What do people like to see in a live stream? (or Let's Play?)

[AnthrSolidSnake]

So I have a Twitch, but it's deserted. Because of this I don't stream often, if at all. I've realized some of the reasons why I don't get many people interested, but most are just theories such as:

-I don't stream games most people are interested in watching. I've streamed Legend of Grimrock, Turok: The Dinosaur Hunter, and Infestation: Survivor Stories (please don't turn this into a judgement of my game taste)
-I don't stream often, therefore there's not much to be interested in. However, I don't stream because there's no one to watch. It's a bit of a cycle...
-I don't know what to talk about. Ever. I end up getting too invested in playing, which is obviously good!..if there weren't people watching.

So, I'm not here to boost my channel views, I'm just asking what draws people into watching live streams? I never know what to do. Do I do commentary on the gameplay? Do I just talk about what I see? I'm a bit socially awkward, but the internet has slowly been helping me with that over the course of my life, however I still have issues.

Ehh...if you need an example of my streams, I do have one stream of Infestation saved on my Twitch, but I wont post it unless people want to see it, since I don't want to seem like I'm using a popular site just to boost views.

 

[Foolery]

Honestly, I couldn't say. A decent voice, confidence, warm or fun personality, picking a game that not many people have done, and commentary that doesn't try to force humour probably helps. I'm not into the "Let's Play" thing. Most bore me and too many people are doing it. It's a saturated market. I usually to stick to No Commentary Long Plays if I want to see what a game is like.

 

[TehCookie]

A leaked game or other viewers who laugh and talk about what's going on. As a host you should talk to the people in the chat and comment on questions they ask, even if you don't talk much outside it. Comment on interesting things that happen, but don't feel you need to talk the whole way through. Either that or being skilled will get you views.

 

[Verex]

I enjoy watching Cry Plays, Two Best Friends Play, Doom49, and MagnaMinx.

I guess I like a good voice, people who are very drawn into the story line, and some funny one liners. It also has to be some game that I'm interested in or a very ridiculous indie game.

 

[Weaver]

I'm kind of curious myself as I'd like to see my own channel grow too. It's a hard gig, not much else to say really

People often say they want to see underplayed games, but in my experiences with my own channel it's the more popular games that draw in a bigger crowd. The downside to playing a game no one has heard of is, well, no one has heard of the game thus isn't looking for it on youtube.

That said, never ever play a game you don't actually want to. You can really tell when the LPer is not enjoying themselves and if you're playing a game you're excited about your energy will come out naturally.

 

[michael87cn]

You need to be a great public speaker, and you need to release content often, if not daily. Nothing else really matters.

People will watch you if you can communicate effectively, whether WHAT you try to talk about is funny, serious, dramatic, etc. Doesn't matter, there's an audience out there for it. But you CAN'T just sit and play the game and say random things every 15 seconds or so. No one wants to watch that.

The thing about online streaming is that you gain viewers over time. Saying that you don't do it because you don't have any viewers is an excuse. Nobody has viewers at first. They earn them over time and that's what it's going to take for your name to get out there; time.

 

[Aerosteam]

Aside from the things you can change pretty easily, I'll mention something that's really hard to: Your voice.

The person's voice is what (I believe) matters the most, it's what the stream/let's play revolves around, not the game itself.

Believe it or not it's higher pitched voices I like listening to the most, people with deep voices just sound like they're bored all the time.

 

[TelHybrid]

Decent sound quality is key. I will automatically switch to another stream if their voice or game audio sounds bad, so invest in a good Microphone if you haven't already. Also if the volume of the game and volume of the voice is disproportionate, that too puts me off.

It helps being good at the game. Watching someone retry a level 20 times is very boring.

It's wise to specify whether it's a standard playthrough, a speed run, achievement hunting, or general sandboxing.

Your choice of games will affect how many viewers you get. If they're too obscure, they'll not only be hard to find when browsing, but few people will search for them, and of the few people that stumble across it, even fewer will be interested. Getting views requires something that's of current topical relevance.

This can either be the most popular current games now like dota2/lol or call of duty or battlefield 4, etc etc., or it could be something that's getting attention for being different, like The Stanley Parable. If it's something people are talking about, it'll attract interest.

If you're playing a narrative driven game with cutscenes and dialogue, try not to talk over the dialogue too much, I know it sometimes can't be helped. If it's not a speed run, don't skip the cutscenes either.

When talking to your audience, treat it like a personal one to one conversation, even though you're addressing multiple people, i.e. don't use phrases like "hey all you people/viewers out there". Occasionally respond to the chat feed. Ask some questions.

If you have a guest/housemate come into the room you're gaming in, try not to ignore your feed for too long. They can even say hi to your viewers.

