Streaming
Services
(Twitch)
Introduction
Twitch would be a streaming service that would allow the
user to stream their own content to the site, the main focus of the site would
be games but people also stream vlog and creative work on the site. Every piece
of content that is on twitch would be user created content to be streamed and
with the inclusion of chat interaction with the streamer. This site would be
one of the most popular non-linear streaming site, when compared to other
streaming service such as Netflix.
History
The founder of the video game streaming site known as
twitch, Justin Kan who is the founder of the site explained on stage at
TechCrunch Disrupt London exactly how the site grew. The site twitch would have recently been acquired by Amazon
for $970 million in august of 2014 and he would have went on to explain about
how the site would have grown from the humble beginnings to dominating the
online-game-streaming industry.
Kan would have explained that twitch would have started out
first as Justin.tv, which would have been founded in 2005 when he was currently
studying for a physics and psychology degree at Yale. His first company Kiko
Software was an online calendar that would predate google’s calendar efforts.
Eventually Kan and Kiko’s other founders realised that the
Kiko calendar was not a success, so they came up with a plan to attempt to sell
it on eBay. The auction page went live and weeks later Kiko Software was sold
online for $258,100.
The team that was behind Kiko would have went on to create Justin.tv. Kan said that they wanted to create a “Big Brother-style site that would stream their lives. In effect it pioneered the practice of “lifecasting,” a practice of streaming your life 24/7 as the price of webcams and broadband plummeted.
Justin.tv in 2007
The initial response to Justin.tv would have been a mixed
reaction to people because people took a dislike to the reality show concept,
but they would have kept on asking how to create their own online video
streams.
The one problem that Kan would have experience with the
online video site was an early precursor of so-called “Swatting” attacks where
popular online video streamers would have their homes raided by the police
after an internet prankster pretend that a shooting or stabbing has taken
place. Kan would have also experienced one of the very first police raids in
2007 while broadcasting on Justin.tv.
Justin.tv would have eventually pivoted to allow users to
stream their own video online.
Back in 2005 when Justin.tv was started, the streaming of
video games was hard kan said due to it being technically complex for people to
create a streaming setup as they would need webcams, microphones and
specialised software and so one of the first hires Justin.tv made was a
specialist video game streamer who would have helped people to set up video
game streaming.
Since twitch would have started as an online platform for
videogame streaming the industry would have grown immensely in size. Games
would be now the number one category on YouTube, Kan says. More than 55 million
people watch video game streamers on Twitch every month.
The site would fall behind other sites such as Netflix,
Apple and Google when it would come to peak internet traffic in the U.S
according to The Wall Street Journal. It would account for 1.8% of peak
internet traffic, which would be just above Hulu at 1.7%.
The site was only recently introduce as Twitch on the 6th
June 2011 and would have moved away for the name and the concept of Justin.tv.
Charity
The broadcasters on twitch would often host streams that
would promote or raise money towards a charity. By 2013 the website would have
hosted events which in total would have raised over $8 million U.S dollars in
donations for charitable causes such as extra life 2013. As of 2017 the website
would have raised over $75 million U.S dollars in donations for charitable
causes.
Lag
Issues
In late 2013 with the increase of viewership and using the
legacy Adobe Flash plugin to present video to desktop users, twitch would have
had issues with lag and for the most in Europe. Twitch would have subsequently
added new server with the region. Also twitch would have addressed these
problems by implementing a new video system shown to be more efficient than the
last system. Initially the new video system would have been criticized by the
users because it would have caused a significant stream delay that would interfere
with the broadcaster-viewer interaction. Twitch staff would have said that the
increased delay was likely temporary and at the time an acceptable trade of for
the decreased buffering.
Banned
Content
Twitch users would be not allowed to stream any game that
would be rated “Adults Only” (AO) in the U.S by the Entertainment Software
Rating Board (ESRB) regardless of its rating in any other geographical region
and any game that would contain “overly sexual content” or “gratuitous
violence”. Twitch has also explicitly banned games from being streamed
regardless of the rating, this would include games such as BMX XXX, eroge
visual novel games (such as Dramatical Murder), HuniePop, Rinse and Repeat,
Second Life and Yandere Simulator. The banning of Yandere Simulator would have
been criticized by YandereDev, the developer of the game. He believed that the
game was being arbitrarily singled out with no explanation as twitch has not
banned any other games that has similarly excessive sexual or violent content
such as Mortal Kombat X, Grand Theft Auto or The Witcher 3. The Twitch users
would be not allowed to stream content that would possibly violate the terms of
use of third party services.
Conclusion
Twitch would be a website that is dedicated to for users to
stream their own content, specifically games to the site. The site would have
originally launched back in 2005 under the name Justin.tv, along with the
concept of being a reality show like streaming site but users quickly took a
dislike to that and they would have wanted to stream their own content to the
site and Kan would have noticed the rise in people streaming their gameplay to
other site such as YouTube, so he decided to focus Justin.tv on game steaming
and in 2011 the name was changed from Justin.tv
to the now commonly known Twitch and only recently being acquired by amazon in
August of 2014, the same month that Justin.tv was shut down, Justin.tv was
still operational up until August 2014, but it was not as popular as the new
updated site known as Twitch
Bibliography
Author: James Cook
Date: 20th October 2014, 2:14pm
Author: Unknown
Date: Unknown
If I'm honest I don't play many games, so the idea of watching other people play video games like Fortnite or Call of Duty doesn't make much sense. But from your Blogpost I can see how popular and profitable I can be. It seems like a very fun way to interact with people that share your interests when it comes to video games. It would also be a good platform for reviewing video games, by putting the experience in the community's hands. Really enjoyed it Mark well done.
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