I was kind of struggling to find ONE LAST topic for #naaagust earlier this week (I don’t always post things in the order I write them) when another round of Twitch drops came along and Tipa wrote a post about how odd the whole concept is. I commented there that I don’t often actively watch Twitch but I will open a stream and mute the tab just to get the drops. As I’m writing this I have the stream of an acquaintance from Mastodon in a muted tab. Not for drops but just to ‘help’ their channel. I think it helps?

But in case any streamers read this and are curious as to WHY I don’t watch Twitch, I figured I’d share in case it is helpful for them as a way to expand their audience. I mean I am not conceited enough to believe that I am some unique individual so if I think this way, there are probably others who think the same way.

I do want to stress, in the strongest terms possible, that I am NOT telling anyone what to do! I don’t know the business of streaming and if streaming is just a hobby for you then obviously you should do what brings you joy. I’m just sharing why I, personally, don’t often watch streams.

Why I Don’t Watch

First off, length. These streams tend to be LONG. I get that you’re probably supposed to dip in, stay a while, and go on about your business but I’m a bit OCD and am a start-to-finish person. It feels vaguely unsettling to leave something in progress. And I don’t really multitask, at least when there is sound involved. There’s no way I could watch a stream while I’m working because the streamer’s voice would break my concentration. When I’m not working, the 3 hours I could spend watching you stream is 3 hours I could spend playing a game myself which, sorry, I’d generally rather do! I don’t know how to ‘fix’ this, though. I assume you need to stream for a long time just because if you say you’re going to stream from 5pm to 6pm the chance of people working their schedules around that specific time slot is very slim.

I DO watch gaming content but it is generally on YouTube where it has been edited down to under 20 minutes and available on-demand. Anything longer than that takes a real commitment for me to start watching, and even then I probably won’t watch it all in one sitting. And just to be an even bigger pain in your behind, I won’t watch a VOD of your Twitch stream because when you’re talking to people in the chat I am only ‘hearing’ half the conversation, which I find annoying. I watch most content on a YouTube app on my TV so don’t ever read chat.

The second, and bigger, reason I don’t watch Twitch streams is spoilers. If you’re playing a game I want to play, I won’t watch because I want to discover what is in the game for myself. If you’re playing a game I don’t want to play, I’m PROBABLY not going to watch because I’m just not interested in that game.

Last is the little things, and these are SUPER subjective, but things that tend to make me turn off a stream: excessive shouting, and excessive cursing. And OF COURSE racism, misogyny and all that stuff but I think that goes without saying. But I personally am not a fan of that 14 year old boy energy that I encounter a lot on random streams. Fart jokes and things like that. A nice soothing voice helps, but I mean, your voice is your voice, right?

Why I Might Watch

So that’s kind of a dilemma, right? So what WILL I watch?

The few times I have gotten interested in watching a streamer it was some kind of ‘evergreen’ game that didn’t really have a set narrative. A good example, back when Mixer was a thing, was a guy who streamed Farming Simulator on a persistent, multiplayer farm. Farming Simulator is a game I’m kind of curious about but always get bored of playing, but since this person was working with others it was more interesting. Like one guy would be driving the machine that cuts the hay and another would be driving the truck that catches the hay bails and they’d have to stay coordinated (but often mayhem would ensue) They’d have daily chores to do like check on the apiaries or whatever. It was also a heavily modded version of the game so they had stuff to do that wasn’t in my version of Farming Simulator. There was also really no ‘start’ or ‘finish’ to the game so you could just drop in whenever and see what was going on. Maybe stay until the end of one set of chores or something.

So this channel was compelling because there was no set storyline to spoil, and since it was a group of players it was something I couldn’t do, in a game that I was actually interested in.

That, I guess, is my stream viewing sweet spot. Find a game that doesn’t have a narrative to be spoiled and play it in such a way that I can’t, or won’t, play myself. I’ve dabbled in watching e-sports a time or two as well. Match-based games. I don’t do PvP so I wouldn’t actually play these games, but watching skilled players can be interesting.

If I could find a group of likable friends that stream, it might be compelling. I tend to live my life with just 1 other person to talk to, so being exposed to a group of people chatting and having fun is intriguing to me. And probably not just to me. As evidence I point to Critical Role and generally the many D&D streams that are now popular. I mean MAYBE people watch for the role play but I suspect they watch just as much for the fun people are having together. (Note I don’t watch Critical Role because episodes are so danged long. One upon a time Deborah Ann Woll did a series called Relics & Rarities which was a role play series where each episode was an hour long, and that was something we loved.) I’d probably enjoy being a fly on the wall and watching you and a few friends have fun playing a game together. Probably a co-op game since there’s usually more friendly banter and less stress about winning or losing.

So in summary, maybe this is helpful or food for thought. Maybe it is just coming across as me being selfish and expecting the world to deliver exactly what I want it to! But I just wanted to give a glimpse into the mind of a non-viewer in case it is of any help to anyone. If anyone knows of streams that I might enjoy, giving all the above, please leave a comment!