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Horror and Cats

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ago

Game-Streaming Sins?

What are the untenable things which will make you turn off a stream?

Aside from the usual technical things like poor visual quality, unbalanced mic/party/game audio, and of course just not jiving with the streamer's personality, the biggest one for me is covering critical UI elements with your camera.

Specifically the health bar for me. There are some extremely busy games out there with UI all over the screen, so sometimes you have to cover SOMETHING up, but if you are covering up the health bar, my brain will start itching until I just can't stand it anymore.

Created at 6:12am, 8th April, 2024. Page last updated at 2:44pm, 16th May, 2024.

Sturmer 4/8/2024, 7:28:12 AM

me2, I find it unacceptable when streamers cover the game's UI with their overlay. To me, this shows a level of ignorance or laziness. Streamers should make the effort to customize their overlays, ensuring they don't obstruct important game visuals.

Horror and Cats 4/8/2024, 7:32:22 AM

Sturmer

It’s especially baffling in a game with NOTHING in the top corners. Just put your big ol’ head at the top instead lol.

Lanah Tyra 4/8/2024, 7:55:13 AM

I agree, in most games there's enough space for the camera, and if not, then you have those overlays which gives a border to the screen and you can put all your assets on it.

An other one is eating. And I don't mean the occasional biscuit with your coffee but having a full meal there. Saw a dude once, doing FFXIV raids and while he played the explanations from a recording to the group he was having a bowl of cereal and chatting to his stream viewers. I found that very unprofessional and disrespectful. Put on a break if you need to grab food...

Horror and Cats 4/8/2024, 8:00:25 AM

Lanah Tyra

Oh that’s a GOOD one. Absolutely do not just eat a meal on stream! If you are doing a long one and need to get something quick down you, definitely mute. I have misophonia with chewing. The second you crunch down on an apple at full volume I’ll wig out and never watch again just in case.

Sturmer 4/8/2024, 8:14:09 AM

What do you think about universal (set-and-forget) overlays, where you slightly scale down the main game content and add your camera feed, bars, etc., in a side panel? This results in only an 8-10% loss of screen space but keeps the game stream content fully visible.

Horror and Cats 4/8/2024, 8:34:18 AM

Sturmer

Personally I try to keep MY on screen presence to a minimum. So I don’t put up chat or sub goals or anything like that. Just my camera strategically placed to not block anything important, adjusted before each game to cater to the game.

I would rather lose as little of the game screen presence as possible for the sake of the people who watch on phones.

Lanah Tyra 4/8/2024, 10:07:53 AM

Sturmer

That's the one I'm using for all my streams. Have 2 FFXIV branded ones but love one of them so much I just use it for everything. Want to design some of my own when I get the time. I think they are perfect, enough space for all your assets on the side, while everything else is visible from the game.

Ford JamesMod4/8/2024, 8:35:45 AM

Sort of a two parter for me:

Nothing makes me turn a stream off quicker than when someone is only speaking to interact with their chat. Being able to keep conversation flowing when just talking about the game is a skill, but it's crucial to keep things entertaining.

However, it's also frustrating to watch when someone is playing a multiplayer game and in Discord with other people and they never stop talking to acknowledge chat, solely focusing on speaking to people the viewers probably don't know. There's a balace to strike, and it's tricky to get right for lots of streamers.

Horror and Cats 4/8/2024, 8:50:03 AM

Ford James

I’m typically solo but yeah, it took some practice to keep the things I’m saying about the game or anecdotes coming between chat messages. My main issue is forgetting what I was talking about before the chat came in lol

Lanah Tyra 4/8/2024, 10:11:05 AM

Ford James

I have Discord voice on my raid streams as we do the callouts and discuss the strategy. Sometimes it's very busy on voice so if I start speaking to chat I can't focus on what's being said and it might be important. Came to the solution for these streams to reply to chat in writing, and so far it worked fine. Not disrupting the Discord call, viewers who might be interested in the raid strategies can still hear everything without me talking over it, but there is communication with my viewers.

Kings Court 4/8/2024, 10:03:44 AM

Not talking to chat is a big one for me ! If you miss multiple messages or do not engage with chat then I am logging out and probs wont be back ! Now I am not talking about reading every message in the middle of a boss fight ! that is understandable ! But even when you have down times and you are choosing not to read or interact with chat, that is a no no for me !

I have an issue with Eating sounds, but like I have gotten better at it and wont instantly leave, I might mute and come back but I cant handle the sound of chewing right up in my ear. I can understand why some people choose to eat on stream or have to eat on stream, like if they are doing 24 hr streams, but yeh I cant handle it in my literal ear !

Konquest 4/8/2024, 10:35:16 AM

I understand that character is the most important part. In the end what you are trying to do is selling yourself, so to speak. But that is what I struggle with most as I’m an introvert IRL but it’s something I have to push myself to overcome 🥵 what usually turns me off is when the streamers talk to their online friends and not the public.

