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The Lab.

Live on Kick

discord

open

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The Lab.

What is the lab?

The lab is a spin on a typical gaming live stream. It draws inspiration from Huberman’s Lab. As I am doing research on Elite Gaming and Popular Culture, things like streaming and getting gud, it is the core theme of Season 3. We hang out on stream and in our Discord studying and gaming.

What is the PhD?

I am an incoming candidate at Charles Darwin University.

The thesis is, “A proposed 5 factor model for elite gaming” and it is an artifact-exegesis thesis, whereby I will have a collection of matters to display at the end.

Whilst the PhD is very real, the stream and the Doctorate are separate from my teaching, research and service duties to the university of Charles Darwin. I do ethically draw inspiration and sources from the stream however. The stream is largely a work of fiction

In essence I am to create and curate a series of artifacts on the topic of elite gaming and the popular culture surrounding it. This is done via my time streaming and creating content. I aim to have a complete edited series to watch, a completed thesis, and an assembly of displayable artifacts in the form of collections related to elite gaming and the cultures surrounding.

I have a proposed model drawn from literature and my experience through autoethnography as a record holding speed runner in Hades. It has 5 factors, and is meant to broaden the meaning of elite gaming.

Outside of the artifacts from the stream and surrounding communities and cultures, I am to continue to do my best to improve my own gaming abilities. This is so I can continue with any auto and general ethnographic work, to build credibility, relatability and better connect with interview subjects and elite gamers who wish to share their experience with me. This could be in the form of a survey, interview, or even reviewing publicly available YouTube footage.

Who is Rivalgaz?

Rivalgaz is a persona, a parody of myself. I often break character on stream. I’m an Alum of the Australian National University and The University of Melbourne. My Linkedin profile serves as public CV.

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Rivalgazisms

Words they say on stream

We make up new slang every season

Vegemite

Rival

Steal yo girl

Nectar of the gods. Necessary for Rivalgaz benediction.

Classic cuckoldry

By taking the holy sacrament of the stream you become the rival. The great gamer who is gifted and talented

Hades

Rege

Rivalgaz speedruns this game. He enjoys breaking out of hell.

This means “King” in Romanian. Rivalgaz is Regegaz is those lands.

Bruss

European

Unisex term of endearment, modelled off Bro, Indigenous word.

Usually something depression related

Doggies

Rizz

Oi

Stokes and Ethel are the stream dogs

An act creating a hormonal response

Attention, can be used with aye. Usually like, oi, aye, yeah, true and real

Etheleums

Sub-par

The future of money, named after his dog. Available on Twitch only.

A viewer with a funny username. Can

be used jokingly and endearingly.

Leaving the internet

Digital Seppuku. An old joke about someone who wanted to never be online again

Pillows

Hot pocket

A necessary requirement for viewer

comfort

The food of champions

Weobs

Scuff

Hammock Jesus

Rivalgaz as he speaks the truth from his

hammock

Either a viewer or a descriptor, quality varies

Wack em off boys. Meant to be an impressive macho mafia statement. It is not.

Your Radiance

How to refer to rivalgaz during Final Fantasy games

Gameus

Think of video games, but mispronounced in Japanese

Mundi

Means > select all “bad things”

Sus

Hmm, suspicious.....

Democracy

Hello fellow Hell Diver

Salt

Is rising

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Season

one

The best friend you never had. Search how to be cool like Rivalgaz.

The first 2000 hours streamed on Twitch. Zero viewers story arc. Ending your career on stream arc. Starlight Game Changers Charity Stream arc. 32 Heat Hades arc. Our first holiday season arc. The road to 2000 hours arc.

Season

Two

“The Hikikomori Stream”

I committed to 2000 hours on Kick. Mainly because I liked the fact that the founders were 🇦🇺 🦘 and I thought that was neat. After the initial excitement, we settled into the “Hikikomori Gaz” character and played the latest and greatest blockbuster games in 2023. The overall story is a solemn one however, an episode of deviant behavior, and the eventual decline of a person as they recluse into the digital void and culture miscellania. A produced Youtube edited version is due in 2024.

Season

Three

The Lab.

The Lab is the result of the first two seasons. I was able to demonstrate my ability in gaming and academics to land a fully funded place in a PhD program with a topic on gaming, livestreaming and elite performance. This stream follows Rivalgaz as he studies. Note that Rivalgaz is a persona with his own lore on stream. I have an actual PhD to do though, but character, well, let’s have some fun.

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#nostalgia

gen 1 start screen

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