Fortnite Spotlight: Featuring Swolybible (Article)

Hello fellow Builders (yes that is your name from now on) as we welcome Swolybible to our spotlight.

JBeck: Introduce yourself

Swolybible: My name is Swolybible, people call my Swoly or Swoles. I am an aspiring professional Fortnite player and streamer. I work a full time job during the day and stream longer than full time hours at night. If I could choose any way to describe myself, it would be motivated and dedicated.

JBeck: When did you start playing video games?

Swolybible: I’ve played video games since I was a kid. I grew up playing competitive Socom 2 tournaments for money on team [:D] and moved on to Hardcore SND in Modern Warfare 2. With Destiny, I recently started getting back into the competitive mindset and Fortnite has really scratched that competitive itch I’ve been feeling for some time.

JBeck: What stood out about Fortnite?

Swolybible: I used to play H1Z1 way back when, but never really took it seriously. PUBG was a little bit too serious for me and just a bit too slow. I’m a hyper, fast moving, in your face kind of player and that punishes you pretty hard in PUBG. I would finish towards the top of the leaderboards in H1Z1, but never really cared to practice hard.

What stood out to me in Fortnite are the multiple different skill gaps that are formed by different variables in the game, whether it’s shotgunning, sniping, AR or build fights and editing. There are so many different ways to outthink and outsmart your opponent. At times, the game is a chess match and at times it’s just an all out blitz for kills.

JBeck: What is your favorite game mode?

Swolybible: I enjoy how relaxed solos are. You can run around, drop 15 kills casually and still talk to chat. I think duos are the most enjoyable, however and take the most skill and strategy.

JBeck: What stands out about your play?

Swolybible: I’m not scared. I hear gunshots and I run toward them.

A lot of people, you’ll watch them and they hear a fight and they don’t want to engage. Obviously, there’s engagements that are smart to take and some that are foolish, but I believe putting yourself in difficult situations and trying to work your way out of them are what makes good players in to great players. If you always avoid a situation, you’re not going to know what to do if you eventually get STUCK in that situation.

JBeck: In terms of improvement, what do you find yourself practicing?

Swolybible: Editing. It’s what separates good players from great players and good builders from incredible ones. Being able to edit quickly and understanding your build and how to move throughout it and escape it is the single most important advanced skill in the game.

JBeck: Switching over to your casting, when did you start to take streaming seriously?

Swolybible: I started taking streaming seriously about 2-3 years ago. When I first started, I don’t think that I really knew what I wanted out of it. I didn’t know the type of community I wanted to build, you could say. That’s all recently fallen in to place for me and I think I’ve made my community a home for so many awesome people. It’s truly a blessing and an honor to have such a loyal and loving community.

JBeck: Why did you make the switch from other games (Destiny), and, how has viewership changed since then?

Swolybible: I would hate to talk poorly about Destiny, but the game itself just didn’t satisfy what I wanted. I wanted a competitive game with a great viewerbase and it didn’t provide either for me. Plain and simple. I started off Fortnite with 50-150 concurrent viewers on Twitch but that dropped off as the big guns came in. I made the switch to Mixer 3 weeks ago and have 5000 followers in just 20 days.

JBeck: Why did you personally make the switch?

Swolybible: I personally made the switch to Mixer because I felt like I wasn’t getting the recognition that I deserved for the hours and hours of work 365 days a year for 3 years on Twitch. It might sound arrogant to hear, but I know that I deserved better than I was being treated over at Twitch and I think I may have finally found a home on Mixer. I may not be the best entertainer or the funniest person or the most skilled player in the entire world, but for years and years I was putting forward 150% of myself, more hours than a full time job on a weekly basis towards streaming and increasing my stream quality and the pay off just wasn’t there.

JBeck: What makes Mixer a better platform over Twitch?

Swolybible: FTL (Faster Than Lightning) is the instant video with no latency. It makes having a conversation and being an entertaining broadcaster much easier because you actually feel like you are having a conversation with your chat and not waiting ages for a response. It is a much more personal platform in my opinion.

JBeck: Do you think Twitch could make adjustments to help the middle tier broadcasters?

Swolybible: I think they could implement things like the Hype Zone that Mixer has, but I don’t know that the ever will. I’m not sure there is much room for the middle of the pack streamers over on Twitch anymore, to be honest. So many people that I know are becoming discouraged because of the amount of work they’re putting in but the stagnation that they are hitting.

JBeck: What keeps you unique?

Swolybible: Honestly, I think that is the struggle that everyone has. How can you be unique with so many people trying imitate their favorite streamers? I think the most impactful and long lasting way is to just be yourself, treat your community with respect and never expect anything in return. Expect NOTHING, appreciate EVERYTHING.

JBeck: What advice would you give to would-be casters for streaming?

Swolybible: Exactly what I just said before, expect nothing and appreciate everything. Do this because you love to do it. Don’t stream for the money, the fame, the recognition etc. Do it because you genuinely enjoy doing it.

JBeck: What is your biggest milestones?

Swolybible: Today, we hit 5,000 followers in just 21 days on Mixer. That is a huge milestone for me considering I took me 3 years to hit double that on Twitch. We’re also going to be aiming for 1,000 wins on Fortnite this week.

JBeck: Fortnite is being pushed on a competitive level. What are your thoughts on that?

Swolybible: I am excited for it. I’m currently trying out for a professional roster and hope that I can excel and continue to improve my game. I know that I can compete with the best of them, I just hope that I am offered the opportunity. I have the hard work, time and dedication to devote towards this as an eSport and I REALLY hope that there is a team out there recognizing this.

JBeck: What would you like to see in the game itself for it to be considered an E-sports?

Swolybible: I believe that there are a lot of server issues that need addressed. A lot of new bugs are continually introduced but rarely addressed. Shotgun damage is a huge factor in the game and rarely accurate. I would hope that a LAN event would cut down on those random shotgun headshot numbers you sometimes get on people because of decreased latency.

JBeck: Ninja’s Vegas event seemed to be a success. Do you foresee more events like that based on the caster itself over a large competition?

Swolybible: That was an incredible event. Ninja put on an incredible show and Courage/DrLupo absolutely nailed the shout casting, so HUGE shout out to them. Watching that event fired me up to get back to Fortnite, improve my game and continue pushing forward with streaming. As more and more people start to watch the higher ups in the directory, I definitely think you might start seeing more events like Ninja Vegas etc. I think it really helps to personalize eSports and get people involved knowing that their favorite caster is going to be center stage. What Ninja did with this event was probably one of the most influential things to happen in eSports outside of League/DOTA in a VERY long time. Hats off to them.

Please do not forget to follow Swolybible at the following two links

Twitter : @swolybibletv Mixer : www.mixer.com/swolybible

We will see you all next week for another spotlight interview!