Benefits of Subscribing:
- First and Foremost, you’ll be helping me bring you better content more often and helping me move towards fulltime broadcasting.
- Ability to Link Freely in Chat (no need to ask to link something)
- Monthly Subscriber Prizes that is usually in the form of video games or Hardware
- Subscriber Events (such as choosing what game for me to play During Subscriber Weekends)

I think a basic definition of a “troll” is someone who engages in behaviors to try to cause psychological harm to another and/or seek attention for themselves that they don’t get elsewhere. In almost every case trolling is entirely through digital means: email, forum posts, chat rooms, etc.

Trolling gone too far.

Trolling is common amongst online sites because people feel safe behind a wall of anonymity. Most of the times trolls come and go like flies to dung but occasionally you get a troll that goes to far and enters the realm of harassment and stalking.

If you find yourself getting spammed by threatening and harassing emails, someone contacting you through the mail, at work, or on your cell phone then you are dealing with someone who is deeply disturbed and most likely can’t be reasoned with rationally since they are engaging in psychotic behaviors.

Let me share with you my own personal story about one such instance of a Troll that went too far with me. Let’s give our troll a name, we’ll call him David for sake of clarity. David was once an active welcomed member of our streaming community. David would show up to most of our streams and be perfectly pleasant.

One day things started to change rather abruptly. David started to become a lot more hostile as the stream grew in popularity. David suddenly became furious that I was starting to earn a steady income with the stream. As the popularity of the stream grew so did his anger at one point he went berserk and started bashing me personally for no apparent reasons with a tirade of personal attacks. He was of course banned from the channel as any caster would do. This enraged him even more and he started spamming the report button with false reports under the name “Danisafag” getting himself banned from the site.

I didn’t know what was wrong with him, his transformation was so sudden and unusual that I reached out to him by email asking what was wrong. He replied back that he was sorry he was drinking heavily that night and lost his temper. He admitted that he loses control when he drinks. Through subsequent emails I learned he was unemployed at the time and seemed to have developed a drinking problem out of depression most likely and needed a punching bag. I was an easy target for him since I was coming out of depression as he was going into it.

He vanished for quite a long time and people were wondering where he went since he used to be a part of our community. I explained what happened and people were shocked as the behavior was so unlike him. I thought the matter was behind us and he had moved on with his life. I was wrong.

Eventually he returned, under a different name. He would be pleasant for a while, then would again lose his temper unexpectedly and get himself banned. If this was the only behavior involved it would be nothing more than a simple trolling cycle that is common on the site, but things escaladed.

In the past few months David has become very unstable. He has become so disturbed he has been writing emails pretending to be other people. He has even been writing an email as the lead singer of Queen who has been dead for over 30 years. The emails themselves are full of petty personal attacks that I guess are supposed to make me feel bad. They all contain the same things over and over so I’ve stopped reading them and instantly filing them for the record if I need the evidence.

David has been spending countless hours obsessing over me, trying to find something sinister or secret that he can smear around to the world. He’s been searching dating sites, scouring my facebook pages, tweets, blog, personal stuff, trying to find his white whale that doesn’t exist. (Moby Dick Reference)

In addition, he has called my place of employment. Yes I’ll let you think about that one again since it shows the level of stalker we are dealing with here. He has called my place of employment. Luckily my manager is smart and thought the man was crazy. Asking him questions like “Why are you calling me?” because he was so confused as to why a stranger would be calling him like that.

David considers his life to be happy and fulfilled.

There are some problems with that statement. People who are happy and fulfilled don’t feel the need to drag others down. People who are happy and have a fulfilled life try to encourage others, love those around them, and enjoy the company of their friends and family. People who are happy don’t get upset or obsessed about the lives of people they don’t know and have never met on television, the internet, etc.

Simply put if you are truly happy you shouldn’t feel the need to make others feel bad. Having the need to destroy another so you feel happy is a sign of severe depression of, emotion problems, or addition (Alchohol).

