My first YouTube channel was a Vlogging channel. I actively started making videos for it in 2014. That YouTube channel is Les Waller International. It is about me living and working in Germany as an American. I did enjoy making videos and interacting with my audience, responding to comments and talking about the videos I made when I was at work.
However, after two years of producing content and not getting very good results I decided to see what other possibilities there were on YouTube. What were the subjects of these big YouTubers? How big could someone get on YouTube doing these various things? What niche could someone enter and make a living from making videos? All of these questions ran through my mind.
Why a Gaming Channel
I knew how much work would have to go into any channel that was a how to channel or a channel that was meant to entertain people. Since I worked a full time job I knew I wouldn’t have the time to do one of those types of channels.
Then one day I ran across Pewdiepie, the biggest gaming YouTuber. I watched some of his then current videos and to be honest I was not impressed. How could this guy be the largest gaming YouTuber with this content? Some of it was almost to the point of being cringy. Hell, I could do that!
Besides, everyone likes to play games so I would be able to have fun while making content for one of the YouTube Gaming channels, Wallerdog Gaming. How hard could it be to get people to watch me play games? I mean if the top YouTuber is making cringy videos then surely I could make videos to match that.
What Games did I Play
Since I was playing on an iMac it limited the games I could play to those that could be played on an iMac OS. The first game that I played was Red Crucible Firestorm (RCF). A couple of the people I met there in 2016 are still friends that I talk to now and then in 2020. I also played Warthunder, but a big problem I had with playing Warthunder on the iMac was that the game would crash pretty frequently at that time.
I tried to play Everspace, but it was so difficult to control the spaceship with a wireless mouse. I played through Half Life 2 as I like to play first person shooter (FPS) style games. I played a couple of games because audience members suggested them, like Team Fortress 2 and Unturned, although I have to admit I wasn’t into either one of them.
Looks like I played Lord of the Rings Online a couple of times before Christmas. It was also during this time that I was getting tired of playing RCF and tried out World of Tanks (WoT) Blitz. One of my first World of Tanks Blitz videos, “Worst Noob Ever” as of this writing has 12K views on YouTube. I also dipped into World of Tanks (PC) but found it much more difficult than WoT Blitz. I even tried playing Go at that time, since it is my favorite game.
How did I Record & Stream
I recorded my streams by either using OBS or Quick Time Player. I had a Yeti Blue USB mic from my vlogging channel to give me good sound quality. I only used my builtin webcam on the iMac for video of me playing the games.
It just goes to show that when you are starting off you don’t need to spend a lot of money. There are low or no cost alternatives out there to start with, so don’t say you cannot be a Youtuber because you don’t have such-and-such equipment. Even now I’m using my iPhone to make videos that I upload to the Les Waller International channel.
What were the Results
The results after about 3 months of uploading videos and streaming was earning 100 subscribers. This allowed me to give my channel a user-friendly name rather than a randomized name given to me from YouTube. It also showed me that if I kept up the work on the gaming channel that I could eventually gain enough subscribers and viewtime to have my YouTube channel monetized.
To be monetized you need 1K subscribers and 4K hours of viewtime in the last 365 days.
So, what do you think?
Do you think you have what it takes to make a YouTube channel and earn 100 subscribers? I believe you can, you just have to commit yourself to taking the time and doing the work. Here is my “How to Earn 100 Subscribers Gaming on YouTube in 2017” video that explains the amount of time and effort it took me to get to 100 subscribers at that time. Not everyone’s results will be the same. Some people will be faster and some people will be slower.
