Video game live streaming

Video game live streaming is an activity where people record themselves playing games to a live audience online. The practice became popular in the mid-2010s on sites such as Twitch and later, YouTube, Facebook and other services. By 2014, Twitch streams had more traffic than HBO's online service. Professional streamers often combine high-level play and entertaining commentary, and earn income from sponsors, subscriptions, and donations.

Overview

The practice of livestreaming video games became popular in the mid-2010s on sites such as Twitch.^[1] By 2014, Twitch streams had more traffic than HBO's online service and eventually hastened the closure of Justin.tv, which Twitch had originally spun out of.^[2] In 2015, YouTube launched YouTube Gaming—a video gaming-oriented sub-site and app that is intended to compete with Twitch.^[3] Other video-game oriented streaming websites include Mixer, which is owned by Microsoft, Smashcast.tv, which was formed after the merging of Azubu and Hitbox.tv, and the South Korea-based afreecaTV.

Streamers and viewers register for free accounts with a service which lets them interact with each other by name and subscribe to, or "follow", specific streamers. Home video game consoles, such as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, contain built-in streaming and optional camera integration. Home computers use software such as Open Broadcaster Software or XSplit to upload a livestream to Twitch's servers.^[2]

With advancements in the technology, new gaming laptops are coming ready with online streaming for games. Manufacturers are using new graphics cards and better quality connectivity for online gaming experience.^[4]

Building an audience, CNET advises, is more difficult than setting up the software. Among other advice, game streamers recommend selecting a popular game, which is more likely to interest viewers than a rare title without a following. Popular titles in the mid-2010s include League of Legends, Dota 2, first-person shooters such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and card games such as Hearthstone. Viewers are more interested in players who play and entertain well, offering jokes, pop culture, and current event commentary instead of repetitive gameplay. Streamers also recommend keeping a schedule so viewers know when to watch, self-promotion on social media, and giveaway contests to build a follower count.^[2]

Profession

Professional streamers often combine gameplay with highly knowledgeable or dextrous play and entertaining commentary. They can generate sufficient revenue from viewer subscriptions and donations, as well as platform advertisements and sponsorships from eSports organizations.^[5] An October 2017 report from SuperData Research estimated that more people subscribed to video game streams and Let's Play videos on YouTube and Twitch than for all of HBO, Netflix, ESPN, and Hulu, combined.^[6]

Benefits

There are many reasons why someone would want to record themselves playing games for a live audience. Professional streamers often indicate that they enjoy their job because they are their own boss and the amount of work they put in directly effects growth on their platform. So when a streamer is competent they flourish and there is a strong sense of personal accomplishment.^[7] Another benefit is that it brings attention to video games of the streamers choosing so that games with small communities gain visibility.^[8] For example, in 2013 several members of the Super Smash Bros Melee community live streamed in order to raise money to to become the 8th game featured at the prestigious tournament Evolution Championship Series and overturn a decision by Nintendo to ban the game from the event.^[9]

Risks

Streamers run the risk of being victims of stalking, as is common with other public figures. For example, a teenage viewer showed up uninvited to a streamer's house and requested to live with him after having saved up for a one-way transcontinental flight.^[10] Another risk to streamers is swatting, where someone makes a false report to police of serious criminal activity taking place at the streamer's residence, resulting in a raid by police, which is often captured live by the streaming service.^[11] Such activity can create serious risk to the streamer, and has even resulted in deaths. In the 2017 Wichita swatting, police officers killed a man named Andrew Finch at his Kansas home. Finch was the unintended victim of the swatting after two Call of Duty players on the same team got into a heated argument about a US$1.50 bet. LAPD arrested 25-year-old serial-swatter Tyler Raj Barriss, known online as "SWAuTistic" and "GoredTutor36", in connection with the incident, who was later sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for the offense.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Stream sniping is a common tactic to gain an advantage in a video game by watching the live stream of an enemy player.^[16] Several video game developers have taken measures against stream sniping, and video games such as Rust and Fortnite now hide the names of popular streamers.^[17][18] In November 2018, live streamer Ninja controversially threatened to report a player who he thought had killed him in Fortnite by stream sniping.^[19] While stream sniping happens somewhat rarely for most streamers due to the restrictions set by the games, as well as tactics set up by the streamers themselves like covering up the ingame map or setting a delay for the stream, there are cases where stream sniping plays a part in a streamer's entertainment and therefore the streamer does not set any restrictions and instead allows it. This is the case for the popular Twitch streamer Forsen.^[20]

Entry

There are many commons paths streamers take that lead to the start of their career. One popular way is through prior involvement with esports. People who take this route either already have a large following or gain a large following based off of their in-depth knowledge of the game or through their personality. Live streams make this possible because it allows people to display their already honed skills in a more personal format.^[7] Another entry into streaming is other social media platforms such as YouTube because live streaming makes it easier to interact with viewers and fans. Other less common methods of entry include those who are involved in the creation of video games and those who write articles or blogs about video games.^[7]

List of video game live streaming websites

The following is a list of sites that primarily focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions, in addition to other types of content.

Legal issues

Live streaming of video games has many of the same legal issues that Let's Play videos may have. First and foremost, such videos can be considered a copyright violation, though is argued to be protected by fair use defenses.

Nintendo has generally taken a strong stance compared to other publishers for allowing their games to be streamed or recorded. Initially, they have used YouTube's Content ID system to register their games such that they can generate ad revenue from streaming videos and Let's Play videos.^[28] By about 2014, Nintendo crafted its Nintendo Creators Program, which would allow players providing live streams and Let's Plays of Nintendo games that sign onto the program to receive some monetization of these videos through YouTube.^[29][30] However, in September 2017, Nintendo changed the program specifically preventing affiliates from using streaming video of Nintendo games, monetized or not, though non-affiliated accounts, and Let's Plays with commentary, remain unaffected.^[31] However, on November 28, 2018, Nintendo announced that the program was shutting down.^[32][33]

The playing of copyrighted music without proper permission may cause archived streams to be removed or muted, or streamers to be suspended, due to complaints under laws such as the U.S. Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, or automated content matching. More than 10 popular Twitch streamers, including Félix "xQc" Lengyel and Zachary "Sneaky" Scuderi, were banned for 24 hours for allegedly playing a song by Juice WRLD in June 2018. Some of the bans were lifted, with the artist's record label Interscope claiming that the ban was accidental.^[34][35]

See also

• Software vision mixer

References

Further reading

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