DM21 Gaming interview

He's a Professional Shoutcaster with Regular Appearances at the Microsoft Store Mixer NYC Studio in NYC. Taught at the inaugural Microsoft Esports academy in May. He has 2.5 million views YouTube about No Man's sky exclusively. He has an additional million on his other content.

He's part of DM21 Gaming folks. a content creator and great guy: Bicycle Walrus!

1.       Hey BW, so I came into the community a few days ago and I've been blown away by just how friendly, open, welcome and just fun this place is. I guess my first question is just really: how did DM21 Gaming start, what was the kick off?

I began treating streaming and content creation as a hobby about four years ago. My first content was centered around FFXIV and Destiny when it first came out. Eventually, I invited my wife to join in my under taking, did a few barely watched podcasts and really just used it as an opportunity to chill and chat with my friends. Make pretend, if you will. One day, I decided to do a video guide on how to install a XIMM4 on a PS4, to enable mouse and keyboard control. This ended up being one of our most popular videos ever. I believe it's getting pretty close to 300k views by now, and it was all shot with my cell phone, no editing. I realized then that I might actually be able to do something more stable on YouTube.

On August 16th, 2015, we founded DM21 Gaming as an official company, and I've been treating it like a business ever since. In November of 2016, it became my full time job. Today, our content is centered around Open World Survival Games. NMS: NEXT, and Rend are the two games we're currently focused on.

2.       What would you say, as a content creator, is the biggest hurdle for someone like yourself when you see a game, like say, No Man's Sky and the potential it has but the support is pretty lacking from the PR and developer side of things?

The thing about a game with unfulfilled potential, is that the game typically has a cult following who passionately believe in this potential. This following is both a boon and a curse to the developer. The boon they provide is unwavering positive attitudes, and acceptance of anything the developer produces. The curse is the accountability factor from the community is lost, and the developer becomes complacent, such as what we see in the case of NMS. Hello Games is a brilliant and talented team, however their focus is on this very small cult following which does not represent the greater community of NMS players. As a result, there is no community outreach, very weak public relations with new players and communities, such as Tencent and XBOX, and the possibility of being viewed as arrogant, and pious.

Oddly enough, I believe Sean Murray and Hello Games to be quite humble and shrewd. However, this isn't how new players view them. As a content creator, covering a game which lacks a Community Manager, I suffer the brunt of the complaints, day in and day out. As a creator on Mixer, a Microsoft Partnered platform, I get these complaints from XBOX players. I have a very special insight into what these players are thinking, and this puts me in the position of being the man on the front lines for Hello Games' newest platform for No Man's Sky.

This would be something I'd love to undertake, helping XBOX players, and being a community champion for them. The problem is that the existing community doesn't emphasize with the XBOX players, and don't understand why they are upset, or why they feel left out. Hello Games has focused their PR campaign on their cult following through an ARG, which excludes new and casual players/observers. Since the existing fan base is being engaged with regularly through the ARG, they cannot see through the eyes of the neglected XBOX Players. So, without the support from the existing community, and without any support from No Man's Sky; trying to promote a game I absolutely adore to new XBOX players is quite challenging, but I'm giving it my best shot.

3.       What would you say your top three favourite games are right now, and why?

This is pretty easy, as these three games are regularly on my mind. God of War, recently released on PS4, is by far, the best game I have ever played. Santa Monica did a phenomenal job with that game, and took storytelling through interactive media to a whole new level.

The other two games on my list are No Man's Sky, and Rend. No Man's Sky is a game with unlimited potential, and it is able to access and harness something hidden in all of us; our sense of adventure. No game has inspired me to look behind every corner like No Man's Sky.

Rend is a game I've only played during Alpha testing, but already I can tell it is going to change the face of Open-World Survival games forever. It finally answers the question of, "What's the Goal" or "How do you Win?" It is a survival game with a very real win-condition, a very real goal for your faction to work towards, and the tools available to actually get you to work together with your faction if you want to win. Never have I played a game that instantly made everyone a team player.

4.       Someone told me, a little bird perhaps, that you do Alpha Testing. I've been an Alpha Tester before and without breaking any kind of NDA. I hear you've been testing Rend, care to talk about that and fill us in about this game - it looks pretty rad and it seems a game changer.

