Creator Spotlight – Makakar

Our latest Creator Spotlight features a piratical plunderer who sails the seas of creativity with contagious enthusiasm. Well known for his captivating content and championing of charity causes, this streamer brings a treasure trove of energy and good vibes with many smiles along the way. Take a seat with us as we chat to Community Stream Team member, Makakar!

Interested in signing up to the Sea of Thieves Creator Crew? Find out more here.

[Q]: What was your introduction to the world of games?

[A]: I was about 4 years old when my dad introduced me to Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle on my his (at the time) ‘blazing fast’ 150mhz PC!

From then I was hooked, all the way from Banjo-Kazooie, Red Faction and Half-Life to energy drink-laden teenage years playing every Call of Duty religiously on launch.

[Q]: How did you become part of the Sea of Thieves community?

[A]: A friend during one of our socially isolated Covid events asked if I wanted to do some pirating on this little game they found called Sea of Thieves (he was a little scared!).

I had no idea what I was doing, got lost on every island and spent half an hour trying to find the keybind to bring up the map, and was in awe of our first Kraken fight. We lost, of course.

Since then, I’ve been hooked (it’s not an addiction, I can stop at any time I swear!). Got my wonderful wife into SoT, we even went so far as to have a group singalong to ‘We Shall Sail Together’ at our wedding!

[Q]: How did creating content become your ‘thing’?

[A]: I never thought I was creative. I can’t draw anything more impressive than a stick man and once caused a Games Workshop employee to have a near-breakdown over my inability to paint.

After seeing someone else start streaming, I started to have all these ideas come to me, and after some encouragement I took the plunge as well.

It was at that point I realised that being ‘creative’ didn’t just mean being an artist but can apply to creating digital scenes and all the tech that goes into a stream, from learning C# for all the backend parts of the stream, to Photoshop and After Effects to create the Kraken Wiggles.

[Q]: How do you decide what kind of content to create?

[A]: It’s going to sound clichéd, but I let the seas decide! Part of the draw of Sea of Thieves is the sandbox nature of the game where anything can happen.

When it comes to creating content for streaming, usually something will just come to me that just seems cool and I’ll have to immediately write it down before I forget.

[Q]: What are some of the challenges you’ve faced while creating content?

[A]: Balancing a full-time job and a family. Whilst my amazing wife gives me a lot of encouragement and support, after a long day of work some days, it is a challenge to fully get into the mindset of creating exciting content.

Networking has also been a pain point for me. Whilst I can happily sit in front of a mic and camera and stream for hours, reaching out to people has caused me anxiety in the past. Luckily the Sea of Thieves community is also super welcoming which has made it much easier to slowly come out of my shell.

[Q]: What different channels do you have?

[A]: My Twitch channel, TikTok where for some reason you guys went crazy for me missing my cannons during an Hourglass match, YouTube and Twitter/X.

[Q]: What’s been your most memorable Sea of Thieves moment so far?

[A]: Two things will always stick with me. The first being the first time our crew encountered the Kraken. All four Gally cannons firing, getting wrapped up and that moment of confusion when getting sucked up into the Kraken’s mouth!

The second was doing Glitterbeard with an all-natural server alliance, crews from all over the world coming together to celebrate the memories of one person. It always brings me to tears.

[Q]: What do you enjoy most about the game now, and what are you looking forward to in future?

[A]: CHAOS! You never know what will happen each time you load in. Will there be a full server-wide battle over a Fort of Fortune? Will you take a new pirate under your wing? Or just have a nice relax and enjoy a beautiful sunset?

I’m excited to see where Sea of Thieves will go in the future, with the possible expansion of Reaper’s Bones Emissary and all the behind-the-scenes technical improvements it’s going to be an exciting next few years!

[Q]: What’s something you’re particularly proud of accomplishing in gaming?

[A]: Being the most feared Spy back in the MMO Star Wars Galaxies, probably explains why I embrace the chaos so much!

Outside of gaming it’s got to be the charity work I’ve been involved with over the last few years, from raising money for GameBlast to taking on walking across fire for Women’s Aid.

[Q]: How did you come up with your channel name?

[A]: Mak just became a nickname through school, and I put that into a fantasy name generator when I created my World of Warcraft account years ago.

[Q]: What do you like to get up to when you’re not making videos?

[A]: I’m part of a large D&D campaign that may have gone off the rails at times, something about magic beans, a tree in a toilet and a village fire. Not sure how that happened…

I’m always tinkering with something. As a massive tech-head there’s always something on the go, such as the 3D Printed Talking Flameheart Skull that I’m currently working on.

[Q]: What advice would you give to a new content creator?

[A]: Have fun with it! Do the usual test streams, check audio and video but above all else have fun. Whether you’re streaming to one person or 1000 people, it’s only worth it if you’re enjoying it.

Growth for some happens quickly, for others it comes after a while. Don’t give up and don’t be afraid to try something different and reach out to people.

[Q]: What’s one thing you would advise a content creator not to do?

[A]: Don’t look at the numbers, turn them off completely to start with. Don’t feel frustrated if you miss a stream due to IRL stuff going on, these things happen. Stay positive, take a breath and come back stronger than before.

[Q]: Could you give us one more random fact about yourself?

[A]: I despise cucumbers. They are only fit for the fiery pits of hell!

That’s all for this Spotlight! Huge thanks to Makakar for taking the time to talk with us, we’re always eager to see what mischief he gets up to and will be sure to hop on deck and say hello when we next meet him on the seas. Don’t forget to check out our full Community Stream Team line-up!

Keep up with all the latest from Sea of Thieves by following us on our many social channels. You can also find previous Creator, Community and Legend Spotlights in our News section, catch the latest activity in our Community Hub and check out all our current Partners in the Sea of Thieves Partner Directory. Until next time!