New Subscription Service Allows Gamers to Stream Each Other’s Games
After enduring a long commute back and forth from school, Tommy Dietz, 21, a Rowan University senior and lifelong video game enthusiast, likes to unwind with a nice game of “Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.” What’s strange about this, however, is that Dietz won’t be playing the game himself, but watching someone else instead.
He’s not alone, as millions of gamers around the world are putting down their controllers and logging on to Twitch.tv, a website which allows users to stream live video game content and commentary or watch and comment on other’s video game streams, all free of charge.
“I watch Twitch somewhere between two to three hours a day normally,” said Dietz, explaining how Twitch has become almost as big a part of his life as gaming has. “In a sense, Twitch has basically become TV for me.”
Twitch.tv was created by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear and launched in June 2011 as a gaming-centric subsidiary of live-streaming website Justin.tv, which Kan and Shear also co-founded. According to Twitch’s “About” page, the website currently garners more than 45 million visitors per month.
Dietz first learned of Twitch in June of last year through another popular video-based website you may have heard of: YouTube. It was there that a number of online gaming personalities, such as Criken and TotalBiscuit (both of which regularly garner hundreds of thousands of views per video), began posting links to their Twitch streams, introducing Dietz to his newest obsession.
“I remember the first thing I was a part of was a ‘WoW’ (“World of Warcraft”) stream done by Criken where a good couple hundred people ran around the game trying to invade enemy cities,” said Dietz, chuckling to himself. “It was goofy, but playing with someone you’re a fan of, plus being a part of a big community working towards some goal, was really fun.”
Though Dietz still follows many of his favorite gaming personalities on YouTube, Twitch, he argues, offers a more unique experience. “Communication is the best aspect by far,” said Dietz. “The fact that you can chat and interact with the streamers while they play makes you feel more connected than watching something pre-recorded.”
The types of streams Dietz mainly watches are known to gamers as “Let’s Plays,” where raw, often unedited gameplay footage is paired with the spontaneous, typically comedic commentary of the player as they play the game. Many of Dietz’ favorite Twitch streamers, including TotalBiscuit and Criken, mostly stream “Let’s Plays.”
For Dietz, the entertainment he gets from these personalities stems not just from comedy, but insight as well. “I like to try to get a guided opinion of the games they are playing,” said Dietz. “It’s fun to learn something or see something from a different angle that you haven’t seen before. Humor is fun too, but there is more than just jokes to the entertainment.”
With this focus on the player’s personality, the games themselves are rarely a draw for Dietz, especially since he is fully capable of playing them on his own. “I can play most games myself, so I don’t see the point in going out of my way to watch a particular game,” said Dietz.
Most Twitch users, however, would likely disagree with Dietz, as thousands of gamers log on to Twitch to watch people duke it out in their favorite online video games. According to the Official Twitch Blog, “League of Legends,” a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, has consistently been the most viewed game the past year. This is largely due to frequent professional gaming tournaments, like the League of Legends Championship Series, which are often streamed on Twitch every weekend.
Amanda Kotz, 22, an avid “League of Legends” fan, has been watching LCS tournament matches on Twitch every week, accounting for most of what she watches on the site. “I follow a few ‘League’ players like Librizzi and RF Legendary, but I mostly watch for the gameplay,” said Kotz. “It’s so much fun watching the professionals go at it, and I can learn stuff, too.”
Emilio Taillefer, 22, a Twitch user since it first launched, says that gamers not only use Twitch to watch their favorite games in action, but also games they don’t have yet. Taillefer said that when you aren’t sure if you’re ready to drop 60 bucks on a new game – say, for instance, the new “South Park” game – the best thing to do is to check out who’s streaming it on Twitch to see if it’s worth your money.
Those who have caught the Twitch virus typically don’t just watch streams – they do their own, too. Dietz, for instance, began streaming games himself on Twitch back in Oct. 2013 as HoneyCombSlim, and has since made it a weekly ritual to stream whatever game he fancy’s to whomever is interested.
Dietz’s streams, which follow the “Let’s Play” tradition, only average at about 10 or so views each, but internet stardom is hardly his motive for streaming, as he prefers his very small-yet-intimate following. “I’d just rather know I’m making a fan to communicate with rather than a bunch of people who I can’t seem to get to cooperate,” said Dietz. “But really, I will only do it as long as it’s fun.”
This, however, raises a big question: Why bother investing so much time and effort into streaming and watching streams when you can just play games yourself? According to Dietz, it’s all about the “hub for gaming” Twitch users create through streaming and chatting.
This feeling of connectivity, Dietz said, is at its strongest when he’s engaging viewers in his streams, like when he was first able to entertain viewers on his own when he streamed himself playing the strategy game “X-COM: Enemy Unknown.” “Just interacting with my viewers and trying to get people to laugh was incredible,” said Dietz. “I don’t know, you kind of get into a zone where you can just talk and play and have a good time.”
But while millions of gamers are connecting with one another through Twitch today, how long will it be until tomorrow’s next-big-thing comes along to make Twitch obsolete? According to Taillefer, a GameStop employee for six years, Twitch will keep growing not only with gamers, but with the gaming industry at well.
“I have no doubt in my mind with the way things are going now that Twitch will get bigger, especially considering the strides it made in such a short amount of time,” said Taillefer. “Even the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One allow you to stream gameplay to Twitch with just the press of a button and a few clicks of a mouse. It’s undeniable to me that gamers will be streaming for a long time.”
PHOTO TAKEN from digitaltrends.com
