So, Friday night was absolutely insane.
I'd planned a fairly straightforward stream. Open a ridiculous number of items from the PokéMMO Halloween event, run some giveaways, have a laugh with chat and generally enjoy myself.
What I hadn't planned for was my brain completely abandoning me.
The evening was already going brilliantly. We'd had a couple of raids, people were chatting, and I was having a fantastic time.
And then it happened.
Patrouski raided The Lab with 185 viewers.
Yes. That Patrouski.
For anyone unfamiliar, Pat is one of the biggest names in the PokéMMO community, with over 20,000 followers on Twitch.
And there I was, streaming to fewer than 10 people before the raid, when suddenly an enormous chunk of the PokéMMO community came crashing through the doors.
I think my initial reaction was something along the lines of "Holy shit, thank you for the raid!"
After that, I attempted to welcome everyone properly.
Attempted being the operative word.
I was so completely dumbstruck that I could barely string a coherent sentence together. Words are hard at the best of times, but apparently they're especially difficult when 185 people suddenly turn up in your chat.
Honestly, I'm not entirely sure my brain has recovered yet.
And it wasn't just Pat, either. We had three raids throughout the evening, bringing a combined 206 viewers into The Lab.
At one point, The Lab was even the most-watched PokéMMO stream on Twitch.
What?!
The thing that really stuck with me, though, was what happened afterwards.
Even two hours after Pat's raid, people were still hanging out, chatting and enjoying themselves. When I eventually called it a night, I was able to raid another streamer with 27 viewers.
That's something I won't be forgetting anytime soon.
I know this was an exceptional stream. I'm not expecting those numbers every time I go live, and I'm interested to see where things settle over the next few weeks.
But right now, I just want to appreciate what happened.
To Yoichii, JP and Patrouski: thank you so much for trusting me with your communities. It genuinely means a lot.
And to everyone who followed, chatted, lurked, joined the giveaways or simply stopped by to say hello: thank you for making the evening so memorable.
I've spent a lot of time working on The Lab, and seeing so many people enjoying it was an incredible feeling.
I started the night expecting to open some virtual Halloween goodies.
I ended it wondering what the hell had just happened.
And apparently, when something incredible happens, my entire vocabulary reduces to "holy shit".
Words really are hard. 💜🧪