Streaming is a huge part of digital culture. Thousands of people can watch someone live in real time. It’s a form of entertainment, that some people like. It’s not for everyone. There’s a lot of freedom given to both the content creator and the viewer. For example that content creator can interact with the chat in all sorts of ways. They can answer questions, make jokes, read out and tank people who sub to their channel. The chat can gamble their channel points on a prediction, or even vote in polls. There’s a ton of interaction that makes people like streaming so much. There are still rules of course, the streaming platform has their own rules and the streamer can add rules on top of that for chat to follow. If you don’t then you could be looking at a ban or a timeout from chat.

The content creator has a lot of freedom too. They can stream almost anything they want. There are a few exceptions that could lead twitch and the content creator into some legal trouble. this is mostly if they show a song or film that has been claimed by a different corporation. However this isn’t too much of a problem in the gaming industry. It’s actually the opposite for games. companies like the game being shown to others, to increase sales. This has worked for me multiple times. If I was questionable on if a game was worth buying or not I’d watch someone else play it and see for myself if it’s worth my time. Most streamers stick to a certain schedule, and only deviate from it when emergencies arise or for holidays. Let’s take a look at an example.

This is Smallant’s streaming schedule for this past week. He streams every week day except some Fridays. He tries to stream at around 4pm but sometimes has to start late due to life details. This let’s viewers plan when they can watch the stream or let’s them know when it exactly starts.

It’s very hard to become a successful streamer. You have to compete with so many other streamers for viewers. You have to be outgoing, and fairy entertaining for people to watch you. I want t get into streaming for this very reason. I’m a very introverted person, so this’ll help me be able to communicate with people more. as well as give me the knowledge of how to be a good streamer. You gotta have a layout that’s interesting and pleasing to look at. you gotta have a plan going into streaming and be very flexable at changing it at any moment.

A prime example of a good streamer is Ludwig. He started out on Twitch and grew fairly fast. He’s one of the most popular streamers of all time, and here’s why. He always has a plan for every stream, he does a short intro and describes what he’s gonna do for that stream. He very often competes against his friends on other games and put stakes on it. Mostly the other person having to gift him subs. But he also does competitions against his own chat. This brings more attention to his stream and he puts stakes on it, saying if he loses he gifts subs to people. so instead of them spending 5 dollars for a sub they can get it for free if chat wins. This brings entertainment to the chat and a reason for people to be in his stream in the first place. Free subs, means more perks for the viewers. Like sub only events.

In this cut up version of his stream, He plays against his chat and raises the stakes to keep things interesting.

I look up to Ludwig for inspiration. I look up to other streamers as well like Smallant and Cjya.

Here’s my first stream in awhile. Note this stream has a lot of cursing. and this is the VOD of the stream.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1671308764

I plan on streaming over winter break to get familiar with the environment. I do have some experience with streaming to my friends whenever they want to watch me play a single player game like Hollow Knight.

Here’s my Twitch, and I will be updating this page every day I go live and when.

Reflection Essay

Process:

1. I choose the domain option. I already had one available, and I already had experience with maintaining one. My content includes streaming, which has become very popular over the last few years. Became even more popular during covid and I always wanted to start streaming and be good at it.
2. 1. I got started by researching my topic a bit and providing why it matters to me and so many other people. I then gave examples of successful streamers and what they did to get so successful. Then I tried streaming myself. 2. I used wordpress to make my domain and edit the pages that are gonna used for my streams. I choose these tools because I already know how they function. I’m unfamiliar with how to stream on Youtube, so I decided to go with Twitch. I learned that it takes a certain kind of mentality to be a good streamer, you gotta be outgoing and entertaining. Which is something I’m not good at.
3. The first earlier work that helped me understand my subject a bit more was this article. It explains virality on tiktok, the same can be said for twitch as well. The second was is this activity. It reminds me that some streamers use soundboards to make jokes funnier or to add to the overall situation that’s playing out. It provides a lot more entertainment to the stream. And lastly, this article. It describes what AI is and how it works. Streamers can use something similar called bots that can perform certain tasks when users put in commands. Streamers use this to keep track of stats for the stream and to host giveaways.

Digital Identity

1. This project represents my digital literacy because I’m talking about one of the digital subjects that I really want to get into. And streaming will only make my voice be heard more by many other people.
2. It reflects my digital identity because I’ve always been interested in live streaming my games to many people. My digital identity has changed so I’m not as nervous as I used to be. This project relates to my goals because I’ve always wanted to create content to other people. And it’ll make me better at communicating with people.
3. I gave credit to the creators I used by mentioning their Twitch accounts. Ludwig currently streams on Youtube now, but he goes by the same name. I gave alt text under the screenshot of Smallant’s schedule.

Reflection / Projection

1. I want to remember where I started. I want to remember this class as the class that started this journey.
2. I plan on finding a more structured schedule after college, so I can stream at the same time on the same days and be more structured.
3. This was pretty fun, got to experiment with a few of my friends.

DI Reflection

1. When I did the gaming assignment for the creative module, I used the internet to look up patches of code for how certain methods work so I can properly build my game. I created a game from scratch and did a presentation on gaming in general. I feel I demonstrated Fluent to Proficient work on that assignment. I properly made a working game using a tool on the C language to build my game. I gave a presentation on the history of gaming diving into the roots of gaming and why it matters to so many people.
2. My networking assignment under the methodology module used digital tools safely and ethically. I researched what networks were and used credible sources. I demonstrated proficient work. This module wasn’t my best that’s for sure. It was hard to research the subject and provide material to a powerpoint, I still think I managed to do fairly good on it though.
3. This assignment made me adapt to newer versions of OBS my recording and streaming software. Its new updates could’ve changed some major settings like my mic wasn’t being picked up in the recording at all and so I had to adjust. I would say I demonstrated a Fluent to Proficient level of work. I provided a lot of content and had my own challenges when streaming. I did one stream before and twitch didn’t save the VOD, I had to then go into my settings and have Twitch save my stream VODs. so I essentially wasted 30 minutes of streaming for nothing. Well I guess it was good practice.