My research has been going well and has already greatly improved my understanding of my niche and my original problematising perspective. I watch two streams a week, picking a random streamer in any video game category on Twitch and documenting my experience watching. I then translate this into a blog post, the first of which can be read here. I have also undertaken some participant observation via my own streaming, which I admit still needs to develop and be shaped by the observational research. This has all led to a number of important epiphanies.
Epiphanies
- Most streamers with a large audience (1,000 plus concurrent viewers) feel homogenous and lack points of differentiation.
- Smaller streamers (sub 1,000 concurrent viewers) seemingly have the ability to be more engaging and unique as a result of this lower view count.
- The less focus on the game itself, and the more input from the creator, the more engaging and original a stream is.
As my DA has developed, my focus has shifted from my original perspective. I began by thinking ‘big streamers use unique and interesting visuals, language and other elements, and this is how they got big’. However, because of the epiphanies listed above, this has morphed into ‘Do big streamers have to be unique to get big, and do smaller streamers offer a better experience for the viewer because they are not as big?’. This thinking informed my research and draws me into this new problematising area. I think shifting my perspective on video game streaming has and will continue to provide a greater understanding of the niche from a more macro perspective. Inviting this comparative analysis of the niche will hopefully result in a more holistic analysis of the whole genre of video game streaming, taking into account the type of audience that will watch certain streamers, and how the viewer count informs the content they produce.
In order to further analyse these epiphanies, I need to draw on academic and popular sources. For example, the subreddits for individual streamers allow me to see why the audience is watching, based on the types of posts that are made. Are these posts primarily about the streamer’s progress in the game? Or do they focus more on what the streamer has said, developing the unique aspects of their identity which overshadows the gameplay part? For academic sources, looking at audience studies, of which some will focus on streamers, can develop my understanding of the reasons people watch streams. There is somewhat of a research gap when it comes to the streamer perspective, so this is something I need to account for. Audience intention is just as important as streamer intention for my research, and as I assume both roles, it’s important I have a balanced understanding.
Some of the research I have/will use (So far)
James Burnes 