https://www.cybersport.ru/other/articles/kto-prozhivaet-na-dne-twitch-strimery-bez-zritelei-v-pogone-za-populyarnostyu

The idea for this article came to me after publishing news about 16 year old British streamerwho complained about the absence of spectators. Then his post on reddit went viral, and the news on Cybersport.ru found an unexpected response from our users. When I saw such excitement in the comments, it became interesting for me to study in more detail the downside of Twitch, because it still remains unknown territory for most of the platform’s users. Spoiler alert: I’ve met a lot of krinj, but I’ve also managed to find great guys who definitely deserve more than a “0” in the audience count.

Where the viewer’s foot has not set foot

In preparation for writing this article, I watched the broadcasts of more than a hundred unknown streamers in the Dota 2 section – I chose this particular discipline, since it is the most popular on Cybersport.ru. I also suggested that it would be easier for Dotters to answer questions from the chat while they wait for the hero to be resurrected. CS: GO players still need a lot of concentration on what is happening in the match.

I deliberately chose channels with zero viewers and a minimum number of followers (no more than a hundred). I gave preference to broadcasts with a webcam, since as a viewer it was much more interesting for me to follow the live reaction and behavior of the streamer than the game itself. Despite such a low selection bar, it was not possible to communicate with everyone with whom I wanted to. Some streamers for some reason limited access to the chat, allowing only followers to write there (a very strange decision when you have 0 viewers). Others on the simple phrase “Hello, how are you?” on the fly and for no reason they sent me to places far and unsociable. However, such cases were rather an exception. Much more disappointing was caused by outwardly pleasant streamers who did not pay attention to the chat at all or put on the broadcast such a long delay that it was almost impossible to establish live communication with them.

Of course, among the watched streamers there were also “enchanting exhibits” in the most unusual images. Believe me, even a 100-kilogram bearded man in a pink peignoir with a bow was not the most krinzh of them. I rarely came across such. Partly because they were gaining a few viewers pretty quickly and getting off the bottom that I was exploring. By the way, 100% of the streamers with whom I was able to communicate normally, met the phrase “the bottom of Twitch” with absolute understanding and humor. Some even included it in their vocabulary and began to use it in the names of the broadcasts.

Who lives at the bottom of the ocean … Twitch

If I tried to classify all the inhabitants of the “bottom of Twitch”, then I would divide them into such groups.

Calibrators – a fairly common type of streamers who endlessly fight for the best rating in Dota 2. Such people are often focused on the match, so they don’t always answer questions quickly in chat. During the calibration series, they try to communicate with teammates, communicate, prompt, give information and generally behave very adequately (which I was very surprised). Among the calibrators I interviewed, the overwhelming majority played at a rating of about 3 thousand MMR, and only a couple of people have seen something about 6 thousand MMR. Many of them are 20-25 years old, and some have not even lost hope of breaking into the big esports yet. When I asked them about their idols, most often they called me the teams Natus Vincere and Virtus.pro, as well as Cooman.

Girls Is a very rare category of streamers in my survey. If they did appear on Twitch Day, they didn’t stay there for long. As soon as the girl turned on her webcam, guys instantly appeared in her chat with routine phrases like “Hello! You have a wonderful smile! ” and “Pretty woman, let’s play together, I’ll give you a lasso!” Such streamers were reluctant to make live contact – the persistent tackles of the pick-up artists clearly discouraged them from all desire to communicate on serious topics. Unfortunately, I never managed to talk to the streamers normally, but some conclusions after visiting their channels formed by themselves. Surprisingly, almost none of the girls I watched cared about the quality of the stream. Generally. They had the most hissing microphones, the most fuzzy picture, a cluttered camera, and an eerie mess in the room. Jokes about curlers on the head and a dressing gown with stains are more appropriate here than ever, to chomp pasties or eat borscht on air is a normal practice for them. I don’t want to offend anyone, I just share my observations.

Close friends Is another type of live streaming I’ve seen a lot on Twitch Day. Usually, a relaxed atmosphere reigns on such broadcasts, and when entering the stream, an outside user may think that he has got to someone else’s party (where, in general, no one invited him). Such streams are often dominated by informal communication with friendly jokes, local memes and conversations that are understandable only to a narrow circle of initiates. I also failed to communicate with such streamers. In the presence of friends, they were shy and reluctant to answer serious questions about broadcasts, e-sports, and so on. In general, an outside viewer feels like a stranger on such broadcasts, so it is not entirely clear why these broadcasts were launched at all.

Loners – in this category of people, I included those who did not fall into the calibrators. On Twitch Day, I met a lot of streamers who just played for fun, not chasing ratings. Sometimes they trained a specific character, sometimes they just practiced the game in positions. It was with these people that it was most interesting for me to communicate. They were happy to talk about themselves, their work, family and the cities in which they live. It was surprising that almost none of them follow esports or even know about the existence of thematic news resources. But the live broadcasting industry itself is clearly of interest to them. I have been told more than once that they would like to stream professionally and make money from it, but “they have not yet drawn up a specific action plan.” Others believed that popularity “should come by itself”, without investing in advertising or promotion of social networks. When I asked about idols among streamers and bloggers, they most often mentioned Stray228, Papic, BlackSilverUFA and other game bloggers. At the same time, it turned out that many do not watch Dota streamers or eSports at all.

