Since the early days of Path of Exile, community streamers have been pillars in the community who share information, advice and entertainment! We wanted to take a moment to get to know them just a little bit better so we're planning an ongoing news series where we interview members of the community. To kick this off, we've taken a moment to talk to Zizaran!

Hi Zizaran, thank you for taking part in the interview! Please introduce yourself.

Hey Bex, thank you for inviting me to the interview!

My name is Kjetil and I'm 29 and a full time streamer. I'm originally from Norway but I'm currently living in Belfast - Northern Ireland.

How long have you been streaming for? How did you get into it?

I've been streaming Path of Exile since October 2nd 2015. A friend of mine called Qwiksilva mentioned I talk all the time anyway so I might as well start streaming. I'd wanted to start doing something like this for a long time but had a hard time finding the courage to start.

How did you find the courage in the end?

I didn't watch that many other streams before I started streaming myself, and a lot of them were so talented either by being really entertaining or good at the game. I didn't feel like I had that. I watched Sodapoppin a bit and felt that instead of acting he was just being himself and people found that really relatable.

What can people expect from your stream? What kind of schedule do you follow?

I try to do a mix of entertainment and endgame content while trying to be the most interactive streamer on Twitch. My favourite thing is talking to my chat and building a community. I don't really have a schedule. At league starts I generally stream for 26+ hours, sleep for 4 hours and repeat. In the second and third month of the league cycle I will slow down to 10-12 hour streams. Generally I have a rotating cycle where I try to be online as much as possible while hitting a variation of timezones.

How and when did you find out about Path of Exile?

I used to play Darkfall Online a lot before Path of Exile and my friend Qwiksilva found out about the game and suggested I try it. I fell in love with the game fairly quickly!

What was the moment that got you hooked on the game?

I think a really special moment for me was finding a mirror in cruel ledge, I couldn't believe I actually found one after my friends had explained how rare it was!

Wow, that's awesome! When did you find a mirror?

It was pretty early in Nemesis League. I had found a player called Goratha through trading and started asking him tons of questions to learn the game more. He was helping me a lot. He asked me if I wanted some high level maps and gave me a Promenade map (Level 74 back then which was pretty high. I think the highest was 77 or 78 back then?) I was playing Spectral Throw and one shot myself to the boss' lightning thorns, I was pretty sad but when I was re-leveling my character I found a mirror in cruel ledge and spent the next few minutes in shock! I ended up selling it for 36 exalts which was tons back then!

What are the top highlights from your time streaming Path of Exile?

I've had a lot of amazing moments streaming the game. I think the one that stands out the most is the world first Hardcore Shaper kill with Blue. It was so intense and made for a really great video. My first time being the first to hit level 100 in a solo self-found race was a big moment for me because so many people didn't think that I could do it. A third moment would be when I created Torment Rend, the highest PDPS one handed weapon in the game.

You have a Divination Card in the game, 'The Undisputed'. Can you tell us a little bit about your thoughts behind creating this?

I had bought a Divination Card creation token a while back but never figured out what to make with it. Someone suggested that I should make a Divination Card that makes Torment Rend as a joke but I figured making an "Undisputed" card for a Vaal Axe would be better since I've always wanted a vaal axe but never managed to make a good one. The reason it was called "Undisputed" is because that's what I yelledwhen I created the Torment Rend.

Is streaming your full time job? If so, what were you doing for work prior to streaming?

I started streaming fulltime to give myself the best odds at succeeding. There are so many people who want to do streaming as a full time job and it can be really hard to get noticed. Right before streaming I was finishing my bachelor's degree in computer science and before that I helped work in my mother's flower shop.

A computer science degree can be really useful! What career plans did you have on the off chance streaming didn't work out?

I wasn't too happy with my degree. It was more something I felt pressured into doing because you “HAVE” to have a degree now and I couldn't think of anything else. Two years into it I realised that I didn't like it all but just wanted to finish it. I think I'd have felt really lost it if streaming didn't work out but might have tried to program some games and get a job somewhere else, but mostly I'd probably just panic.

What hobbies or interests do you have outside of streaming?

My entire life revolves around streaming and there's not much time for anything else. I quite like watching Game of Thrones, Westworld and Friends while eating but even in my spare time I'll play Path of Exile or some random game for an hour or so!

If you could say one thing that every Path of Exile player should hear, what would it be?

I'd love to make an inspirational quote about how great our community is but the first thing that comes to mind is please make sure you have tried Herald of Ice shattering. It's the most amazing sound!

There are many new streamers looking to make their way in the Path of Exile community. What advice do you have for them?

I think there's room for a lot more streamers in the Path of Exile community, but a lot of new streamers just click start on their stream without interacting much with others. Even just actively talking in other people's communities can be a great way to make new friends and grow your channel. Other streamers are more likely to host streamers they know than someone they've never seen.

Are there any new streamers you want to give a shout out to?

There's so many amazing streamers in this community. I might be biased but KittenCatNoodle has a great community. There's a lot of up and coming streamers I enjoy watching like DonTheCrown, BalorMage and Martypoe, just to mention a few. Slipperyjim might need some help. He does some crazy stuff. I'm not 100% sure he is okay. There's only so many videos of "Watch me do 10000 runs of this" you can do before you're not okay.

Do you have any projects on the horizon you want to share with the community?

I'm planning to do more discussions on my Undisputed podcast. The last one was with Havoc right before the Incursion League started. I'm also planning to do more interviews with other streamers in the AMA Series which you can find on my YouTube.

Thank you so much for inviting me to take part in the interview!

Stay Excellent,
Zizaran
____________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for participating in the interview! If you want to follow Zizaran, check him out on Twitch, YouTube and Twitter!