The VGS Stream Team

[Gloves | 11,776]

This is something I've mulled around in my head for a bit and I'm curious the level of interest for something like this.

Basically the thought in my head is roughly as follows:

• Build a small team of VGS members who stream their gameplay sessions on Twitch (or other)
  • Not limited to staff, but vetted by them
  • In other words, you can sign up for the team and we'd check out your content a bit, make sure it's appropriate (e.g. not just a hangout and chat session, we'd want you playing games), and then get you on as a content creator on the team
• Feature their streams on the site
  • Maybe including some sort of live feed page which shows off who's currently online playing games

I have two main questions for you all:

1. Would you be interested in watching the gaming streams of such a group of individuals?
2. Would you be interested in being part of such a "team" and "repping" VGS in a way?

 

Whether this becomes a thing is entirely in the air, I'm mostly just thinking out loud at the moment, and if it does happen the structure may well change. But it's something that if I just leave it in my head it has no chance at all so here it is. Let us know your thoughts!

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

I like the sound of that actually, that sounds like it'd be a good time. And I wouldn't mind being a part of that team of streamers either, depending on the level of consistency that'd be required to qualify for it. I personally like the idea of this.

[cj_robot | 540]

I would actually love to contribute as a streamer, but there's no way I have the free time right now to commit to that, sadly. I would probably watch, though.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I'm personally not able to play, but I'd be interested in watching.

[ifightdragons | 234]

Both yes and yes! Me and the wife are between houses atm so I would need to wait until our new dig is up and running. But that would be really fun.

[Deadeye | 1,596]

I put yes for both, but right now I lack a computer capable of live streaming and also the time to do so

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

I’d probably watch sporadically. 

[SilverspoonGaming | 332]

I am very interested!

[Matchbook | 194]

I would love to watch members stream games.  I love learning from others how to approach games and just see everyone's take on how to solve problems within games and figure different situations out.  People get so creative sometimes!

[GPX | 1,369]

@Gloves, the first option is going to be misleading. I’d imagine as members on VGS, most (if not all) would have some kind of interest in seeing other members doing stuff online. The big question should be “what is the level of interest?” Perhaps redo a poll of say, 1-10, to gauge the extent of interest?

On a side note, I previously misread the title and thought “Xtreme team”. Might be a cool concept as well, seeing members here doing some crazy parkour attempts or gravity defying stunts (success or otherwise). Or perhaps go on a 24 hour gaming marathon or some some other crazy ass acts!

 

 

 

 

 

[Mega Tank | 960]

Things may get tricky when you consider people donate and get a following, so just keep that in mind.

I stream every so often when I play on the XB1, but that is about the limits of my video game stream capabilities.

[NESfiend | 1,515]

I said yes/no but could be convinced to go yes/yes depending on the parameters. I initially thought I wouldnt have time to stream, but thats assuming I was being told what and when to stream. 

Playing stuff for NES completions thread, Ive thought a handful of times its really stupid I dont record these. Id be willing to start recording full game playthroughs for all the games I complete for any completion thread. What I am imagining is a database of full game playthroughs. It would be cool to be able to acccess 3+ members beating the same game when you are having trouble or as an intro before taking on something new.

There are 3 members I know of that have recorded lots of completion videos. If they wanted to share, thats a lot of content that could be loaded up right away. 

Id also record runs for weekly competition threads if we did that on a voluntary basis and stuck them somewhere. 

Edit: Im sure many will think why would we need that when there are playthroughs on youtube. For NES games, if you arent playing something popular, there is usually one option, maybe 2, and they may or may not be tool assisted. And I've come across plenty of spots where I think I've found a better way to get passed a difficult part than the way its done on video. We are beating all these gamed legit and it would be fun to see people we know doing it and doing it differently (i.e. using different team configurations in an RPG). We are all doing it anyway so why not have a collection, centralized here, instead of everyone using the same old youtube run. 

Second edit: I know thats not at all what @Gloves was contemplating, but seemed like a good thread to throw it out there. If there's a better place for this post, feel free to move it wherever 

Edited June 7, 2020 by NESfiend

[mbd39 | 2,020]

I love watching streams. I spend a lot of time on Twitch.

Sadly i can't participate because I don't have fast enough internet.

