- Maddy Watson, 26, started playing video games when she was a kid
- Eventually, she turned her passion for gaming into a full-time career
- She began streaming her plays on Twitch under her username @JustMaddyx
Here Maddy tells her story in her own words.
Moving my thumb up and down at the speed of light on the gaming control, I shot my opponent.
‘Yes!’ I beamed with joy, as my younger brothers watched in awe.
‘My turn!’ they’d cry out, keen to play.
Since I was in primary school I loved playing video games. Before that, when I was little, I played with dinosaurs and action figures more than Barbie dolls and Baby Borns.
‘Reoooor,’ I’d hold the toy T-rex fighting him against a mighty brontosaurus.
Known for being a tomboy when it came to play time, I still absolutely loved dressing up and wearing pink.
Then later in primary school, my brothers and I were gifted a PlayStation console from family. It was our very first experience playing video games.
I loved playing Spyro – a game where you control a cute purple dragon who must complete quests in the fantasy world.
‘I have to recover the stolen fireflies,’ I explained to my family as they watched.
And in Crash Bandicoot, my mission was to defeat the enemy, Dr Neo Cortex, and his plans to rule the world. Entering new worlds as I levelled up, I fell in love with the awesome visuals.
And it wasn’t just PlayStation. Eventually, my brothers, cousins and I played on our Nintendo DS and we would care for cute pups in Nintendogs and create beautiful islands in Animal Crossing.
‘It was a fun and thrilling experience.’
After school I’d jump onto my computer and play the range of Sims games.
I’d create all sorts of families – from a vampire clan to an ordinary household with a bunch of pets – and watch my characters and animals grow up in the different lands I was able to choose from using expansion packs.
The gaming world was my ultimate escape.
By the time I was 18 in 2016, I was working full time for Telstra in my hometown in Adelaide, SA.
One night in 2018, I was playing Fortnite with a friend online, when they said over a call in the game chat that I should give live streaming a crack.
I don’t know, I thought.
I remembered how I’d tried to record my video gaming when I was in high school, but I quickly gave up when I couldn’t work out how to do it properly.
But with nothing to lose, I decided to give it another shot.
Using a Logitech camera and connecting an Elgato Game Capture device to my PlayStation and computer, I began streaming my plays on Fortnite over Twitch – an interactive live streaming service – under my username @JustMaddyx.
As I built fortresses to shield myself from the enemies before shooting them on Fortnite, viewers watched my reactions and shared their thoughts in the comments box. It was such a fun and thrilling experience.
People would write really encouraging and positive comments during the live feed and I’d respond out loud while playing.
After taking some time off work to stream, which brought in an income, in 2019 I moved to Sydney and worked in Bondi Junction, NSW, for Telstra.
I continued streaming my plays on Fortnite and other games on Twitch in between part-time work.
But after taking up my job again, I realised just how much streaming really was my passion. So in January 2020, I decided to quit my job for good and stream full-time.
When Covid hit a couple of months later, everyone was in lockdown.
And with more time for me to stream and more people bored at home, I was raking in more views and money while doing the thing I loved most.
I’d play Call of Duty, a military game, and read people’s comments to my talent with weapons.
Woah, that’s a girl playing!? She’s better than I am! a guy wrote.
I rolled my eyes and laughed. Girls can be just as good, if not better, at gaming, I thought.
‘ I never let anything negative hurt me in any way.’
Moving back to Adelaide in November 2021, I upgraded my equipment and my Twitch following increased rapidly.
I’ve always got a mixed bag of comments.
Make me a sandwich, some silly men teased me for my awesome plays.
‘In your dreams,’ I’d say back on the live stream.
But the good outweighed the bad, and I received lots of amazing support from both men and women in the streaming world.
So impressive! people would write.
Always seeking positivity, I put out good vibes into the universe, so I never let anything negative hurt me in any way.
And as gaming is quite a sedentary hobby, I’d also always make sure to stay active and healthy by working out at the gym most days of the week and eating nutritious food.
Getting out of the house was important for both my physical and mental health.
Giving birth to my beautiful bub, London, in June this year, I am absolutely besotted.
I can’t wait to game with you one day, I tickle my giggly girl.
I took some time off streaming on Twitch during my pregnancy, and have had a break now that I have my little one. But I plan to get back in the game soon.
I also want to start publishing more lifestyle content such as shopping clips and DIY videos, and of course spreading positivity as always, on my other platforms like TikTok and Instagram under the same username.
The sky’s the limit, I think, looking at my gorgeous little girl and feeling excited for our future.
The fantasy worlds in video games are awesome, but nothing beats the life my daughter gives me.
