Dan Clancy talks to ROBLOX Streamer KreekCraft | Let's Chat Podcast EP 2

[music] Hello and welcome to Let's Chat. Let's Chat is a live podcast where I talk with creators about live streaming and the ways that streamers and their communities shape culture yesterday, today, and in the future. So, I'm Dan Clancy, the CEO of Twitch, and I'm happy to speak today with Creek. He has millions of followers. He's one of the most recognizable creators in the Roblox community, in the ecosystem with high energy live streams, communitydriven gameplay, and commentary on platform news and culture. Welcome. Let's see some of that energy, Creek. Hi. How are you doing? I'm doing very well, Creek. And I think we'll have to have an an energy off today. How about that? We'll see which one of us can bring more energy to the stream. You know, as I've gotten older, it's actually gotten lower. I've had to start drinking coffee um to keep that up. Yeah, I'm normally not a coffee drinker, but I, you know, before a big stream, I might I might have a cup of coffee. I myself am not a coffee drinker either, interestingly. Um uh although I do drink caffeine and coke, unfortunately. I you know, but uh but that caffeine sometimes comes in. All right. Well, we're going to start pre-rolls creek. Okay. Uh so go back in time and now I know you're getting a bit older, okay? So, it might be hard for you [laughter] to remember way back when. Um, but talk to me about when you started as a content creator. Yeah. So, uh, I had just graduated high school and I was looking for like um, like a job and every place I applied to, they said I didn't have enough experience, which like how am I supposed to get experience without experience? I know. Exactly. Right. So, um, up until that point, I was just making Minecraft videos on YouTube and, um, I had a video kind of pop off and someone at YouTube, I got like a partner manager and they're like, "You should try streaming. We just launched streaming." And I was like, "Okay." And at first it was actually funny because I thought I was going to hate it um because the idea of it being live and like, "What if I mess up?" You know, it's scary. And then I started streaming. Uh, loved it. People started uh, loving it. um audience loved it and it just kind of like immediately blew up and then I got like the first paycheck and I was like, "Mom, I got more than $5 this month. Like, I might be able to like do this." And yeah, it just kind of grew from there. And so And so were your parents like did you did you think about college or was college always something like no, I don't want that. So yeah, I was originally going to college for um computer science. Uh I I actually went to an online high school before before co before it was cool to do that. Um just so that I could take programming classes that weren't available in my uh in my like local area. Um and I was whenever I started streaming I was I think like one year away from getting um not the bachelors. What's the other one called? The first one you get? Not the bachelors. Uh it's the two-year the two-year degree. Yeah. An associates degree. Yeah. Associate. I was I was like I was a few credits away. I heard bachelors and I was thinking of uh the bachelor, you know, then I was like, what does that have to do with [laughter] Yeah. Yeah. And uh it it was kind of like do I keep balancing both or do I put all my energy into one and give it the best shot? And it was like this is a once in a-lifetime opportunity. I can always come back to this. I'm gonna take the opportunity and risk and uh you know like family was pretty supportive. So um Oh well that's good. It worked out. Yeah. It's interesting because like I come from like a I guess like an older family so like a lot of my family didn't really understand the concept of you can play video games and make money. Yeah. They're just like he's just staying inside all day wasting his time, you know. Um my mom got it though cuz she was, you know, she lived with me so she kind of get it got it a little bit. Um, but yeah, once I got my first paycheck, that was when the rest of the family was like, "Oh, okay." It was cool then. It was cool. Finally, finally, finally, we don't have to worry about him. You know, he he's going to be able to do something with himself. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And now, like, you know, my cousins go to school. They're like, "Hey, you know, Creek, that's my cousin. It's my cousin." Yeah. Yeah. Tell me what you're thinking about besides sitting in your house and and playing Roblox. Something I think would be really cool is like doing IRL streams with like, you know, the the close friends and stuff. Um, I guess the big thing is it's such a departure from what I already do that there is kind of that risk of like is it worth putting all this time and effort and energy into it into something that might not do as well. Um, but also a big struggle is like since I stream every single day and cover all these games, it's like it's hard to get out of the house to do something exciting for an IRL stream. So, it's kind of like that that back and forth. By the way, here's my thought on that. Okay. And I think this is one of the challenges that a lot of streamers run into and and um uh you know, they talk about burnout, right? And um now you have this benefit that Roblox already has a lot of variety of games. Okay. But a common problem in gaming is you keep playing this game. Everyone loves the fact that you play that game. And if you are going to play a different game, some of your community is going to leave. Yeah. And your numbers are going to go down. So you don't do it. And every day that you don't do it makes it harder to do it because you're conditioning your audience by your total consistency. And if you can't if if someone asks you the question of okay, are you going to be streaming Roblox 20 years from now every day? Right? And if the answer is that's hard for me to see okay then the answer is what day do you do something else? It doesn't have to be like