There are STANDARDS for streaming games?

[DudeistBelieve]

So in another thread, I'm building and/or purchasing a PC, I want to do some live stream gaming. In my head it's just a casual thing to do, ya know, have people hang out with you while you play.

Maybe I'm showing my ignorance here, because I generally don't watch streams. Theres like one or two guys I watch, like Trihex, and it's pretty much soley because the guy seemed pretty chill so if I need background noise why not let it be him playing Mario Maker.

A lot of them I don't watch because... it becomes clear at a certain point the person is doing this as a job. I recall quite vividly one girl streamer I saw playing Conker's Bad Fur Day, and time was running out on her marathon. If someone bought a T-Shirt or something it would extend her play time, and she's in that very opening of conker before getting the frying pan right? She makes a jump, and very clearly to me misses on purpose and lets out the fakest cute "Ohhhhh nooooo!"

but apparently, I find in my PC quest... That there are standards to this stuff? Like you cant just live stream a game in Xbox One quality cause people will scoff? Maybe my opinion will change when I join the PC master race, cause I really don't have a frame of reference, but I would not even think to notice something like Field of view or frames per second.

So maybe want to drop some science on me about this stuff, since I'm on my way to doing it? I have absolutely zero desire to do it professionally for money, my only desire is to open up my chilling to an audience. But I'm not sure I want to be dealing with shit like people complaining about frames or something.

 

[Saelune]

People will always be critical of everything. Not to say that invalidates it, but there are some who complain for legitimate reasons, and some who complain to complain. The trick for you is to figure out what you want in your audience. If you don't care and prefer people who don't care, then just don't care. Eventually the complainers will weed themselves out and move on, and those who don't mind or don't notice will stay. Go figure that PC elitists would be common on PC though.

Don't waste your time trying to appeal to everyone. Try to appeal to yourself and let that filter out your viewers, especially if you are not doing it for money, since then it wont matter that you meet some quota of fans/viewers.

 

[sanquin]

Here's a word of advice: There will always be negativity on the internet. Always. No matter how much you try to appease everyone, there will always be haters. The key to streaming and having people actually watch you seems to be to find something that makes you unique from other streamers. Play style, accent, the games you play, it can be anything really. Find you niche, and stick with it. Take proper criticism and learn from it, but don't pay attention to the haters that just go 'your stream sucks because of poor quality'. Especially if it isn't your job.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Oh, if you don't want people complaining, then don't even bother doing it. Because that is all a lot of people do on the internet, especially when they're watching someone else do something. The more popular you get, the more people are going to complain, from how you play to how your stream isn't running the way they want it to.

But putting all that aside, and deciding you want to do it, I can offer you this piece of advice. If you really do just want to do it for fun, then ignore those people. Don't let them tell you how to do your hobby. If they're trying to be helpful or are offering suggestions, then listening won't hurt, but the second they say, "You're doing it wrong, idiot!" or something like that, they're not worth listening to. It's your game and your stream.
I once had a person message me about Bloodborne saying, "Good fight, but next time, if your opponent bows to you, you're not supposed to heal. It's the rules." And he had attacked MY game. He had the nerve to tell me that I was playing MY game wrong because I wasn't following HIS rules after he picked a fight in MY world. So get used to stuff like that and learn to just brush it off.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

If you can make sure you can stream your games at 720p at at least 30 FPS without any kind of frame drops. That is good enough for almost everyone out there. You might have people who demand higher resolution/bitrate/FPS but really, who the hell cares? Keep the stream nice and smooth at a decent quality and that is all that matters.

Well, the content you are actually streaming matters in that. More important to be entertaining and fun. If you are doing it for you, then make sure you are having fun. Nothing else matters.

Oh and never do donations on stream. God I hate that shit.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well some people go to twitch for radio noise and others really do care about the games, and if you really do care you don't want to be watching a 5 pixel smudge.
If you are starting out the reality is there won't be more then 10 people showing up and leaving right after, it is very very difficult to convince someone to stay, especially if all they can get is commentary and not gameplay.

 

[The Enquirer]

If you can make sure you can stream your games at 720p at at least 30 FPS without any kind of frame drops. That is good enough for almost everyone out there. You might have people who demand higher resolution/bitrate/FPS but really, who the hell cares? Keep the stream nice and smooth at a decent quality and that is all that matters.

This for video quality is about all there is. 1080p is nice and noticeable but not required. Other than that, good audio quality is useful too. So a solid mic and cutting out background noise. Whether that means setting up a makeshift studio to limit echos and clicking, or just using push to talk. I don't really know of anyone who likes to listen to constant clicking or breathing.

As per non technical standards, make it fun to watch or listen to and involve the audience. Granted that's not really a standard, but something everyone should be aiming for.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

This is only really an issue if you want to compete with the more popular streamers who are putting out high fps, high resolution video. If you're just playing for fun and hopefully engaging with a few people don't worry about it.