Lately I've been watching a guy named SoulCrush_ playing DayZ on twitch. He says he's drawn to competitive gaming and DayZ is his current favorite because of the depth and complexity of PvP combat.
SoulCrush_ doesn't have a very large following, which is too bad because his gaming experience is vastly complicated by the fact that he is unapologetically black. A moderator has to ride herd on his chat stream in Twitch to ban the vile insults that come from viewers, other players seem to be hunting him for sport, and he obscures the in-game chat with his own camera-view so that the endless stream of hatred is not broadcast.
But I gotta hand it to the kid. Rather than lose his shit, he just seems to factor racism and stream-sniping into his game, and keeps going. He seems to take a quiet satisfaction in Z-hunting, and in this case he's hunting Zimmermans, not zombies.
A couple of nights ago, I watched SoulCrush and a couple of buddies try like hell to survive on a server where they were being both stream-sniped and hunted by a UAV, while his opponents were spitting the n-word and otherwise being dicks. SoulCrush's crew did a pretty good job defending themselves, but eventually, they were chased out.
I got so pissed off that I lowered the shields, joined Twitch, and listed SoulCrush as the one and only person I follow.
Some of you out there might be more financially stable than I am, and one can subscribe to Twitch for only $4.99. SoulCrush also takes direct donations, though I'm not really sure how that works--I'm sure it's explained on his profile page.
http://www.twitch.tv/soulcrush_/profile
Since I have none of those other options, I've been making a point of tuning into his stream each night and running some commericials. For example, while I was watching KT Rolster get steamrolled by STX Soul in the Starcraft II Proleague playoffs last night, I'd drop out during the 10-minute lulls between matches and skip over to SoulCrush, so that I could run a rack of commercials for him and watch him play for a few minutes.
I have a feeling that some of the folks here may wish to start following SoulCrush as well. He needs followers, and following is free (edit: but it will quickly fill your inbox). If he can boost his total number of followers above a certain number, around 6000, I think, Twitch will partner with him and the guy might actually make a living playing this game--for a while, anyway.
Anyway, I really enjoy watching this guy both because he is good and because he is playing a larger, much more complicated game than others play. If there is one dude out there worth backing, I think this guy is it.
So please, send him your love, because the stupid half of America is already bringing him the hate.
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