Do You Think You Would Be a Good Streamer?

[DotEleven]

I think if I could overcome my personal confidence issues and adhere to a schedule I'd be pretty chill.

[Samuraijake]

I do. I'm just waiting to give it a real shot when shadowlands comes out. I like talking to people... i like being funny...it makes me happy on the inside when people are digging the humor... i dont care about the money(although maybe i should lol)... and uh so yeah... P.S. i also typed up that monk fistweaving guide in the monk forums... and hoping to really do something with it. It turned out to have 20k views and its all ive been thinking about since i made it.

[ercarp]

No, not really. I've tried it and I don't think it's for me. I'm too self-conscious about how I present myself on camera so I just end up feeling uncomfortable most of the time.

Not to mention my body isn't physically built for sitting in front of the computer for several hours at a time. My head starts to ache and I begin to feel nauseated after playing a game for just an hour and a half. I have to take breaks fairly regularly.

[SynDethroc]

I mean, I think I'd be okay at it? I talk to myself all the time when playing lmao; I have a good breadth of knowledge about the game and I have DM'd D&D for years, so I feel like I've got charisma enough to keep at least a small audience.

[DeltrusDisc]

Nope, I do not whine and complain enough or make up opinions to match what is cool at that point in time.

lol the "whine and complain" is SPOT ON. Add in: over-react with extreme excitement, or pretend to be ABSOLUTELY MIND BLOWN LIKE OMG WOW THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN etc etc.
It's really lame, honestly.

[Ihazpaws]

Nah I am not but I do occasionally try. I actually have finally bought decent mic and been setting up my stream. But I am really shy when speaking English because of my horrible Finnish accent and pronouncing problems. Oh and I am not really streaming games. Instead I draw and animate in my streams.

Nowadays I don't have viewers at all but back when Justin.tv was a thing, my peak in viewers was 75k even tho my stream was just about drawing and 3D-modelling characters and objects for games while music blasting on the background and I used microsoft word to speak and answer to my viewers. Normal days had around 100-1000 viewers watching at the same time. I also had around 100-200 viewers in picarto live streaming service when I drew / animated hentai and other adult content. It was annoying that Justin.tv / twitch didn't allow adult rated drawing stuff.

When Justin.tv shut down I was forced to move in Twitch and back then I had to ask for permission to stream drawing instead of games. Also rule was that it has to be game development stream or the art has to be about game. As a example if I wanted to draw something fantasy like, I usually went under the World of Warcraft gaming section and drew something that fit in wow. However people who used twitch really didn't care for art streams and I lost most of my viewers. Had also burnout as a freelancer graphical artist and stopped drawing, started driving taxi during nights, got molested and almost raped / killed way too many times by drunk / drug users, quit and found other stuff to do.

I am planning to stream leatherworking that includes also 3D-pen, sewing, clay, stone and other similar stuff once I have enough money for the good cam setup.
Just made eye-patch from pigskin yesterday (my right eye is blind and over sensitive to light so I have to use eye-patches).

[ThatsOurEric]

Sure I would.

But not in the "god tier Mythic+ Raid hardcore player" category.

[Raven]

Would have no trubble being good at the games i play, but on a social level i would be more boring then watching paint dry so no i would not be a good streamer.

[Ange]

Twitch changed a lot, while it started as the gaming-plattform a la "Let's Play" now the mainstream is full of failed social media people trying EVERYTHING BUT gaming to get attention and generate revenue.

Watching people play games they dont like as a job - maybe there is a german word for people enjoying the suffering of others.

[Selastan]

Yes, actually. I think I found out the trick to being a successful streamer. And that is: Don't. At least, not primarily. Be a YouTuber. Produce quality, edited, shorter format content with a particular style. Then stream yourself in the process of gathering footage for your YouTube videos. Double dip. It's hard to make yourself as a streamer alone. You have to have SOMETHING that sets you apart, and the most efficient way of doing that is building a brand before you even start streaming in the first place.

[Razion]

If I were to stream I'd probably be less of a personality and more the type to talk lore and answer questions or problems in the game. An old raid leader of mine would talk lore and classes/specs and general problems with the game with me often enough, and I enjoyed answering hypothetical solutions and throwing ideas back and forth with him in that kind of private fashion where it's just us talking about the game. He's a smart guy, and he brought up doing the podcast/streaming thing and if I was willing to do it. He did end up recording at least one or more of our more quiet raid nights as streams, but since all that time I've lost contact with him. Once in a while I'll wonder if I ever found him in game again if he'd ever still want to do it, and I do still find the prospect of talking to him about game stuff fun. The kind of situation I describe would probably make for a better YouTube or Podcast format. And while I know there's a lot of viewer interest for deep lore and game systems and play discussion content, in terms of actively being an entertainer or directly interacting with viewers it's a lot less appealing for me. I'm pretty passive by nature and wouldn't be headstrong enough to get things going by myself, but if I was dragged along into just talking with a friend and it happened to turn into some kind of entertainment I think that could be nice.

[Sevaara]

No, I tried it. Streamed mostly arenas. I got some followers but nobody tuned in regularly so I gave up.

When I streamed pve the only viewers were people from the guild who wasn't in the raid but wanted to see how it was going beyond listening on voice.