doesn't have to be right now, but if not now, when? And what will change a year from now? What will change two years from now? What will change three years from now? And and my general feeling is nothing will change, right? And that's where eventually you you were your own you you built the box, if you will. Exactly. Yeah. like you get like this does really good so you keep doing it and you keep doing it, you keep doing it and then you're stuck in that box. Um. Yes. And and people think that everyone else built the box. No, you're sitting there hammering in nails every day, right? Making it a better and better box because you're a slave to whatever is like what they want right now. And so like my advice is it probably won't do better. You won't make more money by doing it. Yeah. You have to you have to bite the bullet. And like this is actually something I've I've actually been doing on Roblox. So like back in 2020, I was all in on Piggy. Everything was Piggy. And then Piggy ended. I was like, "Oh crap, what now?" And so like now I intentionally like I am not a single one game on Roblox guy. Um and so you're right. What that's done is allowed me to do kind of whatever to a degree on Roblox. And so now it's just kind of taking that same thing and taking it outside of Roblox. Yes. Yes. Because in the end what they're attracted to is you as a person. Right. And and so then as soon as you start doing something, you start realizing, oh wow, I like there's all sorts of things I want to do with my life and I can I can keep my streaming career while doing these other things that I've been thinking I'd like to do that I never get around to doing cuz I'm always in my room. I think another and I I've gotten better at this, but I think another thing is like as a streamer and especially after years of doing this, there's that constant need like you want to be at the top of the mountain and like you know for years you crawl and scratch and and stream for hours to get to the top of the mountain and once you're there it's like I'm not leaving the mountain. I want to be on top of the, you know, and so it's like at some point you've got to just be like, I don't need to be on top of the mountain 247. I can, you know, like it's not healthy. It's it's unhealthy to be caught up with being at the top of the mountain when you and and by the way I think it's human nature. But then it's also human nature to reflect and say um uh no I mean I like I often think about the idea of um uh you you go back in time when we were you know cavemen or whatever. You know, how much did someone want to be at the top of the mountain as a berry picker and always need to be at the top of the mountain as a berry picker? And you're like, well, I I kind of pretty good at picking berries. I don't know. Like, I'm really a good hunter. Like, most people get over the fact that do I really need to be the best hunter? I get enough food for my family. like, "Yeah, this is this is like something that um I'm I'm very glad I have my fiance for cuz like it's so easy to get lost in that mindset and she like definitely helps keep me grounded." Um cuz like so many streamers, they just get caught up in like I'm this super big, super famous celebrity and you know, it's like at the end of the day I'm doing this because eventually I just want to play video games for the rest of my life, you know? Well, [laughter] no. The interesting thing, by the way, I don't think you want to retire and just play video games. I I don't buy that. Yeah. I I do I like I do have I I want to write a book. I would say at some point I I think that is another goal of mine. Like growing up, I was really into writing and reading and so there is there is like an element of like I do want to try other stuff there. Um like I definitely don't want to be a streamer forever. Um, but I guess the question is like at what point does that transition happen? What does that look like? I don't know. Um, here's the way I would think of it as saying I don't want to be a streamer forever. Think I don't want to be a full-time streamer. That that defines everything of who I am forever. It doesn't mean you won't always be a streamer, right? Because you can stream three days a week. You can stream one day a week. Like my money says you will enjoy streaming. Okay. You just don't want to be only a streamer forever. Yeah, I think that's the right way to look at it. Um so then the question is when do you start not being only a streamer? Yeah, you are a streamer. You'll always be a streamer. When are you not only a streamer? that that's actually a really good way of looking at it because like part of like whenever I don't stream every like let's say tomorrow I don't stream or I don't make a video or something. It feels weird. It's like I didn't do my job for today and like I know that's an unhealthy feeling because sometimes you just have to you know you can't do it every day every day every time. Um so part of it's also just kind of like getting past that hurdle I think. All right. So, let's get to the um uh the persona. Okay. The character. Okay. And before you talk to me about the character, I have a little surprise for you here. Okay. This is all that I had in my closet. Okay. But I felt like for the show, I should have a little something amazing. Okay. So, I'm decided I'm going to wear this for um uh the podcast. It is some type of furry furry monster. But so tell me about the character and when did the character the hat Yeah. So I would wake up really early. So when I started streaming it was it was December. I would wake up really early. It'd be really really cold and I would always take a shower in the morning just to kind of wake up and so I would be freezing and so I would I would just grab it was a Dead Mouse hat like the music artist Dead Mouse. It was a random hat my mom got me from like a Kohl's back in like 2013 or something and she's like, "Oh, this looks cool. I bet he'll like it." So, I had it in my closet. And so, every morning when I started streaming, I just put it on to keep my