with some challenge.

Speaker 1:

Yes, but we're going to open up something to parse and I want to be amazing.

Speaker 2:

There's a performance aspect too. Yeah, I get it. Listen, man, I completely understand what you're saying. You should get involved in that.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean yep, I actually actually had a really cool. I just want to give a shout out to one of my favorite people that I've rated with not you, marcus, you're already in the conversation. No, slayer reached out to me the other day on Blue Sky and I was just like hey, are you still raiding? It's just like all the things are pointing to. For me, this week is to log in and do something.

Speaker 2:

That is so vague. Okay, log in and do some flashpoints.

Speaker 1:

No, my inventory is a mess. I don't even know what characters are holding the EXP. Gear set from the Dark vs Light event Doesn't even matter, just do the story. It matters to me? No, it doesn't.

Speaker 2:

It matters to me? Yeah, but just hear me out. It doesn't actually matter, because you're just going to just play the story and you'll be level 80 by the time you're done with the story. You'll be level 80. My highest level character is level 70. Yeah, so you're gonna continue the journey.

Speaker 1:

You know what's funny? I was teaching my class before this podcast, because that's what I do on thursday nights and it's the first week of the final course for these students.

Speaker 1:

Before it's the final count, I'm the, I'm the final boss, oh please don't, no, you're not, I am, and I have been for years because I teach this course all the time. Right, I'm positioned in the program at my university as the final boss, and I love that, just like I'm the final chapter in a lot of geek therapeutics books All of them, except for the Witcher. I'm not the final chapter in the Witcher, I don't think. I think that's the one where the street got broken.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, my students are messing with me in a positive way. They keep using the word journey all the time when they talk about what they're doing in their internships, and I told them I need to have a sound effect rigged up for this class that I can just hit every time you say that word, because this is getting ridiculous now. I love it, though. Thank you to all my students. Actually, some of my students have been watching on Twitch and have been bringing that into the classroom and talking to me about my Final Fantasy XIV research study, because that is what I use as the backdrop of my research methods class, because that's my most high-profile scientific publication up to this point, and it's just been a blast. Everything's coming together, marcus. It's crystallizing in a world-defining kind of way for me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you're taking your first step into a larger world.

Speaker 1:

Ooh Obi-Wan, I love it. I want to put a little effort here to repurpose these successes from me to things that people can hopefully use, and we've touched on this already. But I just want to make it crystal clear you don't always succeed at the thing you want, even if you want it really badly, and the best advice that I can offer to anyone in those moments is keep going can I add to that?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, please, and my part of that is don't ever be complacent, because as soon as you get comfortable, people will stop coming. Don't think that doc has changed who he was as a creator Many talks and the way things he does and adjust his stream and like this and that it always was changing. It was always for the better, and sometimes he tried stuff that didn't work and then, a lot of times, yes, but those are the things and that's the advice I can give, because, just remember, you could have 50 people watching your stream today and tomorrow. Johnny Rocket one, two, three, four, five comes out in the world and everybody leaves because he's the new shiny guy. Just be who you are.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's something you can do to network and build your community and connect with other people's communities. When you're done, you can send the group of people that are willing to click to be a part of the ride to a different channel so you can build friendships with other streamers that way and support them and share some of the love. And it gives me a chance to hang out and just talk with them about what's good in the game they're playing and what I like about them and some of the things I said to amp them up to my community. Into this conversation about some social media posts that someone said earlier today you should only ever stream one game and build your community around it, because that makes it so. People will know you're dependable and they'll know what you're getting from your channel. And on and listen to me because I'm smartest person in the world, the streamer that I rated. She is a VTuber and has done a lot of growth in the last year. I met her on social media from something witty and positive about gaming that she posted and I just like the personality in it. This is probably nine months ago or so, and so I watched her channel grow, I watched her get partner and then so this is my first time getting to raid as a Twitch partner, so that was exciting and so we just talked about. I was like I completely disagree. I did this growth from July until now. When I really came back to Twitch and made it, I told my wife I'm treating this it's a work appointment. Kind, bridge has my back. They're intrigued by seeing what can happen for their program that I'm training the counselors for if I can make this work. They want to see if I can do it. So it became work. It became a job. I needed that because work is so important to me. Bridge saying yeah, your stream is part of your work was like game on, like I'm all in now, and that happened after that presentation I talked about. So back to the whole variety versus staying married to only one game.

