Streamers with jobs

By "the medium", do you mean streaming itself as a medium?

Yes, the medium of live streaming.

Maclintok wrote:

I've noticed playing difficult games on stream has helped to loosen me up a lot more & embrace the in-the-moment aspect of the medium. I feel like opening up that salt mine has made my 'true self' come out a bit more, hopefully to the benefit of my content's entertainment value!

That's great dude, glad to hear it!

Maclintok wrote:

Yes, the medium of live streaming. :)

It's interesting because I've had a bit of a different response. I feel like the saltier a game makes me the worse the experience must be to watch. It's sort of had me reflect both on the sort of content I enjoy streaming most, and the content I find most interesting in regards to watching others stream. It's an interesting fusion of "hang out" and "performance art".

I've recently decided it's probably better for me to focus on "challenges" for games I've already played, like hard modes or something else, with the occasional new experience. I've had far too many games that turned streams into obligations rather than something enjoyable. Granted, that would still be a challenge in its own right that could give way to salt and frustration, but I feel like the familiarity with the game would help keep me from sounding like Oscar the Grouch.

Thanks for your perspective!

There's a fine line to be walked that's for sure. I think for my first batch of streams where I played an ARPG and a tougher character action game, I had in the back of my mind to maintain a sort of "professional demeanor" of sorts. Then more recently I felt myself becoming exasperated while playing another game on the live stream. Shortly after those sessions I became concerned about appearing too negative or losing my cool on air. But I reviewed those streams again and noticed that while, yes I was getting visibly annoyed at various points in my playthrough, I was also smiling more and making more jokes and generally appeared to be more at ease with everything. I was reminded of those times as a kid when I would be sitting on a couch with a buddy passing a Nintendo controller back and forth and just talking smack with each other and about the game we were playing.

There's going to be a line that I'll probably never cross, like hurling controllers (dear god, I hope I'm smart enough to properly vet my games so I'm never even remotely tempted) or swearing like a drunken sailor. But I think I unlocked a small ah-ha moment here and realizing that, while it's nice to come out with a clever observation or joke, a large part of the experience is for someone to see my honest & unfiltered reaction to a game. I guess it's a bit like watching a live musical performance: I can play the same song for myself at home but a big value add of the live performance is simply watching how the artists carry themselves on stage or how they play their instrument (the instrument being the game in our world).

@ccesarano: to reference what you posted here & recently on the Nioh thread: Yeah I feel like subjecting yourself to a grueling or unpleasant experience is not going to reflect well on the overall vibe of the stream. If you're not having fun it's harder to imagine your audience will have fun as well.

Granted all of my opinions are not born out of any data whatsoever. I'm learning first hand just how difficult it is get traction on Twitch. But still enjoying the process.

It’s bothering me that I can’t see the names of people who join my stream and don’t chat. Basically see who the lurkers are.

I’m tempted to get a welcome bot but I’ve read that kind of thing can be a big turn-off for people as they just want to be left in peace.

My feeling right now is I’m such a small channel I ought to be turning my disadvantage (low viewer count) into an advantage (be more responsive and accessible).

Thoughts?

Lurkers want to be watching anonymously, so let them do that. You can look at the chatroom viewer list, but people can use twitch without logging in. Generally it also self destructive to focus on viewer count during a stream, wait until after it is done to analyze the data. I have seen streamers have a "Hey there" type notification on stream when someone writes a message in chat for the first time. At that point they are not lurkers and it makes them part of the stream.

Don't stress about lurkers. They wanna lurk, so let them. If you call them out they might not come back.

This is less common, but I even turned off Follow notifications so that people can follow without feeling like they have to participate in chat if they don't want. I have a channel redeem for saying "Hi I'm new" which people will be able to redeem after they points they get for following. If they use that, I'm happy to call them out and chat, otherwise I just let it be.

I dunno if I could turn follow notifications off, as I wanna say thank you to anyone who follows.