David, I do not read anything you type to me because it’s filled with hatred and a desire to attack me. Insults don’t affect me because I’ve move to a place in my life where I don’t let others affect how I feel. If I did, I would have stopped streaming or at least turned off the web camera long ago. I am completely comfortable with my life and how I look. I am happy.

David. I don’t want you to feel upset, I don’t want you to be unhappy or alone. I am not responsible for what has happened in your life but I do feel sorry that it happened. But what happens to my life shouldn’t affect you in any way. Seeing me fail or be upset or whatever your goal is, while not make you truly happy.

David, I want you to be happy. I truly do. If attacking me makes you feel better, then I’ll turn the other cheek and let you continue your assault. But I pray for your own sake that you take it upon yourself to find out what the source of your anger and sadness is seek some help.

David, I wish you the best and this is the last time I will speak to you until you have decided to shelve your anger. When and if you are able to deal with your personal demons you will be welcome back into my stream cause I truly want you to be happy.

If you want to send a letter or a package, send via US Mail to the below PO BOX. Please let me know if you sent something so I know to check. Anything sent will be opened in your presence live on stream so include your twitch.tv screen name on the outside.

Dan’s Gaming Stream
PO BOX 3642
Columbus, OH 43210

I will have chip-ins down below for some upcoming new releases I’m planning on streaming for you. If you want to help out that’s awesome, but if not I completely understand.

If you don’t want to donate towards a specific game you can use this paypal button below:

Want to buy a game directly and have it shipped to my door? You can mail me a copy to my PO box or use the wishlist links below, add to cart, check out like normal, it’ll automatically fill in my address for you.

Click here for NEWER GAMES Click here for OLDER/Cheaper Games

Well first let me say this: there are two paths you can take with broadcasting. The first path is to just have fun, play the games you like, enjoy what you do. Even if the games you play are only watched by one other person, have fun doing it. This has been my primary broadcasting method. I don’t play games because they are going to get high view counts or games that I don’t like just because they are popular. It’s more important to me to have fun with what I’m doing than to simply do what will get the most viewership.

I ignore the viewer counts because they simply don’t matter. They are just a number that you often have no control over. You can’t control how many people are interested in watching a particular game. There are some games that even the greatest personalities in the world can’t make extremely entertaining to watch to a wide audience. it’s true some games will get large audiences and others that just aren’t going to get high view counts.

If you enjoy the games that get low view counts then play them, have fun. Others will connect to your feeling of happiness with the games you play and enjoy it because you enjoy it. There will always be someone willing to watch something. It’s just a matter of finding them and this takes time. At first you’re going to go through long periods of low to now viewer counts as you start out and that is perfect normal and fine. Some may always have low viewer counts and that is perfectly fine. It’s much more important to have fun and love what you do.

Now, if you want to be the person who just wants to boost viewer counts then I can help give you some tips to help boost that little number. This is assuming, you already have the basics like good quality, etc.

Play Popular Games

• Popular games have lots of people interested in them, thus you have a larger starter audience to potentially click on your channel

Play New Releases as Quickly as you can

• People want to see a New Releases gameplay to see if they want to buy it or just to watch it because it’s new and they’ve never seen it before. Many people that only watch other games will tune in to check out the gameplay of a new release. This is a great time to get lots of new people to come to your channel. Stream the game as soon as it’s legal check when the company says it’s ok. usually it’s Midnight Eastern Standard Time or 3AM EST/ Midnight Pacific.

Only Play Games that will Be Entertaining to Watch

• Now while i said before there will always be someone willing to watch anything, the number willing to watch may be lower for some titles vs others. People are entertained when something is highly funny, there is lots of action, Fighting/Conflict, something is puzzling and bizzare, etc. Think television and what shows get the most ratings and why they get them. Not many people might be willing to watch an old school turn based rpg, while thousands might be willing to watch a streamer dance funny to a kinect game.

Become a Pro

• There’s a reason why E-Sports are on the top. People like to live in the reflected glory of others and relish the taste of the sorrow and defeat of another human being. If you are pretty good at a certain type of game, train and practice on your stream, play in tournaments, get your name out there. As your name and skill grows so will your fans who will want to bask in your glory and learn from you. Also you will get more haters this way as well.