Speaker 1:

My growth occurred during me choosing to play metaphor refantasio, silent hill to the entirety of Dragon Age, the Veil Guard. Final Fantasy XIV is in the background on the off days, the entire time, starring a new character, a realm reborn, playing Dawn Trail with the newest content, both of those happening back and forth, and then Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Because I love those characters Two of them are in my background. Final Fantasy VII is all over the gamer's journey. It probably is my favorite game of all time and I was just like I'm playing all these games. I'm waking up and playing.

Speaker 1:

What is my vibe in the morning, like when I sit at the computer. What do I want to play? And it doesn't work for everyone. Or if you aren't dedicated to it, you're not going to find the right people, or the right people are not going to find you. They need to see you loving what you're doing. That is so much more important than what game you choose is a small percent of your growth Okay, but it's not the biggest variable, it's not the biggest factor and I thought it was for about six years.

Speaker 1:

And I wonder. I'm happy with I'm. I don't like the butterfly effect in this way. I don't want to change what happened because sitting here today, I love the outcome, but it is fun to wonder what if I had only played what I love and actually studied other streamers and picked up on? I really like that dynamic, or I really don't think that dynamic works for me, but I had fun watching this streamer do that.

Speaker 1:

For example, we mentioned we gave a shout to Kitty Kisses last week, right? Yep, I rated him recently, hung around a little bit. Same kind of exchange and the way he does things. That's not the way I do things. We're very different human beings, but I can still watch it and learn from him like, oh, this works for him because of this. Like he has Nexu right, he has the Nexu cam. I love that. I can't do that, but what's my version of that? And so that's the thing that can make what I do feel genuine to people who are watching me, just like what he does is genuine for people watching him. I think every creator has to figure that kind of stuff out.

Speaker 2:

You're 100% right.

Speaker 1:

Sometimes I watch the really uppity kind of Fortnite streamers that are overreacting to every single moment in the game and I think to myself, man, I'd be a better streamer if I could just do that, not true? I can't do that. I don't overreact like that. I'm not unhinged. I'm not calculatedly unhinged. I had to figure out. Those streamers are not what I'm trying to be, but if I sit and watch them for an hour, I can learn from them and figure out what is my version of that.

Speaker 2:

That's what I've been doing for six months, marcus. Well, clearly what you have done has worked right.

Speaker 1:

So far.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you just keep doing what you're doing. I believe that the message is bigger than the game. So for the a lot of people, yes, making twitch partner based off of being a variety streamer does not work. Statistically speaking does not work. Statistically speaking it does not work. But when your message is stronger than the games you're playing, it can work.

Speaker 1:

For me, the turning point was convincing people that don't watch Twitch to watch Twitch. If I had continued with the plan of I'm going to get Twitch viewers to watch me on Twitch, this conversation is probably a very different one. In fact, we'd be talking about our planned topic instead. You have to figure out what is your niche, and I was very lucky to have several niches of people that think video games are great in different reasons and want to help me get this goal and want to be on top of what some of the most recent games are, and I was able to do that. I've really enjoyed all the games I listed earlier. Like I even did a stream with Astro Bot, loved it. I didn't continue playing it, just being willing to try different things. I did a Diablo 4 stream during that set of months too, just getting me outside of my comfort zone, but finding that comfort zone in the people watching and in the conversation.

Speaker 1:

So video games are a very social thing.

Speaker 1:

It connects people and Twitch is a really fun way to meet new people that are interesting.

Speaker 1:

Like I'm the one on screen when I stream and when you stream.

