Today we’d like to introduce you to Emperor Dragon.
Hi Emperor, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It all started the summer of 2018. I was 16, working part time at a summer camp, and on my days off, I would play Fortnite. One day, a random teammate told me to follow him on Twitch. Not knowing what Twitch was, I asked him about it, and he told me it’s a platform where you get paid to play video games. Being a broke high school student, I made an account immediately. I started streaming off that PS4, thinking I was going to be rich overnight, but I ended up falling in love with creating content. Wanting to increase the quality of my streams, I took the money I made that summer and bought a gaming PC. This allowed me to add overlays to my streams, play a wider selection of games, and edit my streams into YouTube videos. Just when things were getting better, COVID-19 happened. Despite all that was happening around the world, quarantine caused Twitch viewership to skyrocket. During this time, I built my community, met lifelong friends, and elevated my content, all while going to college full time. Coming out of COVID, I wanted opportunities to do more in the space. Instead of waiting for a platform, I built one myself. I started hosting stream events, tournaments, panels, and charity streams. These efforts have even gotten me invited to conventions. Even as far as hosting a live segment on stage at one of them. I built this from the ground up, and I can’t believe there’s even more to come
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Most of my struggles, funny enough, came from my everyday life rather than online. For most of my online career, I was a full time college student. Finding time to go to class, study, edit, and stream was tough. Even now, post graduation, I sometimes struggle to find balance while working full time. I also struggled with my family. I started streaming off a PS4 I shared with my two younger brothers. Trying to squeeze in streaming time while sharing was difficult. Even after I got my PC and didn’t have to share, my parents didn’t understand what I was doing. From their point of view, I was a kid spending too much time on the game, but what they couldn’t see was the community I was building and the creativity I put into this. After bringing them on stream, we’ve come to an understanding and they’re proud of what I do
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Nowadays, I’m most known for hosting stream events and tournaments. Some of these events include Spooktober, Community Wars, The Blackathon, Dragon’s Christmas Games, and more. These events can span anywhere from a week to a month long. I’ve hosted tournaments for Sparking Zero, Marvel Rivals, and Mario Kart. Marvel Rivals was the biggest one, with 48 different streamers competing in my tournament. Seeing the caliber of streamers and the type of viewership these events bring out, I wanted to use this influence for good. On Christmas Day, I hosted a Toys for Tots charity stream in collaboration with the Twitch Unity Guilds. The other streamers and I raised over $8,000 for charity last Christmas for kids in need. What I am most proud of is hosting a segment live on stage at DreamHack ATL this year. I started doing these online events in hopes of one day hosting something live in person. I got to cross that off the bucket list this year
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Imagination is the most important thing. Every stream, video, and tournament started from an idea. Having the imagination to make that idea happen is where the magic lies.
If you only take one thing from me,
Start Creating
Keep Creating
And leave your Mark on this world
Contact Info:
- Website: https://beacons.ai/emperordragon
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emperordragon__/
- Twitter: https://x.com/EmperorDragon_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@emperordragon_
- Other: https://www.twitch.tv/emperordragon_
Image Credits
Chrystal Hughes at DreamHack
