StreamTeam Spotlight: Hired Help

Welcome back to the StreamTeam Spotlight , a weekly series where we feature one of our Indie GamePlay streamers.

, a weekly series where we feature one of our Indie GamePlay streamers. Every week, we’ll profile and interview a different member of the team to give our audience a chance to get to know some of their favorite streamers off-camera/mic. This week we’ll meet and learn a little bit about Hired Help. Please enjoy!

Name/Online Alias : Hired Help
Region : NY, USA
PC Rig : Lenovo V570 it’s just an average laptop
Favorite Game Genres : Rouge-likes and RPGs
Favorite Games : The Binding of Isaac , Spelunky , The Elder Scrolls series, Quarries of Scred
Other Hobbies : I like making music; whether that is playing guitar, writing songs, or singing! Other than that, I like sleeping, and long moonlit walks with my imaginary friends.

Indie Game Magazine : What was your first exposure to video games?
Hired Help : Well being born in 1994, I wasn’t a part of the original gaming system history, which I still complain to my parents about to this day… “Why didn’t you conceive me before my sister?”, I always say. From what I remember though, I’m pretty sure the first game I ever had the chance to play was Mario Kart 64 , and I ended up playing that so much that I’m fairly certain that it caused the unfortunate death of our N64.

IGM : What were some of your favorite games growing up?
HH : It’s a little strange, but I really didn’t get into gaming too heavily until the original Xbox came out; mainly because my mom watched children for a living and would have the only television in the house tuned into cartoons all day, everyday. However, I did play some N64 games a lot such as: Mario Kart 64 and Pokemon Stadium . I also owned a Game Boy, but the only game I ever really played on that was Pokemon: Yellow Version . Once the Xbox came out, I got really into the Fusion Frenzy demo I had. I still to this day don’t know why I never bought the game, I guess the 10 mini-games on the demo were enough for me. Other than that there was a James Bond game that I would always play with my father. The first game I put a ton of hours in, though – and I’m saying probably over 400 hours – was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion when the 360 came out! Oblivion was the only game I had for the first month that I had a 360 and I didn’t understand what I was doing at all…it was my first experience with an RPG and I couldn’t figure out how to even swing my sword, but after many hours of studying the inventory screen and mashing buttons I finally figured out and, as far as I’m concerned, mastered the game.

IGM : Are you more of a PC gamer these days? Or do you split time between PC/Console game sessions?
HH : I actually barely use consoles anymore. I have my 360 that I use for games that my laptop cant handle, but most of my gaming now is indie gaming, and most of those run well enough on my laptop!

IGM : When did you first start streaming?
HH : I just started streaming back in August after making my Hired Help novelty account (Hired Help is a caveman-like character from Spelunky ). I thought it would be funny to talk like a caveman and apparently others thought so too! My Twitter account quickly grew, I was getting over 100 interactions a day. It was the greatest couple of months I’ve ever had in my life! Eventually I made a Hired Help twitch account to talk like a caveman in chat during streams and then a good friend, Slothborn, suggested that I stream and I said why not? I went ahead and did my first stream a week later, and I was stunned at how many people wasted their time to watch some nobody like me play video games; but like I said earlier it was also the greatest moment in my life.

IGM : Why do you enjoy streaming?
HH : I love streaming because of the community. The people in this community, for the most part, are some of the most kindhearted and generous people I have ever met! I get a crazy amount of happiness out of knowing that my streaming, even for just one person, might be helping keep their mind off of some of the pains of the real world. I love feeling like I am helping people. The statement that I live by is, “once you’re done helping yourself, help others”; and now that I stream I feel like I am able to really apply that statement. Before all of this, I believed in that statement, I just had no clue how I possibly could help others. Now with streaming I have an outlet to do it with!

IGM : What types of streams do you host (Let’s Plays, Previews/Reviews/First Looks, Giveaways, Developer Q&As, etc)?
HH : My streams usually get pretty out of control for no reason, but I like to consider it “uncontrolled control”. I do anything ranging from Lets Plays to first looks, and now I’m even delving into a bit of speed running with Quarries of Scred , which I currently hold the World Record time for! I also love to do giveaways when I have the extra money to spend, because I love giving back anyway that I can to the community that has given me a purpose. I’m not lying when I say that streaming has given me a new appreciation for humanity, and life!

IGM : What upcoming indie games are you most looking forward to?
HH : I cant wait for The binding of Isaac Rebirth . If it is as good as Wrath of the Lamb , I will put way too much time into playing it. Other than that, I just saw a trailer for Goat Simulator and that looks fantastic haha.

IGM : What made you decide to join the Indie GamePlay StreamTeam?
HH : I decided to join Indie GamePlay because it seemed like a fantastic idea; a place where the entire community of streamers and game devs can be together all in one place, I can’t see how anything could ever go wrong with that! Another plus side to GamePlay is being able to reach a bigger audience. I love the idea of growing my audience, not for any sort of future income that could come out of streaming – which would be nice, but I’m in no rush to ever get to that point – but because I love interacting with and meeting all the new people that stop by! I love hanging out with all of my usual audience outside of my streams. Any free time I have is usually dedicated to streaming or just hanging out with my Twitch friends!

That’s it for this week’s StreamTeam Spotlight ! If you’d like to watch some of Hired Help’s streams, you can check out his Content Hubon Indie GamePlay. To keep track of his stream schedule so you never miss a live stream, you can follow him on Twitter @HiredHelp.

Streamer Spotlight is a weekly segment created to showcase members of the Indie GamePlayStreamTeam. Participants are chosen at random, and interviewed upon accepting an invitation. If you’d like to be considered for the feature, please send an email to vparisi@indiegamemag.com with the subject line “Streamer Spotlight”. Spotlight participants are not required to disclose their full name, and all information is published only after participants approve a pre-screening of the completed Spotlight. If you’d like to join to StreamTeam community, you can register here. Tune in next week to see which streamer enters the spotlight. Until then, come play some games!