I'd say don't worry about it. I have an awful habit of saying the dumb things while over-thinking, and whenever I bring up viewer count in stream it stinks of insecurity. At most these days, if I see viewer numbers but they aren't chatting, I just say "thanks to those tuning in" and leave it at that. Or try to, at least. Honestly, thinking about the viewer count will only distract you and thus will impact your ability to play and comment.

That's what I have found for myself, at least. It's still awkward to start a stream and have 0 viewers and have to start speaking. You feel like you're talking to no one (because you are) and it's just easier to get insecure and want to try and diffuse the associated nervous feeling. But it is best to just imagine someone is watching and, when someone does tune in, just keep doing what you're doing until they chat. If they don't and leave, just keep doing what you're doing as if nothing changed.

I'm still working on all this myself, but it's what I have found most effective.

beanman101283 wrote:

This is less common, but I even turned off Follow notifications so that people can follow without feeling like they have to participate in chat if they don't want. I have a channel redeem for saying "Hi I'm new" which people will be able to redeem after they points they get for following. If they use that, I'm happy to call them out and chat, otherwise I just let it be.

Hey beanman, not really sure how these channel redeem points work. But it sounds like you're also throwing your advice into the "keep things casual and low pressure" hat.

Talking to no one when your stream starts though isn't always "talking to no one". Twitch keeps VODs for a few weeks. Many times I come onto discord and see a Goodjer was streaming and I'll go to the stream and see it is already done. But I will load up the VOD and watch it anyway. So those times that you are talking could still be to someone, just someone in the future.

If you really want to increase the impact of the intro though, many streamers will go live 10-30 minutes before they actually are ready and have a countdown scene. It gives time for people to arrive and not miss the beginning of the stream. It would increase your chances of starting with some viewers and so you are not streaming to no one anymore.

If you are serious about streaming being a career, you could even create clips of your content, a best of clip show kind of thing and play it before going live so people have something to watch while waiting (Just make sure to always be updating it). I know there are times I see a "10 minutes before stream starts" stream and move onto other stuff that is more interesting.

Any of y'all that have viewer numbers, turn them off, seriously. Few things will get in your head worse than seeing that at zero. Turn it off and pretend people are there and just lurking. My streams got so much more fun when I did that. Just stop caring about the numbers and have fun.

Maclintok wrote:
beanman101283 wrote:

This is less common, but I even turned off Follow notifications so that people can follow without feeling like they have to participate in chat if they don't want. I have a channel redeem for saying "Hi I'm new" which people will be able to redeem after they points they get for following. If they use that, I'm happy to call them out and chat, otherwise I just let it be.

Hey beanman, not really sure how these channel redeem points work. But it sounds like you're also throwing your advice into the "keep things casual and low pressure" hat.

Yes, pretty much. You don't get channel point redeems until you're an affiliate anyway.

Veloxi wrote:

Any of y'all that have viewer numbers, turn them off, seriously. Few things will get in your head worse than seeing that at zero. Turn it off and pretend people are there and just lurking. My streams got so much more fun when I did that. Just stop caring about the numbers and have fun.

It really depends on the reason for streaming. If you are looking to be a performer, and maybe even make money then focusing on your viewer count is just going to discourage you and if anything, practicing in front of a mirror is a good thing.

If you are like me and are streaming just to have conversations with people (mainly GWJ) while playing, then knowing that nobody is watching is fine, you can just play the game until someone shows up. With our Discord setup, anytime I start a stream, the "livestream-announce" channel gets a link to the stream so GWJers can join.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, everyone.

I admit that viewer count and worrying about engaging with new viewers/lurkers had become a rather annoying distraction for me over the last week.

I have recently added a chat bot to my channel but it's mainly to test drive the features and put it on standard guard duty for preventing regular annoyances like spam, hyperlinks and other unruly behaviour.

Hey all. What do you do when the VOD for your last stream appears to be f-'d up? i.e. it spins indefinitely on your main channel page or when you try to preview from the Video Producer.

Just as a heads up, there's a planned walk out of sorts from the general Twitch streaming community on September 1st in order to bring awareness to the current trend of "Hate Raids" happening to BIPOC and LGBTQ+ streamers. Essentially what is going on is groups of racists/transphobes will raid a channel and will spam the chat with constant hate speech.

