In my spare time, I will often stream my video game excursions on Twitch, which is a fun way to share what I’m doing with other people, chat with them while doing so, and just have a good time. If you have watched, or you know me, and you’d like to support my streaming efforts, there are a bunch of ways you can do so.

Here are some of them.

Watch and/or Follow My Twitch Channel.

The reasoning behind this is pretty simple: it makes numbers go up, and watching numbers go up makes me happy. :)

To watch the channel, you don’t need to sign up or anything—just leave the video running, maybe even in the background, and see what I’m up to every now and then! You can find my channel here.

To follow my channel, you’ll need to sign up for an account with Twitch. Once you’ve done that, visit my channel and click the Follow button near the top of the screen:

Signal Boost My Channel on Twitter or Facebook.

When I go live, I’ll often post to Twitter and let people know I’m about to stream. I don’t post to Facebook as often, but if I’m streaming something you think people might find interesting, or you’d like to pass along that I’m live, please consider retweeting or sharing my channel links.

If You’re Watching, Consider Chatting!

You’ll need to have a Twitch account to do this, but if you are watching my channel, you’ll see there’s a chat box to the right of the video display. I’m monitoring that chat with my viewers while I stream, and interacting with all of you!

If you have something to say about what I’m doing, or questions about what’s on-screen, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m always happy to chat with viewers.

Donate to Extra Life.

Every year, I participate in the fundraising drive for Extra Life that benefits Children’s Miracle Network hospitals in the St. Louis area. It makes me super-happy when my friends, family, and viewers donate to this worthy cause.

If you are interested in doing so, please consider making a donation here.

Subscribe to My Channel.

In the screenshot I posted earlier, you may have noticed another button, this one labeled Subscribe:

If you subscribe to my channel, here’s what happens:

• I get $2.50 per month you are subscribed (more at higher tiers).
• You get access to my custom chat emotes in the Twitch chat.
• You get access to a special subscriber channel in my Discord.
• I’ll send you a thank you message every month with information on what I’ll be up to.

There is a cost to subscribing—with one exception: if you have a Twitch account and Amazon Prime and you have linked your accounts, you get one free subscription to any Twitch channel you like, for free. So if you have Amazon Prime, and would like to spend your free Twitch subscription, consider my channel!

Tip Your Streamer.

I put this one at the bottom of this list, because I think there are far better things for you to spend money on than my stream. (Really; I do.) But if you’d like to contribute towards improving the stream, with games, stream gear, or other things, you can send me a tip at any time, right here.

You can also tip me using Bits on Twitch. Bits are microtransaction currency you can buy from Twitch and then spend using special commands in Twitch chat. You’ll have to have a Twitch account to do this.

Here’s How and When I Receive Tip Money.

There are two different paths for tips, as you may have seen above, and they make their way to me via two different schedules:

• For tips that are sent via direct payment using my donation link, I receive that money more or less immediately.
• For tips using Bits on Twitch, or for the $2.50 I get from any subscriptions, I don’t receive anything until I reach $100 owed to me by Twitch, and even then, I don’t receive that until 45 days after the end of the month when my owed revenue reaches $100. So if Twitch owes me $100 on December 31st, I don’t receive that money until mid-February.

Here’s Where Tip Money Goes.

If you drop me a tip, here’s what I spend it on:

• Around 25-30% of it gets set aside for taxes. (I have to pay taxes on anything I make from streaming.)
• 5% of it is set aside to donate to open source software projects I use on a regular basis. I believe in giving back to projects, and open source maintenance is a relatively thankless job. I make these donations once per month and will rotate projects so it isn’t always going to the same one. During Summer Games Done Quick month, I’ll allocate that money towards their fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders.
• 5% is reserved for long-term savings.
• The remainder is first saved as a fund for my family and I to travel to events where I work/contribute, usually in the fighting game community.
• When my events costs are covered for a given upcoming year, the remaining money is used to purchase gear to improve the quality of my streams. Occasionally, it’ll be used to pay for design work or other contracting that also directly benefits the stream.