I streamed to basically nobody for about 8 months, with one viewer, sometimes two, and half the time the one was a bot or someone who tabbed in and forgot. I kept telling myself numbers do not matter and its about the passion, all that stuff people say. But if I am honest, staring at a 1 in the corner for four hours does something to you. You start wondering if youre just talking to yourself in an empty room.

There was one night I almost did not go live. Tired from work, no motivation, pretty sure nobody would show. Went live anyway out of habit more than anything, and this one guy who had lurked a few times before actually started talking. We ended up chatting for like two hours about the game, his job, random stuff. At the end he subbed. One sub. I know that sounds like nothing but I sat there afterward kind of stunned that something I almost skipped turned into an actual conversation with a real person.

That night is the reason I kept going. Not the sub itself, just realizing somebody out there was actually spending their evening with me even when the counter said I was basically alone.

If you are in that phase right now the most useful thing I can tell you is make it dumb easy to go live, because the bad nights are exactly when you talk yourself out of it. I got kind of obsessive about cutting friction. I sit down, lights on a smart plug, mic already sitting on the arm, my emeet pixy camera clipped to my monitor that just tracks me, and I go live with a few taps in under a minute. It sounds like a small thing but when your motivation is at zero, a fiddly setup is the exact excuse your brain reaches for to not bother. I figured if i removed the excuse i would show up more, and in the early days showing up is basically the whole thing.

I still think about that guy sometimes. I have more viewers now, not loads, but more, and pretty much all of them started as a 1 in the corner I almost gave up on before they ever said a word.

So if the counter says 1 and you feel invisible, someone is probably there. That was enough to keep me going anyway.

Wasn't sure if this one warranted the question or discussion flair, but I am asking a question so hopefully this is the right one? Let me know if I need to fix it.

But yeah, basically, I've had my first parasocial experience recently involving a long-time viewer, and I'm not sure what to do about it.

For context, I'm a small streamer, and since I don't have a proper server yet (working on it), I've been accepting fanart through Discord DMs (huge mistake I know, I'm currently making the server so this hopefully doesn't repeat). The problem is that while most people have been very chill and "I'm a fan, here's a thing for you" about it, one of them recently has taken that to mean we're friends. Close friends, even, their words.

We've never spoken outside of streams before that.

I try to be nice and open-minded about things, but it makes me uncomfortable to know that some people genuinely consider my streaming persona a friend. At the same time, I can tell this means a lot to them, so this will end in a disaster either way (and will most likely affect my ACTUAL friends, which gives me great anxiety).

So TLDR; how do you deal with parasocial relationships? How do you prevent them, and how do you do damage control if you fail to prevent them?

I have seen that streamers play a looping animation when they start and end stream. How to make an animation like that? I don’t want any AI slop animation.

Has anyone started getting ads in foreign languages recently? I'm not using a VPN, watching from the UK and the streamers are English language. But for the past few weeks I've been getting ads in various other languages.

I'm considering exiting affiliate for personal reasons and was wonder what the best way to do so might be. Preferably, I'd shut off new subs and let them all run out, to not feel as if I'm ripping anybody off.

Has anyone done this previously and have anyvadvice?

Thanks in advance.

I watched my last vod and I could barely hear myself but I heard every stomp of my game characters boots. I'm using a standalone mic and don't want to put the gain in the red, that would give me the opposite issue. What I'm wondering is, would it be better if I add extra gain by filter in OBS or should I set my mixer louder?

Edit:Thank you all for the helpful advice. I'll work on what you posted.

I am pretty sure this is a system-wide style design issue from Twitch, but is anyone else facing this when you have a large amount of channel points, plus there is a sub drop/drop icon (this one is those and slow chat) where it pushes the chat up?

Used to be a BTTV issue, but that was fixed by them, then last week when Twitch changed more things for no reason and its occurring anyways.

I also talked to the BTTV lads who said its occurring with them in channels where they are Moderators too

Created a Twitch UserVoice for this too: https://twitch.uservoice.com/forums/934332-customer-experience/suggestions/51537671-fix-website-style-issue-below-chat-box

Last night, when i was tucking in i saw a couple of channels i follow had an unusually high viewer count, and this morning, while logging in to check who's streaming what, ALOT of the channels i follow and usually check out seem to be having up to under 1/3rd of their usual viewership at this time.

Is anyone else noticing this?

Did BOT'aggedon just happen?

hiii. im new to streaming i need some help with something that im kind of not sure about. I'm currently streaming directly from my ps5 but i have just a basic hp laptop i would like set up stream with overlays but I want to is it worth? I don't want to directly stream from the laptop because it might be all lagging but i also want it to be like real time play as well yk? I should I invest into getting actually pc or at least starts for matter? if anyone has any recommendations advice honest just anything i would to hear it please even if it hurts my feelings lol thanks

Hiya!

