Quite a few people are really into Facebook, others are into Twitter or fascinated with Instagram, and there are still those who use MySpace. I use to have MySpace several years ago but have since traded it in for Facebook and Twitter. I never did get into Instagram but maybe one day I will if it catches my attention more and I hardly use Snapchat except for a few times to send silly videos or pictures of myself and my daughter to a few friends but other than that I am not huge into those websites/apps. I was an avid Facebook user, and I mean avid where I would check it all of the time, but that was until I heard about a new website that has pushed Facebook to the back burner so to say and has pushed Twitter a bit more forward because I use it to share more about this website and those I follow on this website.
Are you a fan of playing games? Or maybe you’re a fan like me of watching someone else play games, be creative like painting or scroll sawing, like listening to music or listen to talk shows? If you answered yes and think any of that sounds like fun, then maybe you should check out Twitch. It came to be in June of 2011 and has become very popular over the past 6 years with not only those who love to stream but to those, like me, who enjoy watching and chatting with the streamers that you find by browsing the many categories presented to you on the website.
I first heard about Twitch while I was watching a few YouTubers that I enjoy and I decided to check out the website and give it a shot. I joined in February of this year and began to look at all of the different games and other categories where you can find so many great streamers and my interest became completely captured. I love watching my husband play games at night after our daughter has gone to bed but there are a lot of nights where he doesn’t feel like it or has homework or other projects that he must get done, plus work during the day so he can’t really play during the day unless it’s the weekend and we aren’t busy. I especially love to watch him play while I am writing on my stories but since he doesn’t always have time to play, I turn to Twitch! I enjoy seeing games that I’ve never heard of or seen before or go watch someone create their own masterpieces or listen to others chat about games or other topics and it’s always fun to chat with other viewers as well as the streamer while I work on my stories, especially during nap time for my daughter.
When I first joined Twitch, I didn’t know any streamers so I went on the hunt to find some who I can follow, watch, and chat with but how would I find some that I liked? Well the way I did it was to go into a category for a game that looked fun to me and I would scroll down to those streamers who didn’t already have a lot of followers. That way if they chatted with me, I could get to know them better and see if they are someone I would like to follow. Don’t get me wrong, those with a lot of followers are great too but I felt I should go to those with less viewers since I was completely new to the website. It’s just how I am. I did go to the more viewer streamers and have had a great time chatting with them so I hit the heart and followed them too. But by going to the less viewed streams, I have met so many great streamers and have watched them grow in viewer size as well as watch their channel grow. Plus I help out by posting in Twitter about them to hopefully get more people to visit their Twitch channel. I am also adding more streamers to this day through recommendations from the streamers that I already follow and it has been a great journey in finding more and more awesome streamers.
I have grown to appreciate the streamers and what they do because they don’t do this to get paid. Yes, there are ways to help the streamers financially by buying bits and sending them during a stream to the streamer, sending loots if they have that set up which is free but helps give the streamers a little something, or you can sign up for a subscription to their channel that doesn’t cost a lot, and you can donate money directly to their stream. Some of these streamers I have seen also do long stream hours in order to raise money for charity. But these men and women, stream on their own free time, in between work and their lives, in order to entertain us, their viewers. And I feel bad because I know that they have heard a lot of negativity from co-workers, bosses or potential bosses, and even some from their own family and friends that what they are doing is pointless or a waste of time or streaming is a bad choice to do in their lives. But again it is their choice, and they have a lot of fun doing what they do so why not support them instead of trying to tear them down?
And another great quality about this website is that the streamers are literally all around the world. It’s amazing to be able to meet someone who can be in the same state as you or a few states away, or meeting someone who is in another country all together. Of course, time differences does make it a bit hard in following streamers but don’t let that stop you. It’s well worth it! There are streamers who stream in English, those who will stream in their native language, and those who stream in both English and their native language, which to me is simply incredible and makes this website even more popular.
No, I haven’t really looked into other streaming platforms or websites, though I did once follow a streamer from Twitch to another website but I can definitely say that I am glad he went back to Twitch. The other website was just okay and more complicated to use so I think I’ll stick with Twitch. I know how to use it and am content in staying with Twitch and all of the streamers that I have followed over the past several months.
Twitch has a phone app that is what I use mostly and while it does take some time getting used to, it’s great to have on your phone so that if you’re say at the coffee shop or somewhere where you have some down time and feel like conversing and watching a streamer, you have it in the palm of your hand…literally. You can add people from chat to your friend list so you can see when they are online, who they are watching if they are watching anyone, and send them whispers just for a friendly chat. If you find a streamer that you wish to follow, simply click on the heart to follow them and it will ask if you want notifications for when they are live that you can turn on as well and they will be sent to your phone and through email; super convenient for those who don’t want to miss their favorite streamers streams. Like I’ve mentioned before, the Twitch phone app does take a while to get use to but it is a great way to watch streamers on the go. If you want to still talk after the stream, most if not all streamers has a group for their channel that you can join on another really cool website called Discord. It’s the Twitch Facebook basically and it is a great way to keep in touch with the streamers and the viewers a like. Discord also has an easy to use and convenient phone app.
Because of my new love of this website/app, I have decided to introduce you to several of the streamers that I follow, as well as those I don’t, in a series of blogs after this one in order to show you how awesome not only Twitch is but how great all of these men and women who loves to play games or other stream in the other categories are and how much they love to share their gaming experiences with the world.
I hope that you enjoy my Twitch Streamer Series that I plan to continue for a very long time and I actually do hope to see some of you on Twitch, joining me in chat with some if not all of the streamers that I plan to blog about. If you do join, look me up. I’m known as CrazdWriter of course.
Here is the link: Twitch.tv
