I have yet to sneak into this next streamers Twitch streams, but I can’t wait to catch him finally and hopefully soon. I was introduced to this streamer by a friend who follows a few of the same other streamers. I am so glad that this streamer has done the interview with me and I look forward to chatting with him during one of his streams. So here is a new streamer to myself and to you I hope you will jump into his stream sometime with me.
1. What is your Twitch name?
TheMisterKyle – which is also my Twitter handle, Facebook Page, and the title of my own blog, although I’m nowhere near as prolific as you!
2. Is there a special reason you chose that name?
I’m a middle school teacher by day and I’ve always been one of those weirdos that enjoys going by my first name, but one of my principals insisted I keep the “Mr.” part so I’ve been known as Mr. Kyle for most of my career. When I thought about branding myself, adding the “The” seemed like a natural fit, given that I’m, y’know, prone to obnoxious delusions of grandeur. Or delusions of competence, at least.
3. Why did you become a Twitch streamer?
I’ve always enjoyed both gaming and the sound of my own voice, ha-ha, so it was a good fit. Even with single-player games, I’ve always liked it when friends hung out and watched (my partner and I do a lot of that, too). Plus, I’m kind of shameless attention hog. I’m a performer – I’ve acted, I can play music – but I also write (I’m a self-published author) and genuinely love sharing my own experiences with people. I think I really do fall into that Jack-of-all-trades trope, particularly the “master of none” part.
But, all that aside, as I mentioned above, I’m a teacher, and in my own limited experience, there aren’t a lot of us in gaming – and there aren’t a lot of games taking up real estate at school, either. I’d like to change that. I keep my stream very clean because I would love for there to be more overlap between the worlds of gaming and education, and because video games are one of the ways I really like connecting with my kids.
4. Why did you choose to stream on Twitch and not another streaming platform?
I originally took a few stabs at putting myself out there on YouTube, actually, but I could never quite stick with it – I didn’t really enjoy the labour involved in editing and such. A few years later I partnered with a good friend of mine to create a very fun, if short-lived, channel called NonTail Games (don’t ask), and we loved it at the time, but that fell through, too – we’re both busy people. I didn’t do anything online for a long time after that, but then another very good friend (Shogun15 on Twitch) convinced me to give it another shot, so I did.
5. How long have you been a streamer?
Er… well, call it a couple of weeks, I guess. Maybe a month, if we want to be very generous.
6. Do you only stream or do you have another job? If you are comfortable in telling my readers, what is your other job?
Oh shoot, cat’s kind of out of the bag, isn’t it? Well, fair enough. I’m a middle school teacher in Ontario, Canada – mostly French, although I do quite a bit of drama on the side. I’m also, as I mentioned, a self-published author (although I’ll only call that a career if you’d call Kraft Dinner a three-course meal) and I’m working on my second book in the time I get between all the, y’know, being a lazy butthead.
7. What are your favorite games to play?
See, the problem with answering this question is that being a guy with ADHD, my tastes fluctuate wildly. I’ll binge on Minecraft for a couple of weeks, and then not pick it up again for two years. That said, there are games I find myself coming back to over and over again. The Zelda series is always in that lineup, along with several entries in the Final Fantasy series (not 7 or 8 and nothing after 10 – bite me, fanboys). Now and then I’ll drift into a Pokémon binge. Lately, though, I’ve been finding a lot of big winners in the single-player open-world category – The Witcher 3, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Spider-Man 2018, for example. Truth be told, I’m not usually good at playing games at time of release… I’m one of those “patient gamers,” I guess.
8. What are your favorite games to stream? Do you only stream games or do you stream anything else?
In terms of what I stream, it mostly depends on what I can get my friends to watch me play while they hang out with me on Discord. Right now, that includes Zelda with my brother, Monkey Island with my dad, Dark Souls with Shogun – the kind of eclectic lineup that actually tells the story of my gaming journey pretty well.
One thing I really hope to do is a series of streams geared toward parents and teachers, where I gather up some friends and we play games that their kids/students are playing. We’d demo the game, have some fun, answer questions, and give families and educators a proper, inside look at the content so that they know what experience their kids might be getting. Haven’t decided what to call it yet, but if your readers want to see this happen, I hope they’ll let me know!
9. Do you have any games you would recommend my readers to play, and why?
None that they wouldn’t already have heard of, I’m sure, but there are some games I consider absolute masterpieces – Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, Portal, The Witcher 3, Final Fantasies VI and IX, several Zelda entries (Breath of the Wild, Wind Waker, Majora’s Mask) and…well, I know I’m missing several, and I’m going to read this later, slap my forehead, and go “Dammit, how could I forget that one.”
I think, though, that Undertale deserves special mention (despite its legion of rabid fans) for its subversive, transformative story and style. Seriously, I think Undertale is the kind of game that should be taught in schools the same way we’d usually teach a film or novel study. I don’t think it’s literally the best game out there, but as a teacher I can appreciate the way it undercuts the expectations and creates dizzying depth with its characters and story through art design that seems so simple on the surface. I think it could be used extremely effectively as a way to teach endless lessons, not just about writing, character, and narrative, but also self-reflection, choices and consequences…life lessons. Real ones. I’d love to see the day where we as teachers can really explore interactive media with our kids in that way.
10. Was it hard to talk to your viewers when you first became a streamer? How long before you became at ease with streaming?
It wasn’t, really, but coming out of the classroom and onto the stream (especially now, in the time of online learning), I’m kind of used to the sensation of being in the spotlight – and constantly filling the silence. It helps that I’m an extrovert, and the time I spent creating videos for YouTube also taught me a lot. I won’t pretend I’m necessarily good at it, and I’m sure my running commentary pales in comparison to those more awesome, charismatic content creators out there, but for my part, I’ve never really found it awkward or difficult. That said, I do find it more fun when I’ve got friends in Discord to chat with.
11. Would you like to tell my readers anything else about yourself or about your Twitch channel?
Buy my book! …I mean, uh, nothing special.
Serious answer: I guess I’d like your readers to know that I’m out and proud as a queer teacher and streamer, and I’m also the proud partner of a fantastic trans guy, so if they’re looking for the kind of zone where they can expect wholesome, good times in a queer and trans-friendly space, they’ll find it on my channel.
… and if you do want to buy my book, it’s called Wyvern, it’s a fantasy novel about a 12-year-old trans boy, and you can definitely get in touch with me to find out more if you’re interested. Heh.
12. What are the links for your Twitch channel and any other channel you would love my readers to know or follow?
You can find me at twitch.tv/themisterkyle, and if anyone on your blog is into Monster Hunter, they should check out my good pal Shogun at twitch.tv/shogun15!
I might have to ask his friend, Shogun15, if he would like to do an interview with me so that we can all learn about him as well. But yes, you read that right! This streamer also has the Author hat like quite a few others I have interviewed. I will post another blog more about his book and being an author soon. Hop onto Twitch and give themisterkyle and shogun15 a follow.