head warm. And then I started noticing that people would draw me with the hat and also the red flannel, which I'm not wearing the red flannel right now, but um my grandpa would always give me like his red flannel handme-downs. And so I'd always wear like red flannels and people started drawing me with that. That was the fan art. And I was like, "Oh, okay. So this is this is my thing. This this is it." And then 10 years later, um, my dead mouse hat started ripping cuz wearing it every single day for 10 years is uh, you know, that's a lot of work on a hat. And so I had to come up with my own thing. Number one, so Dead Mouse wouldn't hopefully not sue me. But then also number two, cuz he didn't sell those hats anymore. So I Well, and has your hair has your hair always been sticking out or the the long hair sticking out. Did that only come over time? So it I've always had longer hair. I've always liked having longer hair. Mostly because like whenever I was a kid, um a lot of the like growing up a lot of the the dudes had like the short hair with the bangs like sticking up, you know, in school. And I always wanted to be like the the outlaw, I guess. I'm like, I'm going to have longer hair. Um, and cuz like when the wind blows, it like flows, you feel cool, right? Like the Maybelline commercial or something. Um, and so like I always had like longer hair and uh it just kind of it just kind of stuck. It's actually funny. I'll tell you a funny story. Um, I dyed my hair uh blue for a sub goal like a long time ago and I actually got backlash like don't you touch the hair. Leave the hair. Hair is an iconic part. So, I was like, I can't touch it now. You know, you have that great red color. So, so you may not realize this from my hair now, but I'm a red head or was a red head. And um uh I always remember this story that once I told someone I was like 40some. I I said, "Oh, I'm a tall redhead." And they met me and they said, "You're not a red head." And it's cuz by then all my hair had turned blonde um and kind of faded out. So, enjoy the redness, you know, while you have it. You know what's funny? I I don't know if you know this, but this is actually a wig that's attached to the hat. Well, it's not attached to the hat. I just put on know that the reason why I have brown hair. My hair is brown. It's underneath this. The reason why is I shaved my head bald for um a sub goal. And what happened is the click-through rate on my thumbnails went down because I guess kids don't like clicking on videos of bald people. So, I'm like, I'm going to get a wig off of Amazon that's like $5 that just looks similar to my hair. And I did. And it's kind It became a running joke that Creek wears a wig. So now I But you got But you got a wig that was red, not brown. Yeah, it it's it looks a little bit reddish on camera. It's It's really brown. Yeah, it's like blondish. Um I don't know. I like I like the blondish kind of orangey red look. It looks good on camera, so I keep it. It looks good. I like it. I like it. All right. Um uh so let's get to Roblox then. Okay. Um uh talk to me about when Roblox um uh clicked for you and were you already playing Roblox personally before you started streaming it? No. So it was like 2016 I I was doing like Minecraft PvP and Minecraft mods and Minecraft kind of dipped a little bit like in terms of interest and viewer interest. This was before the dream era and all that. And so I was kind of like, okay, well, what what now? And Roblox was kind of on the rise. And my chat was always like, play Roblox. And I was with the stigma and everyone had this back then. This is a dumb Minecraft ripoff kids game. I'm never going to play this. And one day I decided to play it cuz someone said there's a game on there called Phantom Forces, which is similar to Call of Duty. And I'm like, I'll check it out. I played it. I was like, okay, this is actually kind of fun. And over time it just kind of shifted completely into Roblox. Um yeah I started playing in 2016 so this will be 10 years. And have you ever have you ever thought about cuz it's one of those things that you know we make these decisions we have no idea where they're going cuz suppose you didn't make that switch and then what happened with Minecraft just like how different your world would be if you had never made that switch back then. There was a part of me um that was so I guess burned out of Roblox back when Fortnite came out that there was a part of me that was like you know what I'm going to I'm going to become a Fortnite streamer and like I never did I don't I I almost did I made the switch almost but like I did it and it's like man if I would have done that my life would also be completely different but yeah I stuck with Roblox. It seemed like the nice thing about Roblox though that I'm sure has kept you there is just it's not one game and so you have this endless supply of games that you can play. Exactly. So like there's always something new, something that's coming out that's interesting and exciting that kind of changes it up. It's not it's not the same thing. Well, so so how much do you think of yourself now as a um uh as a trend setter with Roblox or as a follower in terms of what you know what game you decide to play? Um, I think it's kind of a mix of both because like as streamers, I feel like we we do have the ability to kind of set trends, but also at the end of the day, it's a matter of like what does your audience want to watch? Cuz like if I if I could do anything I wanted, I'd be streaming like Halo and World of Warcraft all day. But like that like most Roblox players like what is that? I've never even heard of that. Um, but like obviously you can't do that cuz that's not where like the audience is these days. So, um, you're kind of beholden to your audience a little bit, but it is a matter of, you know, you you do get to pick and choose a little bit. Roblox does have a little bit of variety in terms of like what you can do, right? Right. And um, uh, so what are you playing now? Oh, we're not talking about that. You know, still