In the year that John Hopstad first descended into the virtual world of Dark Souls in 2013, his mission was to save a dying world. It is known by its violent and gruelling gameplay, Dark Souls is a popular game to live stream: if you're going to be killed hundreds of times, you may even end up with a digital business to ease the mood. What Hopstad didn't know then was that this would be the start of an even more difficult process to make connections with other people. Hopstad is streaming to largely nobody for the last two years. he's not all on his own in this endeavor.
Twitch is the world's most popular live streaming platform where people play games, create crafts, and share their day-to-day lives, attracts over two million viewers every month. The number grows each year, thanks in part , to the ease with which it has become to live stream, and also platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have also been encouraging users to share and share live stories. By pressing a button on your game phone or console you can share what you're doing in that moment with strangers and friends alike. The rise of popular (and profitable) influencers on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch is also making the idea of being an influencer on the internet an aspirational. Parents have reported that their children pretend to unbox toys to a nonexistent audience, and teachers report that students frequently tell them they would like to take up YouTubing? as a career. Yet, when it seems everyone wants to take video or live stream, who ends up watching the video content?
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Everybody seems to want to take footage or to live stream, who ends up watching the footage?
A career in the world of platforms like Twitch usually requires you to broadcast to no one. There is a challenge of finding people to join that when you log in to Twitch, the most visible streamers are those that already have a significant following. While there are tools available to locate less well-known streamers, most people starting out without built-in audiences from other platforms or supportive friends and family are left gazing at a large big zero on their counter of viewership. This lonely live stream purgatory could last from a few days, months, weeks, or even years, depending on your luck. According to people who have gone through it, not having an audience is among the most demoralizing things you can experience online.
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"It's kind of exhausting playing in a room that is empty all day long with no results," one Redditor wrote on a thread now deleted on r/Twitch.
"It's difficult to remain positive when doing this 5 days a week when you feel like there's no one passing through," another Redditor wrote in a different thread after a long period of streaming with no one. "I've come to the conclusion that streaming isn't working for me."
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"Been streaming intermittently for 4years and every time I come back I go weeks where the majority of time, I'm streaming to just anyone," another Redditor wrote. "It's tough."
Sean Burke, a streamer who spent about a month broadcasting games of the day like Overwatchwithout an audience He says it's easy to get carried away when no one shows up for your live stream. "It was a bit depressing at times," says Burke, who nonetheless kept live streaming through it all.
Live streaming, if it's a practice and the person who is behind the camera is what is being produced. While there are things that you can learn and master your stream's popularity, the success of a streamer comes down to whether or not people like you or find you interesting. "I [initially] kept internalizing the viewership numbers to mean my fault, that was the cause, that I wasn't funny enough, that I wasn't good enough in games." After a year of hard work, he estimates that he is now getting around 10 concurrent viewers per stream.
Lacking an audience is one many of the demoralizing experiences you can experience online.
Veteran streamers often have an arsenal of talk points to offer assistance to newcomers, and I've seen it repeated many times across different social platforms. The way to do it is be yourself. Enjoy yourself. Create a schedule and adhere to it. Make sure you have a proper technical set-up. Learn to practice your commentary and vocalize your thinking. Play games that aren't oversaturated by other streamers. You can trick your live stream with plug-ins and overlays that make the experience more fun for the viewers, such as mini-games in which viewers must keep their virtual pets alive. Get on social media and tell people about your stream. Connect with other users' streams and becoming their friends. The most difficult advice to follow is the idea that an aspiring streamer needs to be on the move continuously even if no one else is watching, in case someone does show up.
"Think of it like you're taping a talk show and you're the host." Neon_Nazgul, a Redditor, wrote in a thread offering advice to frustrated streamers. "Sometimes there's an audience in the studio, and sometimes you're shooting something the audience will watch later." While this is certainly true, it's also a one of the reasons that streaming without a large audience so difficult to begin with. It's a solitary practice where you have to pretend there's a person listening, but with no idea of how it will take until someone shows up or if they ever will.
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Broadcasters may follow all the advice given by experts and struggle to build an audience, if they are being lost among other hopeful streamers. Many end up using methods that appear to give the appearance of success you can pay for bots to stream your stream, which will push your profile higher in the Twitch directory, or join forces with other marginal streamers to increase their subscriber numbers through "follow4follow" communities. Streamers also create broadcasts in which their sole purpose will be to have hundreds people beg each other to follow them in their chat. Most of the time, this method does not work for all who gets a genuine viewers, even though the statistics suggest otherwise.
"I attempted the Follow4Follow technique... But no one ever went on to the next stage and viewed my channel," Twitch user Flummoxkid states. "Nothing other than a few hollow follows. The streamers who cultivated the F4F channels I watched did a 180-degree turn and tried to get legitimate once they signed a partnership, but they have a very low number of viewers. I was foolish enough to think that people would reciprocate the favor."
Despite the sometimes psychologically taxing nature of trying to get noticed on Twitch there are some who persevere despite the cold indictment by the twenty-nine. There are a variety of reasons why they do this I've spoken to people who seem to believe that sharing games is so simple, they might as well play it while playing a game. "It's more enjoyable than being in a dark, dark room by myself with no one else around," wrote Twitch user jostlingjoe in a Reddit discussion about the best way to handle having no viewers.