Makster 4/9/2024, 8:45:24 AM

Konquest

Hard agree. I really dislike when streamers aren't "performing". And I think that's where a lot of disconnect is; potential streamers think they can get away with just playing the game when the reality is that streamers are actually performing for their audience. So when a streamer is just playing with their buddies, not engaging with the chat, and mainly silent it's a hard pass from me

Konquest 4/9/2024, 9:08:00 AM

Makster

that’s one of the reasons I haven’t tried streaming yet. As I’m an introvert by nature and don’t know if I can be entertaining. I do want to try but still figuring out the setups.

Makster 4/9/2024, 9:13:21 AM

Konquest

It may sound silly but doing some trial runs without any recording equipment might be something you could try to see if you like it. You can even try recording yourself on webcam If you find it a bit cringey or your self-conscious then might not be for you. But if you don't think it was that bad or you enjoyed it then you can try going live.

I think people are put off a lot when they jump in and either don't enjoy it or don't get the fast recognition/reward which may make it feel disheartening to continue

Konquest 4/9/2024, 9:53:09 AM

Makster

I mean to be fair I'm always a bit cringey when i see a video of myself or hear my voice but I don't hate it or love it. But I do love Gaming as well as creating content like the YT videos for the bountys and when I have an idea for something I want to do. I'm just figuring how I can monetize what I love doing so i can spend more time doing it :D because we all need to put food on the table.

Horror and Cats 4/9/2024, 8:58:02 AM

Konquest

I’m very introverted as well. Idk how it’s different online but it just feels like it is. I’ve got all the control and no people are actually in the room so they can’t ACTUALLY do anything to me to mess me up. It wasn’t always as easy when starting out, but I now just do it even when not streaming lol. Kinda like practice, just talking to my dogs about boss fight strategies and what not

Konquest 4/9/2024, 9:12:25 AM

Horror and Cats

where did you learn to stream I mean like setup wise. I don’t really know where to start. I guess watch other YouTube videos on how to stream? Hahaha. I know how to use OBS and ran some streams for people on the backend. But never actually for myself. Like do you need a dual monitor setup or is it possible to do with single monitor setup. These are the few things I’m figuring out, also I think when I start most likely no one will be watching 😅

Horror and Cats 4/9/2024, 9:28:19 AM

Konquest

Yeah no one was watching me at first either haha. My regular videos do much better than streams so streaming is what I do when I have energy, but not wanting to edit video and just get whatever I’m doing out ASAP.

Yeah I just looked up how to use OBS. I use a dual monitor setup for ease of monitoring, but how you set up you monitoring will be up to your preferences I’d say. For a while I was using two different computers, one for the game and one for the stream, but now I’ve got one that can handle both.

Konquest 4/9/2024, 10:43:09 AM

Horror and Cats

I'm looking at your older videos and trying to gain inspiration from your channel. I saw the one you did for finally monetized. Man, that is my dream :D But i know everyone started at 0 as well.

MURRRAAAAY 4/8/2024, 1:00:21 PM

I instantly switch off if its a vtuber, id rather watch a stream with no facecam than a vtuber.

Konquest 4/9/2024, 9:05:45 AM

MURRRAAAAY

yeah. I just don’t have the desire to watch or do a stream with a virtual avatar. It’s either no face cam or actual person.

Horror and Cats 4/9/2024, 9:30:46 AM

MURRRAAAAY

I didn’t know what you meant by vtuber until Konquest said it below. Yeah vtubers are exceptionally strange. Pretty funny when their lighting goes bad and the real face shows though. PANIC!

MURRRAAAAY 4/9/2024, 10:07:11 AM

Horror and Cats

yeah it kind of freaks me out the same way clowns do lol 🤡

Makster 4/9/2024, 8:48:19 AM

It'll be streamers that are 'playing the game' either solo or with buddies and not engaging with the audience or chat. I had a streamer buddy that used to play mainly Siege or CS: GO with his friends and streamed it. Although he was having fun, the stream was pretty dead as the only engagement was when he had died or inbetween games. But whenever he'd play a single player game like Amnesia or Bioshock - instantly it was a lot better. Another buddy who was insanely good at streaming (extrovert+ great live speaker) constantly engaged with chat, was more performing than anything, and played single player games. Even when he had 2 viewers or 10 viewers it was always entertaining to watch him stream

Horror and Cats 4/9/2024, 8:54:54 AM

Makster

The latter is definitely what I strive for. Even if I drop to 0 at some point I’ll keep yammering and cracking jokes. Do it for the VOD! Lol

Konquest 4/9/2024, 9:16:34 AM

Horror and Cats

I strongly agree with this and try to give my all even if I think any videos I publish gets 0 view. Because you never know who is watching and what happens next. If by chance there comes a day when 100 people decide to watch a particular video you put out and they don’t see you putting in effort they will just go away. But if they connect with your old video or VOD then suddenly they start binge watching your other vids. That’s where things get juicy.