My Twitch Experience
During this pandemic that is too obvious and depressing to mention the name of, I have been consuming tons of media. It is probably because anything that is even slightly entertaining (that includes memes) gives you any sort of life in a world that is hellbent on getting rid of it for all.
But political issues aside, there are numerous types of media that I consume, mainly of which involves technology. However, as someone who has interests in many different things in life, it is hard to watch just one type of entertainment, especially when my mood factors in at that moment. Sometimes, I want to jam to some music- other times, I listen to an engaging podcast, or witness intriguingly at the tense history of Mario Kart 64 speed run world records. It is either one or two of those activities, but they have two things in common: a requirement of attention, and they are products independent of the audience that watches them.
But what if you did not want to do any of those things? What if, instead, you wanted to watch something more casual with somebody who interacts with the audience, but also the variety that comes in random scenarios?
Well, that’s where Twitch comes in, the live streaming service owned by the Big Bezos himself, and my source of enjoyment for around a month or two. Now, it is obvious that live streaming is more popular now than ever given this time that you already know, and it seems like anybody, regardless of their popularity or not, has a Twitch that they use at least once to stream or watch.
What differs Twitch from every other social media site that people inhabit is the sense of direct interactivity with the broadcaster. It is not merely a comment left on a published video, or even some words typed across the world, but somewhere in between, where the person can read the words of their audience directly as they come in and react to them. It is also long-form through the passage of time, as hours will pass by as they entertain the coming and going audience at any point. You can join in at any time, either at the beginning, middle and, if you’re unfortunate, the end.
Before this, I have heard of Twitch, but it is rather passive, only hearing from other social media, such as YouTube, which is now heavily connected to other platforms as people are able to form entire careers on social media with their videos, art, and other types of content. I can remember the first person I watched from their YouTube videos named “Saltydkdan”. The first time I heard of “Saltydkdan” (Derek is his first name, he/him) was from a guest cameo in another YouTube video, so I had no idea what he made, except from the fact that he was jokey. Looking at the YouTube channel, there are mainly scripted and unscripted videos of him (and his friends featured at times), but the main highlights are the compilation of highlights featured from Twitch streams of various games, which are mainly comedic from the basis of internet humor and absurdism. There is just something inherently casual and hilarious about the random jokes that he (and his guests) makes that I enjoy whenever the record symbol appears. Even something like streaming a Pokémon game with hard rules implemented works because it is never too serious, especially when it comes to the friends featured, known as the “Pokémon Friendlocke”, to which anyone and everyone can experience from the chat and join in on the chaos. Recently, he has established a stream schedule of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for regular gaming streams, and Sundays for the “Pokemon Black Friendlocke”, usually around 9:00 pm EST.
NOTE: Saltydkdan had been banned from Twitch for a week for “account suspension evasion”, despite never having an alternate account. On May 23, 2021, he streamed the Friendlocke live on YouTube, amassing over four thousand viewers. As of May 25, 2021, he has gotten his Twitch account back, but has considered keeping the Friendlocke streams on YouTube and Twitch for the other streams.
The next one also appears in this category, although in this case it is more of another venture than the main feature. D’Angelo Wallace (he/him) is one such figure, a video creator under the commentary genre who has amassed a large audience, with more than one million subscribers on his second channel “dangelowallace” by the end of 2020. What distinguishes him from others making videos of the same genre, is his attention to detail and very thorough research into a topic. Those attributes certainly work well in a singular video on YouTube, but how would that work in Twitch’s more improvisational and interactive setting?
It works more similarly to YouTube, just by bringing more of the research and materials to the audience upfront like a TED talk, bring a more casual tone and becoming a natural orator- which D’Angelo brings in spades. He does not just do this- he plays various games, relax with a full minute of moment of silence, and bring an overall mood of positivity and confidence throughout six hours of his day. In one of his streams, he notes that a reason for streaming on Twitch (called “dangelno”) is that making YouTube videos can be solitary and that he wants to enjoy more company and share with people actively. It is understandable and enjoyable to see him cover more topics on a weekly basis on air, and then make highlight reels of them, rather than making videos from scratch. Since the start of this year, he has gained more people on his side, gathering more than a million subscribers on his main channel “D’Angelo Wallace”, and more than a hundred thousand followers on Twitch. If you are interested in a variety streamer of both serious and light-hearted activities, D’Angelo is the one for you. He streams Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays on Twitch from 3:00-9:00 pm CST, and uploads highlight videos onto YouTube on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
If you start watching Twitch, chances are that you will find streamers associated with them almost immediately. For example, I found Red Van Buskirk (they/them), another streamer under the name “redbuddi” and a friend of Saltydkdan, through my Twitter timeline. During one of their streams, they were discussing and watching the protests of the executive order of Texas governor Gregory Abbott, who wanted to stop statewide masking laws, but also the lack of widespread vaccination for COVID-19 in the state beyond the one percent. In the upper right corner of the broadcast was a message to spread awareness of their governor’s neglect and corruption with the hashtag “#F**kGregoryAbbott” and the government phone number. For as much as we just see streamers entertaining us and their selves on the stream, we do not really see that they are people as well, with real life affecting them in many ways. Red knows this and feels that it is important that people beyond their state know this as well, spreading the hashtag, petition and even fundraising by donations to support the cause of helping the working class. It is a powerful and altruistic moment, showing the power of people on Twitch using their platform for the better of humanity.
