Hi Emma! Tell us three fun facts about yourself.
Hey!
Number one is that I'm a university student at the University of Reading! I'm
currently studying Zoology and I'm very passionate about wildlife conservation.
Number
two is I've practiced tarot for six years now (and it's actually a channel
points reward to get a reading from me). I also have a massive crystal
collection and I'm very interested in the Greek gods and mythology.
Number three is that I have the chronic illness of coeliac disease. I was diagnosed in 2017 and have to eat gluten free foods, which has helped a lot with my symptoms. I definitely get days where I'm exhausted or foggy but I do my best to push through! Streaming is something I can do from home and I'm grateful to be able to do it and have so much fun with it.
When did your streaming journey begin, and what inspired you to start?
Technically my streaming journey started in 2017 - I was going to college for music performance and had to pay a £200 charge out of pocket, but we couldn't afford it, so I decided that since I sing, write songs and play guitar I would do a stream to raise money so that I could go. I actually raised £240 within 2-3 hours and was able to go!
Since then I've taken many many breaks and made an entirely new account, not to mention I never took it as seriously because of limitations such as internet speed, living with my parents and having school and work. Now I'm living independently and in January of this year I decided to start taking it more seriously and make it my priority. It's gone great so far!
What's your favourite game/content to stream/share? What do you enjoy most about it?
I absolutely love Apex Legends. I've played FPS games now and again in the past, like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, but I've never had as much fun with it as I do with Apex - I actually didn't expect to enjoy a battle royale game to begin with, but it's addicting the more wins you get! I like how action based it is, how it gets your heart racing, it looks good and has very smooth gameplay. Loba is my favourite Legend because I love finding high quality loot and getting kitted out before my teammates (sorry!).
Do you feel like there is a stigma for women streamers in the industry?
There is this outdated opinion on female streamers and females online in general, in that because we look a certain way, we have it much easier than others do, and this is totally wrong. I definitely think that in the past - I'm talking years ago - if you had a female wearing makeup and a low-cut shirt on a livestream playing video games, it caught a lot of attention and there was much more growth potential, because women weren't "supposed" to enjoy video games and it wasn't such a normalised thing as it is now. Even still, this was never good attention and women were judged, berated and harassed for wearing and looking the way they want to, or even just for being female. Do the numbers really matter when those numbers represent a population that are sexually harassing you, making fun of you or making sexist comments?
I've been incredibly lucky in that my little community haven't made judgements on me based on my gender and are incredibly friendly and supportive, but even now I see many streamers being told to "get back in the kitchen", inappropriate comments are made, and it's upsetting to see because we're all here for the same reason, to enjoy ourselves and share our love of video games with an audience we can connect to. You can have thousands of followers but when people like that show up it changes the whole vibe of your audience and it can make streaming a really difficult task. But we have an incredibly supportive streaming community, especially on places like TikTok where we are able to reach out, show love and support to fellow female streamers who have received hate or harassment from viewers, and keep each other going, because it's worth pushing past the difficult times to experience the funny and wonderful moments that bring a smile to your face.
What's one piece of advice you'd give to women who want to begin streaming?
There are a couple things I think are really important - the first one is that you shouldn't be afraid to present yourself in whatever way you're comfortable with. Whether you wear makeup or not, wear revealing or oversized clothes, do your hair a certain way, the viewers are here for you and your personality and you shouldn't have to do something extra that you wouldn't normally do to try to impress them. I've been guilty of trying to be someone I'm not and go overboard with looking my best for stream, and if you want to do that then that's awesome and I totally support that, but you shouldn't feel like you have to. Some people may judge you by your looks (it is the internet), but the real people in your community will stick around because they like you for who you are on the inside, your personality and want to see more.
The other thing is to not be afraid to act if people are making comments, being rowdy or making you uncomfortable. Especially when you're starting out you want to make sure your chat is a friendly, welcoming place and I struggled with a few people who were very rude. I had this debate in my head that these people were regular viewers who came to my streams and if I banned them then I'd have no one - but I know now that they made new people uncomfortable and less willing to stick around and made streaming something I dreaded. If it's something extreme that I absolutely don't tolerate then I ban right away; if it's less severe I'll give a verbal warning, then a timeout, then a ban. It's better to get these people out as soon as possible to keep you in a good mood and show the kind of community that you want to have.
Streaming is a really, really fun and rewarding thing to do as long as you're kind to yourself and you set a standard for your stream that people can follow. There are lots of ups and downs, but that's the same with anything, and I wouldn't change what I do for the world!
Where can people find you online?
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/eternalangelgames
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eternalamusic
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqjEauVSuDfc4Wzam6PEsTA
Instagram: eternalangelgames
TikTok: @eternalangelgames
I also have a brand new community discord for gamers which is under my
social media on my twitch channel!
Check out all of the InternationalWomensDay interviews here.