TwitchCon 2024 recently brought a slew of streamers and content creators to San Diego, with thousands of creators and their communities all in one place, including PointCrow, a content creator with millions of followers. CGMagazine was invited to cover the event, and though we didn’t initially know where our coverage would focus, we were fortunate enough to chat with some Twitch executives and streamers of all sizes.
PointCrow was one of the highlights of TwitchCon for me. Though I wasn’t readily familiar with his content, I could see its quirkiness and appeal, and I immediately had questions. With 2.36 million followers on YouTube, 682k on Twitch, 199k on TikTok, even 249k on his alt YouTube account and a wildly random assortment of content, it is easy to see why PointCrow is so well-liked.
Not only was PointCrow polite, kind, and incredibly funny, but he also offered great insight into the world of content creation. We discussed Twitch, YouTube, inspiration, and upcoming content, but what I wasn’t prepared for was a deep dive into competitive speed cookie baking.
Can you give us your name, your handle, and a little bit about the content that you do?
PointCrow: Awesome. My name is Eric, PointCrow, and I play a lot of games wrong. So, I do a lot of Zelda, Pokémon, some Elden Ring here and there, and a variety of challenges with me or friends. And just anything that kind of makes me laugh is something that I produce.
When it comes to streaming, a lot of your content isn’t ”typical streaming.” So, how did you decide what kind of content to put out there? It’s going pretty well for you.
PointCrow: It’s going very well. It’s kind of crazy. But the way that I decided to make things on my channel is I was already kind of doing these things by myself. And so, I was like, “Oh, I guess I can sort of maybe make these as videos for people to watch.” I’ve always kind of been enamoured with streaming and YouTube, and I realized in 2019 that Twitch had a vibe of early YouTube. I was like, “Oh, you know, this is the perfect time. I’m almost out of college. Let me try this”. So, I started streaming.
Do you have any streamers that you looked up to before you became one yourself?
PointCrow: Actually, in a very fun way, I didn’t really use Twitch at all until I started streaming. I didn’t watch streams. I just went live, and I was like, “Oh sure, we’ll just do that. Sounds good.” At that point in my life in 2019, I actually fell out of YouTube as in I stopped watching YouTube. And so, it just kind one of the days I just started, I picked up YouTube, watched a video and it was like, it was from Disguised Toast. And it was an informative video on how the
backend of streamers work. And I just was like, “Wow, that’s really interesting. Streaming, wow, I never really thought this was a thing. Let me look into this more.” It was great.
Do you remember the first time you went viral?
PointCrow: I do, actually, yeah.
Tell me more.
PointCrow: It was in December. I just got partnered on Twitch. And I started posting YouTube videos about two months before. And that’s how a lot of my audience came to know me was through my YouTube videos. And they stayed for Twitch, which was really cool. And it was a video where I explored a glitch in Breath of the Wild where you could take one of the main characters out of their cutscene and travel around the world with them.
And so, I was curious. This character is a male and there’s a town in Breath of the Wild Zelda where you can’t go in because Link, your main character, is male So I wonder if they can let that, I wonder if this glitch also stops any other main characters. And so, I just decided to take that main character across the map and see if they would let him into the town. And so that went viral.
You talk about Zelda a lot. If you’re Googled, Zelda comes up.
PointCrow: Yeah, that’s how I’m well known.
Why Zelda? Why the games that you choose?
PointCrow: I’ve loved Zelda ever since I was really young. The first game of the Zelda series that I even experienced was sitting at my cousin’s house and he was playing Majora’s Mask.
I hate that game! I’m so bad at that one!
PointCrow: I’m not great at it, either. It took me a while to beat that one. The time zone mechanics, it’s stressful.
I cannot be bothered. Ocarina of Time, skip Majora’s.
PointCrow: Oh my god. Right? So, I would sit down and I would watch him play the game and I would be the guy who Googles and Wikipedia and GameFacts. If we had questions and back then they weren’t reliable at all, so you get like, “Oh the Mew was under the truck in Pokémon” and all these myths and stuff so I’d watch him play with Majora’s Mask and that’s how I got into Zelda.
But Pokémon is another really prominent franchise on my channel, and I was on a cruise when I was very young, and my cousin was playing Pokémon Red, and he ended up showing me the game. I was like, “Mom, I really want Pokémon Red for my birthday.” And she got me my very first video game, which was Pokémon Fire Red for the Game Boy. But she got it for the Nintendo DS. So, it worked out pretty well because it had backwards compatibility and stuff, but it was just very fun.
