Community Focus - InDeeDee

Apr 15, 2022 - Hippy

In kindness and in good faith, one Twitch Mom takes the streaming world by storm while brainstorming some amazing ideas for the world of Destiny.

Part of the beauty of this ongoing Community Focus series is that it’s about celebrating everyone. The streamers, the crafters, the passionate players, the accessibility-drivers; every Guardian that makes up the Destiny 2 community has a little something special they bring to the world, and our latest spotlight is no exception. Meet Dee, also known as InDeeDee and – in her community – known as Twitch Mom. She is a Brit living in Australia doing what she can to make the gaming community a little bit brighter. She’s also very adamant that her name is not in relation to Pokémon, and that she came before her cartoon counterpart (so take that).

Ready to get started? Let’s rock ‘n roll, buckaroos!

Stoked to have you chatting with us today, Dee! Before we get rolling here, tell us a little bit about yourself! Who are you, how are you, what’s the good word?

Hey everyone! I’m InDeeDee (not the Pokémon – I had the name first), but please call me Dee. A little bit about me? Hmm, I’m a gamer wife, a cat and Twitch mother, as well as a lover of all things fantasy and science fiction. I love to cook, I love to create anything my mind can come up with, and I love to inspire. I also recently moved to Australia from the United Kingdom for my marriage, so needless to say there has been a little bit of an adjustment period going on for me [laughs].

Regarding games, I will play almost anything, though I can’t do the horror genre. I just really love to create content on anything that tickles my fancy. Destiny has definitely been my go-to game both on and offline. There is just something really relaxing when grinding for “pinnies” (Pinnacles), or just driving my Sparrow around the EDZ. Outside of Destiny, I teach streaming tips via my own personal little Twitch stream school based on my own past experiences.

I love the term “Twitch Mom,” I think that’s adorable! One thing is for sure, the positivity in your community is absolutely infectious and your community seems to be the absolute sweetest. What made you want to start streaming in the first place?

Aw, thank you so much! I started streaming because a close friend once told me, “You’re a bit of a socialite, you should stream.” Back then, I didn’t really pay much attention to him because he had only just gotten into streaming himself and my main focus was just to support him. But after a bit of nagging, he eventually roped me into trying it out for myself and honestly? It has been the best decision I have ever made. It helps me to spread a little positivity, and it helps me to be seen in a positive way, so there will always be a part of me that will be thankful to him for giving me that nudge.

Friends supporting friends, you love to see it. Speaking of streaming, making content and creating communities is hard work and it requires a lot of focus. It’s also a massive investment! What sort of ups and downs have you had when creating your own mark on Twitch? Any advice for newcomers hoping to leave their own mark in gaming?

This is a great question because I, like most, have had some serious lows, but the highs have always outweighed that for me. First and foremost is that being a Black woman gamer has been a challenge, as diversity has always seemingly been lacking in the gaming scene. So, when it came down to building a community in a scene that was dominated by a particular demographic, I kept pushing the boundaries I felt I was going up against and continued to reach out to others while joining other supportive communities. Because of that, I was able to create something that made me feel safe and confident, which I hope helped encourage others to feel the same.

For anyone coming into the gaming world, my advice to you is to always believe in your own light, because that’s what people will notice you for.

As a lover of puns, I am choosing to believe that the last part of that answer was a Destiny reference. Nice. Oh look, a segue! I love your Destiny content, specifically, especially when you stream raids! When did you get into Destiny and how has your relationship with this universe changed over the years?

Thank you so much! I do love me a good raid; I’m still very proud that my team managed to clear the Vault of Glass, Deep Stone Crypt, Last Wish, and the Garden of Salvation raids (consecutively) in four hours and twenty-six minutes. It was such a proud moment for us and oddly, we know where we can shave even more time off now.

Regarding when I started to dive into Destiny, it was pre-alpha for Destiny 1. A small group of us were able to be a part of the magic, as it was being created, as play testers and it’s been a heck of a journey since then. I will be honest though, my love for Destiny 1 was up and down, which caused me to take a small break when playing the first game. The breaks never lasted long because I kept finding people that loved playing and it always got me excited again to jump back in. When Destiny 2 dropped, I was excited because I loved the new changes from the first game. What I do love about Destiny 2 in comparison is that the story is so much more fleshed out. Yeah, the first Destiny had a story, but it felt like the skeleton of the series. Seeing the progression of it all through the years, though, has made me so happy. The narrative has really pushed my love for the game way higher, especially with how Beyond Light felt like it was getting us prepped for The Witch Queen, which has been phenomenal.

The story has been one of my favorite parts too, and the ability that the narrative team has to make us care about characters we never thought we’d care about (looking at you, Crow). OK, OK, let’s pivot for a second because I need to ask you a question that is a tale as old as time: Team Titan, Team Warlock, or Team Hunter?

I am Team Hunter through and through and have been since Destiny 1, though as time moved on, I did find an affinity for Team Warlock too. But no, I’m still Team Hunter, that won’t change. I do like a good Titan on my team, though [laughs]. I think that with the building mechanics that we all have, each class has the ability to be great, you just must feel comfortable in said abilities. I will add though that Titans need a little bit of Bungie love now, although Thundercrashing raid bosses in one damage phase is more than a little interesting. As a Hunter, I can say that we’ve gotten a lot of love from the studio, I wouldn’t mind seeing that love spread around to other classes.

Speaking of our own characters and helping them live up to their full potential, let’s get creative for a second: imagine you could build your own dream subclass, no rules and no restrictions. What would that look like?

