Streaming on twitch

Abstract

Previously, video streaming sites were at the fringes of online social media. In the past two years, live streams of video games, on sites such as Twitch.tv, have become very popular. Live streams serve as meeting grounds for player communities. The Twitch streaming medium combines broadcast video with open IRC chat channels. In conjunction with gameplay, viewer participation and community building gain emphasis. Twitch streams range in size and nature, from intimate communities with fifty viewers, to massive broadcasts with tens of thousands. In this paper, we present an ethnographic investigation of the live streaming of video games on Twitch.We find that Twitch streams act as virtual third places, in which informal communities emerge, socialize, and participate. Over time, stream communities form around shared identities drawn from streams' contents and participants' shared experiences. We describe processes through which stream communities form, the motivations of members, and emergent issues in the medium. Finally, we draw from our findings to derive implications for design of live mixed-media environments to support participatory online communities.

Computer Science & Information Technology

“…Even more significant was the fact that stream type had more impact on affecting user gratificati game genre (Sjoblom et al, 2017). This reinforces the notion of Twitch being a 'Third Place', allowing users to informally seek use gratification by dividing themselves into groups/streams based on interest in not just game genre, but also in the stream type or 'atmosphere' that has been developed by the streamer (Hamilton et al, 2014).…”

“…It's very common for streamers to overlay their webcam video inside of their game-play video, so audiences can see their face as the play and talk (see Figure 1). In fact, this method has become expected; viewers enjoy having the opportunity to share in the emotions of the streamer through their facial expressions (Hamilton, Garretson, & Kerne, 2014). …”

“…Subscribing to a streamer allows a user to voluntarily pay (certain amount on a monthly basis) a streamer they enjoy. In return, the subscribing user can benefit from things like 'subscriber only mode', when only subscribers are allowed to use the chat, and having unique emoticons available to them (Hamilton et al, 2014). The streamer backbone of Twitch becomes apparent in a 2016 survey which showed that 45.8% of respondents chose 'Specific twitchers' as a reason to watch Twitch, followed by 'Entertainment based on owned game' at 29.1% (Gandolfi, 2016).…”

“…The interest of games appears to be the initial draw, as respondents to a 2014 survey most frequently cited their desire "to learn something about a particular game" as the reason they started watching streams (Hamilton et al, 2014 To delve deeper into the reasons for using Twitch, researchers have commonly turned toward the 'Uses and Gratification" (UG) theory. UG is a prominent theory when dealing with personal motivations behind using media ranging from passive television watching to participatory social media use, making UG an appropriate measurement tool for Twitch as well (Sjoblom, Torhonen, Hamari, & Macey, 2017).…”

“…Beyond how stream type and content (such as genre) affect the UG needs for Twitch, there is the tream attributes, the size of the stream also plays a role in the interactivity and social usability of Twitch. Hamilton et al (2014) make specific note of the effect of stream size: "as streams scale up, information overload renders chat unreadable…… ticipants become frustrated with the difficulty of interacting in these streams", possibly leading to users seeking smaller, less populated streams. This is directly backed by Sjoblom et UG needs are a part of Twitch users' motivation.…”