Now, before I came in here, I was watching you watch a candle for ten hours. I didn’t watch for the full ten hours, but you seemed to have. How do you come up with ideas like that and why?
PointCrow: So that one, in particular, it started four years ago, and I was just doing ideas for the hell of it. I was like, “OK, this seems like a really crazy thing to do. I’ll do it because nobody else really wants to do it,” and ever since then it’s become a yearly tradition on my channel where I watch something absolutely mundane and for ten hours straight, I can’t look at chat I can’t look at anything and I just watch it for ten hours and I just talk to myself.
Are you okay? I say that with love. I didn’t realize you couldn’t watch chat even during that.
PointCrow: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. It’s really funny. If you look through the catalogue of videos, it gets more and more deranged, and it’s really funny. I love it. It’s great. I’m having the time of my life.
Do you know what your next ten hour is or is it a secret?
PointCrow: Ooh, I think it’s, I’m not too sure, But I’m trying to lean maybe towards like a giant hourglass. Like a ten-hour hourglass and you just see over the course of the time it just falls through.
I feel like the candle is a lot easier to get your hands on.
PointCrow: Yeah. Strangely enough, that one was like relatively easier. The year before we did a giant block of ice melt for ten hours and that one was a little bit more difficult to procure because we had to do it immediately beforehand otherwise it would melt. The ice that we used was one for an ice sculpture. And they were like, “Oh, what do you want this for?” And we’re like, “We want to watch it melt. That’s it.” And they’re like, “What do you mean?” It’s like, “Nope, that’s it. That’s the whole thing.
What do you do when people have that reaction? Like even me saying, “So…You watched a candle. How’s that going?”
PointCrow: It’s hilarious. That’s why I do it. I love seeing people’s reactions to my videos. It’s one of the reasons I do them in the first place.
What is your personal favorite kind of content to create?
PointCrow: I mean, my ideal content, my favourite content, it’s a sandbox where I have some rules in place. If I say the letter E, right? A meteor will spawn and kill me and it’s a sandbox where that’s it That’s the whole premise and then allowing my Twitch chat, allowing my friends, anything else to play around in the sandbox and create something. Because if you script out something too much, if you have too many plans, it won’t end up as good. And so, if you just really have fun with it, it bleeds through the content. And then somebody watching it can also have fun with you.
I don’t think there’s any way to pinpoint what kind of content you do. And I tried to do that in preparing for this, thinking “What could we talk about?”
PointCrow: Don’t worry, I struggle as well.
Do you ever feel like you are kind of pigeonholed one way? Like your followers, your community is like “Well why aren’t you doing this why did you do this today?”
PointCrow: I used to be actually okay, and this is something I’m very proud of personally where I thought for a long time that I could only upload Zelda content. Because I was known for Zelda. That’s when I first went viral. That’s the first video that really hit a new audience, and it was like Zelda, Zelda, Zelda.
And then I kind of was like, “I want to do more than just Zelda” and so I tried to play around with other games, genres, whatever and it didn’t really stick a lot of the time but I was like “This is something I’m really passionate about,” and I guess this is somewhat advice for anybody who’s “pigeonholed” themselves is, and this is super generic and vague, but if you make good quality content that people want to watch it doesn’t matter if you do Zelda, it doesn’t matter if you do cooking videos, it doesn’t matter because they’ll watch it and then that will also pick up.
So, I was like “I’m going to post Pokémon videos” and in a, I guess you could call this hubris, in a way of I think this video that I’m going to post is better than any other Pokémon video out there of this kind of current genre. And it did well. And I was right. And then more people came in to watch the Pokémon as well. And then I not only was known as the Zelda guy, but Nintendo.
I will only know you as the candle guy now. I refuse.
PointCrow: The candle guy! And I did the same thing with Elden Ring. As long as you make really good quality content that you cannot find anywhere else, then people will watch it.
Do you have any specific videos or streams that you’ve done that stand out that you adore?
PointCrow: That I love personally?
Or any that you really wish you hadn’t committed to at the time?
PointCrow: Oh, great question! One that I love—and I actually mentioned this earlier—is if I say the letter “E,” a meteor spawns and kills me.
It sounds like a nightmare you had one day.
PointCrow: Yeah! But there’s one in particular, it was an offshoot of that, where I did a stream with my friend DougDoug and I hooked up my heart rate to the game and he hooked his heart rate to the game. So, if our heart rates got any higher than 80 beats per minute, the same meteor would spawn and kill us. And then we would have to give away money. And so, initially, you start off being like, “Ha ha, we’re dying, we’re losing progress,” and your heart rates are low or whatever.