I was on the discord of a streamer I follow earlier today and she started granting mod permissions to a few extra people out of the blue. When the newly minted mods asked why that is, the answer was "Well, I'm getting ready to go live, I have black and African American tags on my streams, and have been hate raided before."

So just a heads up!

Maclintok wrote:

Hey all. What do you do when the VOD for your last stream appears to be f-'d up? i.e. it spins indefinitely on your main channel page or when you try to preview from the Video Producer.

Haven't had that happen, but are you able to export/download it?

EDIT: Looks like it may have been an issue on their end.

Thanks beanman! Good to know and I also found out there's a Report Problem button within the menu that comes out when you click the Gear icon of the VOD within Video Producer.

CptDomano wrote:

Just as a heads up, there's a planned walk out of sorts from the general Twitch streaming community on September 1st in order to bring awareness to the current trend of "Hate Raids" happening to BIPOC and LGBTQ+ streamers. Essentially what is going on is groups of racists/transphobes will raid a channel and will spam the chat with constant hate speech.

I was on the discord of a streamer I follow earlier today and she started granting mod permissions to a few extra people out of the blue. When the newly minted mods asked why that is, the answer was "Well, I'm getting ready to go live, I have black and African American tags on my streams, and have been hate raided before."

So just a heads up!

Thanks for the heads up, CptD. I'm looking at what I can do to show solidarity.

CptDomano wrote:

Just as a heads up, there's a planned walk out of sorts from the general Twitch streaming community on September 1st in order to bring awareness to the current trend of "Hate Raids" happening to BIPOC and LGBTQ+ streamers. Essentially what is going on is groups of racists/transphobes will raid a channel and will spam the chat with constant hate speech.

I was on the discord of a streamer I follow earlier today and she started granting mod permissions to a few extra people out of the blue. When the newly minted mods asked why that is, the answer was "Well, I'm getting ready to go live, I have black and African American tags on my streams, and have been hate raided before."

So just a heads up!

This is good to know, thank you. I'll definitely take that day off Twitch and see what else I can do.

beanman101283 wrote:
Maclintok wrote:
beanman101283 wrote:

This is less common, but I even turned off Follow notifications so that people can follow without feeling like they have to participate in chat if they don't want. I have a channel redeem for saying "Hi I'm new" which people will be able to redeem after they points they get for following. If they use that, I'm happy to call them out and chat, otherwise I just let it be.

Hey beanman, not really sure how these channel redeem points work. But it sounds like you're also throwing your advice into the "keep things casual and low pressure" hat.

Yes, pretty much. You don't get channel point redeems until you're an affiliate anyway.

haha, it’s a great idea to switch off notifications, especially because i always miss the moment someone follows and can’t thank them for that)))

I would also recommend all Twitch streamers be aware of this.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E-BuxVZWUAEBfrL?format=jpg)

Thanks mudbunny.

Hmm, where do I set this up? Or is this something I need to do from Stream Elements, Streamlabs, etc.?

Just added Twitch on Twitter because I'm curious to see what public statements they have put out in regards to hate raids and new forms of trolling, advice for creators, etc.. I haven't found anything yet.

You type

/emoteonly

In your chat to turn it on and

/emoteonlyoff

to turn it off.

https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/cha...

How does everyone execute Raids on Twitch?

I did my first one last night and the flow was pretty awkward to say the least. I typically have my Twitch stream manager open on the 2nd laptop. I clicked the pink Raid Channel button and went through all the steps. After the countdown ends... nothing? My stream continued to stay Online and I had to pop open a 2nd browser tab to actually go to my Raid target's stream. Once there I didn't even see the chat alert heralding the raid event. Fortunately the people I brought over from my stream chatted so I could confirm the redirect but... WOW. That flow was so bad.

Am I doing something wrong here?

Huh, I've only done it a few times, but it's usually push the button, select the channel and then boom, you're there.

It's awkward, for sure. I usually open their stream in a new browser tab ahead of time to avoid any potential ads, then trigger the raid after. You also have to manually end your own stream still.