a brain, right? You know, stuff like that. uh you know it's not the it's not my proudest uh era I guess but um it's what the it's what the kids enjoy these days you know. Well explain do this do this because I think you know for some of the for some people watching this um uh because part of the objective of this is to expose all that's going on to folks that may not live it. um talk about Roblox some explain Roblox to the person who hasn't played Roblox and what why is it so big? So like you got to think of it like a platform. It's like Steam except most of the games are made by like either kids or older teenagers or like really young adults. And um it's got a very large like kid teenage audience. So, and all the games are like free to play kind of. So, you can kind of get the idea of like where that platform where where it sits and stuff. Um, and then over the years, the platform kind of moves along with the general trend. So, like back when GTA 5 came out and the few years after, there were a bunch of like kind of like ripoff GTA clones cuz like kids, you know, they're not going to play GTA. So, what are they going to do? They're going to play the best version they can on Roblox. It's free to play. Um, and then like there was other trends that pet games were really big and then like asymmetrical horror games were really big. Um, and now the big thing right now is like Brain Rod and Tong Tong Tong for her and and all of those characters and stuff, right? Yeah. And so, and so it seems like obviously what you're trying to do is figure out what your audience is going to enjoy. And so as opposed to trying and you sort of respond to whatever is popular on Roblox now as opposed to shaping it part of what you're doing because you probably do do you explore new games very often. How often are you just wandering around Roblox playing games that you haven't played or don't already know are pretty good? Quite a bit. I like to think I have my finger on the pulse of like the Roblox community. like somebody breeds and I know about it kind of thing. So like part of like my job is also what comes next and this is this is probably true for any streamer no matter what game you play but like if you're known for one game and then that game stops being popular or ends or whatever then you kind of go down with that ship and so you have to be able to pivot to new stuff. Um and so like part of Roblox is like okay well what's going to be the next big game? What's the next big trend? Because like in in 2020, I played this game called Piggy and I made videos on it and streamed it every single day. I know. Piggy is Wasn't that one of the the moments where things sort of broke out? Yeah. I got like I think it was like 5 million subs in like a few months from Piggy because the pandemic happened and Piggy happened and it it just lined up perfectly. Stars aligned. And then like a year later the game ended. It was like this is the last update. This is the last chapter and I was like oh crap. What do I do now? [laughter] Um and uh and yeah, I was able to pivot. Um so, you know, I was lucky with that, but you know, that's something that's always in the back of your mind. Now, one of the you know, I know one thing that I've, you know, learned about Roblox for those who don't use it is, you know, part of it is just hanging out with your friends. Um because a lot of people that are playing Roblox are playing Roblox with their friends. Um so, who do you mostly play Roblox with? I um I have like a So, it's interesting because there's so many different Roblox games, there's so many different demographics. So, like just because you're a Roblox streamer or creator doesn't necessarily mean that our audience will audiences will mesh together. Um like if you play dress and press, you probably have like a a larger female audience. Um if you play rivals, you probably have a male dominated audience. Um, so like right now I kind of stick to like people that's, you know, that I know personally, you know, shout out state, Kay, all those guys. Um, but I I I don't know. Um, I don't have a group of friends. And were you were any of those folks were you already friends with or did you did like because many of the ones, let's take Sik as an example, many of the ones um are also streamers. You all met them. You met them all in your streaming life as opposed to them being real world friends that you know. Yeah. Yeah. I I I met them through streaming. It's actually one one sad thing about being a streamer and content creator is like a lot of times you're up working really late. So like people with like normal jobs I guess you would say. Um, all those normies, all those normies, all the all the normies, like a lot of my friends pre-streaming, I don't get to talk to them as much because they're online at like, you know, midnight after work, before work in the morning, and it's like, well, I'm up editing, so it's like, you know, it's it's it's tough. That's one of the tough things about the job. Yeah. Do you still do you still stay in touch with like your because you I don't Is it public where you live or not? Uh, it is. Yeah. Yeah, I grew up in Florida um by Jacksonville. Uh I I didn't really have that many friends growing up. It was probably like a little close-knit group of like four to five. And like I I try and stay in touch as as much as most of your friends now most of your real world friends now come from your professional which is the way most people most of your real world friends are all come from your professional life. Yeah, I would say so. