Content
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Analysis: What Makes a Great Stream?
What is it about your favorite stream that elevates it above the rest? Let's explore how to analyze the work of others, both out of general curiousity, and more objectively by defining specific items to look for. "Peer Analysis" is used in many industries (especially financial) to analyze everything from market and operational strategies (what are they "doing"?), to earnings statements (what was the "result"), to ongoing changes (how will they "react"?).
What do your peers stream? Where are they located? What is the demographics of their audience? Do they have a "gimmick" or other unique hook that defines them? What equipment do they use? We have a lot to consider; let's get started!
This week you will...
- Reflect on your personal likes and dislikes in streaming
- Analyze streams using organized and systematic methods
- Identify unique qualities that form individual streamers' personalities
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Loot for your mind
Weekly Materials
- How to Critique Acting (wordpress.com)
- A Streamers Personality or Their Skill? (reddit.com)
- I Watch Ten Times as Much Fornite as I Play (forbes.com)
Below you'll find a checklist to help you work through analyzing a stream and pinpoint what exactly you find appealing in a great stream. However, please remember that this week is all about the qualities that make a stream or a streamer great, and not necessarily about the hard data. We do have a week on data analytics coming up. So, while you will be exploring equipment, demographics, and the like here, make sure you're noting things like "did the stream have a cool title?" or "did the streamer present themselves through charisma, confidence, a volatile temper, or humor?". There are so many different things to explore. When we eventually look more closely at data analytics, we'll look at how to use those tools to your advantage; here, we are looking at the broader scope of what successful streamers do and have done. We all have individual tastes, so this week will yield a wide variety of ideas to explore!
A Comparison Checklist
Take the time to find a stream you like and start exploring it with this checklist. You should feel encouraged to add additional criteria not mentioned if you think it will benefit your comparison. You should also keep in mind that a checklist like this could be greatly expanded on after we go through the Data Analytics section in one of the coming weeks; it all just depends on what you intend to focus on for your comparison.
Do note that while you can "check" stuff off below, if you refresh the page, it'll all reset. This isn't a scoring tool or anything like that - it's just something to help organize your thoughts!
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Almost all of your favorite streamers have something that helps them to elicit a reacion from their audience. This could be a complete "character", such as DrDisRespect, or the odd victory dance, such as Ninja's PonPon dance. Other examples from Dr. Lupo include his chair and the snipe tagline.
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If you're streaming something that's reliant on your skill in the activity being streamed, then you can bet that skill will be a benefit to you gaining viewers. Skill may not be the absolute most important quality, but it's certainly up there. A professional gamer known for winning events will have additional recognition in their target audience. As well, it's fun to watch someone accomplish something difficult, or to occasionally feel the shock as that talented streamer fails at a task. Lastly, the draw for an audience to learn more about a skill will naturally bring them to the most skillfull streamers!
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This may not apply if you aren't going to be using your voice in your streams, and it could also get wrapped into the Taglines category. However, if you are speaking, it's important that you be clear and understandable. Professional broadcasters make natural streaming personalities. Start with a strong voice, and add humor or other qualities from there!
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You should be able to find the streaming setups for a number of popular streamers. Don't be discouraged at what you find! Popular streamers do what they do for their primary income, so high-end equipment is an obvious investment for them. While it's useful to find trends here, remember that your focus should really be on optimizing your streams for the hardware you have available to you and the content that you're creating.
As far as software, the core pieces are probably going to be relatively consistent. You can consider trying to find settings and match them up with the hardware being used, but we'll cover an easier way to approach this topic in the Technical Data section below. Instead, consider the extra software in use. Bots, effects packages, audio software, etc...
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You may be able to find published settings for the streams you want to analyze, but if not, there are tools such as R1CH's Twitch Analyzer that you can use to gather technical data from streams. Note that the streamer needs to be live at the time you run the tool to gather any data. Compare several of your favorite streams, and make note of their bitrate, resolution, fps, and x264 preset settings.
A couple of helpful pointers:
- You'll likely find a pretty fair split between 30fps and 60fps streams; however, you're more likely to see the more popular streamers running at 60fps. Why do you think that is? Remember that a 60fps stream requires twice the bandwidth of a 30fps stream.
