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It's rather unfortunate how streaming games has become a beggar's paradise...

E92 M3

Member
Like you guys thought, I am talking about Twitch. Everyone is asking for donations or making the donation link the first thing visible. Back in the day (justin.tv), people just streamed for fun without all of the nonsense, now it's just a bunch of beggars pretending their doing the viewers a favor by streaming. Yes, there are some good streamers that don't care about donations and other shenanigans - those are a dying breed unfortunately.

It's just a damn shame that game streaming has turned into idiots spamming that stupid kappa face and throwing money at people for no reason. Very difficult to find a decent channel now days that has a normal chat. Normally have to scroll down quite a bit.

The only big channel I know that has a normal community around it is Jeff Green's.

Either way, this is my oldmanyellsatclouds.jpeg moment.
 
I agree, to find a stream that doesn't have donations popping up every few minutes or, the worst, a following notification with sound, is hard to come by.

I know the bigger channels like Man vs Game and DansGaming had it pretty bad, but I know Dan has gotten a little better at it (Please do not remind me of the sub train...).

I can only recommend VineSauce. He get's quite a few viewers depending on what game he streams, but all there is on screen is the game and his voice.
 

Koh

Member
I liken it to virtual street performers. Yeah their act may be cool, but I'm not likely to throw a buck in the hat.
 

Daouzin

Member
I might just be too old for this new phenomenon, but I don't get the appeal for streams unless the game is old (PS2/GC or older) or the game is being played competitively and you're watching high level play.
 

pizzacat

Banned
Watch Vinesauce, he's the only one where it seems that it's not important to grab subs or anything like that.



I'm watching some streams and I hear some loud ass noises each time someone donates and it's annoying af
 

Portugeezer

Member
The best example is when Twitch plays Pokemon came back, donations took up a chunk of the screen and obscured gameplay a bit.
 

Kasper

Member
If you're in need of a good stream that doesn't push donations on you at all I'd recommend the daily Game Trailers stream: http://www.twitch.tv/gametrailers

In 30 minutes they'll be playing Cities: Skylines and tomorrow they'll have their weekly talk show at the same time too.
 
The worst is when they play some accursed sound clip whenever they get subscribers/followers. Every goddamn time. -_-

Shit like that just guarantees I'm not going to be one of them.
 

Acinixys

Member
I might just be too old for this new phenomenon, but I don't get the appeal for streams unless the game is old (PS2/GC or older) or the game is being played competitively and you're watching high level play.

Its fun to watch people goofing off with their friends. Its like watching a live comedy show

But I agree with the stream begging stuff

I avoid all streamers who do shit like that

If they call out every Sub and every "donation" i just go find a better/less crappy stream
 
True.

Receiving Money from streaming is ridiculous in the first place. But that's my opinion



I would stream without asking for anything because, well I play games to have fun not to beg for money or to make a living of it.
 

vareon

Member
I might just be too old for this new phenomenon, but I don't get the appeal for streams unless the game is old (PS2/GC or older) or the game is being played competitively and you're watching high level play.

Or speedruns, they're cool. But watching other people play while they say occasionally funny comment isn't how I spend my time.
 

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
You mean you DON'T like gameplay being interrupted to play a jingle for new subscribers or donations??
 
Valtýr;161056297 said:
You're out of touch unfortunately. It happens because people like it and it works.

I think more than this, people now expect this in a 'quality' (read: partnered) stream channel. Not having this stuff probably is a hindrance to streamers in terms of being thought to be of a high calibre.

Plus once in a blue moon an absurdly wealthy kid, Sultan or Land Baron will send you thousands of bucks on GP.

I do agree that it is annoying and breaks up gameplay flow, but if I ever get any viewers (just about to launch my own stream as KidOldman) I will probably do similar stuff (though I have a few ideas on how to do it better... I won't go into too many details but if you look at what Viewer Supported media like PBS or WFMU do you can get some ideas).
 

Daouzin

Member
Or speedruns, they're cool. But watching other people play while they say occasionally funny comment isn't how I spend my time.

Yeah, I can see speedruns as well. I just think most people aren't as funny as the Giant Bomb crew so you might as well watch their content first.
 

Fracas

#fuckonami
I don't mind it at all, especially for those that are making a living off it.

And I'm cool with subbing/donating too, if that's your thing.
 