Some of the streamers I watch right now sit in the 1k-2k viewer bracket. Some of them spent 2 years streaming to less than 3 people. Setting up for streaming takes a considerable amount of time and effort.

- - - Updated - - -

I've tried streaming and found it exhausting (from an anxiety perspective). That being said, if I was to 'make it' as a streamer, I'd probably be known for rage clips as opposed to skillful gameplay.

[DeltrusDisc]

I do. I'm just waiting to give it a real shot when shadowlands comes out. I like talking to people... i like being funny...it makes me happy on the inside when people are digging the humor... i dont care about the money(although maybe i should lol)... and uh so yeah... P.S. i also typed up that monk fistweaving guide in the monk forums... and hoping to really do something with it. It turned out to have 20k views and its all ive been thinking about since i made it.

Start now to build up your base of viewers so when Shadowlands launches you have an audience.

[Zantera]

Most likely not. I'm a bit of a quiet person unless I'm around people and that's usually not the best recipe for a streamer. I think potentially I'd do well as a content creator when I can edit my videos and so on, but never taken that plunge and at this point it feels too late to start.

[Aluthol]

I’m curious about how gamers feel about this.

Personally speaking, from a viewer standpoint, I don’t care to watch people doing arena at all. Maybe it’s because too many people do it, maybe it’s because I didn’t enjoy the content. So regardless of how many people watch it, I won’t. I’d also be a horrible streamer at it because I’d do my 10 wins and done with 2 DPS on 2’s and complain the whole time I was doing it that I hate arena.

While it’s fun to watch a world first race, or part of it not all 250 pulls, once it’s done, it’s done. Since I was never good enough or patient enough to be in a guild even close to that level I could never stream it.

Classic battlegrounds has been fun to watch. I don’t know if it’s because of the high number of BG’s I’ve done or just that retail players don’t stream random or rated battlegrounds much. I think I could actually do this and do it pretty well. Though my biggest problem is I don’t have 50+ hours a week to dedicate to raiding for gear, hitting rank 14 and doing battlegrounds to generate a following.

Leveling can be fun to watch and when’s the last time you saw someone stream dungeon runs through TBC, Cata or MOP? I’m sure alcoholics would be interesting to watch and be able to generate a following.

So, where if anywhere do you think what you enjoy doing would be fun to watch and do you think you would be good at it?

It depends on what you put in being a good streamer. Technically i am a streamer, and i stream pretty much only wow. I average maybe 3 viewers or something atm, and i do M+ and raid streams only. There are different ways to stream, and they give very different viewer numbers, but also attract different audiences.

You can either do stream for entertainment as the only objective. This is what will give the most viewership, and in essence is what most people use to point to streamers that are "good streamers". This is the type of stream i can't stand. I am not watching someone play a game that i am serious about, just to see them do world quest and talk about their life. Entertainment is a part of it, but it can't be the only thing for me to watch a stream.

You can also stream high end content. This is really skilled players, that stream and show off just how good they are. Generally these will have less viewers, and less chat engagement, but their in game content will be amazing. To me this is my favourite type of streamer to watch, cause they actually know how to play the game and they can help people get better and promote good gameplay.

As for the last type of streamer, that's the same type of streamer i am, the educational one. This one is kinda like the high end content streamer, but they are usually not at the very top, and focus on helping people get better. These are generally fairly small, cause a lot of people go to high end streamers for educational content.
When i stream i don't care too much for entertaining people with stories or talking to myself, when i stream it's mostly just to make myself available to help people that seek it, but ofc put myself in a competitive setting while doing so, cause people are not gonna ask someone who's doing WQ about advice on how to play, but rather someone who pushes keys or does high end raiding.
Essentially as a content creator, my goal is not to score the big views, or show off the highest level, but to help those who seek to improve with in depth answers and analysis, while still being respected as a player. In the end it is a hobby, and even though i could have gotten affiliate months ago i haven't applied, cause realistically the extra income, doesn't change why i am doing what i am doing.

So when you ask about who is the best streamer it's all about the recepient. Saw a dude streaming with 150 viewers, so i decided to tune in. He was absolutely horrible, had no idea of what he was doing and was promoting ignorance about the game, and he is the epitomy of a wow entertainment streamer, and those are in my opinion in no way shape or form good streamers, despite how many viewers they get.
I structure my content so it appeals to people like me and what i like to watch, and to my viewers, i am the better streamer than that dude pulling 150, but to someone who knows nothing about the game, or watches it to laugh at someone who makes mistake after mistake, that other dude is probably better.

This reply is already fairly, so i will just briefly touch on, that you can also be a good technical streamer, in how you structure your stream layout and having different scenes for different scenarios, and in that aspect i must admit, i am not a good streamer. I just recently got songrequests, and my layout is just the gameplay and a webcam in the bottom. I did get some in game things for streaming, like an ability cast tracker and a full setup tracker so people can see what i use, but in stream technical terms i am not good.

[Logwyn]

Yes. But I'd rather not just sit in my house all day for "work".

[wraysbury]

There is no such thing as a good streamer.

[Freighter]

Absolutely not. I'm too shy. There would be close to no interaction with the chat.