"We have 10 seconds. All right. I'm ready, let's do it."

The swiped launch sequence is from NASA and it introduces Ashley Ford, an Austinite better known to her online viewers as "Crasskitty." There's a rocket taking off, funny cat GIFs superimposed onto the video and Crasskitty herself, green-screened in from her apartment on a Friday afternoon.

She's shot into orbit and out of a cannon, purple-haired and fast-talking, as the webcam and studio microphone transmit her show over Twitch, a popular home for 1.7 million "Streamers" like her and about 9.6 million daily active users, many of whom watch streams like Ford's.

Twitch started in 2011 as a spinoff of a popular live-streaming site Justin.tv. In 2014, it was acquired by Amazon for $970 million, a testament to what a juggernaut it had become within a global gaming community glued to so-called "Let's Play" videos. In them, players comment along as they play video games and stream the videos publicly, engaging in chat with viewers. Broadcasters can stream their gameplay off a PC, some mobile devices and from game consoles such as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The company, based in San Francisco, plans to open an Austin office in July.

"Hi guys, how are you, what's your day like, what's your life like?" Crasskitty fires into the mic and the response is immediate. Someone named "Cold Phoenix" subscribes to her stream for five months at $4.99 a month, bringing additional income to her collection of about 150 subscribers.

When that happens, it deserves a salute.

"Cold Phoenix," Crasskitty says over more space footage, "Five long, hard, delicious, thick months. Five months you've been strapped to your chair ready to go, ready to penetrate the catmosphere with your rocket behind you! You are a true crasstronaut."

Ashley Ford, known on Twitch as Crasskitty, applies makeup in the prelude to her video-feed launch on the site.

Tamir Kalifa for AMERICAN-STATESMAN

About 10 minutes later, she's playing "EVE Online," a complex and political space simulator game that's been around since 2003. She dived into it in March, joined an online company within the game. She began doing some embedded reporting, at one point attracting about 1,800 viewers at a time to her Twitch channel.

"That was an amazing feeling," Ford says. "I saw an opportunity and decided to do something the community needed."

There are dozens, perhaps hundreds of people playing "EVE Online" and streaming it online for others to watch. But unlike most of them, Ford has been able to make a living doing it, partnering up with sponsors such as Muxy.io and using subscriber and tip jar money from viewers to upgrade her hardware (three monitors, a powerful gaming PC, studio lighting and more).

She started broadcasting in August 2014 with some basic equipment she already had. "It's been this ongoing process. What can I do to slowly and steadily make my stream better?"

About a year into it, she was able to leave a job managing a bar, which she was juggling with part time Twitch streaming. As one of about 15,000 Twitch Partners, the top tier of the site's broadcasters, she's able to draw income while playing games, giving her real-life cat Oxana screen time, or just chatting with her viewers.

"I was unhappy with my situation. I was realizing when I stream was the only time I felt happy," she says.

Ashley Ford's Crasskitty video feed includes a launch-sequence salute to subscribers.

Tamir Kalifa for AMERICAN-STATESMAN

The stream is full of cat puns, crass talk and innuendo, ways she's found to combat annoying or abusive trolls and win them over to her side. Her community, she says, is full of positive people who want to change their lives and support each other.

Another subscriber, Voltage Fatso, signs on for two months. A viewer drops $2 in her tip jar. Players transfer chat currency to watch Oxana the cat give high fives for treats. Ford never stops talking, even as she's playing the game, keeping an eye on the chat stream, and making adjustments to her feed. She's high-energy, bouncing in her chair as her image appears superimposed on a roam mission in "EVE." Another subscriber signs on. Then another, Legendary Muffins.

Crasskitty's delight is obvious as she riffs. "You, sir are legendary. And made of muffins! These are two great things in space."

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }]]