PlusHeart is a newsletter about creating on the Internet, creating for passion, and the relationship between fans and creators. It explores Twitch, esports, fandoms, and other places where all these things intersect. Matt Demers writes it in between cups of tea.
I’m very happy with the publishing of this week’s issue, because of a couple reasons:
I tried something new with the banner and I like how it came out
My goal for the first year of PlusHeart was to do 26 issues (one per two weeks for the whole year) and even though I had to go to weekly in the last couple months to hit it, I met the goal.
I got to talk to my good friend Boesthius for this week’s interview, and I like how it came out very much.
Boes streams on Twitch, and plays a number of different strategy-heavy games, like Civilization and Cities: Skylines. These games tend to have a steep learning curve, and that means that the audience isn’t as broad as say, a mainstream esport. Boes would be classified as a “small-to-mid-size” streamer: over the hump of getting viewership, but still working in that “100-300 viewer” range.
We talked about what that means for the ceiling of his viewership, how that impacts his onboarding process, and what it means when we overthink those things. We also touched on the idea of “knowing what you need to do, but not having the energy to do it.”
We also touch on the idea of “old esports” as a vibe, coming from his time with TeamLiquid.net, and learning streaming and community values from that environment.
All in all, a really good discussion; I think we had good chemistry, and I’d like to do another conversation in the future!
Housekeeping
I’ve been sick. It’s sucked. I took last week off, and I’m still not really through it. Forgive the smaller post for now 🙏🏻.
Streams are still going on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Join me if you can.
PlusHeart Issue #26 - Pushing your audience ceiling (with Boesthius)