Stream Everyday

• People are creatures of habit, stream every day and stream for long periods of time. People will eventually form a habit of joining your channel.

Be Entertaining & Interactive

• Always make the experience as fun as possible, Be Energetic, make jokes, talk to your viewers, make fun of the game, etc. Keep your viewers entertained when then game fails to. Not everyone is as gifted with Charisma enough to pull this off, but if you have that gift use it to your full advantage.

Special Events / Marathons

• Participate in Charity Marathons, hold your own marathons, do special events that stand out and are unique. Be creative and do something that no one else on the site is doing. Get your name known get people to notice you by standing out.

May 7

• Starhawk – PS3 Exclusive

• MSRP: $59.99

• “From the creators of Warhawk comes a bold new 3rd Person shooter adventure where you can change the battlefield instantly in the heat of combat. In the future, humanity’s last hope lies in the lawless frontier of space where factions battle over the universe’s most precious resource, Rift Energy. Caught in the middle is Emmett Graves, an outcast gunslinger who is drawn back to the planet that abandoned him, to face a fierce outlaw and his warband of followers. Experience intense frenetic combat on foot, in vehicles, or in the air and discover a new type of shooter gameplay with the new “Build & Battle” system. Gain the tactical advantage by calling upon an arsenal of weapons, vehicles, and fortifications, violently delivered from an orbiting drop ship to help turn the tide of battle. Engage in epic 32 player online battles and see maps dynamically change depending completely on each player’s strategy or team up with friends and protect your claim against waves of AI opponents in online and offline Co-op modes.”

May 15th

• Diablo III – PC Exclusive

• MSRP: $59.99
• “Diablo III is a fantasy Action Role-Playing Game (RPG). Only the third major release in what is considered by many gamers as the most iconic RPG franchise of all time, Diablo 3 continues the land of Sanctuary’s battle against a reoccurring demonic evil, and provides players around the world with the opportunity to create the ultimate hero to quest against it with friends online, or on their own. Features include: classic dungeon crawling gameplay, a new batch of character classes, multiplayer options with friends and single player support with the help of AI companions, a new take on character skill assignment and health, online item auctioning, and compatibility with Windows and Mac operating systems.”

• Max Payne 3 – PS3, Xbox 360 (May 29 for PC)

• MSRP: $59.99
• “Max Payne 3 is the third release in the popular Third-Person Shooter series of the same name, and the first iteration of the series to appear on Next Gen gaming consoles. Developed by Rockstar Games, the creative minds behind the cutting edge GTA, Red Dead and Midnight Club game franchises, Max Payne 3 is a sequel to the second game in the series, and features an older Max Payne with a new life and job abroad. But as dangerous situations spiral Max’s life from bad, to worse, it seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Game features include: series first multiplayer functionality, a wealth of weapons, classic Max Payne Bullet Time and Shootdodge functionality, extreme realism and special bonus features.”

• Game of Thrones RPG – PS3, Xbox 360, PC

• MSRP: $59.99
• “With an original story written under the supervision of George R. R. Martin, filled with characters and locations straight from the pages of the beloved fantasy saga-including the likenesses of stars from the cast of the hit HBO TV adaptation, Game of Thrones promises to deliver the ultimate interactive RPG experience for fans of its gritty, sophisticated medieval fantasy.”

May 22nd

• Dragon’s Dogma – PS3, Xbox 360

• MSRP: $59.99
• “Dragon’s Dogma is an exciting new franchise which redefines the action genre from the team that produced some of Capcom’s greatest action games. Set in a huge open world, Dragon’s Dogma offers an exhilarating and fulfilling action combat game with the freedom to explore and interact in a rich, living and breathing world. Alongside your party of three, you set out to track down and destroy a mysterious dragon. Your teammates fight independently of you, demonstrating prowess and ability they have developed based on traits learned over time from you and your actions. Dragon’s Dogma offers a near endless opportunity to help develop partner characters to fight alongside you. With an epic story and incredible action, Dragon’s Dogma is set to be one of Capcom’s newest hit franchises.”

• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier – PS3, Xbox 360

• MSRP: $59.99
• “Armed with the most advanced combat technology, the Ghosts are an untraceable unit of soldiers who track down the highest-value targets in the highest-risk conflict areas around the world. In the near future, 4 of these elite soldiers serve as the tip of the spear in a hidden war raging across the globe. As the Ghosts accomplish their objectives, they discover a far greater threat – one that could alter the international balance of power forever.”

• Sorcery: Playstation Move Exclusive 

• MSRP: $39.99
• “Sorcery is a single player action role-playing game (RPG) for PlayStation 3 that utilizes Sony’s PlayStation Move control system to create a dungeon crawling adventure like none before it. With the extreme motion controlled sensitivity of the PlayStation Move motion controller and PlayStation Eye camera peripheral accessory combination* players enter, interact with and explore a world where their growing expertise with spells and potions will be the difference between the salvation of the world and its domination. Features include a one-to-one relation between player movements to character actions, strategic spell use, transformative potions and additional support of the PlayStation Move navigation controller.”

It’s far too easy my friends to get caught up in this life in what we don’t have, what we aren’t, what didn’t happen to us, etc. There are so many things in this world that aren’t going to happen for you and if you dwell on them all, you’re gonna have a life where you miss all the wonderful little things that you do have. Life is far too short to not enjoy every minute of it.

I’m gonna focus this idea on Twitch and some lessons I’ve learned over the years.

There is always gonna be a streamer or group of streamers who is perceived by others and yourself as “more successful” than you. You will focus on the big follower, view counts, influx of donations and grow jealous. Sometimes this jealousy will turn into hate towards the caster or pity upon yourself for not being “equal” to them. I’ve seen far too many casters go down the road of either hate or Pity.

The problem is the definition of what success is, what being a great caster means to you. Success cannot be judged in terms of viewer counts, follower counts, or donations. These are meaningless numbers that get too much attention. Imagine for a minute if all streams had all numbers (follower, viewer, etc.) removed and the streams were arranged in random order. How then would you define success?

I tell you there are many casters on the later pages with low view counts that have far more success than anyone at the top. Success is not a number but the feeling you get when you share moments with other people around the globe. Success is turning on the cast and knowing that a friend will be there to talk to you and enjoy the game with you. You have an instant connect with a person who you’d probably never know in real life joined together by a mutual love for video games through twitch.

Having fun and building relationships while enjoying video games is what twitch should and always will be about to those who are truly successful. I am successful only because of my relationship with the people who come to my channel and nothing more. I don’t care if i have 1 viewer or 1,000, enjoying great games with other people is what streaming is all about for me.

I am secure enough with myself and my definition of success to not care if ManvsGame, Hot Blooded Gaming, Towliee, etc. have higher viewer counts than me. I don’t look at the viewer count because when you get obsessed with the viewer count you focus on the people who are not in your channel instead of focus and paying attention to those who ARE in your channel. Cover up the viewer count, it’s a meaningless number that is only gonna hurt your ability to be a great caster if you focus on it.

You should be judging your success based on the fun your having with both the game and the people or person who is enjoying it with you, not a number.

Bioshock Infinite will release Oct. 16, 2012 in North America and Oct. 19, 2012 internationally.

At long last we have a confirmed release date for Bioshock: Infinite. Irrational games has been developing thsi game for over four years and by their estimations is bigger, badder, and more epic than the original Bioshock. They have been working on this title for over four long years completely overhauling the entire Bioshock experience. Going from isolated underwater city to isolated floating city is a dramatic change of scenery and required development of a new engine, animations, and gameplay mechanics.

It takes real guts to decided to make the sequel to your best selling game entirely different on nearly every level including story. Many might not be aware that Bioshock 2 was actually not developed by Irrational Games, they have been focusing on Infinite since they released the first game back in 2007. All the gameplay videos show a very different game but at the same time similar in an unexplainable way. The game feels like Bioshock without being Bioshock and that my friends is the sign of a true video game artist.

The world is eagerly awaiting this games release so we can get lost in Bioshock’s mysterious world all over again.

