‘It’s like the gold rush’: the lives and careers of professional video game streamers on Twitch.tv

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the lives and careers of video game live broadcasters, especially those who gain their primary real-world income through this practice. We introduce the dominant market leader – the platform Twitch.tv – and outline its immensely rapid growth and the communities of millions of broadcasters, and tens of millions of viewers, it now boasts. Drawing on original interview data with professional and aspiring-professional game broadcasters (‘streamers’), we examine the pasts, presents, and anticipated futures of streamers: how professional streamers began streaming, the everyday labour practices of streaming, and their concerns and hopes about the future of their chosen career. Through these examinations we explore the sociotechnical entanglements – digital intimacy, celebrity, content creation, and video games – that exemplify this new media form. Live streaming is an online practice expanding in both production and consumption at immense speed, and Twitch and its streamers appear to be at the forefront of that revolution.

Disclosure statement

In accordance with Taylor & Francis policy and our ethical obligation as researchers, we are reporting that the researchers have an ongoing professional relationship with Twitch through which research access has been negotiated, that may be affected by the research reported in the enclosed paper. We have disclosed those interests fully to Taylor & Francis, and we have in place an approved plan for managing any potential conflicts arising from this involvement.

Notes on contributors

Mark R Johnson is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta. His main research interests are the intersection between games, money, and cultures of play, ranging from professional gaming to live-streaming, and from fantasy sports betting to professional gambling. His first monograph, ‘The Unpredictability of Gameplay’, is shortly to be published by Bloomsbury Academic. Alongside his academic work, he is a noted independent game developer, a former professional poker player, and a freelance games writer for a number of publications and magazines [email: [email protected]].

Jamie Woodcock is a fellow at the LSE and author of ‘Working The Phones’. His current research focuses on the digital economy, the transformation of work, and eSports. He has previously worked as a postdoc on a research project about video games, as well as another on the crowdsourcing of citizen science. Jamie completed his PhD in sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London and has held positions at Goldsmiths, University of Leeds, University of Manchester, Queen Mary, NYU London, and Cass Business School. His research interests include: digital labour, technology, management, critical theory, and the sociology of work [email: [email protected]].

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported and enabled by the UK ‘Digital Economy Crucible’ programme. More can be found out here http://cherish-de.uk/crucible/. Dr Johnson and Dr Woodcock were successful in securing funding from the DEC at the conclusion of a “program” of meetings and panels in 2016.