What's the deal with live streaming?

[Hyve]

I've got a friend who livestreams a lot of World of Warcraft content, and gets a lot of views. I could never figure out why, she is a terrible WoW player, and generally sucks at everything she does.

One night though, I decide to watch to see why. Immediately, I saw the attraction of her livestream. Low-cut top, big tits and lots of flirting and bouncing. Sadly, people are doing it just for money and attempts are "internet fame"

[Deleted]

Guess most people just want to get famous and earn money by playing games as most seems to think its just fun and games doing it.

Believe it or not but there ARE people who do it for fun, even if it brings them almost no views.

[Deleted]

gets a lot of views. I could never figure out why
she
Low-cut top,
big tits and
lots of flirting and bouncing.

There's your reason....

ps: Gief stream....even though my girl will castrate me xD

[Deleted]

Some people like to watch to see what other people are doing and whether it's similar to their playstyle or completely different. I streamed Path of Exile for example and clearly stated I was a new player, had some guys come into my stream and give me a rough guide on what to do and a few hints and tips, they then proceeded to watch and tell me when I was doing good and how to better handle situations. I stream because I can, it doesn't impact my gaming at all and hell, if someone wants to watch then it's an extra person to chat to for a short period in time. I watched a stream only to see what this person is doing in a certain game to excel, whether it be LoL or SC2, just something I can watch, make notes of and then practice.

[Wildtree]

Almost every other computer people are building these days, one of their desires is to do live streaming.

My question is... what's the big draw in that?

I too have noticed a tendency on that topic..
Especially in Trade Chat stream ads popping up rather frequently now too. I'm scratching my head about that.
Why would I addy for whatever I do? I imagine if everyone would do so? Floods of ads..
I guess some people just need to resort to that kind of attention and exposure.. At the end of the day it's a mild form of exhibitionism....

I mean it's a good thing to stream things, to be able to review them later. Much like sports teams watch their performances the next week to learn from their mistakes and such.. But that's just that.... it makes little sense to me why rather mediocre guilds would ad for their raid streams, or some random pvp'er ads for their arena matches.

[Rekiara]

The draw of livestreaming is simply not going to be something you'll ever 'grasp'; based on what you've said. For that matter, the appeal of social networking (which, while loosely related is really not the same thing as livestreaming) is *also* not something you'll ever really grasp. It has nothing to do with wanting "to tell the world about every little inane thing I think and do".

It's about making new connections with other people. Especially when talking about WoW streams in particular. So very much of this game has been shifted to anonymous, one-time encounters with other people; in settings where the push is to be as quick and efficient as possible, to the point that you might as well be playing a single player game that happens to have mostly decent squad-based AI. So, opening up a livestream is another way to interact with people, meet people, and basically have a connection with people. Is it going to be the source of a deep, lasting "friendship for the ages"? Probably not, but it's still something.

Is every livestreamer a fascinating person, able to draw crowds of hundreds and become the next big sponsored hit? Of course not; but that doesn't mean they can't still enjoy it, meet a couple new folks by doing it, and gain something from it.

[Hyve]

There's your reason....

ps: Gief stream....even though my girl will castrate me xD

Yeh. She doesn't make much money off it. You'd think a girl who has no issues flashing her tits to random nerds would be better off doing some web cam shows, but her choice I guess.

[Fojos]

It's the same kind of people who upload a picture on facebook of every single thing they do.

[Hyve]

It's the same kind of people who upload a picture on facebook of every single thing they do.

Agreed.

"Oh my gosh. I've had the worst day of my life, I just hate how this could happen to me!"
"Oh dear?! What happened babe?"
"I don't want to talk about it!"

... ... ... *facedesk*

[Maggibesti]

Everyone wants to be the next <insert famous streamer here>

Which is fine, but so many of the new streamers don't have a grasp on why the famous people are famous. All these new streamers are just silent, socially awkward people with no personality on cam, and throw on some generic streaming music to make up for that.

Have a personality, engage your audience, make people think of you as someone different and unique and not just a face on a channel.

If you're just doing it for fun then this doesnt apply but I see so many people who see it as a way to make easy money but are completely clueless.

Everyone is a big word. I've come across a few streamers that DO NOT care about fame. For example, Lanceypooh that streams MineCraft, he's got great chat interactions and bearly runs an ad.

