Creators United is proud to welcome Grant Hinds to the cause! One of South Africa's leading talents in the gaming industry and beyond, Grant has made quite a name for himself. With a recognisable image, an exciting personality, and generally one of the warmest people to ever have a conversation with, he has come from humble beginnings to where he is now - and where he wishes to be in the foreseeable future. Let's take a walk with Grant Hinds and find out his extensive thoughts on the industry at large, and his involvement with Creators United.



What inspired you to be a content creator?
What inspired me to be a content creator? I kind of fell into it. I used to work in television for a very long time, focusing on gaming and technology content. Then realised that a lot of my audience is online and not on TV, so I made the switch to that and focused on my speciality which is games. That’s the thing I love. The rest is history.

Who are your inspirations, and why?
I’m very excited about the space in general. I love live streaming. I love YouTube. I love digital video. I’m super passionate about video games, so the two of them have just come together which is very exciting. So, I think, the platform really motivates me. My first job outside of television, was around a company that revolved around digital video. I learnt a lot. It was one of the most exciting jobs I’ve ever had because we were kind of working out different genres and content within the space. It was very cool, and I feel like we are still in that space. That’s the one exciting thing because when you have an established media like TV, everything kind of locks in. There’s no real innovation in terms of what the content looks like. But if you go to my YouTube channel, you’ll see that we are constantly coming up with new ideas and constantly trying to find new ways to work within the formula. It’s exciting.

What type of content do you create?
My content right now is video game and technology-based content. I like to think of it as lifestyle content with a gaming focus. That might change, but the core pillar, the spine of my content, if you will, is the fact that I’m really excited and passionate about games. I hope to attract other viewers that are passionate about the gaming industry as I am. That’s a big part of what motivates me.

What would you do to further your field in the South African entertainment industry?
I have a couple of content creators that I privately mentor, look after, give tips and advice. I provide a space for them to run their proposals past me and sharpen their proposals, that kind of thing. The other part of it is briefing brands on how to work with other content creators. There’s a lot of money-grabbing, unfortunately, and mismanagement of funds. It ends up looking very bad because they don’t end up investing in other content creators when they have been burnt. So a lot of it is working with brands, to see what they should be looking for when they work with an influencer, and to build sustainable relationships with the content creators. That’s what is going to keep everybody employed in the future, and also, where they will get the most value out of working with influences and digital content creators.

What prompted you to participate in the Creators United?
Creators United is amazing. I got pulled into the space because I love the cause. I love the fact that we are working with a children’s home. That games are getting together over something. There’s a lot of division in the community and it’s good that we can all participate together. That’s what it’s about. I’ve always said gaming doesn’t cure cancer. I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s the fact that we take this industry too seriously. We should be focusing on using this for good and what we are capable of doing. I think the Nexus is putting something very exciting with Creator’s United and I’m proud to be involved with it. I think more gamers should stand together and make it happen.

Have you ever worked with any charity events before?
I have worked with charities before. I worked with the Greyton Farm Animal Sanctuary in Greyton Mcgregor. We have raised money for them and for the SPCA. The Greyton Sanctuary is great. They’re a farm that rescues animals what would be going to the slaughter or abused on meat farms. They spread a lot of awareness of animal rights and animal cruelty - what we can do to curb it, what it looks like, how we can escape it as a society. Literally, hands-on looking after animals, which I think is great. I think we should be doing way more charity work when it comes to gaming and live streaming. Using our influence for good.

When you’re not a content creator/superhero, what do you do in your daily life?
When I’m not a content creator, I have a cat that’s currently playing with me. I love watching Netflix. I love the cinema. I think cinema is an underated experience. The smell of popcorn and the enjoyment of a franchise, something that we are just excited about - it’s just a quiet place that you can just chill in. Also, I enjoy going to the gym. I enjoy running and getting my mind off of things. Running is probably the clearest my mind gets, which is great.

What are the greatest difficulties you’ve faced being a content creator?
There are a lot of difficulties with being a content creator. It’s not an easy task. I think the greatest difficulty is competition. There’s an unnecessary amount of competition between content creators. Which sucks, I think. We should all be working together and building each other up in the industry.

