How to Twitch: Roles
Before I begin, let me just put in a comment about the fact that I'm not a representative of Twitch. My articles regarding the site consist of information I have seen or experienced. Defining a couple of the roles serves to illustrate the types of positions a person can expect to encounter when using the platform. This is meant to be objective. With that said, let's get started!
Overview
“Twitch.tv” is a website where people stream themselves playing video games. I know this seems like a foreign concept however, it is not much different than attending a hockey game. The reason is, with sports events, people get together to discuss the games they've just witnessed. If you consider the fact that people share virtually everything on social media, one can extrapolate our need for community. Based on this aspect, on Twitch we get a similar experience of a sports game. In a live event, there are no barriers to the excitement of the crowd. On Twitch, users will begin flooding chat with their excitement. You feel the same sense of community but from your own home, and with people who live around the world.
The chat room on the platform is comprised of several types of people. There are your stream viewers, channel moderators, twitch staff, global moderators, pro players, community leaders, event organizers, pro casters, etc... I will elaborate only on viewers, moderators, streamers, and Twitch staff.
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Viewers
The regular viewers are people who hop into a stream to see the game being played. This functions as a review stage for people; a way that one can experience what a game is without having to buy it first. Some would argue that doing this would spoil the experience, where others use it to determine if they will make the purchase. The viewers are sometimes given the option to vote on what game the streamer is going to play the next time they stream. This is important on both ends because the viewer feels like they are part of a community, and the streamer gets to see what sorts of games their regular viewers are interested in.
Moderators
In every stream you have moderators and they come in two forms: Chat moderators and Global moderators. Chat moderators are assigned the role by the streamer to make sure the chat flows in a manner they wish. For example, some will timeout heinous statements made in chat, where others want a more relaxed chat with little or no timeouts. Some streams want to keep PG content while others know they fall in the mature category (excessive profanity, copious amounts of horror games, or other things they deem to be mature). Keep in mind that channel mods do this voluntarily and does not mean they should be treated poorly.
Global moderators fill a completely different role, one that is tasked to them by twitch staff. It is not a role you apply for, rather a role that twitch has to take care in assigning. They must be extremely confident in a potential global moderators ability to uphold the values of twitch. Global Moderators ensure that streamers are following the Terms of Service, and they answer any twitch related questions. Though, most of the time the global moderators do not talk in chat.
Streamers
These people are the back bones of Twitch. Sometimes they do this for fun, while others embark on a new business venture. Over time, a streamer can make connections to be successful by being full time. Assuming they are able to become partnered with Twitch, streamers will gain a steady income. At this point, they are self-employed and must research taxation, sponsorships, services they can provide, etc... When you are a streamer, you get access to emotes for your viewers to use across the site – consider this a form of marketing. These emotes are either designed by the streamer or they pay someone to do this for them. The streamer makes a cut of the subscribed cost and must follow certain rules. They must ethically entertain the audience by streaming video games and tend to create an online persona that they present to the world. As long as they uphold the terms of their contract with Twitch, they will make money through obtaining subscribers and donators.
Twitch Staff
As one would expect, Twitch staff members are paid to do a variety of things for the website. This ranges from your IT guys to PR people and everything in between. Unfortunately, I cannot speak to the specifics of their roles, but I can say that they deserve respect; this is because they work hard to provide a source of entertainment for video game enthusiasts. For example, the IT guys keep things running smoothly, implement new features, and investigate issues. There are hiring managers, Business Developers, Analysts, Creative Managers, Graphic Designers, Engineers, Executive Assistants, Accountants, Legal professionals, Marketing Analysts, Partnership Associates, and many others! Since I fill none of these roles, I can't explain each of these positions, but virtually all of them are jobs that can be applied for right now.
Conclusion
I wanted to write a relatively short article or two on the subject because I'm constantly asked what twitch is and why it's important. Being absorbed by the site is rather confusing to people because they don't necessarily see the larger picture. And since I fill many of the roles I defined above, I decided to explain it objectively. I'm a regular viewer, a channel moderator, as well as a small time streamer. I've been using this site as entertainment for a number of years and have recently begun looking at opportunities as a result of my dedication. This may lead to work prospects, opportunities to travel, and other possible ventures. In fact, this is already happening. After being on this platform for about 4 years, I'm now doing some behind the scenes work, applying for game companies, meeting people from all around the world, going to events, and putting together a podcast. Where I end up from here is anyone's guess.
I hope that by outlining some of the roles used on twitch gives a good understanding what Twitch offers. However, if this doesn't satisfy your palette, I have a couple of other articles that cover more detailed topics, like channel moderation.
Until Next time!
Susan “Jagtress” N.