A separate subspecies among the “loners”, I would single out the “silent”. There were not many of these guys, but everything was like a blueprint – they played in silence, not communicating not only with the audience, but also with the teammates in the match. It seems that they even blinked less often than usual and practically did not move. Strange people.

Freaks – the most fun category at Twitch Day, where I took those I could not identify in other sections. Among the freak streamers I have met, few have ever played Dota 2 during the stream. Apparently, these people very strangely shocked some invisible spectators (possibly fictional). There were also those who, instead of playing, actively argued about politics / fishing / coronavirus with someone in voice chat or staring aimlessly at the webcam. What can we say, if on one of the streams in the Dota 2 section, someone simply painted the cat with blue paint (the animal, it seems, did not mind). Of course, it was not without fans of the drag show, but I generally have the least questions about these. In general, streamers from this category could well end up in a collection of funny takes from some roulette chat.

Little people with interesting stories

Still, I managed to find nice and open-minded streamers on Twitch Day. Each of them has its own interesting story and an unusual approach to live broadcasts. For example, 21-year-old Maxim maxstroon from Kuzbass works at the Evraz ZSMK plant as a blast furnace and devotes almost all his free time to Dota 2. He started streaming more than a year ago, but has gained only 17 followers. Viewers on his channel rarely visit: there were a maximum of three people at a time (two of them were his friends).

An interesting conversation came out with the streamer banbanhey. 26-year-old Alexander lives in Primorye (+7 to the Moscow time zone), plays Dota 2 practically without spectators and films his sleeping cat on his webcam. Alexandra’s girlfriend confessed to me that he “works as a cop“, and the streamer himself clarified in a streamlined manner that “public service driver“…

What surprised me most in Alexander’s story was that he “archive on YouTube“ has over 600 hours-long videos with recordings of streams on Dota 2 and other games. At the same time, there are only a couple of subscribers on his channel and there are practically no views, however, this does not bother Alexander and does not stop him.

24-year-old Artyom SolenceReim from Yaroslavl works as a typesetter in warehouses, and on free days he streams Dota 2 for 8-9 hours. His channel has two followers, and they are friends. Artyom started streaming recently, but plans to turn this hobby into a profession.

24-year-old Andrey AndreyRin from the Komi Republic pleased us with a very pleasant and sincere conversation. A man with the appearance of Keanu Reeves turned out to be an interesting conversationalist and literally bribed me with his manners and outlook on life. And of all the streamers I interviewed, he was the closest to esports.

Andrey started streaming recently, although thoughts about it appeared several years ago. He believes that he missed a convenient time and now it is already difficult to compete for viewers.

Previously, Andrey tried to break into the professional Dota 2 scene and even participated in leagues from StarLadder.

As you can see, at Twitch Day“ there are many interesting streamers with whom you can chat with soul and comfort. Usually they are glad to every viewer, gladly answer questions, talk about themselves and are ready to talk on any topic. They also don’t brainwash your brain with endless sponsorship ads and phrases like “come in, like, subscribe“… They do not have a bloated PSV and they do not use swearing as a way to shock the audience. By the way, almost none of the streamers I watched even collected donations, to which I was generally extremely surprised. I advise everyone to try this experience and chat with someone from the bottom of Twitch“… This has already become a habit for me, and I get much more positive emotions on such channels.

How to break away from the “bottom”?

At the end of the article, I want to share some observations and give some tips for novice streamers on how to attract the attention of viewers (or at least not scare them away when meeting them). I made these conclusions by analyzing my own criteria for selecting streamers for this material.

1. Set up your webcam – this will immediately set you apart from the crowd of other similar streamers. I chose the channels this way because I wanted to see your reaction and live emotions.
2. Do not use mate in the title of the broadcast… This does not attract, but only repels the audience. I liked it when the title contained humor or some kind of self-irony. It is also useful to immediately indicate who you are and what you are doing on stream (for example: “Calibrating for 5 thousand MMR per support“).
3. Checkmate on stream is acceptable, but in moderation and in appropriate situations… I once went to the channel to a streamer who, in the chat rules, asked all viewers to behave culturally, not to offend others, etc. At the same time, he himself literally spoke in “Russian obscene“, covering teammates with three-story structures. Don’t be hypocrites.
4. Set up a chat so that it is convenient for you to communicate with viewers… Unfortunately, many people forget about it and read the chat only between matches. And some also put too much delay. Unsurprisingly, viewers quickly lose interest in such broadcasts.
5. Don’t be silent on the stream… If you have no one to chat with in the stream chat, then talk at least with your teammates. The first thing that a new viewer will evaluate when they enter a channel is your communication style.