I've tried more of the coaching sessions on stream and they seem to do alright. I'm still tweaking the actual format. It's hard to rely solely on players submitting replays to keep the show going and I've found that sometimes there is this awkward "silence" that occurs until I find something to do. I have to fix this, how? I don't know yet. I recently brought on Nexlux from Team All-Inspiration and it went alright. I was honestly expecting a higher viewer count, but it was fun nonetheless. I will be looking at making these streaming sessions more fluid and entertaing, a work in progress.
My laddering has gone fairly well the last few weeks. I sit just outside the top 8 of my Diamond division right now, which I think is the highest I've ever been. I had Clarity's rebOrn on the stream last night for a small coaching session (really just looking for some feedback) and he reassured me that my macro is good enough, it's just my micro and unit control that is god awful. He thinks I can make it to masters, which is crazy. I never thought I'd be able to hit the top league of anything before, I don't know how I would react on stream if it ever happened. I'm a pretty emotional guy, I hope I don't end up shedding a tear or something (it means that much to me) it would probably end up on r/cringe lol
My son and I played our second session of 2v2 today and I had about 40 viewers in the channel and had a few follows as well. At this point I'm trying not to get too wrapped up in viewer count, I just want to concentrate on perfecting the quality of the stream at all times and I think the views will come.
All in all, the stream continues to grow all the time which is all I could ever hope for. Whether it grows fast or slow, as long as it's growing and improving I'm OK with that.
As far as my work with Clarity goes, it's been EXTREMELY busy this past month or so. I've done a lot of work updating the roster pages and it's paid off, I think they look great. I'm also posting and formatting article submissions for everyone. Now it is on to the coaching store which needs a major overhaul. There are also a few pages on the site that need an overhaul. I look at it as an opportunity to show the team what I can do and how much I can help them out. I'm looking forward to the point where the site is exactly where I want it, it will be a glorious day!
I'm getting to know some of the players now as well. Like I said I had rebOrn on Skype with me last night and he was a friendly lad. I've also been in pretty consistent contact with Elhaym who also seems like a great guy. It takes me a little longer to get to know people, but I'm getting the feeling everyone at Clarity is pretty easy going and it's just a matter of time before I really find my spot amongst them. I missed an opportunity to play with the EG-TL staff the other night and I was disappointed, that would have been fun and a good chance to network.
Everyone keeps telling me how much my work is appreciated, from players to staff, and it really makes me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile. It really keeps me motivated to keep doing more. Without getting too heavy, it's not often that I'm commended for anything remotely related to video games for pretty much my entire life. It feels good to finally feel appreciated and wanted.