Ubisoft has announced that Assassin’s Creed III will be releasing October 30, 2012 less than one year from Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. Ubisoft is claiming that this game has been in developement for three years and will be the largest Assassin’s Creed Game yet to date. There hasn’t been much revealed about the game yet except for a few pictures that seem to indicate the game will take place during the American Revolution.

One thing that has been bugging me about the recent Assassin’s Creed Games is how quickly they were released and how similar they felt to each other. Brotherhood was a pretty good game, but Revelations started to feel reptative of Brotherhood giving me a feeling of having done this before. The game had the same assassin, mostly the same weapons, and the city felt very similar to the past 3 games. Assassin’s Creed III has the potential to change all of that.

Ezio’s story ended with Assassin’s Creed: Revelations opening up AC:III to have a new leading assassin for Desmond to live through. This new assassin will bring a whole new personality to the game and the players will get to discover who they are just as we did with Assassin’s Creed II. Having this new assassin live in a completely different time period and setting from the previous games will lead to some very different gameplay changes. The colonies didn’t have the large grand cities of the previous games, there aren’t any gigantic towers to climb, mFost of the enemies are gonna have muskets and rifles, and most of the landscape is gonna be open fields or forests similar to that of Red Dead Redemption.

Change my friends, change is exactly what Assassin’s Creed needs to feel fresh again. Assassin’s Creed was starting to become stale, giving the series a large shake up like this could be exactly what the series needs to rebound and become the great gaming series it was with Assassin’s Creed 2.

Website Goals

• Build a community that builds itself around the site.

Make this a place where people want to come and communicate with one another.

Involve the fans in the creation of content for the site, so it becomes part of the community

• Get the community writing reviews, blog posts, and more

Have a team of trusted people to write reviews for games I don’t play much: (Wii games, Handheld, Retro)

• Keep the Site Ad-Free or at least Minimal, non intrusive Advertising

• Recieve a Review Copy

Recieving a Review copy of a game is a sign that publishers believe in your site

Live Stream Goals

• Always Be Myself

Never change who I am for the sake of more popularity, improving how i present myself (more energy) is fine, but always be Dan

• Make the Stream Sparkle, Shine, and Wow people with Special Effects

Transition Screens, Video Loops, Highlight Reels, Customized Logos, Powerpoints styled slides

Increase the professionalism, without losing the personality

• Engage More with the Fans

Talk more with viewers

Join Channels of Viewers, Promote them More

• Hold More Special Events

Keep things entertaining by doing different events (Themed Weeks, Marathons, Contests, etc.)

• Be more appeciative of the things I have

Focus on the viewers who choose to be here more, Don’t let the ones who aren’t bring you down

Appreciate the fact that you have a large fan base, don’t let yourself get discourged by people who do better

• Never stop trying to improve, Be the Caster others want to be

Use your strengths (Wit, Intelligence, Sincerity, Passion and Love of games,etc.) 

Embrace and accept your weaknesses, but never let them hold you back. You can always overcome them.

• Never Forget who got you here, Never stop giving to the fans, Never take them for Granted

Remember without your fans, without the people who choose to come to your channel, you are nothing. Praise them for all that they have done for your life. They deserve nothing less than rabid praises, tireless devotion, and endless love.

Couple of LIFE GOALS 

• Never Stop Loving who you are

If you don’t love yourself, if you don’t accept your flaws, if you don’t accept who you are… how can you expect anyone else to?

• Keep in a Healthy Shape, and Promote others to do the same

Redbox movie rental kiosks have seemed to have popped up outside nearly every business imaginable in the past few years. With a swipe of your credit card the machine will pop out a newly released movie for you to instantly enjoy. The machine will keep track of how many days you keep the movie before returning it and charges you for each day the movie was out. This impulse market was the one niche Netflix hadn’t quite tapped (even with their streaming service) since you have to wait for a movie.

Recently Redbox has decided it wants to cut into gamefly’s business too by renting out newly released video games at its kiosks as well. To help promote this new service, redbox will be offering all customers 1 free day of one game rental which normally runs for $2. To take advantage of this offer, the game must be reserved online through redbox’s website and the customer must provide credit card information just in case the game isn’t returned. It is also good to note that if the game is not returned to the kisk in one day the customer will be charged $2 for each day it’s not returned with the exception of the first day.