OT: I get you don't want to watch streams perhaps, or do streaming your self. But lets not forget there are people who want to interact with a lot of people. Not everyone want's to sit alone in their room all day doing completely nothing for 12-16 hours a day. Sure everyone expects to get paid for it, I mean if you wouldn't be paid to stream you couldn't stream, cause you'd have to search for a job to pay your bills and buy food to live.

But about YouTube, these people are NOT interactive with anyone, cause it's all pre-recorded. So you're just putting out videos of this and that to get views.

Noone is getting rich with streaming, expect perhaps some professional MLG LoL players or some people like that with 20k views or something. Or Sodapopping for manupilating their viewers.

[Zaelsino]

Or Sodapopping for manupilating their viewers.

He's a lot smarter than people give him credit for though. People like watching shameless "idiots" in action, and he's quite happy to play the part...

[Jeleh]

Those that stream will do it primarily for two reasons:

1) Try and make money via gaming
2)Actually enjoy sharing their gaming experience with others and streaming is the new social medium that allows them to interact and share their hobby

Anyone outside of those two reasons are professionals who are already making a living, or people who want to feel socially validated via numbers on their stream.

I don't stream and I don't watch tv, I am on my computer during 90% of my free time. When I do watch anything it will generally be a stream of one of the games I am currently enjoying, to learn tips and tricks i may never have seen before or learn more of the game.

[Azutael]

As others have said, people want to be famous. And hope that they can pay the bills from streaming.
Then you have attention seekers etc of course.

90% of streams are the same low quality content, some are decent. And others actually have "meaningful" content. Most people don't have the charisma or whatever to stream, others might get a following.
Or you could be a girl, decent looking and have a low cut top - voila, you got a following.


I dunno, I watch quite a lot of streams. Usually SC or diablo, SC is usually from a casters PoV though. And D3 streams i watch all interact with their viewers, giveaways, boosting etc. And some are downright hilarious at times.
Could never stream myself though, not cut out for it. I'm to socially awkward :P

[Bryntrollian]

Spending an extra $300 is nothing in comparison to the money they make with it...

[Deleted]

Spending an extra $300 is nothing in comparison to the money they make with it...

You mean the money they can make with it?

If a person has no personality or skill at a game, they won't make anything... Unless it's a woman with chest on show, in which case you're set.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Money.

You start by streaming, then you start posting your streams to Youtube, then you get a small contract with Machinima.com to make videos, soon you're internet famous for playing games badly in a funny voice.

[Buxton McGraff]

People think its an easy way to make a living. It's not, it takes a lot of work, and a good 99% of people who try to, will not succeed.

[skitzy129]

I get streaming stuff like art, where you are actually interacting with people. But simply playing games seems.. Odd. Again, I think it's just that I'm of a separate social culture. It's the same reason people tweet and like and all that other stuff that I find entirely... I dunno. Pretentious?

I don't think streaming and tweeting/social networking are even comparable.

If you have a likeable personality and you're a generally entertaining person, you can run a stream show akin to TV that people just enjoy following because, well, you're entertaining. Not everyone can do it well, and not everyone is going to be interested in watching it.

For example I love watching Cosmos Zelda streams. He's an entertaining person and a great gamer and constantly offers interesting insight on a trick hes attempting in a run or what have you. I don't think something like that is comparable to twitter which is just completely pointless. I also don't think it's comparable to the thousands of people that stream themselves doing random crap, with random music playing, with no personality to speak of if they even talk to the viewers.

You've got to take it on a case by case basis.

---------- Post added 2013-02-24 at 12:27 PM ----------

Money.

You start by streaming, then you start posting your streams to Youtube, then you get a small contract with Machinima.com to make videos, soon you're internet famous for playing games badly in a funny voice.

It's not really that easy. Very few people actually make any legitimate money from streaming, and almost all of them didn't go in to it with the intention to make money. Over 99% of people that stream will never see a profit from it.

[Iso]

It's a great way to interact with people, you don't need 1k+ viewers to make it worth your while.
Sure some people might only do it at a chance for the big bucks, but that's not really a fair goal to be honest.

There's a couple of streams I usually stop by when I'm working at home, 50-100 viewers mostly, like minded people and a good atomsphere and some entertainment on the side. It's just another way to socialize I guess...

[Snaige]

Am incredibly surprised by the preconception here. By the looks of it people think that anyone who streams does it for money/hopes of forming an audience to get money in the future. Complete nonsense. Streaming is fun, while some actually do it for money, others do it for fun, same applies to any activity. Some play football to have fun with friends or to exercise, some play football with hopes of professional future.