aliawgharvey – FIFA Streamer Finds Success on TikTok and Reaches Partner in Less than 100 Days

Tell us your history with video games 

Growing up, I never really had time to game because I was a swimmer training up to 10 times a week and juggling school. The first game I remember playing as a kid was a game on Facebook called Pet Society. I don’t believe it exists within Facebook anymore, but I remember coming home after primary school, and just playing that game everyday. It was a game that I understood and loved which made it special to me. Maybe also the fact that I was spending real money on it, charging it to my phone bill! I remember coming back from a swimming competition in Thailand, and my dad told me at the airport I managed to rake up a $500 phone bill that month. I was only 11 years old, but I knew exactly where the source of it came from!

I played games with my childhood best friend growing up and my brother. I do still play with my brother sometimes, but he’s more into Rocket League, which I haven’t got the hang of quite yet. My childhood best friend and I don’t really play games together anymore because we like different types of games now.

My gaming name is really just my actual name! My ‘real’ name is Alexandra, but Alia is something my dad has always called me growing up. I have had a fair few of nicknames from various people such as Alex, Alexa, Lexie, Lex, Alex The Lion, but Alia is one that stuck with me. People in football in Singapore all call me Alia, so it felt right to go with that name. W stands for Wendy which is my middle name, and Harvey is my surname. The G in my name should really be a J because it’s the first letter of my mum’s maiden game, but I thought G sounded nicer as part of the name as a whole.

I have always been a person who strives to be the best in everything that I do no matter what it is. I have high expectations set for myself, and if I don’t reach those targets I do feel disappointed, but I have a self-reflection ‘meeting’ with myself on why I didn’t reach those targets and how can I do so. Gaming, especially one like FIFA where you can get higher ranks, sparks that competitiveness and drive in me to keep getting better and sparks passion in me.

What’s your backstory and how did you get into streaming?

I have been a content creator since I was a little girl, and it always has been something that I really enjoy doing. I remember I used to ‘steal’ my dad’s camera and take random photos around the house, but I would always end up using all the film! My dad never was mad at me for doing it because he was happy that I was expressing myself creatively even from such a young age.

I worked in multiple roles in football between the ages of 16 to 18 which included roles in the social media, videography, and photography fields. That also included being the assistant head of digital marketing for, at the time, the best local football club in Singapore. I had to create content for all the teams from the youth to senior team for both men and women, but had the opportunity to travel around Asia which I’m very thankful for!

I posted my first FIFA TikTok video on January 23rd, and a few days after that people were asking me to stream on Twitch so they could watch me play. This wasn’t something that even crossed my mind as I didn’t think people would be interested in watching me. I made a video a few days later asking if I should do it, and the comments were positive so I just went for it. When I first started streaming, I was using my brother’s laptop because I didn’t have one of my own. I have a Mac of my own, but it’s from 2013 and it wouldn’t be able to handle the demands of streaming and playing FIFA at the same time. I also borrowed my dad’s HD 1080p Logitech webcam because I don’t have a camlink to link my camera to. I had a ring light that I bought months before I started streaming already, and that’s what I still use as my lighting. I had no expertise when I started streaming because I’ve never done it before, in fact my first few streams I was lost with trying to figure out the software but I’ve managed to get the hang of it now.

When I first started streaming, it wasn’t really something I validated or put much thought into, I really just went for it! Content creation has always been a passion of mine since I was young, and something that I want to do full time in the future. I didn’t go into it thinking about the potential fame or financial gain that comes with it. With everything you do, your heart has to be in the right place, doing it for the right reasons, and it must be something you genuinely enjoy.

Tell us about your channel and community

My community is so amazing and supportive on Twitch. Granted there are bound to be haters, but majority of the people are lovely. Being new to the game, they are always helping me out with tips and tricks to get better. One of the parts of FIFA is squad building challenges (SBCs) and I 100% would not be able to do them if it wasn’t for them because I have no clue what I’m doing haha!

