Intro to
online streaming\broadcasting
Online gaming is one of the largest growing hobbies
in Europe and North America today; it is the easiest way to play games whilst
interacting with people from around the World, all from the comfort of your own
home. However, we know about online gaming, it has been around for years, its
old news. I want to talk to you about online streaming, broadcasting while you
are online streaming, recording yourself gaming, whilst viewers tune in to
watch you game. Sounds crazy, I know, but this is the future, people love
watching other gamer’s game. And the interest is growing at a ridiculous rate.
So to understand why watching other people playing
games is becoming so popular, first, we need to look at the two scales of
online broadcasting and why the appeal is drawing in so many spectators.
Q. Why do people spend hours and hours watching
another person playing a game?
A. I would narrow this down to three main points;
the first is because simply, the streamer plays the game at an extremely high
level. Growing up I have watched countless hours of quick scope shots and ridiculously
long kills streaks on Call of Duty and I just wished that I could have been
good at the game. Watching someone else who can achieve this, wasn’t
necessarily to learn how to quick scope but just to be amazed by how good this
player I was watching was.
The next would be the amusement, the factor to be
entertained by the gamer. Maybe because of the streamers energy he puts into
each stream, maybe the streamer makes you laugh and is very interactive with
his or her viewers. It could be that the streamer gives rewards to their
viewers, I’d like to say or think at least that this is the type of online
streamer that I am. People don’t necessarily come to the stream because I am
good at the game I am playing, but come because I put on a show, I entertain
the people!
And the third, the third would be the I say a cross
of the two points above, but with a more movie feel, streamers that play game
with storey lines, Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, games where viewers
could tune it as be part of the playing experience, be a part of the storey, as
almost if the viewer was playing the storey along with the streamer. Streamers
who prefer to broadcast this type of show, tend to put in a lot of effort into
overlays and making there page look the bee’s knees, viewers love that, It may
not always bring in a lot of watchers, but the loyal viewers will come back and
reward the streamer.
I feel I have pin pointed the main three types of
gamer which keeps bringing in these knew viewers to online broadcasting, and
what brings the old one’s back again and again. But you also want to know…
Q. Why do players who stream online, choose to
broadcast there gameplay to the World?
A. The first gamer links back to previous questions
first answer, because the gamer plays a certain game at a high level. Perhaps
being ridiculously good a game could go to a gamers head, were they become
arrogant and want to show the other gamers just how good they are. Yes there a
been a few occasions where I have jumped onto a gamers live stream and they
have been top of the leader board, bragging about how they can’t be beaten,
which is fair enough, showcase your excellence to the gaming World!
Now some gamers do this for money, yes money, you
can be paid to play games, to let other people watch you play games, you can be
paid! What a world we live in! Now just because I have said this, this is not a
time to go and quit your day to and start online streaming, although there are
gamers who do this is a full time job. Different streaming providers such as
YouTube and Twitch have methods of managing how you can get paid for streaming,
from subscriptions to donations, but we will go into more detail about this
another time.
Now me, personally. I stream on twitch for two
reasons. The first is just the enjoyment of sharing my experience of playing
with other people, I am very passionate player and the viewers see that when
they watch my stream. I get excited when something cool happens and I get
annoyed when something doesn’t go my way, but I interact and always make sure
the watchers are entertained. I think the other reason I stream is because of
the money that can be made from playing online games, who doesn’t like making a
little money on the side whilst playing a video game.
So I hope I have given you a small in-sight to the reasons
why online streaming is such a fast developing area in the online gaming World.
So now, you know why gamers broadcast, and why people choose to watch streams.
Now, you want to know how…
Q. So how do I become a live streaming video gamer?
A. It’s simple really, first you need to decide
what kind of online streamer you want to become. Now I am a PlayStation gamer,
simply because I play Madden and I’ve been playing PlayStation since I was
around 5. So straight away, I am going to become a console gamer, and I am
going to be playing Madden because I a damn good Madden player and I play this
game with the most passion.
Next, I need to find myself a live streaming
platform. Now I have chosen to use Twitch to host my gaming channel. Now there
are other alternatives you can use such as UStream, Mixer, YouTube gaming and
many many more. I decided to use twitch because of three reasons, 1st
- My friends used Twitch, simple. 2nd - It is currently the fastest
growing video streaming platform in the World. 3rd – Twitch supports
PlayStation 4 and the twitch app is available to download from the PlayStation
Store. How many more reasons do you need! Lol.
I will also need hardware, now you don’t need to go
out and buy yourself a laptop with a i7 processor or a camera with 4K
compatibility to achieve a great stream. What you will need is a list, the
below is the list of hardware I use to stream with, and don’t worry it is very,
very basic…
-
PlayStation
4
-
PlayStation
Camera
-
Dell
Latitude E6230 – Intel i3 processor, SSD 250GB, 4GB RAM
-
Turtle
Beach Recon 500 Stereo Gaming Headset
And folks, that is it!
Obviously, you can purchase more advanced equipment
to improve not only your gaming experience, but will also give your audience a
better viewer experience also. It’s the little things, like adding overlays,
which is software related. Using a better camera to increase display
performance, all things I will go into much greater detail in another article.
And that’s me ready to start streaming, like I
said, not much to it! Now obviously this is a very basic setup, but to get up
and running, is as easy as Tom Brady has made winning the AFC East for the last
10 years.
Now you can always do bits and bobs to help get
your channel off the ground other than just logging in and start streaming, for
example, I have both Twitter and Instagram accounts so my fans can interacted
with me, even when I’m not streaming. It also shows that you are an
approachable and engaging person who welcomes anyone to come and join your
community. That’s a short guide on to how to start streaming. BooM!
So this has been a very quick intro to the World of
online streaming, why people choose to online stream, why people watch random
people streaming, and finally, how can you start your venture as an online
streamer.
- Intro to
online streaming
- What is
Twitch?
- How you
can start streaming
- Equipment
needed
- Conclusion
Twitch games
Twitch
Twitch prime
How to stream on twitch
Twitch live stream
How to broadcast twitch
Streaming
Online games
Play online games
Broadcast
Chroma key
Cam (webcam)
Webcam online
PlayStation network
PSN