Oh, this is fun! If I could create my own subclass, it would be called something like Kortex or Vesyl. It would be along the lines of having poison or earth abilities, where Guardians would be able to take down enemies like the Scorn.

The color itself would be green, because that’s my favorite color, and the supers would look something like this:
A throwing scepter (similar to the Synaptic spear)
Dual blades with poison abilities that behave similarly to Spectral Blades
A poison bow as a Super that has up to five arrows as part of its damage

That’s my subclass.

OK, you pulled that out really quickly, I’m impressed! But I like where your head is out and now you’ve got me all curious: what else would you like to see come to Destiny? Any features, story arcs, or characters you’d like to see make a return?

As a Hunter, you honestly can’t expect me to leave out Cayde-6, but I understand that’s not really possible and likely won’t ever happen, so I’ll say Colonel, his trusty chicken.

As a lover of Oryx (which, don’t laugh, but that’s what I named my car), I would love to see him return somehow. That being said, I think it’s about time for Xivu Arath to finally make her appearance. I think we’ve all been waiting for her to arrive just because she’s the strongest of the three siblings.

As for features, I have a long list of things I would love to see in the game, but my main request would center around three asks:

Drops: Once a player hits a certain Power level, they will never see another blue engram drop. Instead, solely Legendaries or Enhancement Cores, maybe through in some Bright Dust everyone in a while and Prisms as a special (and rare) treat. A good example of why I think this would be important is because right now, there’s no real reason to do Lost Sectors or search out random loot chests after you reach a certain level in-game.
Silver vs. Bright dust: I think that Silver should be given a newer purpose, as we know that the store items have a chance of becoming available for Bright Dust soon after in the Eververse shop. I know I’m not alone in saying that Silver would be flowing if we could use it for things like legacy cosmetics or more vault space.
Shader creation: I know this is a total long shot, but it is something I’ve wanted for a long time. Guardians, we love to make our characters look amazing, and shaders are one of the easiest ways to make ourselves stand out. So, for me, I think that rotating the shader orientation to give us a wider color palette would be awesome, that way you could tweak where the colors go and how it pulls the entire look together. That, and the ability to apply shaders onto all Exotic ornaments for weapons would be amazing.

To be fair, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, if you couldn’t already tell [laughs].

Your brain is a phenomenal place, Dee. Well now I feel comfortable getting a bit weird, so hear me out. I heard this wild theory the other day that someone pitched that they thought that we, the Guardian, were secretly the Traveler. It was so wild, I could not really follow how they got to that conclusion, but it did send me into a rabbit hole of interesting fan theories. Got any juicy ones of your own for what you think will happen next in Destiny?

Oh, that theory is intriguing but knowing that the Traveler is a being that grants the Light to whomever it sees fit, I don't think that theory would fully work. But that’s not to say it wouldn't be possible, more surprising things have happened.

The Traveler’s twin is the Pyramid so we have the Light and the Dark, but a possible theory would surround what else is out there. What others like the Traveler are out there because we've heard that he is possibly not the first of its kind and the Witness, I think, is the overseer of it all. In fact, I wonder if we get to see the creators of all of these races that we have and if we're just one small part of a bigger metaverse.

Tinfoil hat, activate.

The Witness, that was a trip. I remember audibly gasping in a meeting when we first learned about who they are. It’s going to get interesting, that’s for sure!

Whether it be Destiny or your streaming journey in general, is there anything you’d like to say to the gaming community at large, while we’ve got you?

From a Destiny viewpoint, I have always treated it like a relationship, so there have been ups and downs. But overall, it has been something I have loved because it’s allowed me to find people that I can connect with, be it through streaming or otherwise.

To the gaming community, I want us – as a group – to keep elevating one another and to fully be there to inspire the developers that make the games we love to continue making things that we, as players, can relate to and love.

I dig it. Thank you so much for taking the time to hang out with us today, Dee! Anyone you’d like to shout out here with a special message while you’ve got the metaphorical microphone? And, before we let you go, be sure to also let the community know where they can find you and help support you in your continued journey.

Thank you so much for having me, I’ve loved talking about all of this! I would love to give a huge shoutout to Team Swifty, my clan. We’ve got some of the most amazing people I have ever met, we have everything from Witherhoard champions to PvP gods, and I adore them all.

For those looking to find me outside of here, you can find me on Twitch and Twitter, as well as TikTok. For those that want to watch Destiny content, I am planning a Destiny 2 tournament in the near future where I will be giving the winner Silver. We’ve run a few previously, so doing another one is really exciting to me! We’re also hoping to run raids back-to-back again to see if we can beat our former best time, though this time Vow of the Disciple will be the latest addition.

You should definitely go support Dee if you’re looking for a positive community, entertaining stream-age, or if you’re just looking for tips on how to get started on your own journey!

And that’s a wrap on our latest Community Focus! I know we say this every week, but we’re going to just keep beating this particular drum because it’s true: thank you to all of those in the Destiny community. The ones who aren’t afraid to be themselves, the ones who aim to be their own Light in a seemingly murky world, and the ones who inspire us. You’re all incredible and never let anyone make you feel otherwise.

Before we let you go, be sure to check out last week’s Community Focus articles. That’s right, we had two last week! You can learn more about Prone here and the accessibility efforts of MitchySlaps here.

Until next time, be kind, kick butt, and get those drops!

“I should go,”

<3 Hippy