In the dynamic realm of livestreaming, Tectone, the charismatic Twitch streamer and One True King member stands out. His magnetic personality and unapologetic style have catapulted him to fame, as he continues to innovate and redefine the landscape of online content creation. With exciting projects like the engaging podcast "Steak & Eggs" and the uniquely entertaining online game show "Emote Only," Tectone pushes the boundaries of what is possible within gaming content, always striving to offer something fresh to his audience.

Inven Global interviewed Tectone, delving into his experiences joining OTK and the ways it has inspired him to reach new heights. He shared his thoughts on what sets him apart from other content creators, highlighting his dedication to excellence and his passion for continually evolving his work. Tectone's determination to challenge the status quo and maintain his unique blend of humor, creativity, and ambition has undeniably carved out a special place for him within the gaming world.

Thanks so much for talking, Tectone! You've been with One True King (OTK) as a content creator for some time now. Reflect on the process of joining the organization. 

Joining OTK was a really big goal for me, because a lot of the content creators that were in this org heavily affected me since I was pretty young. I've been watching Asmongold for a super long time, as well as Mizkif, and some former members as well. When it came down to joining an org, I had other offers. I was sitting there playing Genshin Impact, and one of the former members of OTK came into my chat — they would come in every now and then. They would always lose his s*** and laugh, and talk about how great my streams were. Then later after stream they invited me into a Discord call with Asmongold and Tips, and offered to have me join! It was hilarious.

Now what I wasn't expecting in joining OTK — because obviously, I knew that's what I wanted even before I joined — is how they do content like nobody else really does. We actually hang out on and off stream, and we actually give a f*** about each member. Because there are a lot of orgs where you might not even know you're own org mate, because they're so big with so many members. I liked that. I was always someone that liked smaller schools where I could know everyone, rather than giant schools. I hated the idea of being another nameless face in a school. I always liked being in something where each member there felt like they were there for a purpose, rather than having millions upon millions of members (not to take shots at other orgs, it's just what I prefer). I like that because I can actually make an impact (a Genshin Impact).

How have you changed as a streamer since joining OTK?

Joining OTK has definitely changed my direction as a streamer. Initially, with the popularity of Genshin Impact, it was possible to get like 4,000 to 5,000 viewers doing absolutely f*** all. The game was so popular, it didn't matter what you did, people would want to sit in that category and watch it. 

That made me very stagnant as a content creator, because it didn't push me outside of my comfort zone to actually try and make good content or do cool things. I would just go live and walk around for three to four hours, and that's the stream. And it would do really well analytically. Really well. But it wasn't satisfying my creative bones. Even though I would get more viewers playing this game, I realized it didn't matter if I was the one playing it.

When I joined OTK, there was this overwhelming sense that I had the ability to do exciting things, and actually make content instead of grinding numbers. I could do things that people will remember. I've done a forty-two day subathon, full roleplaying streams, etc. I'm only doing what I want, and I'm hoping I can find an audience that's down for the same s*** that I like to do. My goal has been to break out of only being a streamer famous for covering a single game, that immediately fades away as soon as they play something else.

Over the course of this year, I've done that. I'm going live, doing whatever I want, and I'm incredibly happy with my viewership (I've never wanted to be a 10,000 to 20,000 viewer streamer). I love getting to know my chat and share things with them. I love my f***ing viewers so much. It's been joked about that I'm one of the most parasocial streamers on Twitch, and that's not far off.

But yeah, OTK has given me the chance to show a lot of people what I'm about. And for me, I don't like only showing the good. I'm okay with showing the bad too, because one of the big things about me is that I've been through a lot. If you know my story, you know that I've been through a lot of pretty bad s***. I want to encourage people with my life. So I do like showcasing the bad, and I'm okay knowing that I've made mistakes. So OTK gave me more opportunity to show who I actually am. And I feel I have made genuine connections that have actually made a difference. 

Let's discuss more about that idea of becoming a streamer people care about long-term. That's not an easy task. How have you've been able to accomplish this? What do you believe sets you apart?

I ask myself that question a lot. What it comes down to is that I put a ludicrous amount of in-your-face energy in a lot of streams that I do. A lot of people believe that it's not cool to care and have this lackadaisical attitude about everything, but that's not me.

It's also because I talk to my chat as if they're people — as if there's a face behind the screen. I hope my positivity and energy is infectious. There's a lot of streamers where you go and they're maybe one to two percent away from being a f***ing living corpse. But when I go live, people can feel the energy. They can feel the amount that I care and the amount that I want to be there. 

And I'll be real: when I don't want to be live, I instantly tell my chat. And then I stop streaming. I am such a fortunate guy to be in the career field that I'm in — it's insulting my audience by merely existing there, and not enjoying myself and them being there. It's almost pretentious to a point, where you have what is (in my opinion) the best career on Earth. 

