In this interview, I will be talking with KensonPlays, a Family friendly Dino lover and a good personal friend of mine.
Table of Contents
KensonPlays’s Summary
His Message to You Guys:
If you want to turn streaming into more than a hobby, NEVER GIVE UP.
I have been streaming for 6 or so years, and it has not turned into a job for me, but I am not trying to turn it into one. I just enjoy hanging out with people.
If you are just starting, it may take a year or two to start making a decent living off it, so I recommend having a part-time job, at the very least, to help with expenses.
And remember, stay Rawrsome!
Who is KensonPlays?
KensonPlays is an avid dinosaur fan and a good personal friend of mine. He has been streaming for over 6 years and has a lot of experience as a creator. He never really “took off” and exploded into stardom, but that was never his goal, to begin with.
He sees streaming as a way to hang out with his friends, and that is admirable.
Note: If you see parentheses in the quotes from KensonPlays, that is because I’ve edited them to make it easier to understand the context of our interview. The response is otherwise his exact words.
He Streams To Hang With Friends
To be completely honest, I do not remember the exact reason (why I started streaming). But nowadays, I do it mostly just to hang out with other people who enjoy similar games and provide a relaxed, chill atmosphere for everyone who pops in.
KensonPlays
You might not know why you started your streaming journey, Kenson, but the original reason often doesn’t matter when you are in it for the long haul. Being able to allow your goals to shift and accept change is a great outlook to have. You don’t wanna be stuck chasing one goal and not making progress toward it – that is how you burn out!
He Has Seen the Rise And Fall of Mixer
I started (streaming) about 6 or so years ago.
I was originally on Twitch for about half a year. I then found Beam Pro (which eventually became Mixer) and stayed on that site exclusively until they shut down, unfortunately, in mid-2020.
I am looking forward to the launch of a new platform (more on that later) this summer!
KensonPlays
Hey, you started streaming a year before I did! And you’re still going! Keep going, man!
He is Driven By His Community, Even At a Financial Loss
I am not in it for the money.
I am happy if I can cover community expenses for our game servers and similar. As it stands, right now our 3 servers are about 35-40/mo, and (I am) making less than that (from streaming), so technically (I am) running at a loss…
KensonPlays
As long as your job and hobby support the expenses, I don’t see why this is a problem if you get value from the monthly cost. I wouldn’t run yourself into financial debt, but I think you have it under control.
His Content is Free of Profanity and is Mostly Family Friendly
I am not strictly family-friendly, but I do not allow swearing in the chat, or in a voice call.
I do not stream rated M games either. At most, rated T.
I want to be a place where people of all ages can load up, and relax. Whether you lurk or chat! (though, having a few more chatters will help conversations be found more easily)
KensonPlays
Creating content and not swearing was one of my biggest challenges back when I did streaming in 2018-2020. I grew up in an environment where swear words were used to express pain or anger. Mix in that video games, my content option of choice, was my way to vent anger, and you had all of the ingredients for a profane slip-up.
I eventually marked my stream for mature audiences only for this reason and just embraced it. Good on you, Kenson, for keeping to the no-swearing rule!
He is A Glimesh Streamer, And Soon To Be SharePlay Streamer
I currently stream on Glimesh. But I will be moving to a new platform, SharePlay, when they launch this summer (roughly).
They have a bunch of former Ex-Mixer developers working on the site, with plans to ‘bring back Mixer’ in a sense. That’s the platform I really took off on and made plenty of friends with, and I want that feeling again.
KensonPlays
Let’s hope Shareplay doesn’t suffer the same delays that all of 2022 did with game releases. I really want to play The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!!
Rant over… 😉
He Exclusively Uses NVIDIA GPUs (But Isn’t Against Other Brands in the Future)
I have only used Nvidia GPUs so far, but I use an AMD CPU. So, I guess I like both, one for GPU, one for CPU. I may check out an Intel ARC gpu at some point once AV1 streaming is more popular.
KensonPlays
A word of advice – Intel has a long way to go to catch up to the offerings from Nvidia and AMD. I have only been hearing horror stories of its performance everywhere I go. For streaming, I’d wait probably 2-4 generations of Intel Discrete GPUs to let them iron out the kinks. Besides, AV1 is possible on the newest 4000 series Nvidia GPUs – If it doesn’t, you know, melt its power connector.
Strange year, 2022… strange year indeed.
He Loves Dinosaur Themed Games
My top 3 games, in no (particular) order, are:
- ARK: Survival Evolved,
- Monster Hunter (franchise),
- and Path of Titans
ARK and Path of Titans are both dinosaur games, Monster Hunter is just … fun!
ARK is my primary Survival game, and Path of Titans is my secondary survival game right now.
KensonPlays
Honestly, I’m not all that into dinosaur-themed games – but then again, I’m a sucker for stories or overly complex action RPG games, not survival-style games. That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy a good rewatch of Jurrasic Park (The practical effects were bonkers!), but I’d just rather play Path of Exile.
