As you might have noticed, I haven’t streamed on Twitch much in the past two months. There have been good reasons for that and it stems from the fact that I have been getting out more often as of late.

I started to stream regularly in late 2019 at the suggestion of a friend and found myself to having good time. Back then, I was recovering from an operation and needed something to do to occupy myself. However, just as I was coming around the corner on healing, the pandemic hit and my options to do things like play sports again evaporated.

Prior to all of this, I was regularly rollerskating and was priming myself to play roller derby in some fashion. However, an injury during a skirmish led to a limited ability to participate in physical activity again and when combined with an unrelated operation and a pandemic, my desire to play sports was greatly diminished.

So from 2020 onward, I would finish work and then prepare to stream whatever content I felt like streaming. This resulted in me speedrunning, playing RPGs, trying to get through the entire Game Gear library, and of course completing the entirety of Ace Attorney.

However, in late 2022 during Flame Fatales, I realised that streaming and the culture around it really was taking its toll on me. I made a decision to step back over time from helping out with all marathons and after I completed Ace Attorney, I began to struggle with what to do over streaming on Twitch in general.

I love playing RPGs. They’re my favourite genre and it should come as no surprise to many as my favourite game is Chrono Trigger. However, I have always been happier playing them on my own and not to an audience. This has become a source of conflict for me as it is the only content I feel I can stream on Twitch right now.

Last year, I returned to playing sports by joining the local queer softball league. It is a sport I really enjoy and have played previously. My team is really spectacular and I like to be around everyone in a social setting too. It’s not often that a bunch of folks who had never met before come together to form a team that not only gets on well, but kicks ass at the same time.

My playing softball has proven to be a huge conflict time-wise with streaming. I honestly prefer not being at a desk all the time and even in winter I am avoiding streaming by hiking, birding, or taking up dancing, which is another thing I used to do regularly until my divorce.

So what does this mean for me and Twitch in the long-term? It does mean no more regular streams. It doesn’t mean I am going away entirely.

For example, if and when a new Ace Attorney game comes out, I will stream it aggressively. I feel like I should and I definitely want to. However, I do not want to maintain a schedule and I do not want to make a big production of my stream like I once did.

But what I won’t do is just stream for the sake of streaming. It isn’t healthy for me, isn’t compatible with my life, and it gets in the way of spending time with friends and family.

So this is not a goodbye, but it is time for me to nap.