The concept of watching other people play video games is something that a lot of people find hard to grasp. Growing up as average middle class kids in the 90’s and early 2000’s a lot of us remember the times where we fought with friends, siblings and cousins to play on consoles/PC’s or whatever we had at our homes back in the days. Back at that time, watching someone play meant that we were waiting for our turn to come and perhaps this is the feeling that some people associate with watching people play games. But things are different now. Access to affordable technology, the advent of the internet, shifting trends in entertainment and content consumption have all helped us moved into a newer era. A major chunk of today’s entertainment industry has moved onto the internet, where things are available when you want them and how you want them. And while the likes of Pewdiepie and Markiplier have found international fame, recognition and success with their ‘Let’s play’ style videos on YouTube, a lot of young, charismatic folks have taken to live streaming as legitimate, viable career choices.
The primary platform globally for streaming video game content is Twitch, a website whose meteoric growth has been a fitting answer to the critics and naysayers of this phenomena. Twitch currently sits at 80 according to Alexa ratings and with over 100 million visitors per month and over a million broadcasters, it’s safe to say that this medium of entertainment is here to stay.
Closer to home, Indians have also taken up streaming and with content catering to a more ‘desi’ audience, their popularity is also on the rise. But like most foreign concepts, the reaction has been positive but the response, slow. Despite that, this talented community has stuck it out and their channels are slowly becoming popular hubs to which the gaming community turns to for their daily dose of entertainment. So, without further ado, here’s my list of Indian streamers that you need to watch:
JAGS
JAGS originally started off as a website for reviewing games and a general place of discussion for new games
and tech but has grown to something much more than that. Their regular streams and streamers have found popularity and love from the entire community and their dedication and love for their viewers shows in each and every stream. They primarily stream CSGO but have also branched out to different genres and different games from time to time to broaden their content. Known for being interactive with their viewers, JAGS brings a lot to the table from the vibrant personalities to the high end production and stream management. Captain Arya and Fett are at the helm more frequently than others but you’ll also spot Nabu, Robo, Risey and Ratz streaming on the channel. What’s great about the channel is that they generally feed their TeamSpeak audio onto the broadcast which means that even though you are only seeing the streamer, you are actually experiencing everyone playing in the lobby or party. JAGS streams pretty much every night on their preferred platform, YouTube Gaming and keeps adding fresh and unique concepts (currypoints/multicam streams/sub games) making the viewing experience pretty interesting.
What's in store for you:
- Captain’s global elite level gameplay and his Paul Pogba level dabbing skills.
- Fetts beautiful bald head and completely appropriate jokes about his relationship with his left hand.
- Chance to catch Bleh in all his salty glory.
- Risey rushing Boots of Travel on Bounty Hunter. *facepalm*
- Ratz’s rage and awesomesauce Mallu accent to accompany it.
- Robo's insanely funny Hrithik Roshan impressions (No he doesn't have a sixth finger, he just does mimicry).
- Nabu, who is actually legit skilled unlike some of these other newbs :P
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Niha Novacaine
Niha has been one of India’s top cosplayers for a while now and many of the newer cosplayers look up to her. She streams pretty regularly on Twitch and it involves a variety of games. Last time I checked she was hooked onto Conan but you can often find her streaming Dota 2, Witcher 3 and anything else which she fancies. Her gameplay isn’t 9k but she’s pretty entertaining to watch. She also does some pretty cool giveaways and one of the goals if I remember correctly is that she’ll do a stream in full cosplay. Who can say no to that? Niha usually streams twice a day, once at 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. (for her international viewers) and again from 8 pm to 1 am. Occassionally, she runs interactive IRL streams as well, so do give her a shot and let us know what you think.
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Crowley
The bad boy of Indian Dota is currently teamless and he seems to have found a new pastime in streaming. While his recent stint with Entity Esports may not have been the most successful, his unabashed, uncensored personality will be enough to bring a smile to your face. Still one of the most notorious mid laners in the SEA scene, in Crowley’s own words “Solo killing is guaranteed on stream”. Head on over if you want to witness some high level Dota with chances of catching some other SEA celebs in action as well. And if you guys are talented enough maybe you can spam chat and trigger Crowley into trash talking the enemy mid. Be prepared to encounter a barrage of ‘LOST’ spam every time he dies, the frequency of which is pretty high in the first couple of games of the stream. If nothing else insult his prized beard and try to tilt him so you can extract some spicy Indian esport masala from the man himself.
(Crowley if you're reading this, put the goddam lights on so that people can see your face)
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PC Peasants
If casual streams are your thing, welcome to the most casual stream of them all. And if it’s douchebagery, flaming and banter that you’re after, meet V3NOM. Other than really horrible Vlog shooting skills, he will constantly remind you that the only reason his skills as a gamer are a bit rusty is because he has a life, and a girlfriend (yes we get it). And if nothing else, that smug face everytime he says something like ‘My PC is better than your PC’ will really get you going. There is also ILOVECOCAINE(Hmmm. And you thought JamesBond69 was a tryhard name) who rocks a French beard that is creepy and fascinating at the same time. Their third streamer is Fett. Sometimes he streams over at JAGS, sometimes he casts competitive CSGO and sometimes he streams over at PC Peasants (He also works a full time job answering queries on Facebook for SoStronk). Looks like the omnipresent Archeeseman has figured out the secret of surviving without sleep. In all honesty, PC Peasants provides a pretty chilled out, really funny viewing experience and their raw uncut personalities is something that I’m growing to enjoy every day. They also have a bunch of other streamers (MatungaMan, Kanuahs) who I haven’t checked out yet (Sorry guys) but I’m pretty sure they’re legit as well.
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CarryMinati
Ajey ‘CarryMinati’ Nagar recently started live streaming and the hugely popular YouTube personality has found nothing but success. His channel currently has over 7 lakh subscribers and his loyal fans were thrown into a tizzy when he announced that he would start livestreaming. His YT videos are known for their rant style roasts of other videos and/or situations where he does voiceovers of characters made popular by him and his sketches. His livestreams however, are much more toned down, where he interacts with his fans and just hangs out in general. I found the livestreams quite honest and different from his regular content, where like any normal 18 year old he seems to get overwhelmed by his popularity and the love he receives from his hordes of followers. Carry generally plays a variety of games including CSGO, Deadpool, For Honor, Call of Duty and GTA.
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Dinubish
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Thats it from us for now, I'd also like to give some honorable mentions to channels like RakaZone Gaming, Ratz and Vrikster who have been working their asses off as well.