Damerman

Member
whats worse is that they shame and shun lurkers... like mothafucka, who the fuck are you? I'm not gonna give you money just because i'm watching you play a video game. FOH
 
Twitch "culture" is cancer. That I'll gladly agree with. However, I wouldn't really call it begging. They're doing something that entertains people enough to the point where they're willing to pay.

My main gripe with streamers come from how many of them clog their streams with subscriber announcements, chat overlay, and other bullshit. There's no fucking reason to have a facecam unless you're playing a horror game or something.
 

Muzicfreq

Banned
Watch Vinesauce, he's the only one where it seems that it's not important to grab subs or anything like that.



I'm watching some streams and I hear some loud ass noises each time someone donates and it's annoying af

Does it sound like a bunch of coins dropping. Also during the streams do you hear a "POM" sound here and there? :p
I swear I can't watch most twitch streams these days since it looks, sounds, and practically is a cam show.
My friend livestreams lately all his games, more focused on the viewer and follower counts than the game he is playing. -_- I just can't have fun playing games with him anymore due to this shit.
 

Parallacs

Member
Look up some of the names of the runners from AGDQ and SGDQ. Some of the better speedrunners generally ignore donations/subscribers/followers.
 

Kindekuma

Banned
I don't really see people "begging" for money on streams. I've only seen people asking for donations during AGDQ but that's purely for charity.

But I do get annoyed with huge "DONATION THANK YOUS TO ______ FOR $_____" taking up half the damn video and taking huge amounts of times off game time to do some donation challenge.
 
It's the natural progression in a world economy which is becoming more unequal. The United States has 3rd world levels of wealth distribution and "real jobs" which pay living wages are fewer and further between than they were just 15 years ago. Any opportunity at all to earn a living that doesn't involve becoming a slave to the grind in some fast food or service desk position is going to be flooded and abused. Of course, there's also just a lot of clowns who have turned it into a circus. There's still a few diamonds in the rough who don't give a shit about subs/donations, but they are becoming harder to find.
 
Everytime I've tried to watch someone stream the game has constant interuptions with them stopping to either beg for donations, likes, follows etc, or thanks for them. Plus all these things popping up on the screen doing them same, sometimes with annoying music or noise attached.

I will never understand how people enjoy this.
 
I just don't get paying to watch some jabroni play a game.

6syekvu.jpg
 

Muzicfreq

Banned
I don't really see people "begging" for money on streams. I've only seen people asking for donations during AGDQ but that's purely for charity.

But I do get annoyed with huge "DONATION THANK YOUS TO ______ FOR $_____" taking up half the damn video and taking huge amounts of times off game time to do some donation challenge.

Those donation challenges are they a Keno challenge
logo
 

Roto13

Member
It's very common, and very annoying. Not to mention completely tacky. There are probably good streams on Twitch, but there's enough of that crap to keep me from looking for them.

Now and then I watch a stream from US Gamer, like Retronauts. That's fine. No begging there.
 
I stream to put my 3 viewers through the torture of watching me die over and over again in ninja gaiden black master ninja mode. and to show some imports and obscure games for fun.
 
It's like some weird hybrid between walking into a casino drunk, and watching preachers on TV in mega churches.

So much distracting shit meant to reward people for giving them money for acting like a god damn circus animal.
 

Muzicfreq

Banned
I feel like Twitch should not be a platform for making money, period. It's awful.

It used to not really be and I totally agree with you.
I sometimes rarely stream but when I do I am more not worried at all about my viewers or followers, donation? Nah fuck that. I am not whoring myself out to do something I love to do
 

Daingurse

Member
I respect the hustle and people trying to make money doing something they enjoy. I watch LeMaximilian on twitch sometimes, and he has sound effects, and such for subs and donations. They can get annoying at times, but I got no issue with the guy making money, and it doesn't lessen my enjoyment of his stream enough to care. I've kicked him some money myself and it was fun to do so, probably the same for a lot of people. Feel free to find people who fit your preferred viewing criteria, but I'm not going to nock these streamers out to make a buck.
 

Kindekuma

Banned
Those donation challenges are they a Keno challenge
logo

They aren't even challenges either. It's like "Oh well I'll play this on hard mode now" or something like that.