There are people who legitimately don't like streaming — to them it's simply paying the bills. And that to me is crazy, because I don't know how you don't love this. Some say they've done this longer than me, but I've been doing this for four years — at what point am I going to stop liking doing my favorite things every day? Hanging out with my friends, watching funny videos, and playing cool games? 

I understand it to a degree. Things like the drama, having friends I've known for years turn out to be horrible people, and having situations like my divorce being brought up every day are annoying. But in reality, I still get to go live and do my favorite thing, regardless of the drama that comes with it. I believe that people see the attitude that I truly give a f*** about my viewers, but I don't give a f*** about all the noise that comes with being a content creator. I give a f*** in the right places, and I have good energy. I'll also say, I'm f***ing hilarious. 

With having so much care in your work as a streamer, I imagine that also comes with a lot of self-analysis. At the moment, what do you believe is the biggest quality that you need to work on?

There's so much. I do a lot of meditation, and I had a conversation with Dr. K a couple of years ago that really helped. But another thing that really helped me realize who I am is talking to people like Asmongold. He put me on a better path of understanding who I am, as well as amazing people like Tips and Cyr. 

But as far as a big flaw that I have — here's the thing. I really don't see myself as a streamer. Earlier I said I'm one of those parasocial streamers on Twitch. So I forget sometimes that I am live to an audience, and that the things that I say will have repercussions on the platform as a whole sometimes when people decide to clip my stuff and post on LSF. 

And I will say it: sometimes I'm a little bit of a farmer, and I say s*** that I don't mean. I do a lot of deadpan humor, where I will just say f***ed up s*** as a joke. But the problem is that I'm the only person on Earth who knows that I'm joking [laughs]. Everybody else thinks that I'm serious, so that gets me into a lot of issues. So I need to be a little bit more transparent when I'm being a farmer.

I actually talked to Will Neff about this, and he told me, "Tectone, you need to put on a funny voice, because sometimes people don't get it. I know it's funny to you, but wouldn't it be better if we were all in on the laugh?" And I said, "Yeah...that's true." So I'm working on a bit of character voices to make people understand a little better when I'm farming, which has been helping me out a lot. But other than that, I need to be a touch-more careful with what I say. Because, I say some dumb f***ing s***. 

Also...there was a period of my life where when I cared about my friends a lot, I simply told them that. And I still do that, but sometimes people get weird when you say, "Hey, man, I love you and I appreciate you. And I just want you to know that I'm glad that we're friends." Some people do get uncomfortable by that, and that's a part of my personality that I muted a bit. 

But I'm at the point where I've experienced a lot of loss in my life, and I really don't want people to leave this Earth not knowing exactly how I feel about them. So I need to go back to where when I care about somebody, I tell them. Even if it makes things a bit weird at times, I would rather them know that I love them — I would hate for one of my closest friends to ever think that I don't care about them deeply. 

One of the biggest developments you've made is your new podcast, Steak & Eggs. You guys have your released your first episode — tell me about your impressions of it. 

We've currently released two right now, but we have four recorded. It's the best f***ing podcast on Earth — it is ridiculously good. There is not a single thing about that show that is forced at all. We are truly three friends talking about whatever the f*** — throwing consequences out the window. 

And the reason why I believe it works is because me, Emiru, and Amsongold are three of the most out of touch human beings on planet Earth — it's hilarious. It's like watching the government discover aliens for the first time and realizing, "Wow, these people are ludicrously out of touch. I'm surprised they can even get out of the bed in the morning without f***ing dying." 

But I love it. Because we sit there, we record, and there's almost no cuts. There are no awkward pauses or wondering what we're going to say next — there's maybe like six, three-second cuts in each episode — because the conversation is so natural. Me, Emi, and Asmon have known each other for a long time, and we actually do give a f*** about each other. So it's just three friends talking about whatever, we're all really good content creators, and it's a good time all around. And, I say bada** like every other word.

Obviously, part of a good podcast is having strong chemistry between speakers. How would you describe the dynamic between you, Emiru, and Asmongold? 

It's electric dynamite — it's incredible. I've had better conversations on that podcast than I've had in my entire life. Because it's three people who are locked in the conversation that they're having. And it's cool, because for Asmon, I've always known that that dude can like talk for three hours about him taking a s*** [laughs]. That dude can talk about anything for years and actually make people care, which is a crazy ability that he has. 

But for Emiru, I was co-hosting with her for her first ever podcast, and saw her coming out of her shell. And I remember Episode 10 of that podcast — we were sitting there, and Emiru was like, "Wait a minute, I get it now. I've been sitting here trying to think of something smart to say. But neither of y'all are doing that, and you're just saying whatever stupid s*** comes to your mind." And I agreed [laughs]. There is no meditation on what the best thing to say is, or what's the funniest thing to say. It's literally dumping whatever the f*** is in your brain, and seeing where you go. And the places that we've gone with Steak & Eggs are hilarious.