But as the stream goes on, the money that you’re spending on this, because it wouldn’t just be like we give away $5. No, no, no, no. We give away $5. Then the next death, you give away $10. And then you give away $15. So, it got to the point where every death we’re giving away $100. And so, then your heart rate increases, causing you to die more. And it was just such a perfect video with a great beginning, great middle, amazing end, and super satisfying.
One that I wish I didn’t commit to, I’ll say, I’ll pivot this, I’ll say the grossest one.
Okay, that counts.
PointCrow: Is a recent one where I was like, can I make a pizza in Tears of the Kingdom before I give birth? And it was where I had Taco Bell.
I’m just leaving that as a quote.
PointCrow: No, it’s great.
Just that sentence.
PointCrow: It’s a video on the channel. I released it a couple weeks ago and it was where I had Taco Bell and coffee and I had TENS units attached to my stomach and I had to essentially make a pizza in Zelda before I “gave birth.” So that was a tough one.
Again, are you okay?
PointCrow: It’s all a cry for help. (Laughs)
We’re going to pivot a little bit to advice for other streamers. Do you have any advice for anyone starting out especially when it comes to being seen and gaining views and subscribers?
PointCrow: Sure so you’re going to think I’m crazy again for this, but if you watch that candle video, I’m serious, there’s a segment in there.
I watched it way longer than I’d like to admit I did.
PointCrow: The average person watched 15 minutes of that, by the way. For a good hour, I spent like just talking about all of that, but the main thing that you can gather from all of it is, at the very bare minimum, I have two pieces of advice. One is do it. You will spend more time thinking, “Ah, maybe if I did it this way, if I did it that way, maybe I can change this around.” Just do it. It’s going to be terrible. It’s going to suck. People aren’t going to watch it, everything.
But like the next thing you do will be better, and then the next thing will be even better, and the next thing will be even better than that. And so, if you just keep doing it, it’ll be better. And this leads into the second piece of advice, that if you’re doing it and things aren’t working out, you need to change something. I’ve seen a lot of people out there being like, “Yeah, just keep grinding out there, man. Keep doing the same thing.” No. Do something different. If the same thing is not working out for that long, you’ve got to change it up.
Now, in a lot of your videos we can see your branding with Shure and with RODE. I know it’s a rookie mistake for a brand-new streamer who’s never streamed to go buy the best Shure microphone that you can possibly buy. What kind of gear did you have when you were starting out, and what would you recommend for people actually starting out?
PointCrow: These are great questions. So, it’s really funny because you can really stream with anything. I mean, two days ago, literally two days ago, I streamed off of my friend’s phone, pointed at my laptop, and then I had an iPad with the front-facing camera turned on as a webcam towards me. My phone was the chat, and then my other friend’s phone was like background music. Because I’m doing this challenge where I have to stream every day, and my hotel Wi-Fi wasn’t working.
Oh, I know all about that life.
PointCrow: Exactly, right? So, I was like, “Okay, I need to stream.” You can really stream off of anything. It was an entertaining stream. I had like 1500 viewers just doing that. And so really anything. My first setup I actually asked for, it was near my birthday so it was January 13th and my birthday is the 21st and so I called my parents and I was like “I know you guys might be giving me a birthday present. Can I have it like a little bit in advance on these?”
Birthday advance. That’s the advice. Ask your parents for birthday advance. (laughs)
PointCrow: They got me a Logitech C920 and an Audio Technica 2100 USB microphone. I think there’s one more thing I’m forgetting, but that’s what I started with. Honestly, they weren’t cheap—about $120 in total. But if you don’t have that kind of money, you can use your phone. Phones can be your webcam and microphone; they’re very underrated.
You can stream with almost anything. There are a lot of different streaming apps out there, so just start. That’s the key—just do it.
That’s awesome. How do you personally use other platforms to build your audience and what advice would you give to new people on how to do that?
PointCrow: Yeah. So, I know we’re at TwitchCon right now. Yes. And we’re all, you know, sorry Twitch, but-
The execs had good things to say about other platforms helping Twitch. You’re safe!
PointCrow: I’ve talked with them a lot, specifically about other platforms, and they don’t see them as competition. It’s more like, “No, you should use those to grow your platform,” because it’s mutually beneficial for everyone. I use YouTube a lot and have a large audience there. Back in 2019, you would grow a YouTube channel and then funnel that towards Twitch.