As I said in response to your previous question, Rend is going to change the face of Open-World Survival games forever. Rend finally answers the question that has long plagued the genre: "What's the point?" A typical game of Rend will last between one to two months. Every faction begins the game with nothing, and they must build up their faction's home base before the reckoning occurs. When the reckoning happens, the shields around your faction stronghold will fall, and monsters will attack your base. Meanwhile, other factions may use this opportunity to attack your faction stronghold as well. Should the monsters destroy your walls, and do damage to your Spirit Tree, your faction will lose the spirits they've gained over the course of the game.

The ultimate goal of the game is to grow the tree at your faction base. You do this by collecting spirits throughout the world, and returning them to your tree. The first faction to gather 100,000 spirits, wins the game. The reward for winning includes new cosmetic items that change your appearance, and other things which display your prowess. Very worthwhile rewards for fashion or epeen focused players.

The special sauce of Rend is that it requires your faction to work together. It automatically ranks and rewards faction members based on their contributions to the faction. The more you positively contribute, the higher your rank. The higher your rank, the more control you have over the stronghold. Elders are able to alter faction permissions, and access special Warlord Chests that are only available to them; along with other perks. The game cannot be won unless the faction coordinates, and as such communication is key to victory. Players who never used voice chat, suddenly drop into Discord, if only just to listen. People who don't work well with others suddenly find a way. Leaders who fail to inspire their faction suddenly find themselves alone.

The drama in Rend is going to be a very, very, sweet thing.

5.       What's the best thing about doing what you do, as part of DM 21 Gaming, and as a regular streamer?

Our primary goal when we set off into the world of Content Creation was to build a gaming community. We always say that we're a gaming community, first, and foremost. I'm very proud of the size of our Discord Community, and the fact that many of our members are actually just in the Discord to make friends and communicate without actually watching the streams, or any of the content. The fact of the matter is, DM21 Gaming is a place anyone can go to (except for Fortnite BR Players ...) and feel welcomed. People are always looking for groups, and friends, and they act completely independently of us. 

Watching this community form, and gain its independence has been the most rewarding thing for us. 

6.       I know you use Mixer. I know it's a young platform as far as Twitch goes and so on, but for me it seems like it could really go places. Why Mixer, what really draws you to the platform?

We actually used to stream on YouTube Gaming, but with the advent of adpocalypse, and demonetization, it dawned on me that YouTube was no longer a reliable business partner for our operations. We had to look elsewhere to continue creating content, or I'd have to go back to my day job (something I'd rather not do). A friend referred me to Mixer, which was known as Beam at the time. What attracted me was the added interactive available on the platform, and the sub-second latency. I love reading chat, and communicating with my audience. Mixer is the only platform which allows this to happen.

The best part about Mixer is when games actually utilize audience interactive, or Mix Play as it is called now. My audience can actually play games with me, or really get in my way. Usually my audience will use Mix Play to keep me from winning the game, but it is all part of the fun. They win when I have to turn off Mix Play, like I did in "Hello Neighbor."

Mixer is also a very positive platform, which encourages constructive criticism, all while respecting the opinions of others. It is a strange micro-chasm of love, an incredibly rare thing on the internet. I've never found a more supportive community on the internet. Furthermore, Mixer is focused on the success of their partners. Matt and James, the founders of Mixer believe they will only succeed if their partners succeed. This was a very different focus from what I was used to with YouTube, which is advertiser focused. Mixer is all about community. This Pillar of their business model lines up with DM21 Gaming's core belief of community first. It was an obvious match, right from the beginning.

7.       We know No Man's Sky NEXT is out pretty soon, what's the one big standout feature you'd really love to see. Since we've seen next to nothing on it so far, I know this is pretty much speculation at this point.

I'd really like to see Ship Building/Customization be added to No Man's Sky, as it would offer something for multiple people to work towards in the game. I imagine you would require blueprints to make different ship components, and I also imagine some of these blueprints to be of ancient alien technology, hidden in hard to reach/find places throughout the universe. It would take a multiplayer effort to find blueprints, gather the materials, and manufacture a truly special ship. This in turn would create a thriving economy, reasons for PVP, and a reason to travel to buy goods and services from players.

Essentially, it is the one feature which would create an active multiplayer environment, and bring players together. The search of power in any survival game is strong, especially when they're online. Players will gather around power. They will either seek to purchase it, piggy back off of it, or steal it. Multiplayer will work best with Ship Building/Customization in the game, and I hope we get this feature. It has been the most demanded feature I've seen since release (well, except for Space Whales of course).

8.       If Hello Games wanted a Community Manager, what would you say if you managed to get that spot? How would you promote their game, what changes would you make to get gamers hyped for an infinite procedurally generated space exploration adventure? Especially on Xbox.

