Seriously. You showing up, hanging out, and being part of this community is the whole thing. Everything on this page is completely optional, and none of it should ever come before taking care of yourself and the people you love.
That said, plenty of folks ask how they can help keep the stream going, so here's the honest rundown: how ads work and why, how to support without paying extra fees, and where your support actually goes.
Nobody likes ads, me included. But they're a necessary part of the platform, and how I run them is actually built to be easier on you, not harder. Here's exactly how and why.
I run the minimum requirement of 3 minutes of ads per hour, and there are a few real reasons I stick to that instead of skipping them.
Running these scheduled ads disables the pre-roll ads new viewers get hit with. Pre-rolls are the death of a channel. Nobody waits through an ad to find out if they like a new streamer. Keeping them off means new folks can walk in the door instantly.
Twitch doesn't say it outright, but channels that don't run ads tend not to get surfaced in the recommended channels. Running them helps the stream actually get discovered by people who'd fit right in here.
Worth clearing up: I control the 3 minutes, not how many ads fill them. That might be two longer ads or several short ones. That part is entirely up to Twitch and the ad lengths, not me.
If I don't run the minimum, Twitch slashes my revenue split from 55% down to 30%. So it's less "this pays the bills" and more a giant platform holding that cut over my head. I'd rather just meet the minimum and keep what little there is.
A few things I do to keep it painless: I generally play right through the ad breaks so the stream keeps moving. Twitch has cracked down on channels that pause to dodge ads, so I keep the action going to protect the channel's standing. When I do need a real break for water or the restroom, I try to sync it with an ad block. And when I step away, I'll fire up Words on Stream or Gartic so you can play along and win fish while I'm gone.
Subscribing removes ads for you and is a huge help to the channel, but only if you do it the smart way. The mobile app quietly charges you extra, and I'd rather you keep that money.
First, what a Twitch sub actually unlocks for you:
Now the important part: don't buy subs or bits through the mobile app. Apple and Google take a cut, and Twitch passes that straight to you as a markup. Same sub, same bits, more money out of your pocket.
Skip the app tax with these links. Open them in your phone's browser (Chrome, Safari, whatever) instead of the app, or just type !save in chat and the bot drops both links for you.
This one supports me directly at the fair price. It's also the only way to use your free Prime sub on mobile, so if you've got Prime, this is how you claim it on your phone.
Full honesty: buying bits here doesn't specifically credit my channel like the sub link does. But it saves you real money over the app, and I'd rather you keep it. Cheer them wherever you like afterward.
Sub-versary treat. Every 12 months you've been subscribed, I celebrate your loyalty by eating a mini sour candy live on stream. Same deal as the beans: it's about the taste and the reaction, not swallowing. A year of support deserves a little fun at my expense.
Tips are never expected, but if you want to support the team directly (and maybe make me regret it a little), here's how it works.
All tips run through my Pally link, and here's the part I love: every tip is split evenly between me and the active mod team. These are the people who keep this community safe and welcoming, so it's the best way to support the folks doing that work alongside me.
You can tip at pally.gg/p/nrvaleck, or just type !tip in chat for the link.
Now for the fun part. The BeanBoozled Challenge is exactly what it sounds like: you can make me eat a truly cursed jellybean. There are four ways to trigger the chaos:
Gifting a sub to the community drops a bean on my plate (and gifted subs unlock emotes for whoever receives them).
A 500-bit cheer earns a bean. Grab your bits the cheap way first (see above) so more of it goes further.
Every $5 tipped to the team is one bean. Simple as that.
Beans swim in our pond as legendary fish too. More on the fishing below.
One firm ground rule, because I've been pushed on it more than I'd like: I do not swallow the beans. The whole point is the taste and the reaction, not making myself sick. I group them and eat about five at a time (one at a time takes forever and keeps sugar on my teeth way too long), get the flavor, and spit them out. I've swallowed well over a thousand of these things over the years and it genuinely isn't good for me, so that part isn't on the table. Please don't ask me to. The reaction is the reward.
Also worth knowing: beans are triggered by gifted subs, bits, and tips, not regular subs. A regular sub is its own kind of awesome and comes with all the perks up above.
We've got a fishing extension with real rewards hidden in the water as "legendary fish," and it's one of the more fun ways to win stuff on stream.
Lurking in the pond are actual prizes: BeanBoozled beans, sour candies, and IRL trading card packs. The TCG lineup includes One Piece, Magic: The Gathering, Lorcana, Digimon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Pull a legendary fish and you might just trigger a pack opening live on stream.
Quick heads up on the card packs: the fun is the shared experience of ripping them open on stream and seeing what we pull together. I keep the cards themselves, they're not mailed out to viewers. It's about the moment, not a prize you take home.
Claim a daily fish with channel points, 100 points, once per stream per day. The bot tracks your redeems, so you can see how many times you've collected it. This is also the reliable way to check the extension is working.
Community games like Words on Stream, Gartic, Bingo, and Raid Fish hand out fish to winners.
Raid the stream and, as a thank-you for sharing your audience with us, you get 10 fish. Every raid is welcome here, big or small. Anyone who brings their people to hang out is doing us a kindness, and we don't snub that.
Hit a 100-stream watch streak and I'll toss you 10 fish as a thank-you for showing up all that time, plus a shot at pulling something good out of the pond.
Two honest notes. The !fish command is off for viewers on purpose. It clogs chat, and keeping fishing tied to daily claims, donations, game wins, and raids makes the real pulls way more exciting (and stops one person hogging the pond all stream). Also, bits and sub donations can earn fish, but Twitch changes their API pretty often and it breaks that connection through no fault of ours. When it breaks I can't track "owed" fish, so please tip to tip. If you specifically want to fish, claim your daily channel-point fish first and ask Val or the mods to confirm the pond's working.
Some folks like to send something more tangible than a tip. Totally optional, same as everything else here. There are two ways to do it, and I'll be straight with you about the trade-offs of each.
Games I've got my eye on. This is the one I'd point you to first, gifting straight through Steam means no marked-up shipping or middleman fees, and it lands directly.
Gear and goodies, shipped without exposing my home address. Fair warning: Throne adds its own markup on items that mostly ship from Amazon, so it can run pricier than it should. Handy for the privacy, but the Steam list is the better value.
Real talk: please don't feel any pressure here. A wishlist gift is a genuinely kind thing, but it's never expected, and I'd rather you keep your money than stretch for it. If you want to give and value matters to you, Steam is the honest pick. And here's a money-saving trick, grab the key through my Loaded link to score a big discount, then send the key straight to me. You save, the stream gets a little support, everybody wins. More on Loaded in the Shop & Save section below.
Some of the easiest support costs you nothing extra. These are brands I actually use, and clicking through (or using my code) sends a little back to the stream at no added cost to you. A few even save you money.
10% off game servers for Hytale, Palworld, Minecraft and more. They also sponsor the NR Community Hytale server.
My go-to for game keys without paying full price. Grab titles cheap and support the stream doing it.
My full gear list: PC parts, streaming equipment, and everything I actually use on stream.
More recommended gear and everyday picks, with commissions that support the stream.
Use code NRValeck when buying the game or cosmetics to support the stream directly. A full how-to is coming soon.
Every bit of this is optional. Take care of yourself and your people first, always. If you've read this far, you already care, and that means more than any sub or tip ever could.