Gaming While Female: We Talk to Anomally_xx About How She Made Streaming a Second Job

"There are a lot of streamers who fuel themselves on rage and toxicity... but for me, I can't stand it."

Ally Russell, better known online by her gaming handle anomally_xx, is no stranger to the gaming world. She's been playing games since she was young but didn’t venture into the online gaming world until 2012, when she first began playing the multiplayer game, League of Legends (LoL).

Eventually, she discovered streaming after watching other people play LoL. However, she didn't start streaming her own performances until last April.

Ally explains that streaming is like watching a YouTube video about a game, except it’s live. Instead of YouTube, most videos are hosted through an Amazon video-hosting platform called Twitch.tv.

"Streaming is a way to meet people in the community," Ally admits. "You make a bunch of new friends that you get to speak to every day." 

At the moment, she mostly streams the game H1Z1: King of the Kill, which is a Battle Royale/Hunger Games-type shooter where a number of players get plonked onto a map and kill each other off until only one person remains. If that's not stressful enough, there are also zombies.

"The way I explain to family and friends who don't understand is that [I say] I'm actually going to work," Ally admits. "I'm at a point where I consider streaming a second job."

"A job?" you might be asking. Well, it practically has a salary. Streamers on Twitch can earn money depending on factors such as the number of subscribers they have and dependent on how frequently they stream.

However, Ally explains that when streamers first start out, they can usually only earn money through the kindness of strangers: donations.

It was a gradual build-up of followers and subscribers for Ally, who says she was streaming to no one for a long time before people began to trickle in.

"I think the biggest thing to [grow a] following is consistency and having a schedule," Ally explains. "If you don't stream for three weeks and you haven't told anyone, people don't know when to expect you and people don't go looking for you."

Obviously, something about her strategy has worked, because she now has more than 14,000 followers with whom she interacts with on an almost daily basis. 

While being a streamer means you are never in short supply of "internet friends", there are also a number of trolls and trash-talkers that come along with it too. Ally deals with them in swift and calm fashion: She reports anyone who abuses her to the game's customer support team and bans them from her channel. 

CONTENT WARNING: Contains vulgar language.

"People have given me a reputation of 'Oh, I just get everyone banned', but realistically, every one of those people has done it to themselves," she says. "I'm fortunate that I've got tough skin."

Something I noticed in a clip from her Twitch channel revealed how some of the abuse she receives is based purely on the fact that she's a woman.

"I think as a female you tend to get targeted a lot more by certain groups of people," Ally explains. It's why, Ally mentions, there are organisations that exist to support females in gaming; positive communities that ban the toxicity which can sometimes be found in other online gaming communities.

"Having a support group as a streamer is particularly important because even though people may be watching you, they don't really understand what it's like behind-the-scenes," Ally says. "You never switch off. You're your own marketing team. You're your own content creator."

If streaming is something that piques your interest, Ally recommends being true to yourself and not putting on a character that's hard to maintain.

"Start out streaming because you enjoy it," she says. "Work out who you want to be and run with it." 

Want to read more about Australian women taking on the gaming world?

Gaming While Female: Meet the Ladies Making a Name For Themselves in Australian eSports

Gaming While Female: We Spoke to Jsmai About Competing in Australia's First Female-Only Gaming League

Gaming While Female: We Ask Haiimbelle How to Run Your Own eSports Team

Photo: Twitch (anomally_xx)