When John Hopstad first descended into the virtual world of Dark Souls in 2013, his mission was to save a dying world. The game is renowned for its brutal and exacting gameplay, Dark Souls is a favorite game to stream live: if you're going to die hundreds of times, you might be able to die with a digital company to lighten the mood. What Hopstad did not realize was that this would be the beginning of a more difficult journey to make connections with other people. Hopstad has been streaming to virtually no one for the last 5 years and he's not alone in this pursuit.
Twitch, the leading live streaming platform that lets people play games, make crafts, and showcase their everyday lives, is home to over two million viewers every month. This number is growing each year, thanks in part to how easy it is to live stream and the platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube also increasingly encourage people to share and watch live streams. By pushing an icon on your game console or smartphone, you can share whatever you're doing in that moment with strangers and friends alike. The rise of popular (and profitable) influencers on platforms like YouTube and Twitch has also made the idea of being an influencer online aspirational. Some parents have noticed that their kids pretend to unbox toys for a largely untapped audience, and teachers report that their students frequently say they would like to take up YouTubing? as a profession. Yet, when it seems everyone wants to record footage or stream live who is actually watching the videos?
Everybody seems to want to record footage or live stream, who ends up watching the content?
A career in the world of platforms such as Twitch often means spending some time broadcasting to absolutely no one. There is a challenge of finding people to join: when you log into Twitch the most well-known users are those who already have a huge following. While there are tools to find streams that aren't well-known However, those who start out without built-in audiences from other platforms, or supportive friends and family are left staring at a big, big zero on their counter of viewership. The lonely stream hell can last anywhere from several days, weeks, months, sometimes even years, based on how luck plays out. According to people who have experienced it, being without an audience is among the most miserable things you'll encounter online.
"It's quite exhausting playing to an empty space all day long with no result," one Redditor wrote in a thread that has since been deleted on r/Twitch.
"It's fucking hard to stay optimistic when you're doing this 5 every day when it feels like nobody drops by," another Redditor wrote in a separate thread, after having spent months streaming with no one. "I've come to a realization that streaming doesn't work for me."
"Been streaming intermittently for four+ years and everytime I come back , I go through weeks where the majority of time I'm not streaming to person," another Redditor wrote. "It's tough."
Sean Burke, a streamer who spent about a month broadcasting popular games like Overwatchwithout any viewers It's easy to get carried away when nobody turns up to your show. "It was sometimes depressing," says Burke, but he managed to keep live streaming throughout.
When live stream is a practice one, the person in front of the camera is what is being produced. While there are many things that you can learn and master your stream's popularity, the success of a streamer is determined by how many people love you or find you fascinating. "I initially kept internalizing the viewership numbers to mean it was me who had the problem or that I didn't have enough humor, that I wasn't good enough at playing games." After one year of intense work and dedication, he estimates that he is now getting about 10 viewers concurrently per stream.
Inability to reach an audience is among that of the worst experiences you'll encounter online.
Veteran streamers often have a list of talking points to offer assistance to newbies, one I've seen repeated many times across social media platforms. It's like this: be yourself. Enjoy yourself. Create a schedule and adhere to it. Make sure you have a proper technical setup. Practice your commentary, and then speak your thoughts. Play games that aren't oversaturated with other streamers already. Trick your live stream out with overlays and plug-ins that make the experience more fun for viewers, such as mini-games in which viewers must keep a virtual pet in the game. Get on social media and share your stream. Join other streams and becoming friends with them. But the toughest advice to follow is the idea that aspiring streamers need to be on the move at all times, even if nobody is watching, just in case someone does appear.
"Think of it as if you're recording an interview show, and you're the host," Neon_Nazgul, a Redditor, posted in a post offering suggestions to frustrated streamers. "Sometimes there's a studio audience, and sometimes you're shooting something that viewers will see later." While this is certainly real, it's also one of the reasons that streaming without an audience so difficult in the first place. It's a solo practice in which you're required to make it appear like there's a person listening, but with no idea how the time will be until the person arrives or even if they will.
https://dean-faber-2.blogbright.net/five-reasons-your-business-is-streaming-on-twitching are able to follow the conventional advice and still not build their following, which is being lost among streamers who are also hopeful. Many end up using schemes that give an appearance of success: you can pay for bots to fill your stream, thus pushing you up the Twitch directory, or team up with other marginal streamers to boost each other's subscriber numbers in "follow4follow" groupings. Streamers can even make broadcasts where the sole goal is to let hundreds of people beg each other to follow them in conversations. Most of the time, this method does not work for all in the process, since no one gets a genuine viewer even if the numbers suggest otherwise.
"I tried the follow4follow method... but no one did the next step and viewed my channel," Twitch user Flummoxkid says. "Nothing but a bunch of hollow follower. Even the streamers that cultivated the F4F channels that I watched pulled a 180 and tried to go legit once they joined forces, and they barely get any viewers. I was foolish enough to think that people would actually return this favor."
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Despite the sometimes psychologically taxing nature of trying to be noticed on Twitch, some continue to persevere despite the cold indictment of the zero. The reasons for this are diverse I've spoken to people who seem to believe that sharing games is so straightforward, that they could do it if they're already playing a game. "It's more enjoyable than sitting in a dark room by myself with no one else around," wrote Twitch user jostlingjoe on a Reddit discussion about the best way to handle being unable to view viewers.
