The 5 Reasons Dr DisRespect Became Twitch's #1 Streamer
Violence. Speed. Momentum.
These three words are the gaming mantra of Dr DisRespect, Twitch’s top gaming personality - easily one of the most hilarious, but also most mysterious, streamers online today.
The “Doc’s” influencer career has spanned over a decade of ups and downs, leading him on a fascinating road to the pinnacle of success and valley of controversy, on his way to cementing his legacy as a truly groundbreaking entertainer.
YouTuber Slush provides an excellent documentary-style overview of the Doc’s career - I highly recommend you watch his video to get the full story. If you don’t have time, however, I’ve broken down the top 5 factors that lead to success in the Doc’s incredible career thus far.
1. Jaw-Dropping Creativity and Originality
The Doc did what 99% of streamers never dreamed of doing - he invented a ‘persona’, the Doctor, a macho, 80’s-themed self-styled hero with the brash persona of a fighter pilot crossed with a ruthless mercenary. Most streamers try to be their authentic selves on camera - the Doc went the opposite direction completely, and his ability to separate from the pack paid off.
Put ten FPS (First Person Shooter game) streamers in a room, and you’d have difficulty telling them apart afterwards. But the Doc stands out - he’s one of a kind and he makes sure you know it, too!
2. A Serious Focus on Fun
Ironically, although Doc’s character is deadly serious about being ‘simply the best’, the underlying motivation behind all the over-the-top theatrics is having fun. The Doc just wants you to enjoy the stream, laugh and have a good time. That’s why his character works - it’s genuinely about enjoying yourself, not taking things too seriously (let Doc handle that)
You can tell the Doc really enjoys what he does - entertaining his fans - and that simple pleasure shines through in everything he does. He also spoke at the recent Twitch awards show about how what’s most meaningful to him is providing an outlet for his fans who are struggling and going through difficult obstacles in life.
3. Leveraging Talents to Climb the Ladder
Guy Beahm, the man behind the Doc character, hasn’t always been the mullet-sporting, mustachio’d Twitch streaming legend of today. No, he had more humble beginnings, first entering the scene as the two time winner of a Blockbuster gaming competition for an old-school NBA game. He continued to play shooting games like Halo and COD as he worked a regular job in the corporate world. However, he took his first step towards stardom by beginning to film his fantastic gaming skills and post them online.
He also leveraged another talent, that of being funny while “talking s***” to the opposing team, and thus the Dr DisRespect alter-ego was born.
After a few years as a succesful influencer personality, Guy once again took a step forwards thanks to his skills - he joined Sledgehammer games as a community manager and eventually level designer for the COD franchise. He did this WITHOUT any game design skills or programming experience, instead making the most of his influencer experience thus far to parlay his unique background into a shot at doing what he loved - working in the gaming industry.
In yet another twist, he eventually left the gaming industry to return to streaming full-time - but having used the time off and his experience in the industry to come back stronger than ever, further launching his channel into the upper echelons of gaming stardom.
It just goes to show - if you’re good at just one thing, you can cash in on that skill to build a new one and continue climbing rungs on the ladder towards your ultimate goal.
4. Personal and Professional Resiliency
For all his victories, the Doc has taken some significant L’s as well, both in-game and out. In particular, he was forced to leave the streaming world with a tarnished reputation several years ago when he admitted on stream to having been unfaithful to his longtime wife.
While he admitted his actions were inexcusable, Guy did not let his mistake completely tank his career. After some time off and after regaining the trust of his wife, he eventually returned to streaming, once again stronger than ever - a foul-mouthed gaming phoenix risen from the ashes. His announcement video was particularly entertaining and indicative of the Doc’s profound sense of resiliency and ability to make eating humble pie look good - his wife, clad in intimidating leather, straddled his shoulder with a knife to his throat while he made his penance and revealed he’d be coming back to Twitch, better than ever.
The Doc has left and returned to streaming many times over his career - but thus far, nothing has proven capable of keeping him gone for long.
5. Sick Gaming Skills
It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what makes the Doc such an endearing, charismatic figure within the gaming community - there are a mix of many factors including what we’ve already covered, such as his amusing persona and focus on fun entertainment.
But more key than anything else has been something even more basic - the Doc rocks as video games.
As one of the top FPS players anywhere, Dr DisRespect is able to treat his audience to frequent wins and victories, upping the entertainment factor and helping his audience share in the winning feeling. He was one of the pioneers of the Battle Royale genre (H1Z1, PUBG, etc) of games, and cemented his legacy as one of the top players in this category.
Well, we hope this summary revealed the key’s to the Doc’s success with speed and momentum (but skipping the violence, thankfully). What do you think? Leave a comment below with what other factors you think made Doc the legend that he is. And, be sure to check out Slush’s short documentary of the Doc here.