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I know from uh Brandon it seems like one of the things they're always trying to do is get you out of the house. Yeah, dude. I look, man. I my goal people always ask me like, "What's your goal from streaming?" I want to make enough money to where I can retire and just play video games for the rest of my life. Like, get like some remote house somewhere. A lot of people are like, "I want this super fancy car, a super fancy house." Like, I don't care about any of that. I just want to be able to like retire and just play video games and I'm good. Um, but then you don't need to retire if all you're doing is playing video games. That's true. That's true. Um, you know, actually talk about this. I always think one of the reasons that streaming I think took off is of course playing video games is social. Okay. Um, because you're playing with other people and then it's like oh and someone's going to watch me. So like like like it seems to me like if you're playing a video game like why wouldn't you stream? How much do you play video games where you're not streaming? Quite a bit. I I actually this is something I struggle with for a while. It's kind of like how much of my life is CRCraft and how much of my life is just the normal dude, you know? And um so like what I've done over the years is like I have like a set line like I I I don't play Roblox in my off time. That is a that is a YouTube thing. That is a streaming thing. Um, and when it comes like personal time, like that's me, that's, you know, Lights Out, Big Monitor, Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring, Balders's Gate, you know, traditional gamer. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 100% 100%. Name a game I've probably like I I literally just play video games. It's or my job out of my job. But it doesn't fit your your online character, so you just do that on your own. Yeah, I' I've thought about like having a more mature channel where I stream games like Red Dead Redemption or Elder Ring or whatever it may be. But like part of it is also like I don't want to constantly be in streamer mode. Sometimes I want to just like stare blankly at the screen and play video games, you know? Yes. like like when you're streaming there's like this this you know there's some degree of commitment to your community and then when you talk about the feeling when you stop streaming it's like when you when you hit stop stream you know is it like an exhale I think it was at first I've got it's become so like just muscle memory to me like you put a camera on me and I can just like switch into YouTube mode I I guess The thing to say too is like I wouldn't really say that CRA is like a character. It's more just like an exaggerated version of myself I guess. Um so like it's not necessarily like it's not hard to get into that or I'm not like you know it's not stressful or anything like that but there is an element especially after a long stream it's like I can go and like relax now. But the other thing about being a content creator is it's like well you're back live again tomorrow. You don't get days off. So, start planning. Well, the way I decided it it's almost like it's a caricature of yourself. Right. Exactly. It's who you are, but everything turned up a little bit. You know, and so Well, um uh have you created a a animated VT version of yourself? [clears throat] I have not. No, I I've thought about it because it's like it's funny. Um, it'd be funny if I was like a VTuber one day, but I think so much of how people like recognize me and I guess like my brand, if you'd say that, is me. And so, it's like if you take that away, you kind of lose that element, I guess. Yeah. I will say one thing to think about is well actually before I'll say this I'll ask um uh uh because first of all I guess I it was recently your birthday. And and I guess we should have sent you a cane because you're 30 years old now. Do I have that right? I'm 29 almost pushing. You're 29. I thought you just turned 30. Okay. You just turned 29. You're not 30 yet. So next year we can send you a cane. Yeah. This is the first year cuz like up until now I've I've been like it I I I don't feel any any different. Like I I could be like I feel the same as I did in high school, right? Yeah. Sure. And then this year it's like this is the first year where like someone will say something online and I'm like what in the world does that mean? Let me look that up. And it's like I'm starting I feel old now. Um, yeah, people unironically say Skibbidity Ohio RZ and I'm like, you guys aren't joking when you say that. Like, you're dead serious and they're serious and it's like, okay, I I feel old now. I'm getting there. Yeah. Yeah. No, well, you still look very young. I think that helps. You know, you still look very young and have a very um uh you know, a a very, you know, young energy to you. So talk about what do you think is the most rewarding part of kind of building that brand and the the live meetups, membership, communities, chat interaction. What you know, what does that kind of drive for you? You know, it's it's weird cuz like growing up I would always come home from school and like there would always be streamers or or creators that I would look forward to watching at the end of the day and that would be kind of like the reward for getting through the school day. and like now I'm that reward for other kids coming home from school and doing stuff or or coming home from work or whatever it may be. And so it does feel like um sort of like a responsibility to kind of like pay that forward or give that back, you know? Um it's a it's a weird feeling, but like it it's I I think the most rewarding part of the job is knowing that like people have something to look forward to and enjoy watching. Right. So, so um chat wants to know who were your influences? Who who shaped you? My favorite YouTubers growing up was probably the Yogs cast. Um they had a series on Minecraft called Shadow of Israel and they never finished that and I'll never forgive them for that. But um but I love the Yogs cast. Uh Markiplier um Seed Danners, that's probably an an an old one there. Um, now is Yux Cast the one that does the Christmas special? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They do the Christmas special. Yeah. Yeah. I I was on that one year. Yeah. I watched them growing up. Um, it's interesting because like a lot of people are like they assume I started YouTube because of one specific person. Like I started YouTube cuz I thought it looked good on a resume. I just kind of fell in love with the process, right? But like, um, in terms of like inspirations, like those were definitely like the ones that I kind of look to and it's like I want to be like those guys, you know? All right. Well, well, I heard one quote that from a from an interview you did that I thought was interesting. This idea that you wanted to be the moist critical of Roblox. Yeah. [laughter] So, after Piggy ended, there was an element of what do I do now? and something had happened on Roblox and I was just randomly like I got to make a video talking about this. So I made a video talking about it and it did really really good and it's like oh crap like people just sat there and watched me talk about something for eight minutes. I'll do this again. And I did it again and then over time it just became like here's an 8minute video of me talking about something and I forget who it was but someone was like dude you're basically the moist critical of Roblox. Like you wear the white shirt every day. Um, this is a pajama shirt cuz I just never change. Although you do have a you do have some color and some jackets on there. It's not, you know. I don't look at you and think moist critical. Okay. I don't [laughter] um but I guess like the video format and stuff is very very even the thumbnails like moist critical. I'll do a thumbnail with just him staring at the camera and like those perform the best for me too. It's crazy. Like I've tried all kinds of different thumbnails. the ones that do the best are the ones where I'm just staring at the camera. Um, well, I mean, do you do do you try to vary your thumbnails or you now realize it's just you staring at the camera and you just stare slightly differently? I have AB tested drone thumbnails. Um, thumbnail like everything imaginable. The ones that perform the best are me in front of the doing this. That's it. And every now and then I'll change my face a little bit, but I I don't know why cuz like everyone is like that's not supposed like you can't do it like that. That's that that's breaking the YouTube rules, but like it works. And so it's like okay, I'm going to keep doing it then. Um now you're a bit of a tech person um in terms of how you do things, right? I mean you've done a lot of sort of analysis of what it takes. Yeah, I uh I I'm like a huge tech nerd. Like I I don't spend a lot of money on things unless it's video games or tech. Like that's my that's my thing. Um so like I like to think I know a little bit about like everything when it comes to technology, computers, streaming, that sort of thing. Mhm. But but part of it too is my understanding that you also think a lot about like when you were first streaming, did you do a lot of testing on when you would your stream or who was streaming or Yeah. So, like that's something you slowly learn over time is so like with Roblox weekends you can really just stream whenever you want because everyone's home from school and work, but like when it comes to uh when it comes to like weekdays, obviously Roblox has a younger audience. So, like streaming in the middle of the day when most people are at school or something, probably not the best idea. Um, you you kind of have to get analytical with a lot of stuff like that. Um, it's funny because I I hate looking at analytics. Like I'll upload a new video and I'll just be like I don't want I don't want to see how good it's doing. Just like I just I'll look tomorrow. Um, but to a degree you have to be because like I mean that's how you learn, right? It's like why did this stream not do as good as that one or why did that video not do as good as that one? You have to like look at it. talk about why you think live like the when live was wow live is for me and I know I have various thoughts about why live is really good for someone so talk about because you talked about you know not wanting to just look at those numbers and talk about live and what that does for you the thing I like about live streaming is it feels very authentic and like real and just kind of like raw I guess like there's a lot of people these days that have like very sophisticated live streaming setups but like if you boil it down at the end of the day it's just a live stream of someone talking or playing a game or doing whatever and like it feels very real and authentic. And whenever you watch a video, no matter how good that video is, it's it's it's a production. It is edited and there's probably different takes of this and that. But like with live streaming, it just feels like you're watching something authentic. And I feel like in today's world, there's so many things that are just not authentic and that are just fake and and so like whenever you're watching a stream, it feels like you're actually watching another human being as opposed to like some character that someone's playing, I guess. Yeah. So, um do you still do your own editing for your YouTube videos or is the team do that now? So, everything on my main channel I do, um minus a few things here and there. All the other channels I I have a team that handles everything. I just record mainly because like something I've tried to get better at um especially like over the past year is just having more free time I guess. Um more time to like I'd love to start going to the gym and like eating better and stuff like I don't have time. Like I literally don't have time. Um, and so like how I can relegate that and give me more free time is is something I I'm like playing. When do you do like cuz you stream and then you do you it sounds like you often do your editing after you stream at night. Yeah. Yeah. So once you stream um on on YouTube at least what a lot of people do is they'll cut down the stream to a video just using the like YouTube editor. So like that that takes time. That takes a proc that's a process. Like you usually do it as opposed to waiting till the next morning. Are you like no I got to get it done tonight. If I wait till the next morning. [clears throat] Yeah. Yeah. Um