Speaker 1:

Like you're the one on screen when I stream and when you stream like you're the one on screen, marcus, but those relationships that can be built when people want to jump in and chat with you, research is going to call those parasocial relationships, meaning it's either one-sided or one and a half-sided, that they are interacting with me in a way that is more accessible than seeing a celebrity on a TV, but not quite completely genuine, right, my goal is to give them as genuine an experience of me as I can, but other streamers might be playing out a persona where they're allowed to be a little different than who they actually are, because the cameras are live and that's completely fine, that's acting, but I don't really know who they are.

Speaker 1:

I know their username and sometimes a username pops up where I know exactly who that person is and that's fun, but I still will use their username while I'm live because that's polite. So you have this whole range of different kinds of relationships that are coming in and just being a part of a moment where I'm getting destroyed by a tough boss or I'm trying to put on a better outfit, right, all the things in between.

Speaker 2:

I think, yeah, outfit right all the things in between. I think, yeah, you did it right thank you, marcus.

Speaker 1:

That's so nice to look back on and say, yeah, I did. What the heck? Oh man, it doesn't happen to everybody. No, it doesn't. There's 1%, do you think that's?

Speaker 2:

It doesn't matter, that part doesn't matter. Today your hard work paid off. Tomorrow you still have to go to work.

Speaker 1:

You could say that tomorrow it's a new day. Yes, it is New day, sucks. We are doing amazing with all of the WWE references on our show.

Speaker 2:

Bro, saturday Night Night event is Saturday, and then Royal Rumble is the following week.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's going to be great following week. Yeah, it's gonna be great. Also, I'm just gonna tell you I don't know if we clearly said what our plan topic was. We did not. We did at the end of last episode and by now people have been able to listen to that. It was going to be fighting games.

Speaker 2:

I was going to heavily focus on wwe 2k24 as a fighting game and I was definitely gonna be saying get over here a thousand times tonight mortal kombat one marcus is such a diva of a video game it is the game that changed the fighting game world no, like the new mortal combat one that came out in 2022.

Speaker 1:

yeah, I updated it on my steam deck and downloaded it on steam on my pc today, and both devices took over 90 minutes to download that game. The Steam Deck wasn't even downloading the game, it was patching. The game took 90 minutes. We're going to have to just punt the fighting game topic to next week, if you're okay with that Of course I am Okay.

Speaker 1:

I've already shown a lot of love in the episode to KindBridge Behavioral Health, but I want to be very clear. If you're listening to these talks, you love video games and you would like to pursue your own psychotherapy and you're in the United States. We have licensed counselors and life coaches in almost every state now and coaching is available in all states. If you want a gaming positive psychotherapy experience, look us up at kindbridgecom.

Speaker 2:

And if you want to grow your stream and you really need somebody to kick you in the ass and motivate you to be better and listen to what I have to say, call Marcus.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's true. So, marcus, I don't know how much you're going to this parallel, but you're like my Samwise Gamgee.

Speaker 2:

It's understandable.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Need to be Frodo. It's like me on the ice when I'm playing hockey. I don't need to score the goal, I like to pass it and watch my friends score the goal.

Speaker 1:

Ah, you get the assist. I don't know the hockey.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's like.

Speaker 1:

John Stockton.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, hey, I'm the playmaker.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's very true. A lot of the things you encouraged me over the years were all small steps to get me to have some of these achievements. It's wild how many things you can do in life that take so many years to complete, and I just want to encourage everyone if you're feeling stuck and you really want something so bad, but it doesn't seem like it's going to happen just keep innovating, keep making the attempt. You do not know where you're going to be five or 10 years from now, but you're not going to get to that five or 10 year mark if you give up in the first day, in the first week, in the first month. You can't be doing things just because of the outcome. You have to be doing things because it's the right thing for you to do and it's on a path that you believe exists. And keep doing it, even when the goal does not seem on the horizon.

Speaker 2:

Hey Doc.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. Continue your journey, thank you.

People on this episode

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Daniel Kaufmann

Host
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MarcusB814

Co-host