In this instalment of Outside Adland, The Pistol’s Sophie Fyfe explains how she went from playing on a Gameboy Micro (remember those?) to running her own Twitch channel and building a close-knit community.
It all started when my parents bought me a Gameboy Micro. Royal blue and small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. I spent many, MANY hours on difficult levels from games like ‘Madagascar: Operation Penguin’ and ‘Donkey Kong Country 3’.
This passion continued to grow when I got a Nintendo DS at eight years old and played classics such as ‘Nintendogs’ and ‘Cooking Mama’, this was followed by Mario Kart on the Wii and then I secured myself as a PlayStation fan beginning at the PlayStation 2 and carrying onto the PlayStation 5.
During my time at university, I bought a gaming laptop and a Nintendo Switch and after graduating I upgraded to my current gaming PC. It’s safe to say, I was born and raised to be a gamer.
I began my streaming career approximately four years ago, initially focusing on cooperative games with a university friend who was also a streamer.
Over time, my content has evolved to include a surprising amount of horror games, a few colourful first-person shooters and my personal favourite: choice-based narrative games. The best part of streaming is being able to engage with my close-knit community.
More often than not, I will be in a deep conversation with my chat all whilst important dialogue and lore are being told and I will inevitably ask the age-old question, “What is happening right now?”
Currently, I stream once a week and maintain a Discord server to stay connected with my audience. I have always enjoyed storytelling and so will try to entertain my audience with character voices. Some are more successful than others… With my degree in Game Design, I initially approached streaming from a developer’s perspective, focusing on game mechanics and design elements, but now I’ve adopted a more relaxed and casual style.
To enhance interactivity with my audience, I have integrated several common techniques, including:
- Custom emotes for subscribers featuring a cartoon version of myself with different emotions.
- Redeemable channel points that trigger specific outcomes, like a “hydration check” so viewers can remind me to drink water.
- Sound alerts featuring song snippets and popular memes.
Additionally, the practice of raiding—redirecting my current viewers to another channel—has expanded my reach to new audiences and allowed me to connect with fellow streamers who share similar interests.
Just a heads-up: I keep things casual during my streams, so you might hear some adult language in my channel trailer and streams. If you’d like to check out my channel or follow along on my journey I’d appreciate it.
