Streaming games: thoughts

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jawa
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PostStreaming games: thoughts
by jawa » Fri Nov 27, 2020 12:42 pm

Streaming games. Everyone is doing it!

Well, yeah, not everyone. But certainly many more; over the past few months here in GR we've gone from two or three regular streamers to, uhm... loads.

And this is terrific! I find that you can get to know people far more by chatting with them for an hour or so on stream than with weeks of forum posts. It's fun to join a session and talk with folk - the streamer and the stream chat - maybe more so than seeing the actual gameplay.

But I do have a niggle and I wondered if others felt the same concern. There are so many folk streaming that it's not realistically possible to visit everyone's stream on every occasion; we all have lives (well, kind of ;-) ) that stop us from doing so and it's just not possible to dial in all of the time. I do actually feel a bit bad about this; there are streamers whose recent streams I haven't joined; and sometimes I can only join for a short while. This is perfectly normal, of course, but it still feels like "dang, I haven't joined person X's past two streams but they did join my last stream".

I guess this is just the price of streaming becoming more popular. Many, many folk stream and don't get viewers, of course, so it is lovely when someone pops by.

Thus is a bit of a rambling post which I think boils down to "how do you manage your game streaming participation?"

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OrangeRKN
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by OrangeRKN » Fri Nov 27, 2020 12:46 pm

Don't worry about it, relationships shouldn't be transactional and you shouldn't let the gearing of these systems towards viewer numbers and followers make you think otherwise. Just enjoy however you choose to engage with streaming. It's impossible to watch everything and you shouldn't feel any pressure to do so anyway.

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Cheeky Devlin
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by Cheeky Devlin » Fri Nov 27, 2020 1:00 pm

OrangeRKN wrote:Don't worry about it, relationships shouldn't be transactional and you shouldn't let the gearing of these systems towards viewer numbers and followers make you think otherwise. Just enjoy however you choose to engage with streaming. It's impossible to watch everything and you shouldn't feel any pressure to do so anyway.


This, but with the caveat that you should definitely watch all my streams, everytime I go live and if you do miss them I will like you a little bit less. :capnscotty:

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jawa
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by jawa » Fri Nov 27, 2020 1:03 pm

Cheeky Devlin wrote:...but with the caveat that you should definitely watch all my streams, everytime I go live and if you do miss them I will like you a little bit less. :capnscotty:

:lol: .



Brain starts worrying about not joining Dev's recent Batman Arkham Asylum and Saturn streams :shifty: .

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Jenuall
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by Jenuall » Fri Nov 27, 2020 1:17 pm

What they said.

I think watching folk from here streaming is a great compliment to the forum and as you say gets you to interact with others in a different way which is always nice.

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Venom
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by Venom » Fri Nov 27, 2020 1:18 pm

Jawa, you are an active member of the GRcade community and I think you want to be supportive but you don't owe anybody anything - not even people who've participated in your streams. Some people may be experimenting with streaming, some may grow into doing it a lot more permanently, everyone is finding their own way but they will do that regardless. It's really good that here we have a thread for it and now a sign and a link at the top of the page and that may help new streamers get a couple of sympathetic visits whilst starting out.

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kazanova_Frankenstein
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by kazanova_Frankenstein » Mon Nov 30, 2020 1:27 pm

Jawa, i really dont think you should be worrying about not putting enough in to the community and not doing enough to support others. You were the first person to like an activity when i first got my PS4 and you always do all you can to reply to comments and questions, even if just to tell that person that you dont have the answer, but that you also share their frustration.

There is only so much Jawa-bot to go round (this revision anyway).

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<]:^D
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by <]:^D » Mon Nov 30, 2020 6:40 pm

i just put on a stream because it seemed worth trying out. honestly if no one joins the stream then ill just stop doing them. no skin off my nose. :)

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jawa
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by jawa » Mon Nov 30, 2020 6:57 pm

Thanks, guys - it was just a niggly feeling that made me think "I can't join all the streams because life!" It's cool that so many folk are getting into it now :-) .

