Why I quit streaming on Twitch.TV

Back to Twitch.TV

Ads. My god this websites has too many ads. I mean I understand why it exist but why does it have to be so intrusive? Any time I click on any streamer, boom, unskipable ad. It's the biggest killer for me. I could not stand it. I don't know how they managed to bypass the ad blockers but they did.

I don't remember the last I've stream content myself but I knew it was years ago and I would multi-stream to both Twitch and YouTube (in which Twitch doesn't like users multi-streaming but I don't care anymore.)

And it would be monthly too, I don't stream weekly nor daily. You might be wondering why? I just stream for fun.

And that's the most important factor I want to express whenever I stream on those two platforms, I do it for fun. I have no interest of making money when I stream.

But knowing both YouTube and Twitch, they dislike that. They want the piece of the pie. For Twitch they want streamers to either be affiliate or partnered. Otherwise, they'll find ways to reduce features for streamers who are not in those two categories. Easy example would be archived streams can only stay for two weeks or less.

The most annoying aspect about Twitch is how they handle the viewing experience for users who do not have good internet services. So imagine me streaming to a few audience members and one of them asked me why they have a hard time watching my content. On YouTube it's pretty easy to adjust the quality scale, but on Twitch? It depends ... which is bizarre. Why not have the feature there by default? From what I remembered, a streamer needs to exceed a number of viewers in order for the feature to be available, which is again, bizarre.

Sure, I don't mind troubleshooting for my users watching me. But, when it come to those moments, I can't do anything about it. I could cut down the bitrate but that punishes all the viewers watching my streams. And of course, they'll leave to watch someone else instead. The viewers even leave a bitter message "guess I'll watch someone else because I'm having a hard time watching your stream."

Another annoying aspect I've experienced is that the main website hasn't changed in a long time. Sure I'm familiar with Justin.TV long ago. But the front page, the categories, and the really annoying side bar on the left, it's all dated.

Every time I look at that side bar, it screams favoritism. Twitch just loves promoting their successful streamers instead of giving the lesser known streamers a chance. This will continue to be a problem for other video platforms, streaming platforms, and heck, even webcomic platforms too! There is no balance here.

If there is anything I see as an improvement, is anything to do with moderation tools. Which is very important. We don't want anything extreme happening on the chat box n' all. Or just straight up spam. We don't like that.

But otherwise ... it seems nothing big has improved over the many years. All they keep doing is constantly changing the Terms of Service and rules.

Whenever there is something remotely naughty, such as nudity, yeah Twitch will do something about it. But what about something close to nudity? There was a time where most streamers would stream on their swimming pools or bath tubs, and they would wear swimsuits. Give it enough time for the advertisers to catch wind of this and suddenly Twitch has to step in. And you can see the pattern already, Twitch is more likely to please the advertisers than the streamers.

Let's even talk about something I don't care about but I have to because it matters to everyone. You and I may not care how much the streamers get paid, but it would really suck if your favorite streamer has no choice but to quit due to low pay from Twitch right?

I remember watching a talented musician from Australia expressing over the fact that he hasn't been paid at all ... and he's partnered too which makes it even more confusing.

And I remember hearing from a streamer who has been streaming for more than a decade on the platform but he gets a standard cut. Awhile a new streamer, sure, is pulling a lot of viewers, but only been on the platform for around two years, gets a bigger cut.

There was a petition/feedback section on Twitch's website to stop this nonsense and make sure everyone is treated fairly. But hey! They listened! They did it ... but everyone gets the standard cut instead of the bigger cut ... at least it's fair right? Right? ... I mean I can't expect much from a company that is owned by Amazon at this point.

Right, I forgot to say that Twitch.TV is owned by Amazon, I'm assuming you already knew that? If not, it's fine, most people are bound to find out anyway.

The reason why I brought that up is because I remember watching one of the biggest critic of Twitch.TV explaining why it's not worth streaming on that platform anymore. Because Amazon owns Twitch, they'll demand quite a lot of changes in order to gain a lot of money. Otherwise, they are fired. I don't know if Twitch keeps rotating with new hires left and right, hoping they can find the best team to keep the company together but, this is ridiculous. Building a new feature on the site takes time but changing the ToS can be done in an instant. Gotta make sure the advertisers are pleased in order to get that money.

I haven't touched on controversial streamers. Yeah, politics is tricky. The "Fair use" on reacting to content. Streamers showcasing gambling. And uhh ... committing crimes publicly? Granted it depends if it's intentional or not? I don't know, it's dumb.

Okay let's switch gears here for why I even used Twitch.TV

My exposure to livestream happened to be odd experience. Long story short, I stumble across a website that is all about videogame journalism done right (AKA they do it non-profit.) They have a sister website that all about streaming any videogames they put up. Each person takes their time streaming making sure there is little to no downtime like a TV, which is a fun concept. I had fun being part of it.

This concept would carry on to groups like Vinesauce. However, it turns out that it's a whole lot better if each streamer has their own channels instead due to scheduling conflict etc. (They are still a group and the website keeps everyone together.)

If there is anything I enjoyed watching, it's a man called Vargskelethor (or Joel.) Don't get me wrong, Vinesauce (also known as Vinny,) is a nice guy, but he falls into an issue I see with almost a lot of streamers do. They stream almost every single day. It's really unhealthy if you think about it. Awhile there are a good chunk of people work for a eight hour shift ... there are streamers who would stream for 12 hours straight ... Yeah it makes you think if they ever had the chance to eat or even take a good stretch because I can't imagine the human body being stationary for that long. I mean sure if there is a new game that came out, okay, but doing that daily?! That's not good.

And that's why I like Joel, he is funny as hell. Unlike Vinny who is always exhausted and can't speak much, Joel would just come in with full of energy for the commentary side of things and playing whatever game he likes.

Joel is pretty old school when it comes to presenting content. There is no annoying stream overlay which begs the users to follow him and buy merch, there is no face/body cam, and the pre-stream and mid-stream (for restroom breaks) is very minimal. He is obviously cautious about certain things like for example he would turn off his mic if he sneezed or eating something. (I remember he even went so far as to delete a portion of an archive stream when he ate something.)

But that's one person, there are decent amount of streamers that I like if they fall into two simple categories:

If I see a face/body cam, I'm not interested. Nothing against the idea but I can just tell something is off if the streamer is trying to get attention by their looks rather than good commentary/gameplay. The newer stuff like "Vtuber/PNGtuber," I'm neutral, I'm not too bothered about that.

Yeah I am avoiding the word that describes users who are attracted to streamers. I must be old but I cannot understand the goal for certain users throwing money towards a specific streamer. (I feel as if 9 times out of 10, these streamers are already married, so why even try?)

Parasocial relationship is really creepy when you look into it. This is why my favorite streamers has a good policy in place to keep a distance between creator and audience.

When I provide support to a small streamer by subscribing (tier 1 or whatever,) all I want is something very simple:

A thank you.

That's it. I don't want to extend a way to gain a friendship, become a mod (I'm terrible at that,) or even anything dumb like a VIP service or some shite like that. Just a "thank you," is good enough for me. I'll repeat, all about keeping a good distance between creator and audience.

Let's wrap this up.

So let's see. They haven't improved their website in a long time nor put new features. They rather please advertisers than the streamers, ToS changing all the time. They'll find a way to hurt the smaller creators rather than help them. And because Amazon owns Twitch.TV, it's all about the money. Always the money.