He Has Considered Cooking Streams
(When it comes to streaming non gaming content,) I have considered doing cooking streams.
But I’d have to somehow either connect my phone to my PC, or find an app that lets me stream to SharePlay, which I’m very excited about, directly on my phone.
KensonPlays
Yeah, options for streaming using a mobile device are pretty limited, but you don’t have to use a phone, either. If you have a laptop and a webcam with a decently long cable, you can mount it on a tripod and stream as you normally would to SharePlay when it inevitably drops.
You don’t need the computing power of a powerful desktop computer to run a live stream that is just a webcam feed and some extra scenes that you swap to using a stream deck or something, despite what some people may insist.
If my I7 6700k could run a Game stream in 2018 using X264 ON FAST, why would the minimum streaming CPU get faster if we are in 2023? Laptop CPUs aren’t as bad as you might think, and some even have Nvidia cards in them to use NVENC for near-zero performance impact.
He Streams 2 to 4 Days a Week
(My schedule consists of) a minimum of 2 days a week, and other days as time permits in my weekly routine.
My scheduled days are Fridays & Saturdays, (and) the bonus days are Mondays & Wednesdays.
When ( and if Shareplay) launches this summer, I will temporarily (be streaming almost) daily for a while during the platform’s infancy. (This is) excluding Sundays & Thursdays (to make time for) family days.
I like to have a day off in between streams to relax, spend time with my kitty, and more.
KensonPlays
Two to four days a week, streaming, with a break in between each day, is great. Making time for your family and friends and unwinding is a great way to pace yourself. It’s no wonder that you’ve been able to maintain streaming for the 6 years that you have been.
He Is Abandoning Twitter In Favor of Mastodon
Currently, (the social media platform that) I am most active on (is) Twitter. But, I am slowly moving over to Mastodon, (which) is an amazing, open-source decentralized alternative to Twitter. (There are) no algorithms keeping you on it for hours on occasion, or advertisements.
KensonPlays
I’ve looked into Mastodon recently, and I was exceptionally confused. How you make your account on it is far from intuitive, and apparently, the host of the instance can see everything that gets uploaded to the platform, even so-called encrypted private messages.
I don’t know how true that last one is. I saw it on a YouTube video explaining the platform. However, if it takes an 8-minute video to teach you how to make an account, never mind using the platform, they need to do some UX design to make the process more intuitive.
Also, for those concerned about the word, decentralized does not mean it has anything to do with Crypto. It just means that there is no single entity that runs an instance for everyone to use. It is far more fragmented and feels closer to a sort of local tribe vs. a global entity.
He Loves his Three-legged Kitty, Attending Cons like PAX, and Indie Games
(For fun,) I mostly just chill and do random things on my PC, and play with my 3-legged kitty. He is so happy and kind to family and friends.
I rarely read books, mostly just online blogs and similar. If you see me at cons, like PAX, I will be checking out indie titles a lot of time.
KensonPlays
You know, you never told me what you named your kitty! Also, it’s a shame you don’t read that much. Reading is one of my passions, and I am often lost in a book at night before bed. Sometimes, until 3-4 AM even (whoops!).
But then again, I’ve never attended any Cons, though I’d love to go to Megacon, PAX, or some LARP Convention. Or, you know, meet Brandon Sanderson and get a signed copy of one of his books! (Currently reading Skyward from him – It’s amazing!)
The Stream Decks He Has Are Super Beneficial
The most beneficial tools I have are my StreamDecks (my XL and OG).
That, combined with my Wave DX mic & Wave XLR with StreamDeck integration make managing my stream & audio super easy. I recommend checking them out, at least StreamDeck Mobile for a couple months to see how it helps you out.
KensonPlays
I can confirm the usefulness of these devices! Read about them in my Christmas gifts for streamers article!
Or, if you prefer and have the patience to map everything, you can even use Voice Attack to control your stream using nothing but your voice. Or, heck, you can use voice controls to do anything you want with that program. Its like autohotkey, but better.
Check out KensonPlays!
His Message to You Guys:
If you want to turn streaming into more than a hobby, NEVER GIVE UP.
I have been streaming for 6 or so years, and it has not turned into a job for me, but I am not trying to turn it into one. I just enjoy hanging out with people.
If you are just starting, it may take a year or two to start making a decent living off it, so I recommend having a part-time job, at the very least, to help with expenses.
And remember, stay Rawrsome!
Closing Words – Interviews Are Here to Stay
This is the first interview I’ve done, and there are a lot of kinks to work out regarding the process. Right now, I want to stick to one-on-one text-based interviews with people on discord, but in the future, there is a possibility of video podcast interviews. I also want to streamline the process to make it less confusing for the interviewee.
I learned a lot from this first interview, and I’m hoping the next person to be interviewed will have an even better experience!
If you want to get an interview done for yourself, you need only join the community discord, @Monodex and ask!