“Just Chatting” is the most successful category on the streaming platform Twitch, but the community is less enthusiastic about it. In a livestream, a Twitch employee was confronted with criticism that Twitch was allegedly no longer a gaming site and responded.
What is “Just Chatting”? With over 55 million hours of watchtime, the “Just Chatting” category is the most popular on Twitch (via streamcharts). In these streams, no video games are played; instead, the streamers just chat with their audience.
Streamers can engage in different activities alongside, but this is not always the case. Especially during the Corona pandemic, “Just Chatting” was a very popular category.
Categories like “Just Chatting” invite what are called IRL streams. In these, people stream their travels or attendance at certain real-life events. The community can thus partake in the experiences of the streamers.
There are many different streamers on Twitch. In our video, we introduce you to three German female streamers:
Community dissatisfied with the development of Twitch
What is the community dissatisfied with? Twitch originated in the gaming scene. It was a platform for streaming video game play. Twitch is increasingly moving away from this origin and is targeting a broader audience with its content.
Some long-time viewers who watch Twitch solely for gaming content are upset about this. The “Just Chatting” category can also contain content that is not suitable for younger viewers.
This includes the so-called “Hot Tub” streams, where streamers sit in a pool wearing little clothing. This is a loophole in Twitch’s guidelines that state that streamers can wear little as long as it relates to pool content. By now, “Hot Tub” streams even have their own category on Twitch.
“Why is Twitch no longer a gaming site?”
What did the Twitch employee say? In a Twitch stream, the head of the community department, merrykish, and a senior producer from Twitch answered viewer questions. The stream was held due to the latest patch notes.
One viewer’s question was: “Why is Twitch no longer a gaming site?” Merrykish replied that Twitch is still a gaming site but that “Just Chatting” has joined in and become the largest category over the past three years.
The community would, according to Kish, show what they like to watch on Twitch and that they also want to see things outside of video games.
However, gaming will always remain the “livelihood” of the streaming platform. “Just Chatting” will be supported just as much as the video game content on the site.
You can watch the excerpt of the stream here:
How did the community react to the statement? Reactions are mixed. Some agree with her, while others continue to criticize the rise of the “Just Chatting” category due to its dangers for younger viewers.
Twitch is continually criticized as a platform, particularly by its own community. Through updates and new guidelines, they often tread on users’ toes. This was also the case for the VTuber community when they established new rules regarding their utilized characters: A community feels specifically targeted by Twitch’s new rules