Some, however, are searching for something different. One streamer I spoke to who was without an audience, MaverickRPDM, says that they streamed live games with zero viewers because they believed it was a method of self-improvement. "Streaming has made me more fascinating, more quick witted, more outgoing and extroverted," MaverickRPDM says. "It has helped me feel more comfortable being myself, and by virtue of that has helped me become more me, more often, even out from the streams."
The most important reason of people who stream for long periods of time with no viewer is the chance to meet like-minded people."The reason I started streaming was that I was kind of looking for human connections," said Richard Szelesy the streamer who has been mostly broadcasting high-end games to no viewers. Szelesy admits that he was a kid feeling isolated, largely spending time in front of the glow of the computer. "[I streamed to] get rid of the loneliness and depression," he said. Although he's been streaming with no audience, from time to time an errant person will drop by and stick around. Even if that person never comes back -- and they usually do not -- the little spark of light is sufficient to help keep Szelesy moving forward.
"I was kind of looking for human connections."
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"Weirdly in my adulthood,, I am more comfortable in creating romantic connections than making new acquaintances," Szelesy says. "I wouldn't even know where to start! How do I approach a random person and go "Yo, do you like Dark Souls?'" Twitch also gives the possibility of removing 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 long hours streaming with nobody, claims that he's a socialist who is concerned about the minimum wage. Twitch allows him to talk about his beliefs which he can't do in real life. "I'm not one for socializing, therefore I don't look for opportunities to talk about things, like on message boards, specifically things like politics, I'm comfortable doing my day without speaking or engaging any one," Hopstad said. "Twitch definitely helped me try to overcome my introverted nature, but I think I'm becoming more comfortable simply being on my own for the remainder of my days."
While the barrenness of no viewers on Twitch isn't pleasant, some who stick to it are pleased that they succeeded. Many streamers remember the exact moment their countdown of views was able to go between zero and one.
"The first viewer was surreal," Szelesy said. "Twitch is set up to boost those with a good reputation which means that if someone comes across you, they were considering whether you could be someone they wanted to watch. Although these interactions or views don't always lead to even followers, let alone more profound connections, it's always kinda amazing, since they came across me in my secluded area and decided to hang out."
After months of having no viewers, finally getting people to view you can be nerve-wracking as well thrilling. You've prepared for it, often for hours ,and now it's showtime. Someone is at the other end. They're here to help you. What can you do?
"I am able to recall the first time I was a viewer and the moment it happened," said Reddit user TheWhiteLatino69 TheWhiteLatino69, a streamer, first began streaming on Twitch to get through a rough time. At first, TheWhiteLatino? broadcasted without an audience to help make it appear like it was a social gathering of people. "I had been streaming Subnautica with 0 viewers and then I glanced at the chatroom to look for an 'hey!.' When I saw that it was all of a sudden came to me, I wasn't by myself anymore I noticed that there were eyes watching me. https://www.click4r.com/posts/g/6695205/3-reasons-your-marketing-isnand-8217-t-streaming-on-twitching began to feel more nervous as the stream continued and I threw myself into conversations with them. It's one thing pretending that you're talking with someone but it's a different thing to actually talk to someone who is actually a human being ..."It really threw a wrench into me."
Based on my conversations with numerous streamers and streamers, taking that first step when you're not sure anyone will watch it can feel as if you're throwing your message in bottles into the ocean. Maybe someone will find the bottle. Perhaps the bottle is lost in the abyss. We all gamble in our own ways when we reach out online, whether swipe right on Tinder or using hashtags to search for other people who share the same interests. We might end up feeling more lonely than ever, or maybe we find individuals who are able to make anything worth it.
Lolimdivine is a Redditor who says they've had spent eight months streaming and not interacting with one, is adamant about the community they've created after overcoming that initial bump.
"My regulars and me always talk about our lives, and we're all aware of things about one another," lolimdivine said. "It's as if we've got our own little internet family of sorts. I view these people as my family and not just as users. We greet everyone with open arms from all around the world, and keep in mind things about people who are only able to visit every once in a month. It's truly amazing that Twitch can help people overcome lonely or friends groups." A lot of streamers I spoke to stated that they first were drawn to Twitch after finding a personality that entertained them through difficult times for example, the loss of a loved one.
Khryn_Tzu, a Twitch streamer who went for weeks with no viewers, is coming up on their first anniversary of one year on Twitch. This is a significant date since without Twitch, Khryn_Tzu wouldn't have met a particular audience.
"Lots of days with 0 viewers, I just doing my thing, and discovered what works, and still am" Khryn_Tzu stated. "Then it occurred. There was one audience. And they were there for the entire time. They didn't say anything for a few streams, but they kept coming back. After a while, I decided need to be AFK and I put on Metallica. Out pops a 'Good choice of music. I love Metallica. It was a thrilling feeling to have someone unfamiliar to me, to stay around for MY content. It was a tough for me to push."
Many dream of having an audience of thousands, one person was the one who made an impact on Khryn_Tzu's life. "We started talking, started talking, and she made sure that she was welcoming everyone and talking to them too when people would show up," says Khryn_Tzu. "Soon people would stay... Then it became much more than that too. The viewers who come in? They are your friends. Sometimes, they become more. That first viewer? We're dating now, and I am so happy."
Most people don't end with a partner on Twitch however for a lot of other people, that's not the intention.
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