 

[SilverspoonGaming | 332]

Any new news on this topic?

[Gloves | 11,776]

Nothing just yet.

I could... probably make something happen.

Still kinda mulling it over to be honest. There's a few things going on right now. Do keep checking in though!

[Austin | 4]

I like the idea of live feed functionality on this site. For instance, if there's a bar somewhere showing who's currently live (for those users that have, say, a Twitch account linked to their profile).

As far as a stream team, how would you go about handling it?  Some channels have multiple members that stream to that same channel. Maybe on a schedule. The stream key is shared between members. You would want to make sure the key is only shared with members you trust.

Or, you can start an actual Team page on Twitch, link streamers to that page, and when they stream they will appear on that page. You can just permanently link to that Team page somewhere on this site. Example: https://www.twitch.tv/team/twitcharcade

Something else regarding sharing streams, is maybe starting a stream thread here where people can share when they go live (instead of having a thousand different threads spamming the forum). This seems standard for a few forums I am on.

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by Austin

[Gloves | 11,776]

9 minutes ago, Austin said:

I like the idea of live feed functionality on this site. For instance, if there's a bar somewhere showing who's currently live (for those users that have, say, a Twitch account linked to their profile).

As far as a stream team, how would you go about handling it?  Some channels have multiple members that stream to that same channel. Maybe on a schedule. The stream key is shared between members. You would want to make sure the key is only shared with members you trust.

Or, you can start an actual Team page on Twitch, link streamers to that page, and when they stream they will appear on that page. You can just permanently link to that Team page somewhere on this site. Example: https://www.twitch.tv/team/twitcharcade

Something else regarding sharing streams, is maybe starting a stream thread here where people can share when they go live (instead of having a thousand different threads spamming the forum). This seems standard for a few forums I am on.

 

I'm open to ideas that make this more streamlined. To be honest the simplest form of it in my mind is just a page with livestreams going, maybe a little announcement box that says "X is currently live on Twitch!" or something. If there's some way to make us all a proper "team" on Twitch that'd be cool, and really make organizing it easier.

[noiseredux | 232]

I like the idea of it being some kind of single stream, as if I were tuning in to a "channel." Prior to 2019, I didn't really watch any game streams. But when our daughter was born last year, I'd find I had downtime where I'd be holding a sleeping baby, and at the same time discovered that Pluto TV had an IGN channel. Because there was just this one channel I had easy access to with a live stream going, I'd watch that - whatever it was. So I went from never watching live streams, to suddenly watching whatever - Minecraft or Kingdom Hearts or things i woulnd't normally watch - simply because that's what was on and I didn't have to spend any time "browsing."

I'd also be okay with people streaming ABOUT games. Like, if I tuned into a VGS stream and it was a tour of a game room, or a game review, or just something about games, like a video podcast or whatever, but not a game stream proper, I'd still find it interesting.

I don't know if this feedback helps in any way, but food for thought?

[Austin | 4]

Scratch creating an official Team page on Twitch. Apparently only Partnered (not Affiliate) accounts can create one. Unless someone here is a Twitch partner? 

https://help.twitch.tv/s/article/twitch-teams?language=en_US

[MeganJoanne | 365]

Well, if not that how about just impliment something on the site that will bring you to a list that will link to various vgs people's twitch channels. See image(s) below as example (Live Streaming link at top with other links). Then people here with a twitch can request to be added to it, or maybe are added automatically if they set that in their profile (can that be done easily?). I don't do the twitch thing myself, it doesn't like me most of the time, takes too much power that my computer can't handle or maybe my internet speed sucks or something. But in seeing this and there being possibilities here, thought I'd add my idea, maybe it can work? Maybe not? Figure I'd share regardless.

 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

On 6/24/2020 at 11:13 AM, Gloves said:

I'm open to ideas that make this more streamlined. To be honest the simplest form of it in my mind is just a page with livestreams going, maybe a little announcement box that says "X is currently live on Twitch!" or something. If there's some way to make us all a proper "team" on Twitch that'd be cool, and really make organizing it easier.

I think a "Streaming Now" area of the site with a popup would be succinct and adequate for a rag tag group of gamers such as ourselves. I'd love to contribute some day if I can.

