Cover-Credits:
- AFK Gaming interviewed Nischay Malhan who is a content creator partnered with Team Vitality.
- He is known for his live streams and YouTube content and plays games like Free Fire, Among Us and Minecraft.
- Malhan joined Vitality along with Rachitroo, Classified YT and Mili kya Mili.
Nischay Malhan is a content creator partnered with Team Vitality. He is better known by his online aliases Live Insaan and Triggered Insaan. His YouTube content features reaction videos, rants, and more. He also livestreams games like Minecraft, Free Fire, and Among Us. I had the opportunity to interview him, and he shared his thoughts on partnering with Team Vitality, YouTube, gaming, esports, and more.
How did you get into gaming, and what were the first games you played?
This dates to my college days. During my third year, there was this guy who was two years senior to me. He was repeating several courses, which is why we ended up attending the same classes. So, he used to come to my hostel room with his gaming laptop and would play GTA 5 on it.
Watching him play GTA 5 would make me think, "This is a damn good game. I want to play this too.", so even I would play some of it on his laptop. He would only let me play for 15 to 20 minutes max before taking back his laptop. I was hooked to the game and pretty sure that I wanted to play more of it, so what I did was I told my father that I needed a gaming laptop to practice coding. He agreed, and I bought a gaming laptop worth Rs. 1 lakh.
After purchasing that laptop, I realised that I should be making better use of this expensive, high-end machine, so I started streaming games from it. So yeah, GTA 5 was the first game that I played seriously. After that, I got into Witcher 3, DOTA 2, and more.
What are your favourite moments in gaming?
Recently, killing the Ender Dragon in Minecraft was one of my favourite gaming moments - mainly because it was so anti-climactic. I went to kill the Ender Dragon with a lot of preparation, but by the time I reached it, my inventory was empty - all the food, the beds, and everything else I had carried were used up. Despite that, I managed to kill the Ender Dragon with just half health. So that, for me, is one of my greatest gaming moments in recent times.
Have you ever thought about going pro yourself? Why or why not?
Honestly, I have never considered going pro because I believe gaming, for me, has always been about entertainment rather than being a pro at it. So, when I started playing PUBG Mobile, PUBG on PC, and DOTA 2 - it was because I enjoyed it and would get great video content from it. Making gaming videos, for me, was a part of having fun in the game world - I would create mischief in the games, add funny commentary, and all. But become a pro player was never my dream or objective.
What are the biggest challenges faced by upcoming gaming content creators today?
One of the biggest challenges faced by upcoming gaming content creators face is what new content they can bring to the scene. For example, if we are talking about Minecraft. It has been there since 2010. But now that it is rising in popularity again, the challenge for new creators is what different take can they have on Minecraft. People have been at it for 10 years, and pretty much everything has been done on it - Survival series, making massive houses in create mode, and just about everything you can think of. So how they can differentiate their Minecraft content and what more can they bring to the scene is the challenge.
What can the Indian gaming community do to help?
Many Indian creators are still a little apprehensive or don't believe in doing collaborations. Even some of the bigger creators are just playing by themselves. Take Minecraft, for example - everyone is running their solo Survival Series. It's working for many of them, and they're getting great views as well, but no one's doing a multiplayer Survival Series here. If you look at international creators, they've collaborated to create a Dream SMP, but no one's thinking of that here. I have decided to change that, though - I have collaborated with other creators to make an Indian version of the Dream SMP called Gokuldham SMP. Hopefully, things like these should catch on.
Do you play any esports titles?
Yup, I play DOTA 2. I am addicted to that game to the point that I can't sleep unless I play 5 to 6 matches in DOTA 2.
Who are your favourite esports personalities in India?
As a Team Vitality content creator, I'm looking forward to the kind of talent it will bring to the table in the Indian esports scene. I want to see teams from India on international stages of many, if not all, esports competitive tournaments.
Since the time you joined the gaming community as a creator, did you notice any big changes to the gaming culture in India?
When I started my gaming channel, everyone was making gameplay videos around PUBG Mobile. No one was doing it with a comedic angle or doing something different with it, so I think I was one of the firsts who added funny commentary to PUBG Mobile gameplay videos. Now a lot of people have started doing that as well, so that is a change I've noticed.
Plus, I think it's just recently that people have gotten very serious about gaming content in India. It used to be that someone with a comedy channel or a Vines channel would start a second channel on gaming. Now the scene has changed, and people want to start with gaming because it's booming right now. Even YouTube is doing a lot to promote gaming now, so that is why it's moved to many content creator's first preferences rather than an afterthought.
Where do you see Indian esports in the next 5 years?
I think the way mobile gaming has picked up so tremendously it has attracted a lot of international attention. Now that a major esports team like Team Vitality is officially in India, I feel the genre is going to see huge growth in the coming years. We will be competing with some of the top international esports teams soon, by the looks of it.
What advice do you have for anyone aspiring to be a gaming content creator?
My biggest advice is to stay regular because gaming is one category where you have to stay consistent. If you put 2 to 3 videos a week, then you'll have to keep at it without taking a break, because, in the gaming scene, that's not even an option. For example, if I have gotten success putting up a series of videos regularly. Then if I suddenly take a couple of weeks break, I notice that the video I put up after the break does not get the kind of views as a video during my regular posting. The gaming audience wants regular content, so you must be consistent.
Also, try to bring something new to the table. If you do something unique that has not been done before, then you'll grow pretty much instantly.
