Hula hoop while playing and weaving on your fingers

interview

LostKittn has a job that many people would probably only dream of: she plays video games and other people watch.

Ahead of this year’s Polaris toy and costume trade fair (October 13-15 in Hamburg), where she will also appear, Watson spoke to the vivacious 31-year-old, who appropriately wore cat ears during the interview. The streamer talks about gaming marathons and childhood dreams.

LostKittn looks like a lost cat.Photo: private/lostkittn

Watson: You have nearly 38,000 followers on Twitch: Did you initially have any inhibitions about speaking in front of so many strangers?

Lost Kitten: At first it was a little strange. I had no access and probably told some friends or posted on my Instagram: “I’m alive now.” But that wasn’t a big problem. There were only a few people there. The only thing that was strange was the idea: they can see me now, but I can’t see them. It was a strange feeling when all eyes were on you. But that went too quickly.

What does your community mean to you?

I’m very close to the community. I know a lot about a lot of them because they also love to tell stories. On my discord (Internet service for instant messaging), and I also made real friends. There is a regular Kittn table set up where people meet and play games together or play mini golf and ride bikes. Of course this makes me very proud because there are some people who said they felt very lonely and now they have found friends because of it. Or even people who were not active in chat at that time, but now they write more and more and say: “You motivate me to get out of myself more, have more courage and stop thinking so much about what I write. You give me the feeling like you can be yourself. ” That makes me very proud and that’s why it’s definitely become a very big family.

Can you imagine a Twitch stream being a bit like a chat podcast? The announcer plays and talks about whatever comes to your mind?

There are many different banners. There are some people who are a bit funny, like me for example. I don’t take myself seriously. You mess something up while playing or you forget something, and the community is tearing their hair out and thinking, “I’m over it. What do you do?” This is the most fun part, this “getting lost”. Then there are people who are really good at games, so you want to see progress. For me, it’s not just games anymore. Anything is possible on Twitch. For example, I also cook or chat live via live stream, and there are sometimes funny topics and sometimes more serious topics. In fact, streams are really great in terms of allowing them to run in the background while you game or do something else.

What does your cooking stream look like?

I mostly cook vegetarian cuisine. Not necessarily in terms of alternative meat stuff, but just regular vegan stuff. Or I cook via Google Translate.

So what is this?

The cooking process in Google Translate goes like this: My friend has a recipe that he runs through Google Translate in all languages. At some point, everything in German is just nonsense. You no longer understand a single word. Say something like: You need a waitress, slam your shoe on the floor, chop the onion and throw it away. Really disastrous. And I should know: Well, what could that mean? What can I do from it? In the end, really interesting things came out.

Where is your name from? Why did you lose your kitten?

When I started streaming on Twitch, I thought: what can I call it, what works for me? And I really love cats. So I thought, what could be cool, other than the “cat”, which already exists. Then I imagined a little kitten losing a carton of milk because it was lost. And I’m really so lost. I have ADHD and my head is shaking all the time. I am often on edge and confused. For example, I live in Hanover and I still get lost in this city. This little kitten who got lost on a milk carton fits well into this: “Lost Kitten”. This name fits 100 percent. In fact, many of my fellow streamers have said the name fits me like a glove.

When you play a game, do you have to prepare for it in any way?

You don’t necessarily need to prepare a lot. I think my generation got callouses on their fingers from playing the Mario Party games. The Mario Party games are a perfect example of how taking a controller and hacking it increases your power. A game like this takes about 10 to 15 hours. I start in the morning and then play the game in one go. Then there is a short period of rest, a little food, and a few hours of sleep in between. Then it continues the next day.

But this seems exhausting.

the total. Especially when the game itself is a bit more difficult. With “BioShock” the story was very stark. When I played it in one go, my brain couldn’t process it at all. Since I didn’t have any breaks in between and went through this gameplay experience like a movie in one go, I perceived everything more clearly. But the experience was also great. It was a really great feeling to play in the game with the community.

What do you do to compensate for sitting in front of the screen all day?

I bought a new table that can be raised and lowered. I am thinking of buying a treadmill soon and running a little when I do my office work. Other than that, I’ve been rocking for a long time, but unfortunately I just took a long break. This is the perfect balance for PC: it is good for sitting, back muscles and balance. The other day, I pulled my table into the stream, did some hula hoops, and played the game with the controller at the same time. I thought this was really funny because a lot of other people also thought it was cool and started combining gaming with sports.

LostKittn not only has a Twitch career, but she also has two internships.Photo: private/lostkittn

How do you make a living from live streaming?

On Twitch, for example, there is advertising revenue, but it is very low. Then the person can decide to subscribe to your channel. Then you get a chat signup badge and also emos, which are emojis that I draw. You can also buy them and then use them. Subscribers will no longer receive ads. You can also buy Bits, which is a currency on Twitch that you can give to the streamer as support. You can also simply say: “Hey, I’ll donate €10. That’s great of you to do.” There are also partnerships on Twitch. For example, I had a partnership with Nintendo, which was an absolute dream. If you had told me when I was a kid, “By the way, this will work with the Nintendo Switch,” I would have been upset.