With more than 110,000 followers and a dedicated community of viewers who tune in to watch her play (most recently, Fortnite), HayliNic has a Twitch audience that reaches across the world.
Recently, she chatted with Adorama about how she got her start in online gaming, the development of her Twitch community, and the gear she uses to get her streams done successfully.
Adorama: Tell us about your start with Twitch and online gaming. You were a journalism major in college but decided to make the jump to gaming — how was that transition and what challenges did you see?
HayliNic: The transition from journalism to video games was pretty seamless, actually. I’ve been playing video games my entire life, and it was always something I enjoyed doing. When I started my Twitch channel as a side project during my junior year of college, it was genuinely something I did just for fun. It was hard to explain to my friends sometimes, given that my college life was incredibly different from my gaming one. They’d want to go out and party, and my answer would often be, “eh, I’m going to stream instead,” and that would often bother them because they didn’t understand. Ultimately making those sacrifices eventually paid off!
Adorama: Getting a partnership with Twitch has been reported to be incredibly difficult. How was the process for you?
HayliNic: It definitely wasn’t easy! I probably applied at least a dozen times before I was finally considered. The requirements for partnership have changed substantially over time, but when I applied you typically had to have at least 500 concurrent viewers every stream. Eventually my channel got some attention and when my viewership started to climb, I decided to apply again. I remember being live when I got the email saying I was accepted for partnership and I started crying because I was so happy. I’d worked so hard for it for so long (nearly a year!), so to see the fruits of my labor finally come to fruition was the best feeling.
Adorama: What unique challenges have you encountered being a woman in this space? Twitch has been open about updating its community guidelines and curbing inappropriate users and harassment. How have you found the community and guidelines?
HayliNic: Being a woman on Twitch has been challenging, to say the least. Women face so much misogyny in this space, purely because gaming is still so heavily seen as a male thing to do. Ironically, women make up more than half the space of gaming when you include mobile games, so that idea of it being men only is just false. I get a lot of hate in my chat at times purely because I’m a female — people who come in and call me names, tell me to get naked for them, stuff that’s extremely inappropriate that I’ve unfortunately had to live with. Luckily for me, my community is incredibly kind and well rounded, so those kinds of instances are few and far between and immediately purged from the chat. But I think that the community is changing regarding its perspective of women, which is a really nice change. I think people are becoming much more accepting of people from all walks of life, which is really important. Inclusivity is so incredibly important.
Adorama: How do you manage and schedule producing such a high volume of content. Some Twitchers have reported feeling burnt out by the process. Do you ever get into creative ruts, and if so, how do you overcome them?
HayliNic: It’s very easy to get burnt out in this profession. I see some content creators who stream for 8+ hours a day, then have daily uploads on their YouTube channel, too. I’m like, “how do you do it?!” For me, it’s necessary to find balance. I love my job, but I also love being outside and being active, things that are completely different from this space. Taking breaks is a must when it comes to creative ruts, purely because if I stretch myself too thin, my content will suffer because of it. I make sure to take days off, but also make sure I’m being active on social media and other outlets to keep in touch with my community. They’re the reason behind what I do, so keeping them up to speed with what’s going on in my life is very important to me.
Adorama: One of the most common questions we get from our readers (in every creative field) is what equipment do you use? Can you tell us about your setup and the gear you have?
HayliNic: My office is my pride and joy! I first started streaming on a friend’s borrowed laptop that he never used anymore, and now it’s become a full fledged setup. I try to keep my technology up to date as often as possible, purely because the better the quality of content, the more people will enjoy it. I use Alienware peripherals (mouse, keyboard, etc), and my PC includes a GTX 1080ti, an i7-8700k, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, 2 TB HDD with a 1,000 watt PSU and liquid cooling. My camera is the Razer Kiyo, and my audio setup is an Audio Technica AT2035, along with a Behringer Xenyx 1204 mixer, a Behringer Composer Pro-XL, and a Tube MP Project Series Preamp. It’s pretty technical, but really pays off quality-wise!
Adorama: In 2017, Twitch announced that it had beat records in terms of viewership. How have you see viewers’ interest increase over time?
HayliNic: I love the fact that Twitch is growing. It makes it harder to grow as the market is so saturated, but it means that people are really starting to recognize the potential of livestreaming and gaming as a career, which is really exciting. Seeing new faces in chat every day and people coming in telling me it’s their first time on Twitch is so satisfying, and I think the more great games come out, the higher interest will be with viewers on Twitch.
Adorama: What advice do you have to anyone looking to make his/her debut in the online gaming world?
HayliNic: Go for it! Keep in mind, it’s not an easy task. Nobody is an instant success story, and it’s important not to get discouraged. Don’t give up, even if you only have 1, 2, or zero viewers in your stream. Do it because you enjoy it. There are no guarantees, but if success comes, it will be much more satisfying knowing you worked for it. It’s worth every minute!
