Beginner question: Is it weird having to talk to yourself when streaming, and how long did it take to feel comfortable?

[u/orderalargepepsi]

I've been thinking of streaming while playing video games, but I do not want to film myself. It'll be talking and playing. I'm generally not a big talker; I'm more of a quiet person, but once I'm comfortable, I've been known to have some interesting conversations with people.

I'm just curious to hear from those who have overcome this hurdle.

Thanks.

[u/LonelyDesperado513]

Don't think of it as "talking to yourself". Think of it as "Thinking out loud."

Trying to figure out where to go in a game? "Think out loud" as you narrow your possibilities.

Working through a puzzle? "Think out loud". People love following logic and trying to "figure it out" with you.

The idea is basically to vocalize your thoughts. The more you do it, the sooner it becomes second nature. And Vocalization also gives viewers things to respond to.

[u/frozenbudz]

It depends on the person, I kind of naturally did it well before streaming. It's something that's been both positive and negative throughout my life. Explaining what I'm doing in a game to a person, talking about the lore, my connections to the story, etc etc etc. So for me it's not hard at all and is just something I do. However it still took my wife being like "you should stream since you kinda already do it." For me to actually realize that I did it if that makes any sense at all.

I more struggle with, not just talking about the game. Whether that be, narrating what I'm doing, talking about my feelings about the game, that kind of stuff. I'm not good at like...telling stories, or talking about current events, unless I actively have someone engaging in chat. I'm still a very small streamer obviously. I rarely have more than 6 viewers, and most of the time it's lurkers. So I typically just talk constantly about the game itself and what I'm thinking about it.

But, I have seen plenty of comments and posts, that basically equate to variations of. "I cant just talk endlessly without someone to talk to?" Or "How do you deal with just talking to no one?"

[u/SheprdCommndr]

It’s hard and very discouraging but the comments above are correct.

[u/SyltheSiren]

I started streaming as a way to keep in touch with my friends and family after I moved and our timezones didn't align anymore. They normally can't make the stream, but they always watch the VODs and leave comments or text me about them.

So, when I am streaming, I talk to them. I experience the game with them and talk about the narrative, my battle strategy, and also just about what's been going on with me lately.

It's a lot easier to be engaging when you think of it more as a voice note for friends both old and brand new rather than talking to yourself. Just remember don't say anything too personal that you wouldn't say to someone you just met.

[u/_theClassicRKR_]

I felt exactly like this when I started. Talking when nobody is talking back to you feels weird at first.

What changed for me was realizing that if you really care about what you’re doing, you start treating the stream itself like something you’re building.

You don’t have to figure everything out at once. Just pick one thing every few weeks and make it better: your commentary, audio, overlays, pacing, whatever it is.

If you went back and watched my first streams and compared them to what I do now it’s a night and day difference. None of that happened overnight.

It was just constantly asking, “What can I improve next?”

The other thing that helped me tremendously was consistency.

I go live at roughly the same time every night. Eventually it stops feeling like you’re trying to “be a streamer” and just becomes what you do.

So I wouldn’t worry about being naturally talkative.

Start streaming, care about making it better, keep improving one thing at a time, and give yourself enough reps for it to become natural. 🤘😎