I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts that I don’t play video games, but I avidly watch other people play games. My focus is on the story of the game or the artwork of the game, and how the gamer plays the game. So, I would watch on YouTube primarily, and then that connected me to Twitch.
Twitch is a live streaming service for gamers to play games and broadcast their game play publicly and as they play. It can also keep record of past broadcasts for you to watch after the original. Out of curiosity, I tuned in as one of the YouTubers I subscribe to posted that he was live streaming via Twitch, and I haven’t stopped since. I am currently writing this post with Twitch playing in the background.
I haven’t watched many broadcasters outside of who I already knew from YouTube, like Ohmwrecker as shown above. But what’s interesting about Twitch is that it gives you the ability to not only follow hosts and channels, but also follow games you like. So if you love watching Rainbow Six Siege, you can follow it via Twitch and be notified when someone starts streaming it.
There are two ways to follow a broadcaster: follow and subscribe. Following is free, and all you receive is an email notification when they go live. A subscribe is a paid monthly subscription that gives special access to emotes for chat, access to subscriber only chats, and also has a portion of that profit shared with the broadcaster. It is great to get special access and all that, but having a portion of your payment to subscribe given to the broadcaster is really cool cause you get to support your favorite creators.
Some streamers also have it setup to donate via Paypal or Twitch Alerts, so then they get more of what you want to give. I’ve used this method so I can more easily control my donation, which they deserve, in my opinion.
It’s pretty likely that your favorite gamers on YouTube are streaming, whether it is on Twitch of YouTube. But Twitch, I think, is better setup for a viewer to enjoy, and you can find other great streamers who aren’t on YouTube. Twitch has also started it’s own convention, so it’s possible to meet the streamers you watch too.
And if you are more of the play the games yourself type, you can broadcast yourself and show off your skills. Maybe potentially become a partner and get money.
What games have you enjoyed watching or playing? Share in the comments below.
This is really quite interesting.
You know I really enjoy Twitch but I stopped watching recently due to the streamers cursing, I have a little one at home. Also I just want to play a game myself. Even if it is bad, I’d rather decide that on my own. I certainly think Twitch has a huge following and it is for a lot of people but no longer for me.
Make sense. It’s definitely difficult to censor when it’s live so I get that. I don’t have any way to really game plus I never was a player so I prefer watching
I LOVE the way Twitch has transformed the gaming community, and what twitch can do for society as a whole. There’s a group I follow who are doing a week-long stream to raise funds for mental health charities and it is hella rad.
I didn’t actually understand what was the purpose of Twitch before reading this post, so THANK YOU! Now I want to follow some players 😀 I only play LOTRO, but it’s fun seeing other people playing live.
I’ve been watching Twitch streams for over a year now. The streamer, Lirik, really got me hooked on it. Lirik use to only stream a zombie survival game called DayZ, but now that Lirik is REALLY popular (like 10,000 + people watch him) he does other games. I don’t want him as much. I tend to watch streams of games that Im currently playing like Stardew Valley. I also love the creative streams.
I’ve been meaning to start my own stream. I just have to work out the audio problems I’ve been having. Its something about my mic. I’ve used several mics and my audio is always low. I use OBS to stream.