** Announcing My New Twitch Channel Landing Page **

I had promised an announcement with the new year and that is what this post is about. I have been working on a web page dedicated to my Twitch channel. 

Please check it out at: 

http://maidenariana.com

If you have not visited Twitch before, thinking it is only for gamers.. here is more from the “About Twitch” page..

Why are people watching Twitch?

  • Twitch is more than a spectator experience; it is social video that relies on audio and chat to enable creators and their audiences to interact in real-time about everything from gaming and pop culture to life in general.

By the Numbers

  • 15 million daily active users
  • 2.2+ million unique content creators per month
  • 25,000+ members of the Twitch Partner program
  • 110,000+ members of the Twitch Affiliate program (I am in this category)
  • 106 minutes watched per person per day
  • 2+ million peak concurrent site-wide viewers
  • 65+ million raised by the Twitch community for charity

Why is my twitch channel important to me?

My channel provides a way for me to interact directly with my followers. Particularly, it has become a channel that is frequented by many lgbtq+ people and I hope to keep growing that community. We have a discord channel too and I see conversations between followers and friendships springing up from those conversations. Whether you are a member of the lgbtq+ community or not, you are welcome here as long as you respect everyone else! There is a growing contingent of transgender content providers who are out and open about their status on Twitch. Though we do experience harassment on occasion, overwhelmingly my experience on Twitch has been a positive one. Besides, all one needs is a few good moderators to ban the trolls and keep the peace.

I really hope you will consider checking out my channel’s website and visit my Twitch community during the next stream. Don’t be shy and join the chat when you are there, you will be glad you did!

Also, just a note about common misconceptions about streamers. People who are partners and do this for a living can pay their monthly bills, but for part time affiliates like me it is very different. I am making almost no money off of this. In fact, after streaming for nearly 14 months I just now finally received my first payout check from Twitch. They only send out payments to Affiliates on a 60 day delay and on a rolling basis. You must make over $100 cumulative to even receive a payout. My first and only payout has been $117 after all of this time. It is basically a nice little bonus at this point for the time that I put in. I do hope that more people who appreciate my channel will consider subscribing or straight up donating when able. If I could sustain it to a point where I do get at least some sort of payout each month, then I will be able to stream more often and work side website jobs less often 🙂 I plan to continue streaming as I am able regardless of whether that happens or not, because I now have regular visitors whom I consider friends and they find the channel and community to be of value. 

Thank you to my Twitch followers and subscribers for helping me get to the point I am at! I hope 2018 sees growth of the channel but more importantly growth of the supportive community surrounding it!

** About the header photo above.. it is just a shot of the moment I found my NYE party dress. The dress in the picture was a size 8. I was once a size 20 or 22! After years of transitioning and being the truest and healthiest version of myself, it still is hard to believe that zipper closed all of the way. I ended up buying a size 10 because I knew that once I had dinner or needed to move around more I needed a little extra space. The 8 fit, but was VERY snug. Anyway, thought I would explain the photo 😉 **

Hope to see you in Twitch chat!

-Ari

Time for a retro gaming post!

Look at this gem that my Dad found in his basement. Somehow, this beauty was separated from the rest of our old Atari 2600 cartridges. I grew up in a small town and my parent’s basement has flooded at least 3 times due to sump pump and power failures during bad storms. 

The fact that this survived in the condition it is in makes me happy 😉

I present to you a vintage 1982 boxed set of Sears TELE-GAMES Star Raiders!

I need to establish a retro game capture setup ASAP for my LGBTQ+ friendly Twitch gaming channel so I can stream while playing this classic!

My Twitch channel is:

http://twitch.tv/maidenariana

Please give me a follow there, or if you would like to help support my channel then please subscribe to channel either by credit card/paypal or by using a free Twitch Prime subscription (anyone with Amazon Prime can subscribe to one Twitch channel for free each month – https://help.twitch.tv/customer/portal/articles/2572060-twitch-prime-guide#option2 ). 

Every subscription or donation made from my channel’s page will help me bring retro gaming content to you. You get to see my smiling face and chat with our wonderful little community too!

-Ari

Tuesday started out like any other Tuesday.. making the kids breakfast, then working and taking part in conference calls at my home workstation.

By the afternoon though, I was so excited as I FINALLY got my Twitch Affiliate invite! This means that I can now accept subscribers and bit donations. 

I was so happy, it was time for some celebratory selfies:

Thank you to those that take the time to watch my Twitch channel and have followed me there. If not for you viewers, I would not have qualified for Affiliate status. Now begins the task of trying to build the stream and really make something of it. I plan to do a lot of retro gaming from old computer systems, Ari Teaches.. X (meaning I show my viewers how to make a wordpress website or build a simple program, etc), IRL (In Real Life) Streams – come along with me to gaming conventions, or fandom conventions, trans advocacy streams, charity streams, and much more. 

If you follow me on tumblr or twitter and have not setup a Twitch account and followed me there yet, then please consider it. I truly think you will love Twitch, there are MANY great LGBTQ+ streamers on this platform and they have built some amazing communities. 

Here is the link to my Twitch channel. If you like the sound of what I am proposing to do with my Stream, then please consider not only following me, but also subscribing so that I can offset the time and costs spent to bring the stream to you. Also, if you are not aware.. ALL Amazon Prime subscribers get a free Twitch Prime account, and that Twitch Prime account gives you one free subscription per month! That means if you use Amazon Prime, then you can support my Stream each month without spending any additional money at all! Details for that program are here: https://twitch.amazon.com/prime

Once you set that up, just visit my page and click Subscribe – then elect to use your Twitch Prime subscription. You will need to apply that free subscription to my channel every month if you want to keep it active. Or, you can always subscribe using the traditional method and paying with paypal or credit card.

My Twitch Channel is:

http://twitch.tv/maidenariana

I will be streaming Thursday night (8/10/2017) around 8pm to begin the celebration so please join me! 

Thank you all so much! Let’s build a great community in Twitch!

-Ari