Bradley is not an act

Overview

Many newcomers to the stream inevitably insinuate that Bradley Dragon is an act, faking reactions for views and siphoning money from those too naïve to see through the façade.

Common phrases are: "Someone like this cannot exist", "He has to be trolling", or "This guy should really be an actor!"

This level of skepticism is perfectly understandable, but there should be some context laid out before writing Bradley off entirely as a mere conman.

For the new people, welcome! You will pass through 4 stages of Bradley's stream: Disbelief, Ridicule, Compassion, and finally Acceptance (plus a bit of Ridicule). Each of us is at a different place on this journey. Don't rush your experience, savor each step!

This post contrasts Bradley's expected actions (given that he is someone who is acting delusional for views and/or monetary gain) versus his actions in reality.

The following sheds light on many of Bradley's real-life decisions in various past situations.

Expectations vs Reality

Stream Raids

Incident: Bradley, who is calmly playing Dota 2, gets raided for 20 times his normal viewership by SexyBamboe (+500 viewers)
Expected: Bradley turns up the heat on his delusional persona to draw in the 500 fresh viewers now watching him.
Reality: Brad continues to play Dota in the same quiet manner he has been for the past hour while his viewer count slowly decays back to normal.

"I used to think Breadly was faking it until one day when he was relatively chill (not complaining about hacks and being ape) he got raided by 500 people and his persona didn't change one bit. If he was acting for views that was the time to do it. I think he's legit."

A Bradcord mod bemoans a similar situation.

Community Decisions

Incident: Bradley decides its time to restructure his community to his benefit.
Expected: Bradley opens up his Discord and Twitch community to make room for the incoming angry Dota players who make up his viewer base. More vitriol = more views.
Reality: Bradley single-handedly almost destroys his entire community in less than 2 hours by inviting a SJW moderation group that mass-bans those criticizing Brad's delusion and gameplay (his whole viewer base) because he felt sad. Aka the CRSD Incident.

Brad apologizes for the CRSD incident

Potential Opportunity

Incident: Bradley is getting noticed by larger streamers and Dota personalities and they want to coach/play with him.
Expected: Bradley, realizing the opportunity here, heartily agrees and plants the seeds of his infuriating persona into other Dota communities.
Reality: Bradley ignores 8k MMR streamers eager to coach him (Lil Nick), shies away from drama between popular streamers (Speeed), and after a short burst of interest from other personalities, slowly fades back into his regular cycle of content.

Brad ignores Lil Nick - Part 1

Brad ignores Lil Nick - Part 2

VideoService "streamable" not recognized.

What Games to Stream

Incident: Bradley decides what game he wants to stream.
Expected: Bradley, in a calculated fashion, streams a rage-inducing game that shines a spotlight on the very qualities that sprung him to 100+ viewers in the first place.
Reality: Bradley (regularly) streams Istaria, Archeage, New World, and Guild Wars 2 and gets an average of 10-20% of his usual viewership instead.

Bradley's average viewership per most streamed game as of Jan 2022.	Members of the Bradcord, bewildered at Bradley's decision process regarding what games he streams.

Fostering a Community

Incident: Bradley's efforts towards building his community and fanbase.
Expected: Bradley holds subscriber-only events, incentivizes community growth, has a dedicated stream schedule, and in general tries to grow his fanbase in order to gather even more of a following.
Reality: Bradley mostly disregards his viewers, is hard-pressed to react to positive efforts by his community, never holds any type of event, favors a 12-hour nap over his stream schedule, his mods do all of the planning and work for him, etc.

In a futile attempt to keep community morale from plummeting, the Bradcord mods fabricate a Bradley Dragon thank you message during the Thanksgiving holidays.

Getting Sponsored to Stream

Incident: Bradley is getting paid to do a sponsored stream.
Expected: Bradley, realizing a sponsored stream is good for publicity and his wallet, agrees and streams as promised.
Reality: Bradley agrees, but a few hours before the scheduled stream time he states that he is tired and takes a 14-hour nap.

Brad's mods explaining his absence in the face of a sponsored stream starting soon.

Other views

While an accumulation of instances like these have led many to believe that Brad has no ulterior agenda, there are some who propose that these very cases are a calculated part of Bradley's act to mislead viewers into thinking he is legitimate.