This 31-year-old overcomes his own insecurities through his Twitch streaming hobby

For most people, putting yourself out on a public platform may seem daunting. 

But for Muhammad Zulhilmi, a 31-year-old Twitch streamer, it brings him joy and helps him unwind after a long day at work. 

Zulhilmi, who goes by the moniker Mizuhill on Twitch, mainly streams first-person shooter (FPS) games like Valorant, Halo Infinite and Call of Duty. He initially started streaming on Facebook Gaming with a few friends. 

‘We just decided to do it (start streaming ourselves) one day,” says Zulhilmi, who adds that – he made the move over to Twitch in order to grow his audience base. 

“The reason why I made the move was because I didn’t feel I was growing anymore. I wasn’t reaching the audience that I needed,” Zulhilmi says. 

Zulhilmi typically streams for about three to four hours a day in the evening. Apart from FPS games, he plays story-based games too, which allows him to interact with his viewers more. 

That was one thing that Zulhilmi emphasised plenty during an hour-long interview with Youthopia from his Tampines home: Engaging with his viewers takes on a huge importance in his streaming journey. 

“I like to do content which is very interactive so I can engage my viewers and learn more about the people who support me,” shares Zulhilmi. 

“So usually, I’ll be playing high-energy level games, and then towards the last hour I’ll chat with my viewers to catch up with them.” 

While it seems like Zulhilmi is a natural at streaming, it wasn’t always the case. When he first started, he felt insecure about his curvy physical appearance. He learnt to deal with it over time, overcoming that sense of insecurity he felt, thanks in part from the encouragement he received from his viewers. 

Not only that, his viewers also guided him along the way when he made mistakes with his streams – like how he turned himself orange because the visuals were oversaturated. 

As someone who had no prior knowledge about streaming, Zulhilmi relied a lot on online resources, such as Google and YouTube. He also watched other streamers, such as Tim the Tatman and Harris Heller to learn the ropes. 

Along the way, he also got to know several streamer friends and they provided him pointers too. 

“They were more than happy to help me set up my stream and teach me streaming etiquettes,” Zulhilmi says.

It is also why Zulhilmi, with a few years of streaming experience under his belt now, tries to help out new streamers by showcasing what they do while he’s streaming. During his streams, Zulhilmi will take the time out to view other local streamers, especially if they are new. He then tries to get his viewers to support them too. 

Zulhilmi believes that what makes him relatable to his viewers is that he does not come across as someone who is an expert in what he does. He readily admits that he isn’t the best videogamer on Twitch. 

“Even if you are bad at the game, you can make it into a content where it’s funny. Some people are just laughing at you, some people will try to help you,” says Zulhilmi.

“The whole point of playing a game I’m bad at is also to show people that the game is not as easy as it sounds. It’s a learning process, even if you’re bad, you can use that to set goals for yourself on the stream, so that your viewers can support you.” 

Currently, Zulhilmi has 913 subscribers. He has a goal of making it to 1,000 subscribers, and increase the number of viewers per stream to 30 at least. At the same time, Zulhilmi is wary of chasing these numbers just for the sake of it. 

A married man with a full-time job, Zulhilmi explains that his wife and job takes a bigger priority in his life as compared to streaming. 

“To me, priority is going to my wife, then my work, then my hobby. So, as I always tell people on my stream as well, to focus on your real life first before pursuing anything because at the end of the day, you need to live, you need to survive, you need to make sure your household is in order and all that.”

Starting streaming surely took some effort and he has a long way to go, but with his dedication and passion for gaming and sharing his moments with the world, Zulhilimi has managed to achieve his dreams. He continues to work hard to expand his fan base. 

To those who wish to start streaming: “The best advice I can give is probably start with what you have. Don’t go out [to] buy expensive equipment…only to realise that maybe streaming is not for you…talk to friends who are already streamers to help you.” 

Like what he said: “Just have fun. Whatever you do, as long as you’re having fun, that’s all that matters.”