quit

Streaming to zero viewers is an experience that is surprisingly common. 95% of streamers on Twitch average 0-5 concurrent viewers per stream. Even so, it doesn’t make the sensation sting any less. I don’t blame anyone for quitting because they don’t like streaming to an empty room. The whole point of streaming is to share that experience with others. When there isn’t a demand for it, what’s the point of carrying on?

I know this darkness all too well. During my first year of streaming, I bounced around between YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch. My viewer count was basically zero the entire time. Didn’t even get a single message in the chat. And it wasn’t like I was streaming once in a blue moon. I streamed more back then. Extra time didn’t help one bit.

With hundreds of hours logged in the void, what kept me going? And what can you learn from my trials and tribulations?

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A thread on r/twitch garnered a lot of momentum and caught my eye a little while back. Titled “It is ok to give up.“, u/LostLibrary details the story of his friend who has ruined his life in hopes of chasing his dream to become a streaming superstar. Giving up on work and school, yet not being able to get his streaming venture off the ground, has put his friend in a really tight spot. He now finds himself homeless, living with his friend while working a fast food job in an attempt to get his life back on track.

I’m sure his story isn’t the first of its kind and certainly won’t be the last. Reading the thread got me thinking about my expectations for streaming, for In Third Person as a whole, and the concept of expectations relative to chasing lofty goals.

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