Like, “Hey, I’m also live right now doing these challenges if you want to see one live.” And a lot of people nowadays are using TikTok, YouTube shorts, Reels, short form content to bring that in. That’s a great thing.
You cannot, it’s very rare for you to just start streaming on Twitch and then get an audience because the way that Twitch’s category ranking system works and everything, if you have a lot of viewers you’re going to be top of category people will check that person out.
I did a test once on stream I was like all right you’re going to stream Fortnite to maybe one viewer, it might be yourself on your own phone.
Definitely done that before.
PointCrow: Yeah, that’s how I got my first three viewers. I think it was me, my mom, and my sister. But I thought, “Alright, let me see.” I went to the Fortnite category, scrolled for five minutes, and couldn’t even find a stream with one viewer. So, you need to bring people in from another platform to stream, and that’s incredibly important.
You can do that pretty easily with YouTube Shorts, TikToks, or Instagram Reels. The barrier to entry is super low, and I highly recommend it. If you’re spending all your time streaming, you’re not going to grow an audience.
Okay. And just for funsies, is there anything you have coming up that you can tell us about? Anything exciting?
PointCrow: Well, the new Zelda game [Echoes of Wisdom] is coming out, so that’s going to be exciting. I’m really looking forward to that.
(Whispers) I’ve played it.
PointCrow: What? Echoes of Wisdom?
I got to preview it.
PointCrow: I’m so jealous. What the hell? Was it fun?
It was fun. It was pretty cool.
PointCrow: You think I’m going to have fun playing it?
Especially with your whole personality! Absolutely. The entire purpose is to use weird things to do other weird things.
PointCrow: Oh, I cannot wait. That’s going to be so fun.
I’ve known you for three minutes, but I get you.
PointCrow: No, no, no, no. We like, understand each other. We’re basically best friends.
I watched your goldfish play Elden Ring, so…
PointCrow: Alright. Let me see. So… Okay. I’ll just leak a couple of videos that have coming up. I’m going to be doing a world record history of cookie baking speed runs. I used to hold the world record. I held the world record for about an hour, actually.
Is this a real thing?!
PointCrow: It’s a competitive scene.
That YOU were a part of?
PointCrow: Yes, yeah!
You’re a very interesting person.
PointCrow: Thank you, I just do things that I think are cool and people like to watch. I’m just a guy, you know? And so, it was like how fast can you bake 12 cookies? And I grinded for a bit and I ended up getting the world record at 3 minutes and 59 seconds and I mean the cookies were good about six out of ten. They’re, you know…
They’re 3 minute cookies. Its depression cake in the microwave.
PointCrow: Exactly! And the world record right now is like, I think it’s 2 minutes and 53 seconds, held by Cash Carbon. And the world record history of it is really interesting, because it involves a bunch of streamers that you wouldn’t expect and everything. Category changes, drama, it’s awesome. So, I’m going to do a world record history of cookie baking speed runs.
Yep. That’s awesome. Now I just have questions about cookie baking. Is there like a rule to the size of the cookies?
PointCrow: Yeah, there is.
Is there?! Like what?
PointCrow: So, it needs to be three inches in diameter, needs to be half an inch thick. You have to use certain-
How do you cook one faster than others if they’re all the same size?
PointCrow: Right? The thing is, there’s speed run strats and everything, where, for example, I turned up my oven to 550 degrees Fahrenheit.
I didn’t know you could do that, but okay.
PointCrow: So, that goes faster. Tou don’t use utensils or anything to mix, you just use your hands and ball it up. You have all the things strategically placed around you. The less measuring cups you can use the better. So, you eyeball things…
I did not know we’d be getting tips on quick cookie baking.
PointCrow: Oh, no This is great. There’s a strategy that people haven’t used yet I’ve loved talking about this. Tell me to shut up if you want.
No, I’m thrilled.
PointCrow: There’s a strat that hasn’t been used yet for a major time save later on, is to use the oven cleaning mode because that gets up to like 800 degrees Fahrenheit but it’s it locks the oven so what you have to do, and this is only theoretical nobody’s done yet,
Yet!
PointCrow: Yeah, yet. it’s possible where you mod your oven so it doesn’t lock so you can shove in your cookies real quick during cleaning mode and then it cooks faster.
That is amazing. We’ll just let everybody stay tuned for more history and hopefully more tips on the fastest cookie baking and modding ovens.
PointCrow: It’s really fun.
That’s amazing. That took a turn.
PointCrow: You’re a great interviewer. These are great questions. I love it.
I like that it got weird. That’s my favorite. Thanks very much!