there's sometimes where it's like I'm just too tired. I'm going to sleep or something. But most of the time like I don't like procrastinating on stuff. It's like if something needs to be done like let's just do it, you know? And so like I uh I try to do it immediately. So, one one of the things that from talking to lots of streamers and I'm curious if you identify in this way at all is I find a lot of streamers identify somewhere on the ADHD spectrum. Yeah. I I you know, it's funny. I didn't realize how much I probably lean into that until I uh you know, like moved in with my fiance cuz she's like, "You're a very sporadic person." And I'm like, "Yeah, I guess I Like I'll wake up one morning and it's like I had all these plans but actually this one's better so we're just going to do this instead like right now. And that's just always been normal to me. But I feel like as a streamer like a lot of streamers are like that cuz you like to a degree you kind of have to be like that I guess. Um but yeah 100% part of it is like your brain and it's a superpower when you're streaming it. It gives you this superpower that your brain can be processing pain and so your brain's probably always moving and like you're talking but like right now I'm talking but I glance at chat, right? And so I can be talking to you and still be glancing at chat and be like incorporating chat while I'm talking to you, processing what they're saying. Yeah. It's actually funny. Um, this this part is a curse. So, like even when I'm not streaming, there's always that part in the back of my brain that's coming up with ideas or thinking about it. And so, it's like you can never really turn that off. Um, it's just always on. But it is funny because like a lot of people I'll talk to, they'll like, "How are you reading the chat and playing the game and looking at this at the same time?" And it's like, "I don't know. I just kind of do it, you know?" Right. Right. And I think one reason that um streaming works so well in that case is and that's why you actually have to do your editing at night when you're done streaming because if you put it off it's another task you haven't gotten done that you have to like get to and it's like there's now or there's like you know forever. And so if you don't do it now like waiting till the next morning it's just much harder to get to. Yeah. I I something I'm really bad at is people will text me and I'll like read it while I'm streaming and I'm like I'll respond later. I'm streaming right now and I just never respond. And like that's the case with like a lot of things. Like I if I do if I'm going to do something I got to do it immediately now otherwise it's going to go in that bin over there and I'm probably going to get distracted with a million other things. All right. So um uh think about um uh um what advice you'd give to young creators now in gaming. streaming. The streaming world has changed so much. I This is a positive and a negative, I guess. I would say like if you're doing a stream, you can't just like you can't just be a streamer these days. You have to be like a creator. And what I mean by that is like if you stream, take clips from that stream, upload those clips everywhere. Uh Twitch, YouTube shorts, Tik Tok, reals, everywhere. There's no reason not to. Like, you're getting your name out there as much as you can. If you upload a video or like while you're streaming, record a video, boom, there you go. YouTube channel. Now you got a video. Um, you have to think about it now as like a big picture, whereas like 15 years ago, you really could just kind of go live and play games all day and that would kind of work, but like now you got to you got to be strategic. Yeah. Yeah. Um, all right. So, let's talk quickly. This is um Bloxfest. So, uh, uh, what, as opposed to me describing what Bloxs Fest is, why don't you describe what Bloxsfest is? It It's basically like a celebration of like Roblox, I guess, in the Roblox community, a bunch of different Roblox games. Um, all kind of culminating in this um, RB battles, Twitch crossover, uh, like little Roblox tournament, which So, you're a captain in the grand finale. Right. Which is by the 26th and 27th. Y and um you're drafting a team. Do you have any concept of who's doing well now? You have any thoughts of who? I've been keeping a track. So, it's funny. There's there's a group of players that have always been very heavily involved in like the Roblox event scene. Like, shout out Sha for example. And so, I know that and I I've talked to them. They're doing really good on this one. And it's like I want those guys on my team. Like, I I know these people. I know they do good. I know they're sweats. They're tryhards. Like, they got to be on my team. All right. So, I'll jump to another topic because I know you've talked about it some and I think it's good to talk about because I know it's something you're passionate about. You left the um uh uh the roadblocks. It's not the partner program, it's the star program. Star program. Um and um provarious room. Why don't you talk about, you know, your kind of your thoughts about the attention there that um Roblox has had? Yeah. I feel like Roblox as a company, and like before I say anything, I love everyone at Roblox. Like, everyone I've met has been super nice to me. They're all great. Um, I feel like Roblox as a company, as they've gotten bigger, have kind of become more out of touch, I guess, with like the community, you could say. And that this happens to like a lot of gaming studios and companies. And it just kind of all culminated in a point. And it's like, look, I'm one of the biggest streamers. I'm one of the biggest creators. if I leave, maybe that'll make a statement to where they're like, "Wait a second. Something's going on here. We need to kind of readjust or something." Did it work like that? I don't know. But like it felt like the right thing to do. And so I did it. Um and uh Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think it by the way, I do it it it's always a challenge as you get um bigger. Um, and as you said, like it's a company made up of a lot of people that are very passionate um, about what they've been doing and um, sometimes it's hard to see how it can be used in ways that aren't intended and then you have blind spots about what you need to do to um, address the issues. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's good, by the way. I think that's good the way you, not just you did it, but then you speak about it because um I do think that is important. I, you know, a lot of people get the idea, oh my god, CRCraft hates Roblox or something. It's like the reason why I criticize this so much is because I love it because like if Roblox does good, developers do good. If they do good, players do good. If they're doing good, then I'm doing good. And so it's like I I grew up I I saw the Activision takeover of Blizzard. I know what happened with that. So it's like, you know, I I seeing this is this generation's like version of that, I guess you could say. And so it's like I I want to I want to do what I can to to keep things in the right direction. I have vivid memories of my son's commentary on the Activision takeover of Blizzard. um uh from when he was younger, you know. Um uh so tell me this. How much do you um have to deal with um uh criticism yourself in terms of social media? You seem such a positive character that it's hard for me to imagine people attacking you. But knowing social media, it's hard for me to imagine people not attacking you. I don't really get that much. Hey, I'd say like the biggest the biggest thing and every streamer can can like uh validate this. What happens is like the older your career is and like the older you get, you get fans from like different eras. So like if Tim the Tatman, he used to play Overwatch, now he doesn't. Well, those Overwatch fans are kind of mad that he doesn't play that anymore. And so like I have like groups of fans from each era that's like, "Man, why don't you play this other game anymore or I don't like the new game you play or something." And like it's it's I don't know if frustrating is the word, but like as a content creator, you have to keep moving forward otherwise like you just kind of get left behind. And um the the downside to that is like not everyone moves with you. So like you do get those like pockets of fans that are like this era was the best or this era was the best or that one. Um yeah I don't know they have a but one of the interesting twists when you're live streaming is they the beauty of it is they feel connected to you because you're so authentic with them. Of course the challenge is they feel so connected with you. Um yeah, you know, a lot of people um there is like the parasocial relationship kind of thing and I I try to make this clear in my streams. I say this time to time um because someone will donate and they'll be like or actually better yet I'll get I I do Cameo the the app Cameo and like I'll get a message every now and then that's like can you help me choose what I do for college and it's like I can't I don't know you you don't really know me like I didn't go to college not sure why I'm the person that should be advising you on what to do for college. Yeah. Yeah. It's like I'm just a dude who plays Roblox. like there's probably better people to ask to be honest. Um yeah, you know, so how you handle that is is also one of the struggles of of being a All right, let's get a couple of the questions from Chad. I know Chad's had a lot there and um we try to weave some in at the end. So, how has your perspective on influencer culture changed as you became one of the biggest voices in your space? I think there's a lot of It's actually funny. I I think Lwig kind of said it best. There's a lot of people that the day I quit streaming, there's some people that I would stay friends with and there's a lot of people that I would not stay friends with. Um, there's a lot of people that are real and authentic and there's also a lot of people as streaming has gotten so big that are clearly in it for like they want to make a lot of money or, you know, etc., etc., and like, you know, I really vibe with them or something. So, like I would say my biggest realization is that as it's gotten bigger, my friend circle has gotten smaller. Mhm. Mhm. Your your your acquaintances have gotten bigger. Cuz you're so connected to so many people, but that friend circle you've needed to tighten. Exactly. Yeah. That's the best way to put it. Yeah. I know a lot of people and I, you know, maybe I'm friends with a lot of people, but like actually actually friends like who would invite me to their birthday party? Probably like four or five, right? Actually, a lot of people might invite you to your birthday party, but who will you invite to your birthday party, right? It's like, but that's one of the things about exposing yourself so much that then in your private time, it's like, look, I need to just be with those people that I feel most connected to. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, we'll finish with one more that um that's a a fun light one um which I guess is probably an easy one. Chap wants to know if Creek plays Poppy Playtime. I do. The new chapter comes out tomorrow. I'm very I'm actually very excited for it. Like legitimately not just saying that cuz I'm a streamer. Like I'm actually very excited for the new chapter tomorrow. All right. All right. So everyone um uh so first thank you Creek Crafts for taking time to walk us through your journey all that you're doing um and for everyone listening thank you for tuning into the podcast. I hope you enjoyed the hats. Uh we stream it on Twitch with a live audience and so join us on twitch.tv twitch for the next show where you can participate in chat. Um follow uh at Twitch on socials for announcements, timing and guests for future shows. And don't forget to rate and review. And let's give it up in chat once again for Creek for being here. Greatly appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. With that, see you in chat.