THESIS: the real reason that people stay on this hellsite is not “chronological order” or “the drama” or whatever (per se), but is instead linked to how tumblr, unlike most social media, is not optimised to give content as short of a half-life as possible, but instead is optimised to let content continue to cycle for months, years, even decades. this has in turn led to a more consistent centralised site “culture” in which there is more coherent linkage among different areas of the site, thus also explaining why its content permeates so thoroughly throughout the internet.
I think a couple other things also really help:
Everyone on tumblr has the option to remain anonymous. At no point when creating a blog does tumblr ask for personal information (other users might, but that’s different)
The tag system is perfectly designed for op’s point. Making it so that all the tags you add to a post disappear when someone reblogs it from you is crucial. On twitter, I always feel as though I have to have something important to say if I respond to a tweet. On tumblr I can put whatever the fuck I want in the tags and like maybe 3 people will see it before it is lost forever.
There’s no verification, no ad revenue, no pressure by the platform to keep creating. This really takes the stress of social media away from this platform and makes it so that communities can organically form. Similarly, corporations have NO platform on tumblr cause there aren’t reliable ways to advertise on this site.
Follower count is not public information unless it’s voluntarily shared. So ‘popular’ users feel more like down to earth fellow human beings who happen to have good content who actually engages with their audience instead of a celebrity who’s unreachable.
I’m posting the links here because the
link keeps on a loop with adfly
IF YOU DRAW OR DESIGN Instead of PHOTOSHOP, try GIMP Instead
of LIGHTROOM, try PAINT.DOT.NET Instead of ILLUSTRATOR, try
INKSCAPE Instead of INDESIGN, try CANVA or SCRIBUS
IF YOU DO STUFF THAT REQUIRES THESE
OTHER PROGRAMS Instead of AUDITION, try AUDACITY Instead of ACROBAT PRO, try FOXIT
READER or PDF ESCAPE Instead of INCOPY, try LOVING YOURSELF
AND USING LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE (WHO USES THIS???)
IF YOU NEED STOCK PHOTOS OR FONTS Instead of ADOBE STOCK, try PEXELS,
UNSPLASH, or PIXABAY Instead of ADOBE PHONTS, try GOOGLE FONTS or
DAFONT
IF YOU DRAW OR DESIGN Instead of PHOTOSHOP, try FIREALPACA , SAI , SKETCHBOOK or KRITA (these latter two are great!) Instead of LIGHTROOM, try PHOTOSCAPE
zuko and azula from avatar and sharpay and ryan from high school musical are EXACTLY the same character types (gay antagonistic brother-sister duo in which the sister is the more dominant and talented one and the brother is a better person who helps the heroes in the end) except zuko and azula are dialled as far to goth as possible and sharpay and ryan are dialled as far to prep as possible. miles and franziska from ace attorney are directly in the middle of this spectrum, as extremely edgy preps
PointCrow, aka the most aggressively mediocre streamer on Twitch, has *almost* done it all, like exploding pure sodium on his stream, or watching paint dry on his wall for ten hours. He is best known, though, for his unmatched chaotic antics in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, such as completing the game with a single stick, by playing with no weapons at all, or using a Dance Pad as a controller—just to name a few.
How did you get your gamer tag?
I know crows are pretty smart animals, and I always liked the idea of flight (aerospace nerd here). The “Point” in PointCrow comes from the writer of an amazing Reddit story, Streetlamp Le Moose. Basically, I wanted to create a name that was easy to say and easy to remember, and it happened to end up this way!
Is streaming your full-time job? What does your day-to-day look like?
Contrary to popular belief, with the recent channel growth and the size of the stream, content creation is not a full-time job for me. I’m currently a 4th year engineering student in university studying Materials Science Engineering, with a focus on Chemical Engineering. It’s absolutely crazy, though—after I get my degree, it makes more sense to dive into streaming, rather than apply for engineering jobs.
My day-to-day isn’t very interesting! A lot of my time is spent on my computer coordinating between other streamers, my channel moderators, artists, sponsors, and YouTube editors, as well as and planning out future content. It’s a very communication-heavy gig. I think a common misconception of streamers is that you just “go live,” and that’s it. I put in about twice the amount of work outside of streaming than I do while streaming. No one tells you about the emails and DMs when you start out!
Are there any particular moments on your stream that stand out to you?
There are so many moments that stand out to me, I won’t be able to tell them all! The time I beat Breath of the Wild with a single stick was a particularly crazy challenge I put to myself. I spent seven hours in the final boss battle doing three damage at a time, whittling away at the combined HP of 16,000. The relief after I was finished was incredible, and the pop-off was so worth it in the end. Beating Breath of the Wild with a Dance Pad was crazy as well. The setup for it was insane, and the physical prowess it took was impressive all in itself.
Overall though, I think the most effort I put into a single stream was coordinating a race between 20 different streamers to see who could feed all the dogs in Breath of the Wild the fastest. The prize pool was $1000, and I was color-commentating the entire thing while switching between racers and conducting interviews. It was quite a sight, and maybe my favorite stream I’ve ever done. All the racers were so enthusiastic, and it was so fun to create!
What is one thing about streaming and mental health that you wished others knew about?
It’s so easy to talk about the people who actively hate you, but what I find especially taxing is people complaining and asking questions where the answer can be found in two seconds of looking. For example, I get the question “what are you doing on stream today” a decent amount—there’s a title on the stream. It’s RIGHT BELOW THE WEBCAM. Another common question—and I understand why people ask, but it’s still taxing—is “when do you stream?” or “what’s your stream schedule?”. I can name more than ten places where I post my stream schedule—hell, you can even google it, and it comes up! Backseat gaming is a huge issue too, with people always telling you what to do and how to do it: if you don’t play the way people want you to play, they’ll let you know. Of course, these examples appealing to the loud minority and rule-breakers. There are so many genuinely kind and nice people in my community, and I’ve met people I will probably remember for the rest of my life.
If you could voice any video game character, who would it be?
If I had the voice of Matt Mercer, really anyone! I would love to voice a main character in any game with a heavy story involvement, like Horizon: Zero Dawn or The Last of Us.
Thanks, PointCrow! You can check out his streams here.
