As communication technology continues improving, so does the means and varieties of the media that inhabit various mediums. A recent addition to the entertainment scene has grown in popularity exponentially, and that addition is live streaming.
Live streams vary in methods and content, but generally have a central hub from which people can go live and play video games in front of an audience, draw art or comics, host talk shows or other such things. Generally there is a central service or platform that provides streamers with a base of operation; when I was younger it was Justin TV (JTV for short), and today it’s Twitch.TV.
Every streamer has a channel from which they can go live and do whatever it is they do, so long as it doesn’t violate the terms of service. Some play games in front of their audiences and communicate to them via a chat box, others host live events like E-sports tournaments. One channel in particular streams re-runs of Bob Ross’ “The Joy of Painting.”
Each streamer is their own person; funny, entertaining and often times they’re amazing people as well. They do their best to interact with their audiences through various means. Some, as said, speak to the chat, while others have notifications pop up when someone subscribes to a channel or follows them, and they welcome the viewer into their community. And that’s the reason why most watch live-streams, at least in my honest opinion. It's like watching live television, but better in every way. It sure beats reality TV if you ask me.
But streaming doesn't stop at video games. Quite recently, Twitch released 'creative' support, which allows streamers to better stream the creation of digital art, the mixing of music and other forms of entertainment. The release of this support was hallmarked by a week long marathon of the full series Bob Ross' "The Joy of Painting," which is still streamed to this day. Twitch is also the birthplace of the sensation that swept the internet, a meme that was known simply as "Twitch plays Pokemon," where a single game of Pokemon Red was controlled by the chat through the usage of commands. Many works of fan art and music were born of this phenomena.
The reason why I watch, however, is a series of shows called "RollPlay." It originated when five friends wanted to get together and play a Game of Dungeons and Dragons, and they did so, streaming the games live over twitch. Eventually it grew from one game into many, and now after three years it has gained a sizable fan-base and number of people who actually play in the games. If there's anything you should check out after reading this article, I recommend this series of shows.
In the end, I find that live streaming is an ever growing phenomena, with over 12 billion unique viewers as of December of 2014. One can only anticipate further growth within the burgeoning online community, and it will perhaps become far more accepted in the modern day.