Let us move away from social justice issues for a bit to talk about this next one. There was one significant moment in my Twitch viewership that was so special, I must save it for last in this article. When I was following Red on Twitter on March 5, 2021, they retweeted an announcement of a Twitch stream from another streamer, as one of several guests that were playing mobile games that are considered rip-offs of the popular social game Among Us, either in their similar base mechanics or unauthorized games of other genres using art assets of that game.
That stream was monumental on a quiet Friday night in my room. Not only was it entertaining and intriguing to witness people willingly play lower quality mobile games, but the personalities stood out amongst everything else, one of which being the host, known as “marblecantus”, aka Joy or Marble (she/her) as interchangeably used by people in the stream and the chat. She is an English VTuber, a streamer with a computer-rigged avatar that moves with the voice and slight movement, the avatar being more popularly represented by figures inspired by anime and manga. She is represented in the upper chest and above by hair of a turquoise and green mix, a black ribbon and lavender shirt, with anime eyes and miniscule mouth adorning the face.
NOTE: The description of the avatar above is that of earlier streams prior to May 28, 2021, where she will debut with a new VTuber model going by the name “Dollip”, with a title rebrand to “DollipDaze”.
She has a simple desktop background for her computer, but that is just the backdrop for the most entertaining streams I have seen so far. A variety streamer of mainly video games and other entertaining activities, she brings joy (pardon the pun) and laughter to everyone in the chat. She plays some of the more popular games more often, such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and The World Ends with You, but also some indie titles for fun, such as Kuukiyomi: Consider It, a Wario-Ware style game that evaluates you on how “considerate” you are through various microgames and that one mobile game with anime vampire boys in a castle school advertised on Twitter I forgot the name of.
The reason why I find this streamer to be my personal favorite is because of how welcoming, friendly, and hilarious they are to watch. I get excited after a day of online classes to watch her streams when she announces them on Twitter, and even if I am late, it never feels like I missed too much or feel left out, regardless of whether I am familiar with the game being played or not. After a year of isolation in my room due to the disease and me not being able to see real interaction on the internet, these streams feel like a breath of fresh air.
I even started drawing more often again, often through fanart of whatever parts of a stream I feel like stand out to me. For example, I drew Joy and her model as a Kirby from Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64, but I felt the confidence to show it to the internet, because I knew I would be welcome. I even donated a few times just to show some support and help fill the stream goal. One time I was just feeling not well at all and watching a Super Mario 64 stream controlled by cheering Twitch bits made me feel better, and I was also gifted a one-month subscription through a generous watcher, serving as a cherry on top. More importantly though, I got to know a lot more of the community watching her, initially through chat, and then by joining her public Discord server, full of diverse and unique personalities that serve as a great dose of interaction after a long day.
This article is mainly about the most significant streamers in my experience of watching Twitch so far, but I got to watch a lot more of them- either through association or through raids, where the chat of one streamer bombards another streamer’s chat, usually with a few words encapsulating some part of the stream that they just watched. The other streamers I watch fall into a similar type with their own unique aesthetics and atmosphere, and I do not really have much to write about them, so I will link them down at the bottom of the article, along with the ones I described above.
For the most part, I watch more YouTube than any other medium, but Twitch is close or on the same level to that comfort food. I feel more aspirations to put myself and my creativity out to the world, such as making videos, but even so, I feel like streaming would be fun, if difficult to make my career off of this. Despite me praising everyone I mentioned here, this is just based off of the streams I watch, not of the people themselves, as you and I do not know them personally from the outside. However, I talk about them as entertainers that you should check out regardless of whether you are a regular Twitch viewer or not.
Sometimes, the best experiences online are the ones that you stay on and keep watching.
Links to some of my favorite streamers:
https://www.twitch.tv/saltydkdan
https://www.twitch.tv/dangelno
https://www.twitch.tv/redbuddi
https://www.twitch.tv/dollipdaze