Normally, I try to say positive things about streamers I enjoy following. However, I was one particular person (who I won’t name here) and some of his actions really made me disgusted. The issue was over giveaways and the idea of being disqualified for giveaways for those who leave the chat for whatever reason. I suppose he has his rights to decide what people to give to but it was his attitude and the way a lot of the gaming community on these streams are evolving into in order to attract followers.
Now, I do think it’s great for streamers to do things to increase participation for their streams. But I felt in this case and in others that there’s something missing like sincerity and integrity as well as the intention of just making it one’s permanent job to livestream non-stop. While watching it disturbed me about his attitude towards viewers and reminded me dangerously more of a TV evangelist begging people for money to support a false doctrine.
I’m a huge supporter of the gaming industry and I think it’s great that there are now ways of creating avenues for people to do things that they are passionate about. At the same time, I think some people take it too far and let the little bits of fame get to their heads. It’s a real turn off for someone like me who enjoys good commentary, a sense of community and being able to learn something by watching a decent gamer/streamer.
The other thing is that I kept thinking to myself, “What is this industry coming to?” I don’t want to watch someone play just in the hopes of getting some freebie. That seems pretty shallow. And I think it’s equally shallow that many of these streamers do things like that. Not everyone who does a giveaway might be shallow, but when you look at streamers such as those on the Diablo 3 channel, most of them are just copy cats. For myself, I like people such as Archon the Wizard, whom I feel has done one of the best jobs at creating a very good community and has done a great job innovating the participation/social aspects and not just behave in the Johnny-come-Lately manner that so many other Diablo 3 streamers are doing (and he’s a nice guy to boot).
I suppose my anger is similar in some ways to how Steve Jobs grew angry over Android and Google. While Apple have done their fair share of stealing ideas, I think Steve really wanted Google to innovate on their own, considering all the talent that they supposedly possess. With regards to streamers, I feel a bit angry in that manner because there really isn’t much to differentiate each person. Everyone wants partnership and they like doing stupid giveaways in desperate attempts to gain more followers en route to a partnership.
Yet like one of the key lessons in product development that I learned while working for Demand Media, the thing about streaming is that you have to develop your own voice. In the case of product development, the people over at Demand Media (at one time at least) described the key ingredient for building something is adding “soul” to it.
Most streamers in their quest for partnership don’t really have much of a “soul” so to speak. It feels that a lot try to sell out in the interest of what they think is easy money. I think that method is insincere and just adds to the mass of white noise in the Twitch universe.
For myself, I enjoy people who really attempt to set themselves apart somehow. For instance, I really love Yoni’s stream (aka Rabbitbong). What makes her stream awesome for me are the people. There’s a lot of raunchy, adult humor embedded but she lets most of it slide, which gives a nice edge. Some of her highlights are really simple but funny such as her eating a popsicle or her laughing after getting excited over a timeshare. To me those are elements you can’t replicate because those are experiences she’s able to create on stream with her own tone, followers and cohorts.
Also, she wanted to be different by purposely avoiding a sub button. Although she’s partnered with Twitch and probably can easily get one, I think her attitude towards not being so focused on having the sub button is refreshing.
In another situation, I just started following a Japanese World of Warcraft streamer. The guy doesn’t have many viewers but as far as I can tell, he’s the only Japanese speaking streamer around who does both PVE and PVP. As a person who has been severely out of practice with his Japanese listening, it’s a great way to get me involved by adding the element of interest into the equation.
These are just some examples of various people I follow and enjoy watching. The streamer does not have to be a high end streamer but just someone who has good content and provides something unique. I want to have fun in these streams and feel like I’m part of something. That to me is where those that just do giveaways or focus mostly on increasing viewership rather than improving the quality of their stream make the biggest difference.