Game Live Streaming: Why You Should or Should Not Do It


I’m slightly involved in the game streaming community, acting as a very casual moderator for two channels. I’ve been quite interested in the live streaming world for sometime now, but never have made an attempt to give it a shot. As someone who is fairly passionate about games, social media and new media, I have done my own study on various streamers and started thinking about why a person should or should not get into live streaming.

I wrote an article up that briefly describes the world of live streaming to the uninitiated. One might ask, “Well, does that mean that these people just sit at home and play games all day?” Not necessarily. It really depends on the person’s circumstance and what they want to get out of the experience. The first thing I want to say is don’t get into live streaming for the money. Unless you’re a famous gamer, live streaming is not good for money. Archon the Wizard has stated on multiple occasions that streaming by itself does not generate a lot of income. So if you have a family, heavy debt, a mortgage, etc. don’t expect live streaming to be an easy meal ticket.

I think a lot of streamers struggle for viewership. Quite often, I’ll search through the list of streamers for certain games to see if there’s anyone who appears remotely interesting. In the case of World of Warcraft, for instance, many do things like high end raiding, rated battle grounds or arenas. Despite doing things that may be appealing, the truth is that virtually every streamer is doing the same thing. The titles alone demonstrate the sort of generic mentality of how streamers tend to sell themselves (even if it might be appropriate). The ones that want donations or partnerships but find themselves struggling more than likely will end up at the bottom simply because they do little to stand out. So unless you’re ready to provide something that other streamers cannot do, again don’t expect to get much from donations nor a partnership.

Live streaming is though a great way to meet people. After I introduced my friend to streaming, she immediately became decently popular and has met a plethora of people who introduced her in turn to other games or helped her meet her goals within World of Warcraft. This is one great aspect of live streaming in that you can not only foster a community but hopefully make friends through sharing a common interest in the type of games you enjoy. For myself, if I decided to live stream, it would be to hopefully make more friends and have more people to play with on certain games like World of Warcraft, Diablo 3 or Path of Exile.

Another good reason to stream is to demonstrate your support for a game you enjoy. I think guys like Kripparian, Moldran and Archon the Wizard exemplify this aspect as leaders for games like Path of Exile and Diablo 3. In the case of Kripparian, I think he really helped foster popularity around Path of Exile, making it into a pretty appealing game both in his videos and during his livestreams. In the case of Moldran, he often exudes a great deal of enthusiasm when he holds competitions in finding legendaries as well as how he discusses his love for Diablo 3. These people’s attitudes towards the games with the passion they exhibit make the games a lot more interesting and in turn has helped their respective channels out by attracting the game producers themselves.

Don’t stream just to get attention. I feel that some people want to stream just as an easy way to get attention. Depending on the person, I think this aspect can get out of hand and become a real negative problem, especially if the person in question is immature. The thing here for me is that it feels that the reason some people stream is not because of the game itself. I think there was one streamer who ended up getting banned simply because he never broadcast any gaming content and ended up doing a stupid dating service type of show between streamers. The idea might be interesting and somewhat original but Twitch TV isn’t a matchmaking service and something like that just violates the terms of service. It might be an extreme example but its something that demonstrates how an idea can get out of hand and go beyond what the original intent of the service is.

Stream because you have something special to offer people. You don’t necessarily have to be the best at a certain game to stream. You don’t have to broadcast the most high end content or bleeding edge stuff from a game. But you should have at least the desire to provide something back to the community. People go to Twitch TV and to your channel because they want you to show them something unique. How do you differentiate yourself among the other dozens or hundreds of voices competing over the same content? What’s in it for the person who stops by and spends their valuable time to support you?

Also, stream if you have a truly good cause and intend to take donations. The thing is that with several scams creating a black eye upon the streaming world, it’s going to take a great deal of effort to continue to maintain trust with potential donators. I think it’s great when the occasional streamer does some marathon stream for a charity. I’m not personally into charities but it’s admirable seeing certain people use valuable time to do something for a worthy cause.

Lastly, stream because you enjoy doing it. I dislike seeing people who stream just for attention. I want to see people who enjoy the interactive and community benefits of streaming. It’s pretty sad when you see people begging for more viewers or outwardly talking about trying to get a partnership because they see it as easy money. The thing is that people who do this come off as insincere and just are using their audience for a get rich quick type of scheme. But the ones that show their love for interacting with their community are the ones that I enjoy the most. You’re not just spouting off random words into empty space but actually being part of a larger world.

(Visited 1,093 times, 1 visits today)

Comments

comments