More realistically, the daily grind. I think it’s very hard to just switch on and stream. There’s a lot of things preventing you from doing it like: dodgy bandwidth, hardware that keeps breaking, and the impotence to script and film something is quite tough. You have to step through that stuff and make it work, you know? It’s very challenging.

How did you feel when your content was appreciated for the first time?
It’s a couple of things. I felt first appreciated when people came up to me. There’s a lot of South African support, and I get that. There was a big moment for when I was in the UK at a bus stop and somebody recognised me and told me they loved my videos. It was heartwarming that someone from another hemisphere decided to watch my videos instead of doing their homework, but still, benefit from my content.

You work with a lot of distributors and retailers here and someone from abroad goes “Wow! That campaign was so good”, and share that communication with me. It’s a huge honour to contribute to the games industry, not only from an audience perspective but also giving back to the brands that are basically fighting for this kind of marketing abroad. It’s easy for Activision and MSI or whoever to do some really cool stuff in the first world because there’s an established bunch of content creations. But to come up with innovative and creative solutions for our space, and get noticed for it, is hard. It’s nice when working with a brand and a PR manager gets super excited because they got the thumbs up and approval from head office, which gets our area used as a case study. That’s amazing and that’s happening with some of our stuff before. It’s a huge honour.

What is your ultimate goal as a content creator?
My ultimate goal as a content creator, is really to have fun. I know that sounds staged or cheesy, but I’m able to do this full-time. I’m extremely fortunate. I don’t know how long this is going to last. I don’t know what new medium we are going to be and where it is going. What I’ve found about content creation, is that it’s not like accounting where you have a career outlined for you. You’re essentially within the industry as it progresses and evolves, which is extremely exciting and I'm grateful to be a part of it. That’s kind of what’s interesting, is that around the corner you never know what you’re going to be and what you’re going to be and what the space is going to look like in a year’s time when algorithms change. If you need job security, content creation is not for you, but if you enjoy discovering new things, this is the space for you.

Quick-Fire Questions
Favourite dinosaur?
It’s got to be a velociraptor. I actually like the deinonychus (a larger velociraptor). I really like the agility of those dinosaurs.

Why did you choose your specific handle?
I’ve never really understood gaming tags. I’ve had a couple in the past and they were always lame, so I just used my own name. Then kind of stuck with it because it’s more recognisable.

Favourite video game?
Probably in all-time, is going to have to be Half-life. I enjoy Overwatch and Fortnite, but a lot of these are with you for a season and you move on. The game that made the biggest impact has to be Half-Life 2. Oh, actually, Rainbow Six. I never got to play much of Rainbow Six Siege, but I really loved the games that have come before.

How did you get here?
I was storyboarding for a cartoon show. That was my first job. I studied advertising. The cartoon show worked with a whole bunch of live TV shows. I ended up doing a lot of moonlighting gigs on one of the TV shows, just because I was excited about games, without me even having any TV experience. The rest is history.

I think gaming and digital media work well together, because they’re both forefronts, interesting spaces. I look at the #metoo movement, and I like to think that all started with games with Anita Sarkeesian’s content and feminist frequency content, which has bled to mainstream media. I think gaming is always at the forefront of stuff, which is always exciting.

What’s your favourite and least favourite food?
Not a fan of cottage pie, but my favourite meal has to be the Beyond Burger.

Favourite Pokemon?
I always revert back to Pikachu. I always have a season of liking Jigglypuff, but I end up going back to Pikachu. I think it’s because I have Pikachu pyjamas.

Has being a role model to others affected how you go about your daily life?
I think it has. The moment people started following me and saying I’m a role model to them. I felt like I needed to be more accountable. How would you like a content creator to conduct themselves towards you and their audience? Their ideals and principles that they’re upholding, would it be the same ones that you’re upholding? It’s kind of why I have a huge challenge with content creators who put on personalities. I feel like their audience doesn’t know that they’re in a character. Their ideals might be different from the characters that they’re playing. I think authenticity within YouTube and Twitch is upheld as one of the reasons that the platform is so popular.

Mark your calendars for Creators United, happening July 27th and 28th at the Nexus Hub venue! Make sure you join in to see Grant Hinds, and many other content creators collaborate to raise funds for the Abraham Kriel Bambanani Children's Non-Profit. Our theme is superheroes!