This promotion will be running from today until Thursday March 1st, 2012. Will you be taking advantage of this offer?

Along the journey to the mountain, players can come across other online players who are making the journey as well. Journey doesn’t show the other player’s screen name and doesn’t give players any form of communication other than a wordless shout. This will ensure that every interaction will be completely anonymous leaving the players to focus on the journey and not who each other are. The only identifying feature players will have are unique symbols on their robes. Once two players have met they can choose to either continue on their journey together or part their seperate ways.

Throughout the desert will be a variety of beautiful terrain, caves, ruins and more for the players to explore. Powerups in the form of cloth will be hidden in the enviroments that will allow the player to fly for brief periods of time. Many tapestries that explain the story will be scattered all through the players game allowing them to piece together the story or who they are and why they are here.

The Amazing Spiderman has a confirmed release date of June 26th for North America, and June 29th for the rest of the world.

The Amazing Spider-Man is being developed by Beenox who developed both Spider-man: Edge of Time and Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions. Both games have gotten mixed reviews from review sites and fans ranging from loving them to hating them. People seems to enjoy the combat and story, but complained that the games were too short or felt repetitive. Activision has promised that this game has more development time and funding than the previous games and will lead to a more “robust gaming experience.”

One thing that worries me is that the previous two games were not linked to a movie, while this game is linked to the upcoming “Amazing Spider-man” movie that is releasing in July. The story of the game will take place after the events of the movie possibly spoiling the movie if you play the game first. We all know Hollywood’s track record of movie games is not very good. I personally can think of only one or two released out of the hundreds that were truly good games.

What do you think? Will this finally be the Spider-Man game we’ve all been waiting for our entire lives or will the game being another spider turd in the spider crap pile?

Borderlands 2 finally has a confirmed release date of September 18 for North America, and September 21 everywhere else.

Borderlands 2 is the sequel to the relatively successful game Borderlands that featured a nice mix of Role playing, First Person Shooting and Co-op play. The entire game had a unique graphic style that made look like a comic book.

I personally spent many fun-filled hours playing Borderlands and am plannning to do another playthrough this summer on my live stream. The questing, leveling, shooting mechanics, and co-op provided a throughly enjoyable experience that left me wanting more. If the game improves upon the original by tweaking things here and there, the game could turn into a big hit this September.

How many of you are excited for this release? Would you be interested in playing Co-op with me on my stream this summer on PS3?

RUMOR: It’s currently rumored that the Xbox 720 isn’t going to let the consumer play used games.

There is no concrete data to confirm this at all but the idea is something interesting to think about. Video game publishers have been fighting harder and harder in recent years to combat used games sales with online passes, preorder dlc, dlc codes for new copies & more. These publishers argue that used games sales cost them a lot of money each year since they don’t see any of the money from a used game sale.

Consumers and retailers like Gamestop are strongly opposed to these strategies. Consumers like having the ability to sell back a game they no longer want or play. Games costing $60 a piece is a lot of money for the average person and having ways to lower this cost helps them play more games. Retailers like gamestop make a much, much higher profit margin on used games sales so thus they don’t want this to end.

It’s a bitter battle between these two groups as both have valid arguments. It’s not exactly hurting Activision that much with a game like Call of Duty, but it’s the smaller publishers and game developers that get hurt the most from piracy and used game sales. All of their eggs are in one basket. Many good developers have gone out of business from having their one big game flop in sales. Blame is however not easy to place directly on used games sales or piracy since it could have been lack of marketing or lack of quality in the product itself.

Having a console that prevents used games from being played would be detrimental to a company like gamestop since so much of their profit is from used games. Consumers would be up in arms in protest if Microsoft decided the battle for everyone by giving in to publishers. On the flipside, smaller publishers would finally get to know if it truely was used games that caused a game to flop.

What are your thoughts of this issue? Do you think the next generation of consoles should ban used game sales? What good or bad would come of this in your eyes?