Grab your favourite snack and beverage, turn up the resolution on your holoprojector and forget about the outside world for a while – it’s high time we talked about NISEI’s streaming and general visual media plans for the future.
I am writing this on behalf of NISEI’s Community team – particularly the folks involved in streaming – and as someone who hopes to make Netrunner easily available (as well as friendly and exciting to watch) for audiences worldwide.
Let’s take a look at the three initials steps towards this goal:
1. Coverage for all official NISEI events on official NISEI channels
NISEI runs several large events every year – for example Continentals, Worlds – but also organizes and hosts one-off events on a various scale, like the Black Lives Matter tournament or the recently started Random Access Memories series. In the last couple of years the events have moved online due to the global pandemic, which does have a silver lining – it made providing coverage for them *much* easier, thanks to many readily available tools and platforms for streaming. Still, I guess many folks are looking forward to getting back to meeting and playing in person. Thus, when NISEI eventually goes back to in-person events, ensuring sufficient on-location support will also be a part of the Streaming team’s mandate.
Aside from showing all the cards getting played and tokens being moved around (also known as “games”), the Streaming team would like to give folks a chance to learn more about what the various folks and teams within NISEI are doing – through hosting Q&A sessions, casual chats, and (of course) dropping the odd scoop here and there. Educational and explorational content (introductions, walkthroughs, tutorials, deep dives, etc.) is also on the table, depending on the energy and time the Streaming team will be able to invest in these.
Since in cyberpunk, style is everything and bad publicity sucks, all the above will be powered by stylish visual and audio design (in cooperation with NISEI’s Creative team) and will respect NISEI’s Code of Conduct (in cooperation with NISEI’s EDI team).
2. Helping folks interested in getting started with streaming & supporting existing Netrunner content creators
Netrunner has enjoyed a lot of quality fan-made content over the years and we want to help this kind of community activity expand and grow. Therefore, the Streaming team will strive to continue and improve the relationships NISEI already has with existing community content creators.
On top of that, we will support folks interested in starting or improving their content creation skills through a “Media” page on NISEI.net (coming in February), which will include tips and resources – it will initially focus on online streaming (e.g. Twitch or YouTube), but may expand to other types of content in the future.
NISEI will also continue inviting people from across the community to contribute to our official content, be it live streams or pre-recorded material.
3. Coverage for online non-NISEI events
We are very lucky to have an amazingly active community, always coming up with interesting ways of enjoying the game. NISEI’s Streaming team would love to help those who would like to reach wider audiences online, or maybe just have a recorded version of their event.
With that in mind, we are going to launch a “Streaming Support Request Form” (that’s a tentative name) on the upcoming “Media” page on NISEI.net for all online event organizers (whatever the card pool or event format). All requests will be reviewed by our Community & Streaming team to see whether we can provide quality streaming coverage.
Join us!
How do we get there? I keep mentioning the Streaming team and this is where you, the person reading these words, can make a huge difference. Does any of the above sound exciting to you? Would you like to be a part of the team? Are you curious what that entails?
We have recently opened up recruiting for multiple Associate Streamer roles, so click here to take a better look (it’s hiding under “Community” – my favourite part of this game), and I hope you will consider having a go at it – especially since this is a learning role, and we are eager to help you learn or improve useful skills along the way, in case you feel unsure about volunteering as an Associate Streamer. We are really looking for people from all over the world, so please don’t let geography and time zones discourage you from applying. In fact, the more there will be of us, the merrier – and easier – it will be to achieve what I wrote about earlier on. We are looking forward to hearing from you (via the recruitment form)!
In the meantime, please keep directing fans of the game (old and new) to the great, fun, and passionate content created by so many people enjoying Netrunner out there. We hope that you include our Twitch and YouTube channels in your recommendations.
Always Be Running (and Streaming)!
If you have questions or comments about any of the above, please reach out to community@nullsignal.games.