- 1080p is the most popular resolution streamed on Twitch. You might find that some of the more popular streamers run less than 1080p, seemingly in contrast to the question asked above. Why is this?
- You're also likely to find that the majority of streamers are going to be using the veryfast x264 preset; however, you'll find a fair amount of your more popular streamers using the fast setting. Why? You'll likely have the same reasonings for this question as for the fps question.
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What days feature the most viewers on Twitch? Which games are most popular? Which games are most popular at what times and on which days? You can use sites like Twitch Strike to gather this information.
As you explore, think about the demographics involved with the stream and how that compares to the other data. Such as, why might there be a more pronounced mid-afternoon spike on a game like Minecraft and relatively more stability for a game like Fortnite? Consider if trying to stream at peak viewing hours is the best when attempting to gain viewers. If a popular streamer begins streaming, it can draw viewers away from your stream. Additionally, if the number of channels live is especially high, you may have difficulty in getting your channel noticed.
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Discussion Requirements
In each week, you will have a Discussion assignment that will help to prepare you for that week's main assignment. You are required to:
- make an initial post answering the questions provided, and
- to respond to at least one peer.
You won't be able to see any of your peer's posts until after you have posted. Your response should be go beyond a simple "good job" or other basic complement. While there isn't a hard requirement on the length of your response, 100 words would be a good starting place.
The reason we only require a single response is that we are encouraging you to engage your instructor and peers through Blackboard Collaborate and Discord in real-time discussion. The questions presented here are to help you to form ideas for your main assignment, as well as allow you to more deeply analyze what your peers are thinking about as they prepare for their assignments. Your peers may be in-class students, or they may be remote and in an entirely different time-zone. We want to ensure that you all have the same opportunities to collaborate and learn from each other. We want you to be fully prepared and confident going into your main assignments.
Discord
Discord chats are set up by week, and are supplemental to your actual assignments. Click the icon below to access the channel. Please participate in these chats! Discord is a very popular tool used by the streaming community, so if you're not familiar with it, this is your chance! Use the Discussion assignment to help organize your interactions. It's our hope that you find people through this class that you can collaborate with, game with, and stream with in your careers; you are welcome to invite your peers to other channels that you use!
Discussion
10 Points
Discuss what you find to be great in a stream. Be specific on the following points:
- Of your favorite streamers, what is their primary draw? Is it their skill in a game? Personality? Humor? Technical quality? What stands out most to you?
- Elaborate on the topic above by providing specific examples of what this person does and some "proof" that shows how the draw positively impacts their stream.
- Further elaborate; what is the topic of the stream? Were it a different topic, would the stream's draw cease to be entertaining? What would it take for the stream's draw to cease its effectiveness?
- What does your favorite streamer's schedule like?
- What other major indicators might you look for to judge the effectiveness of a streamer's strategy?
Submission Instructions
- Read the discussion rubric. You will be graded on this rubric!
- Make an initial post based on the assignment prompt provided.
- Reply to at least one peer with a substantial response.
- Use Discord for further discussion.
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20 Points
You have the option of writing a 500 word essay or creating a 5 min video for this assignment. If doing a video, look up a few "reaction videos" and consider doing your assignment in that style (where you watch the video and provide your commentary while it plays). You'll get extra credit for making a reaction video!
- Compare and contrast your midterm stream to a stream of a similar type or category. Your comparison include several specifics. Build off of concepts you worked through in your Discussion. Consider some of the following questions:
- Surmise what you could to improve your own stream based on your comparison.
Submission Requirements
For written assignments:
- Assignment must be composed in a word processor (Word, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Pages, Google Docs, etc...)
- The file type must be supported by Microsoft Word, regardless of word processor used (.doc or .docx is preferred)
- Accepted fonts include Arial, Calibri, Verdana, and Times New Roman with a font size of 12pt
- Essays should be double-spaced on 8.5" x 11" paper size and 1" margins
- You will attach your completed document in the assignment submission area (don't type the assignment out directly in Blackboard!)
- Please use APA in-text citations and include a reference list for any sources cited outside of those included in the Supply Drop area.
This assignment is due no later than 11:59 PM at the end of the seventh day of class.
Assignment Rubric
Before starting your Assignment, please review the Assignment rubric. You will be graded using this rubric.
Click below to view the Assignment rubric.
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