I've been teaching myself some of these rules the past few weeks for the radio show I do weekly on my University's radio station. Broadcasting live is daunting, but so much fun. I hope my advice helps. Just have fun with however you do it.

EDIT: Don't try to compete with already established streamers for views on the games they play. Do your own thing, and try to find something specific that only you bring to the party.

 

[kennyloo69]

Everybody seems to want to stream these days. I recently started streaming stuff too, but alas nobody ever comes. I honestly think it comes down to luck. When I stream a game, I sometimes look at other streamers playing that same game to see what they do differently. It isn't a whole lot and honestly I think I (together with the people I play with) are much more entertaining than these guys.

Or I could just be telling myself that to justify not getting any viewers. What's your twitch username by the way? I'm curious to check out some of your stuff now.

 

[NotHankHill]

My advice? Definitely make an effort to interact with your viewers. It makes them feel welcome in your channel when you answer their questions, and it helps to fill those voids where you can't find something interesting to say about the game. Those people will likely want to come back the next time you stream, that's how you build a following. When you do have commentary or idle talk, keep it comfortable. I like to imagine the viewers are watching you to relax, cozy in their chairs or sprawled on the couch. Keep it chill and light on the outbursts, most people like that.

One thing I see with a lot of streamers or youtubers is they try too hard to mimic successful channels, imitating their brand of humor or personality. Nobody wants the knock-off when they can still have the genuine thing right? "Just be yourself" I'm sure you've heard that plenty of times, but its great advice.

A word of caution though. The type of stream you run will attract like minded people. Pretend to be a moron on stream to be ironic and funny, and you'll get actual morons who come and feel they are comfortable there. Stay away from doing GIVE-AWAYS for more viewers, it just draws in the grubbers.

I wouldn't despair about being low on the channels page. People do check you out, not everyone floods the highest stream just because thats the first one.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I like Cry Plays because holy shit the sheer quality of his videos is astounding, he puts even professional youtubers like TotalBiscuit to shame. A unique opening and ending to each video plus little things like speeding up lengthy corridor walks and cutting out replays when he dies and little annotations when he misses things. The huge backtrack in Cry of Fear was turned from boring to awesome


5:30

Also Yovideogames simply because Max and Matt have some really good chemistry going on. They can pretty much review the game while telling little anecdotes (usually something I dislike because you're playing a fucking game, stay on topic) then they manage to relate the story to the game they are playing. Like how they know a guy who played so much RE4 on release that when exiting a cafeteria at work he full on kicked the double doors open without thinking.

Overall, Matt is so cynical he gets balanced out by Max.

"See this is bad!"

[sub][sub]"It's not that bad I guess though"[/sub][/sub]

They played every Devil May Cry leading up to the new one and the horrific anecdote told during the first few levels of their DMC4 playthrough is a highlight and a half.

Oh and they stopped playing Last of Us because Matt had played it before and was systematically destroying it. Then they turned it into a fan giveaway which was nice.

*first round of infected, Max playing*

"Oh shit this is pretty intense"

"I'm just waiting for the inevitable"

*grabbed by clicker*

"OH MY GOD, I DIED FROM THAT?!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

 

[Bob Thenecromancer]

Why don't we let good old yahtzee answer you question.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggb59saLqtw&list=FL1OPZeJtZwg3ei0gvyjAS3A

 

[rofltehcat]

It really depends on the game that is streamed.
I mainly watch the Spoiler Warning let's plays and some CoH2 streams.
I like Spoiler Warning because it is more than just one guy talking over the thing and because it is full of both humor/cynicism and interpretation/analysis.
I like the CoH2 streams because the streamers are mostly relatively high skill players and because they always find the time to answer a few questions, elaborate on what they do and try to teach people stuff.

Those are two very different concepts but overall, you of course need to advertise your stream on fan sites and twitter to get any viewership. From the games you mentioned, those don't sound very interesting to watch someone play. You might want to rethink your format.
If you are doing a Let's Play without much interactivity, doing it live doesn't make any sense. If you are playing an RPG like Fallout or something, you could ask people in the chat what chat option to pick next and how to build your character. Or in a RTS you could tell people what your strategy is, help newbies with the basics etc.
Of course you could also try a little analysis. Especially when playing older games, many people viewing your video/stream might not have played the game and you'd probably be lucky to catch a few people that played sequels of those games. You can elaborate on how games used to do stuff back then and how modern titles did it (e.g. medi packs lying around vs. regenerating health; changes in gunplay)

There are also a lot of other streams and let's play videos out there, so you'll have to be very good and/or very creative to gather a following. And you also have to pick games that pique the interest of potential viewers