asking this as a system who plans to get into streaming as soon as we’re in the position to be able to do so
have you ever had to deal with dissociation or switching while live and if so How do you deal with it?
sorry if thats too personal a question no worries if you dont want to/have an answer we’re just wondering
a bit personal but still an important question and we know how to talk around the bits that would be dangerous to state publicly. yes, we do experience dissociative episodes and switches quite frequently mid stream. the best thing you can do is be prepared.
we find for us personally, since we have dissociative memory barriers between alters, it's fairly important to prepare ahead of time. we used to keep a sticky note up at all times on our monitor but now, we usually just rely on a notepad document and keeping our streaming software (OBS) open on our second monitor at all times so that if someone switches in, we know instantly that we are streaming. that way, we don't say or do something that would be dangerous to do on stream.
dissociation is another story entirely. for us, our dissociative episodes tend to be more of the "being possessed by another alter and looking through your eyes like windows" kind. but we do get pretty severe episodes where we just feel like we are constantly in a fog no matter who is in control. in those moments, we try to make sure that we set a precedent with every alter ahead of time that if that happens, we are allowed to pivot to something easier or even stop stream entirely if needed. nobody is forced to do anything they aren't comfortable with. this is especially important if you have vulnerable alters such as littles.
of course, every system is different. so i implore you to ask some of the following questions in the context of how it impacts your streaming capabilities. not all of these will be applicable but i felt compelled to include as many possibilities as i could since like i've stated before, we definitely make streaming as a system look easier than it actually is:
what is the extent of memory that is shared between alters? is recent memory easily accessed after switching in? if not, how can you make sure that whoever switches in knows what's happening and what to do, or ensure that they can pivot if needed?
when you switch, is it slow or fast (or does it alternate between both)? if a switch happens quickly, how can you create an environment that instantly conveys that you are streaming without whoever was in front previously being present?
does every alter know the setup for streaming? the details of how it works? even if all alters are presumed to know, do you have a contingency for if someone doesn't (such as in cases of new splits or dormant alters)?
what do you want to convey to your audience about your plurality? do you want individual alters to be identifiable, or would you rather it not matter who is in front? if you do want to convey which alter is fronting for viewers, what methods would be easiest for your system (png tubers, onscreen text, different colored border patterns)?
how can you make this easiest for everyone? a big hurdle to streaming for a lot of people (even outside of OSDD/DID) is making streaming too cumbersome, so what can you do to make things smooth? can you set up bots to give your chat important information that you don't want to repeat? can you make hotkeys that easily toggle between scenes, and have additional games set up for capture if you need to pivot? some of this comes with experience, but what can you do to make it so that it's easy to (safely) go live in under 5 minutes?
what don't you want to say/do? think of the most vulnerable members of your system. holders, littles, infrequent fronters, maladapted parts, etc. what situation might streaming create that is dangerous for them to be in - whether it be an individual danger, a danger to themselves, or the system as a whole - and how can you prepare for that ahead of time?
how can you easily shut down stream if needed for any reason, and how can you make sure that option is always available? can you setup a way to disable mic, visuals, audio, and alerts within a matter of seconds? perhaps a scene or a hotkey? can you similarly shut down messages in chat and clear it's history? explore what options are available in your software and the service(s) you plan to stream on.
these are personal questions to ask for any systems reading this who want to get into streaming. do not talk about these specifics publicly, that can be incredibly dangerous. it's always safer to keep these things close to your chest so others can't use them against you unless you 1000% know what you are doing and have professional support. this really goes for anything related to mental health and especially vulnerable trauma disorders like OSDD/DID. if you have any doubt about talking about something in public, or anyone else in system does, don't say it.
the biggest thing i want to emphasize with all of this is to prepare ahead of time. that is the most important throughline of this post. it will help you to have fun, be entertaining, and STAY SAFE!!!!