Hello Games is in desperately need of a Community Management team, not just a Community Manager. Their game is about to become a persistent, online, multiplayer experience. They can no longer rest on their laurels between releases. They will have to regularly provide updates, bug fixes, and balancing. They need to release an update at least once every three weeks, just to stay on top of player concerns.

I've seen complaints from the PC community that the last time they received any feedback from Hello Games concerning bugs, exploits, or other game breaking issues was in October of 2017. Most players feel neglected because they cannot stay up-to-date on Waking Titan. They're left out of updates. No one is talking to them. This is my biggest point of concern when in comes to Hello Games, and No Man's Sky. If they cannot fix this, I fear no matter how brilliant NEXT might be, they will not be able to communicate it properly, or players will lose interest because it seems Hello Games has lost interest in their players. This isn't a good place to be.

If I were their Community Manager, the first thing I would do is hire a community representative for every platform the game is currently available on; PC, PS4, XBOX, and Tencent. We would separate the feedback/bug reporting tool based on these platforms, and it would be the job of these community reps to triage tickets submitted to the feedback site. This way, every rep has eyes on all of the feedback they are getting. Furthermore, these representatives would interact with their respective communities on a daily basis, answering questions, hearing out concerns, and hyping the audience on what updates have been announced. We would meet weekly to discuss highlights.

As a Community Manager, I would also begin a Partnership Program, and begin an earnest relationship with Content Creators. No Man's Sky has survived off the back of their Content Creators. If it weren't for these content creators, NMS would not be seeing a NEXT update on July 24th. Hello Games needs to recognize this fact, and work with their content creators. The goal of the partnership program would be to strengthen the ties with the community, develop a real meaningful conversation with the community, and find ways to promote content creators. Their success is Hello Games' success.

Then I would explore ways of working with our new partners to promote No Man's Sky. Mixer front page features, and dash slots are very, very strong methods of promoting a game. I would even establish an official NMS channel on different streaming platforms, and invite our partners to create content on those channels to gain exposure, while keeping the No Man's Sky channel active. This presence alone would reassure the greater gaming community that No Man's Sky is here to stay.

9.       I know you love the Xbox gamers and we really appreciate that, me being an Xbox gamer. What do you like about our community?

I'm actually very new to XBOX, and the Microsoft Community as a whole. The only reason why I ever had an XBOX was because I won one at a raffle at my Company Christmas Party. It wasn't until after I switched to Mixer that I became absorbed into the XBOX community. Phil Spencer, and Aaron Greenberg of the XBOX team are phenomenal, down to earth people. Having met both of them, I can tell you they are gamers at heart, and together, they turned around XBOX. Their focus on players, the games, cross-play, and getting games into players hands as cheaply as possible is really attractive. Then the integration of Mixer, XBOX, and the Microsoft Store shows they want to have a fully integrated front end on all of their forward-facing applications; which is a brilliant strategy.

They're the smartest team in the industry, and their players see this. I want so desperately to be a part of that.

10.   This part is for you to take the floor, if you have a message for our readers, your fans... you can share it here. Go nuts, as they say!

I certainly appreciate the opportunity to talk to you, and your readers! This is a strange space in gaming today. The gaming industry is flooded with Battle Royale, Fortnite, and big titles. Every publisher is playing it safe, and very few games companies are taking risks. When Sean Murray and Grant Duncan set off to make No Man's Sky, they said they were aware of how incredibly stupid the task was. They knew the risks, and knew their ambitions would be hard to tackle. It is risk takers like them, Frostkeep Studios, and Santa Monica who should be the center of attention in game right now. These companies are innovating in an industry which sees so little change. I think we as gamers should recognize these risk takers for who they are, and lend our support.

When Fortnite BR came out to XBOX, I tried it, and was the number one Fortnite BR player on the platform. I didn't care much for the game, and I'm honest with myself and my community. I've hardly played it since. If I wanted to, I could have continued playing it, and I could have accumulated quite the following. But instead, I'm focusing on the games I love. If content creators put the focus on their communities, and the games which truly inspire them, Streaming would be a very different landscape today. I encourage any content creator to follow their hearts and ambitions first, their communities second, and then ratings and financials third (we all have to make a living, after-all).

Thanks BW, and if you want to check out BW's content you can do on:

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If you're looking for the 101 on Xbox One's No Man's Sky, and you just want to know what the heck you're going to jump into on the 24th of July, DM21 Gaming has you covered.

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