I’m currently just a FIFA content creator. I started working in football when I was 16 years old, and haven’t been able to do that since I moved to the UK. Playing FIFA helps me incorporate football into my life again which is one of the reasons I play it. Even if I wasn’t a streamer, I still would play FIFA because I genuinely enjoy it.

I don’t currently play with my viewers because I play FIFA on a PC, and majority of my viewers are on console. I am hoping to get a PS5 before FIFA22 comes out so I get to play with them which is one thing I’m really looking forward too, although I will more than likely lose all those games!

Tell us about your brand and how you’ve been able to obtain success

I wouldn’t say that I’m a brand as I’m just a person, but I do suppose that when you become someone who has a platform, your brand is you.

I created my TikTok account and started posting videos end of 2020, and honestly I was just posting whatever I wanted because it was a fun app to be on. I wanted TikTok to be a place where I could document things I do in my life. I posted a video on my profile on January 23, 2021 which had all of the skill moves you could do in FIFA21 which I wrote on four pieces of paper. I posted it not thinking much of it, rather just me making a memory of what I was doing. I checked back on that video a few hours later, and it was getting thousands of views from people in the FIFA community which I was not expecting at all. I then posted another video that same day of me playing FIFA21, and again people seemed to enjoy that video. It was that same day that I decided that I was going to change my TikTok account from random content to being a FIFA creator after I saw how people reacted to those two videos.

My videos are true to myself, and they are honest videos on what goes on when I’m playing FIFA. I didn’t choose to create a persona rather just be myself because I want to be 100% honest about my FIFA21 journey. After all, January 23 is the first official day I started to play FIFA on my own when others have been playing for years!

TikTok has been a massive factor for my success on Twitch. I would not be where I am today on Twitch if I didn’t have TikTok. I feel like I was able to grow on Twitch because of the realness and honesty that was on my TikTok but also because people wanted to see the journey of someone who was starting FIFA from scratch. I constantly update people about my journey on TikTok because they are part of this journey with me. Being genuine and honest in the content you make I feel is one of the keys to success.

My biggest achievement for Twitch has been hitting Partner. My goal when I did my first stream on January 30, 2021 was to reach 1000 followers by the end of the year. I’m almost at 40k followers on Twitch and am Partner, which is SO crazy to me. All in 2021, my first stream was on January 30, I was affiliated on February 23, completed the ‘path to partner’ achievement on April 10, and was Partnered on May 6. It took me 24 days to be affiliated and 96 days to be officially partnered!

I’m not currently streaming full-time yet, but my dream is to be a full-time content creator one day. I am so thankful and grateful for the continuous support my community shows me, and I’m excited for what the future holds!

What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received from a viewer?

To have more confidence in myself, and keep going with the FIFA content although I’m not the best at the game!

What’s the most interesting thing that’s happened to you because of your streaming?

The most interesting so far is just being recognized by people which is SO crazy to me! My friends tell me that their friends know who I am, and that they watch my videos as well.

How do you balance streaming and your day-to-day life?

I still work a full-time job and am doing a degree (though that is currently on hold for other reasons) so my time is quite limited. I have to be very organized on my streaming days to make sure I’m not wasting any time. Streaming is so much more than just pressing live on the day of. You have to constantly be creating content for other platforms as it’s part of a bigger picture. During weekdays, I try to wake up around 7am so I can get started on editing content for TikTok (and soon YouTube), I work my regular job from 9am - 5:30pm (during my one hour lunch break I’m back editing my videos again), and then I give myself short break before I start streaming again from 6pm. Depending on what time I end stream, I normally then continue to edit content after my stream as well. During weekends when I don’t have my main job, before and after stream as well I spend hours editing content. Of course not all the time I’m purely editing content, but it will juggle between that or doing some admin tasks for my content creation career. I would say in total, I’m working about 16 hours a day. Some people may think this is crazy, but I love working (I know.. odd) and can work for hours non-stop.

I only give myself one evening off a week, and I’m either using that time to edit content or do admin tasks, or I will go out for a meal with my friends. I must admit, it is less likely the latter more the former but I am trying to get better with it! I don’t really get anxious with not really going outside much, in fact I quite enjoy it.

