STACK February 2016 Issue 136

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What is Twitch?
is the internet’s home for
video game live-streamers around the
world. What began back in 2007 as
following Justin Kan as he
conducted his daily life with a camera
attached to his head, now has an insane
viewership with millions of viewers and
a dedicated community. The addition
of console-enabled streaming and the
acquisition of the brand by Amazon has
only widened the scope of Twitch, and
with its eSports coverage and exclusive
content, the platform has already begun
taking the world by storm.
“Spectatorship is in our DNA”, notes
Chase, PR Director at . “People
enjoy watching people with a shared
interest. Some argue that ‘Oh, why
don’t you just play video games instead
of watching other people play them
if you like them so much?’, but that’s
like saying to a chef ‘Why are you
watching the Food Network when you
should be in the kitchen cooking?’ It’s
social video for gamers”.
With being so inherently
viewer and community central, it’s
easy for small projects/streamers
to become popular within a number
of days, hours even. This is what
happened when someone decided to
boot up Pokémon Red.
What happens when you let
viewership control - and attempt completion of
- Pokémon Red ? Is it Anarchy or Democracy?
plays
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