A stream is a very different format for content, but that doesn't necessarily make it worse - only different.

1. As streams are live, anything could happen, so there's the possibility for unexpected excitement and being a part of that as it happens
2. Live chat can make a stream feel social and connected with other viewers
3. Streams give you the ability to speak to the streamer and change the outcome of the stream

I think that the way people consume content has also changed. A lot of people watch streams "in the background" just as noise while they do other things, not in a way where they are giving the stream their 100% focus in the way you would with a short and well-edited video.

15 minutes of good content in several hours? You might not be watching the best streams ngl.

From my view, I enjoy watching Twitch for two main reasons:

1. For the same reason I like watching live sports rather than a 15 minute cut of highlights - the feeling of experiencing events in real time, the payoff of seeing a big play unfold after all the anticipation leading up to it, watching strategies and counter-strategies unfold in real time, that kind of stuff.

2. For the same reason I like watching video essays, stand-up comedy, interview shows, podcasts, or other media where one particular person is the focus - that person is entertaining to me. They have a personality I vibe with, they're funny, they have an interesting perspective, etc.

To a lesser extent, it's also nice background noise. I can throw a stream on at the beginning of my workday and not have to fiddle with it until I'm done with work, because it's a constant, reliable source of background noise.

As a genXer I don't get it either. The model at the moment referenced here makes much more sense to me at least. Not understanding twitch is a real marker of shifts in generational mindsets. I think I understand tech, but I wouldnt invest in tech sectors as I clearly don't have the instinct for it anymore.

What makes sense is two things:

1. You can ask questions about the game and get a direct answer, often including someone showing you exactly the thing in the game you asked about.

2. Some streams are genuinely entertaining, such as GTA RP streams. These people mostly aren't slobbering fat guys (though some are) but are actually working and acting the entire time.

Watching someone play video games is straight up younger sibling energy. I don't get it at all, but I was the older brother.

Seems like a lot of them aren't greasy men in tank tops.

Smaller streams make more sense to me. It's like a virtual social setting, an old school chatroom, but with a focus of attention, and a guy kind of structuring the whole thing, and a guy who can be engaged with. Occasionally, the streamer can be cool, most of the time they're kind of a goblin, though, so the good streams are few and far between.

Larger streams don't make much sense unless you kind of view them as being like, the same appeal as talk radio, or something, because the chat scrolls way too fast and most of it is emotes, so most messages will never get read, and never have anything good to say in the first place. There's not much of an advantage for any of it to be live content, it just sort of is a relic of the format. Sometimes you get higher production stuff, most of the time it's just some bald asshole ranting about the prices of things in costco and doing other bad stand up bits.

Edit: Also a big appeal is how brainrotted people are. The focus (I'm generalizing now across all internet platforms) is less on some specific information, and is more on "personality" and appeals like that, because that's the most sustainable way to pump out a metric ton of content at all times, and algorithms tend to reward when you pump out a ton of content. And so you get a lot of parasocial relationships and non-content, and viewers, frankly, just watch whatever's in front of them. There's not a lot of control these platforms, increasingly, give you over what you're watching anyways, and people aren't going to keep pulling that skinner's box lever unless they get a hit at some point. Most of the content ends up being dogshit, so you get a kind of selection for people who enjoy dogshit, and a lack of other options, so people just acclimate to their lack of alternative and become kind of complacent in their environment.

For twitch more specifically, you also basically just get shit that's meant to only reward people's dopamine centers, when they get their message read by the streamer, and then they keep pulling the lever on the slot machine over and over multiple times per stream. Either that, right, or you're getting a lot of people who just don't have many social relationships, and just want to feel like they're part of a larger organization, or being, even if it's totally mindless and meaningless. People who want to "turn off" and just kind of mindlessly be part of the flow of the chat, or what have you. That last part is the brainrot, basically.

But if you give the greasy man $50 he will say your name!!!!

A buddy from college is a somewhat famous twitch streamer. I remember seeing him a few years after college and asking what he was up to, and couldn't believe he was making any money just streaming himself playing League. My brain couldn't comprehend who would want to watch that. That was like 10 years ago, and dude is still doing it, and hasn't worked a real job in a decade. I'm low key jealous AF.

Right? The 15 minutes of watching someone else play would even be a challenge for me if I'm actually trying to pay attention. That is the kind of content I barely can do as background noise.

For me it's that twitch is a lot more personal, at least it used to be.

I met some of my best friends hanging out in smaller streams. That was 8 years ago. We still hang out daily in discord or on twitch when one of them streams.

Never understood concert goers.

So you're telling me that instead of listening to 4 minutes of edited music you can watch an old fart on stage for four hours?

(Not even a twitch head by the way)

I much prefer to watch gameplay on twitch. It’s a much more natural way of consuming content vs the super energetic, loud, pushy YouTube videos.

Edited game content provides very little entertainment value to me, while I mostly have streams turned on as background noise and check in occasionally to see what happens.

I'll never understand how Twitch became as big as a thing as it is.

You already answered that in your comment.

You want to watch videos, not livestreams. Of course a video will be better at being, you know, a video (nicely edited, in short format, etc). A livestream is different for many reasons, none of which interests you apparently.

Nothing wrong with that tbh. It's just not for you.

I mainly watch speedruns and esports live because if you're watching a video you already know if a runner has PBed or which team won (in the case if esports)