Since I was little, I have always struggled to speak to people especially if I don’t know them or just met them. I remember my parents used to have to force me to speak to people because I was so resistant against doing so and couldn’t bring myself to do it. I always thought this was an issue with me just being shy, but after looking into it more I realized I had all the signs of social anxiety. I do thus do prefer speaking to people over the phone or video call, because they can’t really tell how nervous I’m getting! Streaming however and being on TikTok has helped me improve my confidence, so I am getting better at speaking to people now.

My friends and family were very supportive of me when I first decided to start streaming. My parents have always been ones to support me in whatever I choose to do, and let me go after my dreams. Of course my friends and family both do remind me to remain realistic about it, but they don’t hold me back from doing what I want. If I do have friends that try and put my down, then you just realize that they aren’t truly your friends.

I think streaming on its own can be a maintainable lifestyle and one that you can make a career out of, but it wouldn’t be smart to just rely on streaming itself. All of the biggest creators who do content creation full-time have multiple sources of income, which is the safe thing to do regardless of what job you have self employed or not because you always have a backup to keep paying those bills and daily essentials. As streaming is something I genuinely enjoy and love, I do see it as something I will continue to do for years.

Tell us what tools you use for your stream

I stream using Streamlabs OBS. Streamlabs is also what I use for my automods, my donation software, and the scenes on my stream. I use three different extensions: Sound Alerts, Emotes Showcase, and Viewer Leaderboard.

I do look at my analytics daily after every stream to help me improve, and you have to ask yourself the question of why some streams have more viewers than others. To me, it is an important factor to look at your daily analytics and stream summary, and work towards getting better for each stream.

What are your favorite streaming resources?

When I first started streaming, I binged watched a load of the videos on the Alpha Gaming YouTube channel and I genuinely feel like he has been a massive help towards my streaming career. I’m pretty certain that I’ve watched all of his videos! Even now, I go back on and watch some of Harris’ videos to see what else I can improve on.

Which 3 streamers inspire you the most?

1. Harris Heller - His Alpha Gaming channel has been a massive help for me and my streaming career. Harris being a streamer himself and doing it for years, he is able to give you an insight on how to improve.
2. Shauna Games - Shauna is a female FIFA21 streamer like myself, and although I only found out about her after I started streaming, she inspires me because the community of women who play FIFA21 is still very small, and she’s one of first female streamers who started streaming the game.
3. PieFace23 - Pie inspires me because of how humble he is about his success and his motivation towards everything he does. He genuinely loves streaming and content creation, and he hasn’t let fame change who he is as a person.

What are your top 3 streaming tools? 

1. Streamlabs OBS for my streams
2. Stream deck, a ring light, my webcam, and my galaxy light!
3. My 4 liter water bottle to keep me hydrated throughout the stream

What advice would you give to small channels trying to reach Partner? 

To grow on Twitch, you need to bring in viewers from other social platforms such as TikTok. With 140 million active users on Twitch, it is very difficult to grow just by streaming especially when there are hundreds sometimes thousands of other streams running at the same time as yours in a category. You need to be consistent and be the 1%, not the 99%. Stand out and be unique!

If you could change one thing about Twitch, what would it be? 

I would like to have the ability to run multiple predictions at once during my stream, as currently you can only run one prediction at a time.

What are your plans for the future? 

My ultimate goal for the future is to become a full-time content creator which has been my dream since I was a little girl. I am a city girl at heart being from Singapore, so I do hope that I will be living in London in the next few years though I know it’s expensive!

Another thing that has always been a passion of mine is being able to help the less fortunate. In Singapore, we do have some of the older generation at train stations or hawker centers selling tissue paper, and I used to give a lot of my pocket money for school to them without taking the tissue because they needed the money more than I did. I hope that in the future, I will be in a position to partner with charities and to help people in need. Children have always held a special place in my heart, so I want to do something that helps children as well regardless of what they are going through.

I want to be in a position that allows me to help others, because everyone needs a helping hand sometimes and it’s important that as a society we come together to help each other.