PRODUCTION
Taylor (2018) found that game stream productions feature the following components:
- set design
- material and digital infrastructure
- critique and evaluation
- sociality
- economic and commercial frameworks
These components were all present to some extent in the three livestreams watched.
Set Design
The three streams I watched, AdrianaChechik_, Brad_Taicho and fen_gaming have customized channel pages, but only the latter two use professional overlays.
Material and Digital Infrastructure
The streamers used a headset and microphone to communicate. Adrianachechik_’s stream took place in what seemed to be a darkened study. From a conversation she had with a viewer, her glasses are non-prescription, so they are probably part of her streaming gear.
Brad_Taicho’s physical set was his bedroom, which did not appear to have any specific materials displayed for the purpose of the stream. The lighting of his room looks to be part of the original room design. Bot notifications of new chat messages could be heard throughout his livestream.
fen_gaming’s background wall intends to have been decorated as a visual for the stream. From how the room lighting fell, a ring light was likely used.
Performance
The streamers have their own take on bringing humour and suspense to their game commentary. Notably, fen_gaming is fairly good at mimicking the game sound effects and Brad_Taicho speaks in a mostly calm tone with inflection points to express surprise or frustration. AdrianaChechik_’s performance was the most unfiltered. She narrated her gut reactions more frequently than she did her actions: “Damnn! Fatty’s f*cking me up. F*ck you fatty–I like fatties though” (AdrianaChechik_, 2022).
Her facial expressions were more varied than the others.
Change in intonation created suspense. During the wait for a battle to commence, the rapid-fire repetition of “oh my god, oh my god, oh my god” and rise in tone at the end revealed her excitement.
Critique and Evaluation
AdrianaChechik_ (2022) had the shortest commentary on her moment-to-moment actions, “Ahh, you f*cker! Ah sh*t! My stamina’s low”. Her game analysis mostly described the feel of different parts of the game, “Nah, I tried that area. It’s really harder than you think” (AdrianaChechik_, 2022). Brad_Taicho and fen_gaming are more seasoned gamers as tournament players and aspiring full-time streamers. They had in-depth analysis, sharing their strategies, comparing the games with earlier versions and noting the benefits and drawbacks of game options.
Sociality
Every streamer interacted with their viewers, verbally responding to chat comments almost immediately. Everyone welcomed newcomers and used different ways to engage their viewers. AdrianaChechik_ asked her viewers for help finding the “blue guy”.
fen_gaming asked for name ideas when he caught new Pokémon. Brad_Taicho engaged his community by competing with his subscribers in Mario Kart, voting on the next racecourse and asking them for 2-year subscriber badge ideas.
Economic and Commercial Frameworks
Everyone offers a subscription package with customized chat emotes, sub badges and sub-only chats and accepts donations.
fen_gaming sells merchandise. AdrianaChechik_’s channel page has a link to her Amazon.com wishlist.
SPECTATORSHIP
Wulf et al. (2018; 2020) observed that audience enjoyment is linked to the creation of suspense, parasocial relationships (PSRs) to streamers, Virtual Friendship/Respectful Interest and chat interactions.
Creation of Suspense
The streamers created suspense by verbally acknowledging their weaknesses during their play. AdrianaChechik shared how she did not want to go to the cave because she had been unable to pass through it on previous attempts. She also mentioned that she had no heal cure whilst entering a new area of the game. Brad_Taicho moaned how everyone liked to choose the course he found the most challenging and fen_gaming noted that he had an unbalanced team with too many normal Pokémon and that they were two levels too low. Receiving these insights into the streamers’ psyche, viewers mostly shared their tips and gave encouragement to the streamers, though some relished seeing the streamer struggle.
Viewers enjoying Brad_Taicho’s success and struggle.
Parasocial Relationships (PSRs)
Wulf et al. (2018; 2020) correlated enjoyment of the stream to the PSRs with the streamer. Streamers verbally thanked viewers for subscriptions and donations. Everyone has a published schedule while Brad_Taicho and fen_gaming have a countdown timer to the next livestream. There were frequent interactions between viewers and streamers: AdrianaChechik_’s viewers asked to see her dog (see image below). Brad_Taicho’s viewers asked for his opinion on the Veggietale Course and fen_gaming’s viewers talked about birthdays and names for his neck Pokemon. Streamers directly addressed these comments quickly.
Virtual Friendship and Respectful Interest
The viewers see the streamers as virtual friends. AdrianaChechik_ and fen_gaming greeted and remembered viewers: “Buns and Butter, I haven’t seen you in 4 months” (AdrianaChechik_, 2022). AdrianaChechik_’s stream had more conversations about her personal life. As she is closing her stream, her viewers refer to a conversation from a previous livestream about her drinking preferences which starts a discussion on how her drinking habits have changed. She encourages her viewers to join her Discord channel so they can plug their Twitch channels, like a friend promoting a friend’s business. Her viewers show respectful interest in her choice to end the livestream, asking about the production she will be working on before the next day’s livestream. The other two channels had elements of a virtual friendship, but their viewers’ interactions showed more respectful interest than virtual friendship, since most of the interactions were game-related.
Chat Interactions
Twitch chats create a “haven” for the audience (Kneer et al., 2012; Nauroth et al., 2015 cited in Wulf et al., 2018; 2020) by providing streamers with the option to make chats only available to followers and/or subscribers. Brad_Taicho and fen_gaming make it possible for non-followers to lurk by overlaying the main chat with the game screen. There were at least three active options for community interaction (lurker, subscriber, follower) during the streams. The option to display membership through customized emotes, along with multiple available commands added another layer to these interactions. Chats were places for exchanging game tips/strategies, joking around and glimpses into others’ personal lives.
Compared to Brad_Taicho and fen_gaming, the production components of AdrianaChechik_ ‘s stream are lacking, but were compensated by the viewer-formed PSRs. While there appears to be a formula for creating livestream game channels, missing parts of the formula could perhaps be compensated for through PSRs.
References
AdrianaChechik_ (2022, March 19). Boss fight tonight elden ring (ps5) [Livestream]. Twitch. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1430980952?filter=archives&sort=time
Brad_Taicho (2022, March 20). [AUS} 200cc’s is simply too many monkasteer [Livestream]. Twitch. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1431235866?filter=archives&sort=time
fen_gaming (2022, March 27). [AUS] [SAUMUS/RYU] Join me for a spot of smash: Pokemon legends: Arceus [Livestream]. Twitch. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1437116143
Taylor, T. L. (2018). Twitch and the work of play. American Journal of Play, 11(1), 65-84.
Wulf, T., Schneider, F. M., & Beckert, S. (2018;2020). Watching players: An exploration of media enjoyment on twitch. Games and Culture, 15(3), 155541201878816-346. doi:10.1177/1555412018788161