So as I posted last week, I’m making some changes with my Twitch livestream schedule and content. Specifically, I am changing the games I play, and not worrying too much about the… backlash, let’s say.
I played four different games this last weekend, and the results were quite telling, in a positive way:
- Saturday 9am slot: I played “Rebel Galaxy”, and had a very successful stream! Lots of folks in Chat, and viewership was about 150% of the usual amount! This really surprised me, to be honest. “Rebel Galaxy” isn’t a very new game, but plenty of people came around to watch me fail at it!
- Saturday 9pm slot: This didn’t go quite as well as I’d hoped. I played “Secret World Legends”, and while there was some activity in Chat, the game kept crashing, inexplicably, to the point where I called the stream early, and took a break. Viewership was about 66% of normal for this timeslot, which wasn’t good, but still okay overall.
- Sunday 5:30am slot: This was a special livestream, after I took the break from the SWL debacle, and I played “Neverwinter”. I have to say, this was a rousing success! I don’t usually stream at this time, from 5:30 to 9am-ish, but it did really well, which surprised me. Like the Saturday morning slot, I pulled nearly an 8 viewer average, which I have no comparative data to work with, but I’ll call a success. I’d say it made up for the Saturday night slump before it, anyway.
- Sunday 9pm slot: I’ll admit, I assumed this was going to be a ‘throwaway’ stream, and it wouldn’t do well. I had decided I was going to just play a game I wanted to play, even though it isn’t popular at all on Twitch, being “Rift”. Usually when I play this game, no one comes around to Chat, let alone watch. It tends to get rather disastrous numbers, but I didn’t care, I just wanted to play some “Rift”, damnit! And guess what? Plenty of folk in Chat, nearly an 8 average for viewership, one of the best streams of the weekend!
So, what does this all mean? Well, not much, because it is just one weekend, and a lot can change. But it showed that I don’t need to play certain games to retain or build a community. Sure, I have had better numbers, especially on Saturday night, but it isn’t about numbers, is it? As I told one of my folk in Chat, I don’t need to play with people in-game, because my Red Panda Brigade keeps me company on Twitch. That’s what it really comes down to, having a bunch of friends who hang out and watch the stream, not because I’m playing a certain game, but because they like hanging out with me, and the others in the Brigade.
In short, I’m going to stream what I want. I’m going to stream games that I enjoy, and also games that support me as a content creator. Yes, this means I’ll likely be looking into whether or not “Neverwinter”, “Rift”, “Secret World Legends”, as well as other games (I had a lot of interest in my returning to “Elder Scrolls Online” from the Brigade, for example) have Community Contributor teams I can join, or if they support those who stream their games in other ways.
I don’t plan to get locked into playing only a few games, but I will certainly stream games more often, if the company behind it supports me in kind. That only seems fair.
