Unpopular stream? A guide to staying motivated

It’s surprising how hard streaming is. You’d think it would be a dream job. Gaming almost every day? Get free games Advertise cool products for free? But when you’re starting out on Twitch, the reality isn’t quite so glamorous. The hours are long, the pay is awful, and if you’re doing it on a platform like Twitch, half of your earnings will eventually wind up in Jeff Bezos’ pockets. There are very few chances that you will break free. If you’re a person of color, your chances of being harassed skyrocket, and those odds are even greater if you’re queer. So why bother when there’s so much stacked against you? To find out, I talked to several hobbyist streamers.

Being able form communities is one of the best parts of streaming. It’s pretty common for streamers to have Discord servers now, places where their followers can convene and get to know one another. They keep the community together even when the streamer isn’t live.

Sylverstone Khandr, also known as SylverstoneKhandr via Twitch, started a Discord server to assist fellow streamers. “It started as a big Discord DM group where we hung out, shared knowledge about stream tech/production, and organized stream collaborations,” says Khandr. “Now, it’s evolved into a server with a nice [little] community of communities where regulars from our streams can hang out, share interesting content, and be exposed to other creators and communities within the group.”

Connecting

The biggest mistake you could make when you start Twitch is believing you are able to do everything on your own. The best way to grow your streamer skills is by making connections with others and sharing them. It isn’t always easy, though. “The reality is that taking care of a Discord can extend the time you’re ‘on’ or ‘entertaining’ and interacting with viewers as a streamer [to] up to 24 hours a day if you let it,” says Eira (eirawave on Twitch).

Streaming is an act of performance. You have to be switched ‘on’ while you’re live, and that can continue into your private time when you run a Discord. Running a community isn’t something with clear cut rules, either.

Streaming is often a balancing act, one that’s made harder by the lack of resources on the topic. It’s not something that everyone can keep up at the pace they might like to. “[Streaming] takes up a lot of time, and you don’t really recuperate that financially. And that’s the reason why I’ve cut down, because I was doing four streams a week, really consistently for a few months,” says Jason Coles (EnotheStrife on Twitch). Coles, a freelancer with a wife and daughter who he supports, is also a supporter. He, like a number of others we spoke to for this story, doesn’t think reaching Partner is an achievable goal. But ultimately, he isn’t too fussed; as long as he gets to show off some cool indie games to his community, he’ll keep streaming.

Motivation is something that’s particularly hard to keep fostering with streaming. Sometimes, you might not have any positive reasons to continue streaming. “On some weeks, it feels like an obligation. It’s like I think: I’ve invested too much time and money into this to quit now; I have to keep going,” says Joshua Loebig (ProfGiles on Twitch). Loebig points out that these streams often prove to be his most dangerous.

If you become obsessed about numbers (which Loebig admits he did once), a stream’s inability to perform well can prove very demoralizing. “To be perfectly honest, a lot of times with everything I’m motivated by the anxiety of letting people down,” says Eira, though it isn’t all doom and gloom. They have recently started doing art streams, and have found the desire to finish a piece off provides motivation for hitting the ‘go live’ button. They’re also a part of Black Twitch UKThe group aims to uplift and highlight black streamers across the UK.

There are other ways to win than just traffic

Samm, beepsalt (Twitch) says that the community does not cause anxiety. It is a motivator for others. “I’m also lucky that my community [has]There are many people who share my passion. I feel inspired [that] I can talk about queer content, be visibly non-binary, and help others who are looking for places to be like that,” says Samm. As a non-binary streamer, the fact that 99% of the time someone “in real life” calls them by the wrong pronouns is stressful, but going live and having a community that respects them and genders them correctly helps keep up motivation, they say.

Samm is an old veteran of Twitch. She started streaming back when the site was called justin.tv. However, she has continued to stream on and off throughout the years. Samm returned to regular streaming in January 2020, just before the pandemic hit the U.S. They’re a partnered streamer, though the idea of going full-time isn’t something that motivates them, or even something they want. Samm is aware that the goal of full-time streaming seems idealistic. It’s more than just waking up and playing video games; it’s caring about views, money, and what content you’re making. What keeps them going is the community they’ve formed, and showing off games that interest them.

It can sometimes be just one conversation that is enough to motivate you. “I was playing Animal Crossing New Horizons on Sunday mornings, when a viewer named Bennett said that they’d been having a bad day, but watching and hanging out in the stream had helped make their day,” says Joe (JoeMedforce on Twitch). Joe realized the importance of streaming beyond just having something to watch.

Joe began streaming in the aftermath of the pandemic because he wanted to be able to relax and possibly make new connections. He has been able to stay going because of one nice person who came in. Bennet apparently doesn’t come to Joe’s streams anymore, but it doesn’t matter to him. That moment alone was sufficient.

In Khandr’s case, finding friends is what’s kept them going. “What I’ll always cherish are the people I’ve met because of streaming — the friends that I’ve made, the folks who regularly tune in to see my antics, personalities of all kinds that I had a chance to talk shop with at various get-togethers,” they say. Khandr doesn’t view themself as a “successful” streamer by the numbers. They have friends they can trust, even in tough times. “It isn’t an exaggeration when I say that I genuinely credit streaming with saving my life because it gave me the platform and the confidence to start building something positive for myself.”