The other big development you've had is a new game show, Emote Only. Talk about the development of that show and your thoughts on it.

So I actually started Twitch because I wanted my own sticker pack. I was watching Trihex and I thought his emotes were s***, and I thought I could make better ones. So I needed to make Partner real quick, that way I could have more emotes. And then slowly over the course of my time on Twitch, I wanted to get more emotes, and now I have a chat that only uses emotes (which is incredibly frustrating, because I can't be a streamer like Mizkif that steals all his jokes from chat — I actually have to be funny and compelling).

But I am a guy that simply likes using emotes. So I find it really funny when I make people do this almost Zoomer-a** game show about making people guess whatever I'm thinking by only using pictures. I find it hilarious. I was worried that it wasn't gonna go well — it was my first ever game show, besides this Genshin-related one that I don't think counts since I already knew it'd be successful since it pertained to that game.

Emote Only has been doing incredible. The guests that we currently have lined up are insane. We have episodes with really established streamers, as well creators I believe will be the future of the platform. I believe in my friends very much. But being able to bring them on my game show and have full control over it is amazing. With how much people have loved it... everybody thought it was gonna be s*** [laughs]. But I've seen only positivity across the board, which means so much to me (not that I can't handle criticism). But it's good and fun. It's trivia with an extra layer of complexity, and I think it's very compelling.

In speaking with other content creators, many feel the game show space has become oversaturated. What do you believe allows your game show to stand out from others?

First, the fact that it's only emotes. Second — and I'll be real — I don't really make it about the game show. I make it about the banter of the game show, and that no matter what happens on Emote Only, there is going to be change for the platform. Because at the end of each show, there's a part where a streamer gets to make an emote of themself. They have to act out an emote. 

And after every episode, all these emotes get clipped, shipped, and from there they've been spammed in chats on the entire platform (at least in my circle). It's because it does have that memorability-factor that people remember for a very long time, because they were there for the creation of what will now be some of their streamers' most popular emotes. So knowing that they will have a confirmed moment like that is the reason why it stands out so much.

What, to you, makes for a good host? How do you succeed in making the show as entertaining as possible?

I make sure that we never miss a beat. Hosting is more than only hosting once the cameras are on. Hosting is also making sure that the contestants are comfortable with each other, as well as comfortable with who they're facing. And creating a dynamic and environment where everyone can be excited to be there is the best thing that I do. Because I know everybody who's there wants to be there, and also loves who they're with and against. It's about creating an electric environment for the best creativity and clips possible.

To conclude, I feel compelled to ask a question about Genshin Impact. How would you currently describe your relationship with the game, and what do you see as your future with it?

My relationship with the game is very confusing to a lot of people. Genshin Impact is a good game. However, it could be much better if the developers would listen to their community a bit more. The dialogue is very bloated, but the moments that happen are very nice. The gameplay that's there is incredible, however, you can't take it to the degrees of which I would like to experience. There is no hardcore aspect. There is no limit testing of your account. There's no reason to do that. 

I like Genshin Impact players. But I find that a lot of people who are chronically playing Genshin, identify as "the community", and think that they're actually dating Hu Tao are a little bit weird. They're a little bit toxic. People talk about character like they're f***ing real, and that s***  is crazy to me. They're some of the weirdest motherf***ers I've ever met. 

But I will admit, that's not everybody. Obviously, I'm a big content creator and I have a huge target on my back — I've been s*** on for things that make no sense by today's means whatsoever. But Genshin's good, and most people who play Genshin are cool. I just think the hardcore, "I'm going to tell my parents that I'm marrying Eula" people are f***ing weird.

Am I gonna go back to the game? I don't know...I could. I don't really have any desire because I don't have anything that I like. Their idea of an expansion is adding in a couple new zones where you collect chests and...I don't know. Do a four hour quest that should be a twenty minute quest, but they bloated it so much, that you have to read all this dialogue from characters you don't give a s*** about. 

They do this thing where they make NPCs the main characters of stories, when in reality you have a roster of over 60 to 70 playable characters — maybe you should use those to develop and see interact. Rather than random f***ing street vendors for 45 minutes that we'll never talk to again. It's insane. 

The problem is Genshin for me isn't a game that's meant to be played a lot. And I don't want to make my chat watch me play a game that's meant to be played for three minutes for four to five hours. I find it insulting to my viewers. So will I play it? Yeah, maybe. Do I have any plans? Not really, but I could. I know the viewership would be good, but to me it's not really about the views. You can say "cap", but if you've seen some of the dumb stuff I've done on stream, I feel you can tell I don't care that much about analytics.

This interview was edited for brevity.