Also I HATE. And I mean hate whenever there's a donation there's a sound clip that lasts like 10 seconds to alert the streamer to say thank you and read out the donation. There's this video out there of this girl playing LoL or something and whenever she got a donation there was the same clip of "For 5 minutes a day, I'll leave you breathless" or something. But it wasn't as bad since people were trolling her to say Ayy lmao on stream to derail the chat.
 

Justinh

Member
the popups and noises from subscribers is part of the reason why I don't watch streams very much anymore.

The only one I can say I watch everytime now is SIFTD games, they don't do that...yet...


the daily Game Trailers stream
^used to sing a goddamn "subscriber song" every time someone subbed ffs. I'm not sure if they do it anymore. I haven't watched in a good while
 

Seventy70

Member
I don't understand the hate Twitch streamers and YouTubers get here. They provide their time to stream and people like it enough to pay. If you don't want to pay, you don't have to. Watch the damn thing for free. If the donation signs bother you, guess what. You don't have to watch. Twitch is a huge website where you can find any kind of streamer. No one is forcing you to watch anything.

It all comes down to "I don't like it, so no one else should either!!"
For some reason this is just one of those topics that makes GAF lose its shit. Just like mobile gaming.
 
I don't understand the hate Twitch streamers and YouTubers get here. They provide their time to stream and people like it enough to pay. If you don't want to pay, you don't have to. Watch the damn thing for free. If the donation signs bother you, guess what? You don't have to watch. Twitch is a huge website where you can find any kind of streamer. No one is forcing you to watch anything.


yeah it's not so much what Twitch has become as much as it is the streamers that people here watch, apparently. I think there's one guy on my following list out of 140 or so who thanks people with pop ups.
 
I agree, to find a stream that doesn't have donations popping up every few minutes or, the worst, a following notification with sound, is hard to come by.

I know the bigger channels like Man vs Game and DansGaming had it pretty bad, but I know Dan has gotten a little better at it (Please do not remind me of the sub train...).

I can only recommend VineSauce. He get's quite a few viewers depending on what game he streams, but all there is on screen is the game and his voice.

Feel free to watch me. I use an overlay to my website but I never ask for money at all. I have a good job. Gaming is my relief from that job but it is because I love gaming. Mrshiznitgaming is my twitch.
 
I don't care enough about what other people do to earn their money, or who they give it to, to find it unfortunate that people beg for it on twitch. If someone with $5 (or $5,000) wants to give it to someone acting silly on a livestream then so what? This reminds me of the people who find grievances with successful patreons or kickstarters.
 

Jarrod38

Member
rofl

Thats minimalistic as hell

Look at this bullshit. This is the cancer that is killing twitch. He is the #1 stream on CS:GO with over 12K viewers

LIke I said it was just a random one I found I like to watch people Black Ops 2. Anyways I've noticed even teenagers young as 13 are begging for donations.
 

Muzicfreq

Banned
They aren't even challenges either. It's like "Oh well I'll play this on hard mode now" or something like that.

Also I HATE. And I mean hate whenever there's a donation there's a sound clip that lasts like 10 seconds to alert the streamer to say thank you and read out the donation. There's this video out there of this girl playing LoL or something and whenever she got a donation there was the same clip of "For 5 minutes a day, I'll leave you breathless" or something. But it wasn't as bad since people were trolling her to say Ayy lmao on stream to derail the chat.

Probably the same girl I saw in the LoL streams the other weekend.
 
Honestly, Twitch is about showmanship. Run a good stream, be entertaining, and I don't mind, perhaps, subbing to you for a month (but rarely more then one streamer at a time).

But obnoxious begging can be pretty bad, honestly.

Who I feel sorry for are the guys/gals who are entertaining, and engage their audience, but can't seem to get big. I guess a lot of it comes down to game choice, being already well known, or just getting lucky.
 
The only streams I watch are esports, salty bet, someone from the FGC, or the outer haven network. Very rarely will I watch a variety streamer because most of them are terrible and enforce shitty subscriber culture.
 
I watched Ray(ex rooster teeth guy) on twitch the other day. Donations were insane. He made a couple hundred in the 10 minutes I watched

He doesn't beg for it though
 

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
9cpU0Nw.jpg


rofl

Thats minimalistic as hell

Look at this bullshit. This is the cancer that is killing twitch. He is the #1 stream on CS:GO with over 12K viewers

Looks like MySpace before Facebook came out.
 
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