Yep, another horror gamer who I am so glad that I ran across while just looking around for new streamers to lurk in or chat with. Anything horror related always catches my eyes, and I feel drawn to jumping into the stream to see the streamer and their community. I of course like the games being played too, but I focus on the community and the streamer themselves. I am drawn to those who are friendly, fun, charismatic, and loves to talk with those in their chat. This next streamer is all of this and more. He is a great guy and a lot of fun to watch as he plays his favorite game genre, horror.
1. What is your Twitch name?
Drummer8x8
2. Is there a special reason you chose that name?
When I was 15 years old, I was standing in a Verizon store getting my first phone. I was asked to create a Gmail account and at the time, I had an 8 piece drum set and a lot of my identity was tied up in being a drummer. So Drummer8x8 was born. Though I don’t drum nearly as much as I used to, music and musicality is still a big part of who I am and most of my branding, so the name works!
3. Why did you become a Twitch streamer?
Well, for a lot of new streamers, our channels sprung out of boredom and a craving for social interaction during the global pandemic. If I was sitting at the computer playing games with friends anyway, why not try to carve out a little community through streaming! That’s really all I wanted out of streaming to build a community. I didn’t have a financial drive, though I’ve had amazing generosity and support while streaming, I just wanted a fun place for people to distract themselves and make new friends.
4. Why did you choose to stream on Twitch and not another streaming platform?
For myself, and I think for many people, it’s just the default option when considering streaming. I already had a small following on my YouTube channel, but that content was heavily tied to one game and I didn’t want to be obligated to produce videos AND stream the same game. Also, growth is significantly easier to monitor and achieve on Twitch versus competitors like Facebook Gaming and YouTube.
5. How long have you been a streamer?
We’re coming up on 6 months! It has been an amazing ride and I’ve been able to stick with it and continue enjoying it thanks to my amazing community.
6. Do you only stream or do you have another job? If you are comfortable in telling my readers, what is your other job?
In the real world, I work in the television/film industry. Unfortunately, the pandemic has had a profound effect on the film industry. There have been very few, if any, productions able to operate safely during the past year. Thankfully productions are taking safety seriously, but until vaccines are stable and mask mandates are in effect, my industry will continue to be very fragile and inconsistent.
7. What are your favorite games to play?
I’ve always found myself attracted to games that had a “grinding” mechanic to them. Games that require quantity of play rather than quality of play. I am an avid Minecraft player and the owner of the Unity Minecraft server. However, Twitch doesn’t reward these kinds of games with a lot of attention, as it is not very exciting to watch me play Call of Duty in silence for 5 hours nor is it entertaining to watch me build in-depth technical projects in Minecraft. I also find it important to separate these from my streaming as much as possible. Gaming is often an escape and a way to relax, and if I put too much pressure on those games with streaming, they may lose their appeal/effect.
8. What are your favorite games to stream? Do you only stream games or do you stream anything else?
My favorite games to stream have been games in the horror/scary game genre. I stream the asymmetrical multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight five days a week, and on the weekends put a focus on more story based games that can be beaten/enjoyed in a single sitting. Horror games allow the viewer to become invested in the game in the same way they would watching a movie, I’m just the one controlling the main character and they get to tag along for the journey!
9. Do you have any games you would recommend my readers to play, and why?
I would HIGHLY recommend the game Phasmophobia to viewers. If you’re looking to get into the horror video game genre, Phas is very welcoming to beginners. Easy to understand mechanics, simple controls, and blood chilling jump scares make it the perfect scary game to play solo or with friends!
10. Was it hard to talk to your viewers when you first became a streamer? How long before you became at ease with streaming?
I’ve been performing as a musician for almost a decade and gone through a theater kid phase in middle school. However, I’ve always choked up and panicked when it came to just public speaking. So I think I just viewed streaming as a “performance” and it helped me get over my anxiety. If you look back at my early streams, you can see the nervousness and anxiety, but I feel I’ve become much more comfortable and relaxed now.
11. Would you like to tell my readers anything else about yourself or about your Twitch channel?
This past year (2020) was filled with a lot of negativity and I find myself often slipping into pessimistic negative headspaces, so I’ve worked at keeping my streams, my community, and my content about positivity this year. As mentioned before, I stream DBD, which is known for its extremely toxic community, so I am doing my best to bring positivity and fun to that, and any other game I play. It is easy to be mad and rage, so I want people to see my content and enjoy it for the laughs and the fun that we have together!
12. What are the links for your Twitch channel and any other channel you would love my readers to know or follow?
https://www.twitch.tv/drummer8x8
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC67w_U4D-4QqjdUSgCZoVWA
Twitter is https://twitter.com/Drummer8x8.
If you enjoy horror, and a community that isn’t toxic, then I say come and join me with Drummer and his great community. He also loves talking horror, so playing horror, talking horror, you can’t go wrong in his stream period. Of course he will also talk about his job and movies or anything you would like, but we love horror chatter in there for sure.