It's worth confirming that lots of streamers don't get a ton of - or, sometimes, any - viewers. It's tough to grow a channel now in such a busy/competitive scene and IMHO it's healthy to have a "I'm streaming because I enjoy it" approach rather than a "I want to get lots of viewers" approach. In some ways I feel it's better to have just a few viewers that you chat with rather than loads who are just spamming junk, as sometimes happens on the big streams.

As long as folk enjoy their streaming, s'all good!

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Jenuall
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by Jenuall » Mon Nov 30, 2020 7:16 pm

Yeah at the end of the day streaming is just fun and I couldn't really care that much about "building a channel", though I appreciate that others are more serious about it.

Ultimately I don't fuss about whether people manage to join in or not. Does it bother me if nobody is watching? Of course! Does the fact that I see other people getting more followers than me keep me awake at night? Duh Doy, yes! Do I feel like a massive failure because I don't get 50 new subs every time I stream? Check! Do I feel inadequate as a human being because people on GR are watching other streamers? YEP!

;)

But seriously, it doesn't matter! Watch what you can watch, interact with people and have a laugh, that's the important bit!

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kazanova_Frankenstein
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by kazanova_Frankenstein » Mon Nov 30, 2020 10:37 pm

The only fair way is to treat everyone with equal disdain. So I don’t watch any of you. I save my time for Pewdiepie (or whatever the strawberry float that banana splits called).

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Squinty
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by Squinty » Mon Nov 30, 2020 11:14 pm

I also treat everybody equally. I watch no streams by anyone, ever.

Isn't my thing. Probably never will be.

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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by Corazon de Leon » Tue Dec 01, 2020 5:57 pm

<]:^D wrote:i just put on a stream because it seemed worth trying out. honestly if no one joins the stream then ill just stop doing them. no skin off my nose. :)


I’ve chucked you a Twitch follow. Post in the streaming thread when you go live and you’ll get a few people in, for sure.

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ITSMILNER
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by ITSMILNER » Tue Dec 01, 2020 6:00 pm

Squinty wrote:I also treat everybody equally. I watch no streams by anyone, ever.

Isn't my thing. Probably never will be.


Same, I would much rather play a game myself than watch someone else play it :lol:

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Pedz
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by Pedz » Tue Dec 01, 2020 6:05 pm

ITSMILNER wrote:
Squinty wrote:I also treat everybody equally. I watch no streams by anyone, ever.

Isn't my thing. Probably never will be.


Same, I would much rather play a game myself than watch someone else play it :lol:


I think this is my favourite argument for not watching streams, it's such a narrow minded approach.

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Corazon de Leon

PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by Corazon de Leon » Tue Dec 01, 2020 6:08 pm

If it were only about watching someone play games then I'd agree, but it definitely isn't. All of the Twitch streamers I follow have been part of communities that have been really cool to get engaged with.

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jawa
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by jawa » Tue Dec 01, 2020 6:12 pm

Just as a thought for folk who may be thinking "I don't want to just sit and watch someone else play a game"... streaming isn't just about the game itself. The interaction - whether by talking in person or through the text chat - is, for me, just as big a part.

We're lucky in that many of the GR folk who stream get a few people join and this is a great way of getting to know folk a bit better.

Of course, some may try it out and still not like it! If you get into it, it's another door of communication opened, though :-) .

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Imrahil
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by Imrahil » Tue Dec 01, 2020 6:20 pm

Being the antisocial type and a savage, the social side of it doesn't really compel me to watch, but I'm happy for anyone who makes a go of it and gets some success.

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<]:^D
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by <]:^D » Tue Dec 01, 2020 7:05 pm

i also enjoy watching people play through something ive played before. you get to relive it vicariously and enjoy what you did in a different way.

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Pedz
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PostRe: Streaming games: thoughts
by Pedz » Tue Dec 01, 2020 7:11 pm

Imrahil wrote:Being the antisocial type and a savage, the social side of it doesn't really compel me to watch, but I'm happy for anyone who makes a go of it and gets some success.


I'm antisocial myself. I think that's why I like twitch I can be social and not be around other people. Its odd, but it works for me.

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