I have 15 GBP on my emails GPay account, which I tried to use to gift a sub on Twitch mobile. I've done this before with no issues, but now when I click to gift a sub, it comes up with the wrong email. How do I change it back to my email?
My Twitch account is under the email with the GPay balance.

question above but like will quality still be fine as long as i have a good capture card or does the PC need to be better

Disclosure first, I build plugins for an LED ticker product. I made a Twitch integration that puts channel activity on a physical display. Follows, subs, chat velocity, that kind of thing as a display for your viewers to see in the background, or have on your desk.

Streamers, is that useful or a gimmick? What would you actually want at a glance mid stream? Building this in the open, the answers here change what ships.

It says "Sorry, Something seems to have gone wrong. Please try again later."

I tried switching the browser, clearing the cache, etc. Didn't work.

Any help/info?

I saw a twitch account that has exactly 20 followers and have a sub/gift button and someone was able to sub. Is there any other cases of this? Isn't the minimum for Twitch affiliate 25? How can this be possible? Is there any explanation for this? (Not a streamer just really curious!)

(I don't know if they're "affiliate" but assuming since someone was able to sub)

Edit: I didn't know there's a monetization for all option! Thanks all

A while ago I asked about VOD mutes for KH3 and learned that, at the very least, enough of the VOD audio will survive for me to warrant a stream.

And then I checked the streaming rules for KH3 and read about the "You're free to stream this game in a non-commercial setting" rule. I know that you can't stream the game to listen to the music, but doesn't streaming it on Twitch, even if for gameplay and commentary, count as a commercial setting? Yet I see people streaming the game here and there. What are the rules for things like this?

I've been thinking of livestreaming playing Dota 2, but with a twist taht whenever someone donated money, Withered Foxy would jumpscare out of nowhere (not a stream overlay, but on my screen as well). I don't know how I could possibly set this up however

So I want to start streaming DDR and I would like to get a good foot cam for my dance pad. But I'm not sure what would be more convenient.

Streams, seem to have really good quality but its just so hard to know what to go for.

it looks like they're streaming on a phone, but they could have also just cropped the video feed in OBS. Would it just be worth it getting something like an iPhone 17 to stream off of and hook it up to OBS with OBS.ninja?

What is the best option for someone who can’t afford fancy gadgets to help keep cell reception strong during an IRL stream?

EDIT: I already have an iPhone with a data plan, a gimbal, and a GoPro. I know I could stream in populated areas with strong cell service. I’m just curious if there are budget-friendly options for boosting signal if I go somewhere more remote?

Title basically.

Was watching a stream and had another one open on mute, when suddenly I get logged out on both. Try to log in -> This username does not exist.

And that's it. No text, no email, no letter in the mailbox.

Used the "I forgot my username" option, and it sent me an email listing every account linked to my email address, of which there should be 2. There was only one, which I haven't used in a decade, and had to reactivate to even log in to.

Anyone got any clues?

I only have one: about 2 weeks ago (actually, it was almost exactly 2 weeks ago, to the hour), I was trying to log into something else via twitch, and it asked me to confirm via a text message code. The code never came, I tried like 10 times, it logged me out eventually, and then I couldn't even log in on the twitch website, because it just never sent me a code, even though it used to, at least a year ago, judging by old texts. The support page said something about Authy, so I downloaded that and it worked, logged back in through that, but still no text (account's gone from Authy too btw). My best guess is that something got messed up with my data in their db, and it just purged anything related to my account after the 2 weeks since last log in.

Also, about 4 hours after the incident, I got an email saying my one and only sub has been cancelled, but I will "continue to enjoy your subscription benefits until 11 Aug 2026." Well that's a fucking lie, isn't it?
Sent a support ticket, will update.

What types of games do you play, and when did you notice your following really start to grow? How late do you stream?

My view count is 1-3 this week

Is that a good start for my streams as a Competive Gamer / Video Game commentator

Since I started this month with my view count going from. 1 - 4 = 1-2 sometimes get 1-5 daily on a regular day.. though one day might be 1 viewer all day long.. on a good day is 3 viewers all day long..

So far I'm getting compliments on my gameplay

And there was this one person who was fond on me gaming he wanted to join my game and match on Battlefield 6

I enabled Twitch Drops for my stream for Battlefield 6 don't tell me how I did it but I did..

Somehow I got into on the EA Content Creator Program or I might be teased though idk yet but I got drops and I hosted drops for my 1 viewer...

Someone tell me if im doing any good and if I should continue my progress

I really like the look of that overlay and ive been looking for hours and trying different websites and stuff and I cant replicate the exact look. I found another streamer with the same thing and he wouldnt tell me so hopefully someone here knows how to get this specifically. I tried streamelements and it wasnt the same I just need help

Im fairly new to streaming. I just stream from my ps5 to twitch, ive heard your supposed to stream stuff with big veiwers but little streamers.

Does outlast trials count for this?

I have heard lots of streamers play music in their streams but then the rules say about DMCA. What do I do and can I play music on stream?