Collaborative and Distance Communication Platforms - Twitch

How many of us have gone online in search of an answer on how to do something? Whether it be learning how to cook something new, how to fix something on a car, or how to play the guitar, the internet has not become the "how-to" place to go. Are any of you gamers? Have you ever gone online in search of how to beat a level, or what a game is like before you buy it? In this blog post I am going to be discussing the every increasing popularity of the platform Twitch.

According to Alexa.com Twitch is the 166th most popular website in America. Twitch, on average, gets over six million video broadcasts on the site every month by over 900,000 unique broadcasters. In 2012 Twitch had over 20 million viewers, and doubled it in 2013 with over 45 million viewers and each year the numbers just keep growing. Hence why Amazon purchased Twitch in 2014 for roughly $970 million. With the likes of ESPN now showing e-sports (gaming tournaments) the popularity of sites like Twitch are only beginning to grow.

Twitch is known by millions of gamers around the world, but is still not a main stream for a lot of people. Twitch is a site where people from around the world can broadcast themselves playing and talking about video games while other people watch them live while chatting about it. Now you are probably wondering why in the world would I ever want to watch someone else play a video game?! For some it might be because they want to learn how to defeat a level of a certain game, others such as Seth Stevenson from Slate.com who says, "A lot of Twitchers seem to relish watching the casters fail." While it is a lot of fun to see the streamers fail and give up in world of frustration, watching people stream can also bring help calm you down. "I found there was a calming quality to watching some of the channels," said Seth as he watched a gamer from Europe work his way through a military sniper game looking for the enemy. "For long stretches, not a whole lot happened, and we watched as his character huddled motionless behind a rock, clad in a Ghillie suit, peering through his riflescope to locate his next quarry. When he at last delivered a fatal head shot, the release was palpable." The suspense can almost be like watching a movie at times, wondering what is going to happen around the next turn. 

Some people, such as myself, look to Twitch to see the mechanics of a game before I go out and spend money on the game. I have found that it is a good way to see how a game works and feels. Not as good as a playable demo, but for a lot of games its as good as I am going to get. Twitch is a place where like-minded gamers can get together over a shared interest. 

So in simple terms Twitch is not that different from watching a cooking show where someone makes a fancy dessert, to watching a show that remodels homes for families that are going to hard times. As most people cant figure out why you would watch someone play a video game, many viewers would ask how you can sit in from of the TV and watch people play golf.

Have you ever watched a stream on Twitch, what were your thoughts? 

Do you stream on Twitch, what is your experience?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/19/twitch-youtube-live-games-google-acquisition-pokemon

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/08/why_would_anyone_watch_twitch_the_allure_of_the_video_game_streaming_site.1.html

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2465070,00.asp