Many, though, are searching for something different. A streamer that I talked to who was without a viewership, MaverickRPDM, says that they streamed live games with zero viewers because they considered it a way of self-improvement. "Streaming has made me more fascinating, more quick witted as well as more social and outgoing," MaverickRPDM says. "It has helped me feel more at ease being me and as a result it has allowed me to be more authentic, and more often, outside within the confines of the streaming."
The most important reason for people who stream for extended periods of time without a viewer is the chance to meet like-minded people."The reason I began streaming was because I was looking for connections with other people," said Richard Szelesy, a streamer who's spent the last few years mostly broadcasting high-end games to zero viewers. Szelesy admits that he was a kid feeling isolated, largely sitting at the computer in front of the computer. "[I streamed to] get rid of sadness and loneliness," he said. While he has mostly been streaming with no audience, every so often an unintentional person will pass by and stick around. Even if the person comes back -- and they usually don't -- the small spark of light is enough to continue to keep Szelesy going.
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"I was sort of trying to find human connections."
"Weirdly in my adulthood, I have a much easier time connecting with romantic partners than meeting new acquaintances," Szelesy says. "I don't be able to decide where to begin! Do I go up to an uninvolved person and say "Yo, do you like Dark Souls?'" Twitch also gives a way to eject himself from disgruntled people. "[It's] way easier to just call out or remove the kind of people who seem cool, but say racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic/etc shit."
Hopstad who has spent years streaming mostly to nobody, claims that he's a socialist who is concerned about the minimum wage and Twitch provides him with a platform to discuss his views that he doesn't have in his real life. "I'm not social, therefore I don't look for occasions to discuss things, like on message boards, especially stuff such as politics. I'm fine being able to go through the day without having conversations or interfacing with anyone," Hopstad said. "Twitch definitely helped me try to break out of my introvert character, but I'm beginning to think I'm getting more comfortable being completely alone for the remainder of my life."
Although the bleakness without any viewers Twitch isn't pleasant However, those who remain with it are glad they made it. Many streamers can remember exactly when their countdown of views changed from zero to one.
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"The first viewer felt almost surreal," Szelesy said. "Twitch is set up to increase the number of people with a good reputation, so if someone finds you, they've been thinking that you might be the kind of person they'd like to watch. Although these conversations or views don't always lead to even connections, let alone deep relationships, it's usually awesome, because they found me in my hidden little place here and decided to hang out."
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After months of being without an audience, finally getting an audience to watch your show can be nerve-wracking as well thrilling. You've prepared for it, sometimes for several hours ,and now it's time to show. Someone is on the other side. They're here for you. What do you do?
"I recall my very first viewer and when it happened," said Reddit user TheWhiteLatino69 TheWhiteLatino69, a streamer, initially began broadcasting on Twitch to ease through the rough times. At first, TheWhiteLatino? broadcasted without an audience in order to create the illusion he was hanging out with other people. "I streamed Subnautica with 0 viewers and then I glanced at the chatroom to look for an 'hey!.' When I saw that it suddenly came to me, I was not alone anymore I noticed that there were people watching me. I became increasingly nervous as the stream progressed and I nervously chatted with them. It's one thing pretending you're talking to someone and it's a different thing to actually talk to a person ..."It was quite a shock to me."
Based on conversations I've had with numerous streamers taking that first plunge when you're not sure anyone will be watching could be like throwing a message in bottles into the ocean. Maybe someone will find the bottle. Perhaps the bottle is hidden in the depths of the ocean. We all gamble in our own ways when we reach out online, whether we're using Tinder or using hashtags to search for people with similar interests. Perhaps we feel more alienated than ever before or perhaps we meet individuals who are able to make anything worth it.
Lolimdivine, a Redditor who estimates they have spent about eight months streaming with no one, is adamant about the community they've formed after they've gotten over the initial bump.
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"My regulars and I always discuss our lives, and we all know stuff about one another," lolimdivine said. "It's like we're our own internet family of sorts. I see these people as my friends and not just viewers. We welcome all who join us from all over the globe, and we keep in mind things about people who can only stop by every once in a month. It's really an incredible thing that Twitch can do for people's loneliness or friend groups." Many streamers I spoke with told me that they were drawn to Twitch when they discovered a person that entertained them through an emotional time for example, losing a beloved one.
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Khryn_Tzu, an Twitch streamer who went for months without a single viewer and is approaching their first anniversary of one year on Twitch. It's a crucial date since without Twitch Khryn_Tzu would not have been able to connect with a particular viewers.
"Lots of days with 0 viewers. I doing my thing, and learned the best practices, and I am," Khryn_Tzu said. "Then it took place. There was one audience. And they continued to watch. They didn't say anything for a couple of streams, but they kept coming back. Then one night I had to go AFK which is why I put on some Metallica. It was a good choice of music. I love Metallica.' It was a thrilling feeling to have someone completely unknown to me to stick around for MY content. It had been a hard push."
Although many dream of an audience of thousands, that one person was the one who made all the difference in Khryn_Tzu's story. "We began talking, and then began chattering, and she was sure to begin welcoming people and even talking to them when people would show up," says Khryn_Tzu. "Soon people started staying... and it became so much more than that too. Who are these viewers that show up? They are your friends. Sometimes, they become more. https://www.click4r.com/posts/g/6695860/6-alternatives-to-streaming-on-twitching ? We're dating now, and I could not be more happy."
A majority of people don't wind with a partner on Twitch, but for plenty of other people, that's not the goal.