[nesmaster14 | 433]

That'd be cool, a directory page and maybe a small note/icon near normal username basically saying user is live streaming, with link to stream. Not sure how that would integrate exactly but I'd imagine Twitch has an API. Or could be as simple as the user manually toggling their "live" status icon/note, which is a link to their twitch stream.

I'm a pretty casual gamer but I'd stream some old games, weekly contest attempts, and check out other users streams as well.  

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

I like the idea of VGS having a Streaming account (Twitch/YouTube) that has a Stream Team that would stream.  I don't think it should be scheduled unless that person wanted to do a schedule stream.  I think the format should be open ended on what they want to stream so long as it's suitable content for VGS, ie no "Just Chatting" stream about politics.  I don't think it matters how often VGS's account streams but I do think the "quality" of the stream should matter (YouTube streams can be saved forever and Twitch streams can always be downloaded and uploaded to YouTube for long term re-playability and should happen).  By that I mean it should be a stream that can be engaging.  So either the streamer is doing commentary while playing or has a co-host who can help make the stream enjoyable for those watching.  It can be hard to solo commentary if chat is dead.  Having someone on Discord chatting with you while playing a game as if they are there next to you watching you play sounds like a fun time.  And having fun should be the number one goal.  

All donations/tips/subscription to the VGS stream channel would 100% go towards VGS general funds to be used as any other VGS donation from the website with exception of charity streams that may happen.  I do think the VGS stream should let people know who the current streamer is and what their other streaming accounts are for people to seek them out if they want to.  I.E. self-promotion is acceptable but what isn't acceptable is telling people to subscribe or tipping to your other account (Twitch Following/YouTube Subscribing OK since no money is involved in those actions).  Streaming on VGS channel is basically volunteer work/fundraising for VGS/VGS Community or the charity if its a charity event going on.

I think the Stream Team should use similar OBS Scenes.  Like any streamer there will be multiple scenes to chose from to fit the needs of the stream but they will need to be a uniform theme/look.  This shouldn't be hard to do and VGS is full of talent people who can help make some good looking OBS Scenes.  With that in mind we should have some low PC powered scenes (static) to let more people be able to stream.  We should set a minimum stream requirements for streaming your game so there isn't massive lag issues and this would also help people see if they can stream on their computers.  I image certain games can get away with VERY low FPS/Resolution for 8/16 bit games but faster passed games on modernish consoles would need higher FPS/resolution to not look like garbage.  So Steam Team could have a sub-tier of vetting saying that, "Hey you can be part of the Stream Team but you are limited to these types of games with these OBS stream settings.  If you upgrade your setup we can re-evaluate what you can be approved to stream"

@GlovesI can already hear you saying this is way to involved.  But legit there needs to be some oversite/help to make sure things are good and "VGS brand" doesn't get dragged through the mud.  With more oversite means easier for people to be part of the "Steam Team" because it'll be easy to check boxes and know a person can put on a good stream and not have technical difficulties.  Also the Stream Team could always have Co-Host positions that are very low (none?) in PC requirements since they won't be streaming but just Discord Chatting and moderating/over seeing the chat.  Biggest issue would making sure they know TOS rules so none are accidently broken.  Biggest TOS issue would be playing copyright music.  I honestly don't know everything on this but know that steaming a modern game with built in game play music CAN flag streams on some platforms.  Stream Team would need to research the games to be played to see if there are any known issues/concerns.  And Stream Team would have a list of safe music to play if the streamer wanted to throw in some background music to their stream.

VGS website streaming people's active streams....

I think this is a cool idea with little consequences.  Again the steam should be of content suitable for VGS as mentioned above.  VGS would have less control over system requirements/etc.  Really the only thing you'd need to worry about is the stream is of acceptable content.  This may not be an issue at all but would be one is who get's preference on being shown when there are multiple streams.  Assuming you want something to be shown when initially seeing the website for list of streamers.   I'd think it would be cool to watch a stream while browsing the forums.  Maybe the "pre-vetted" streamers get that ability/perk.  Any other user can be listed with what game they are streaming listed next to their name ideally (maybe view count?).  And if you click that streamer's name it dumps you to the streaming site so it's removed from VGS and not "associated" with VGS.  Of course if there IS a VGS Stream Team like what I initially discussed above then we should have a "live" feature on the top header to let people know "VGS is streaming".  

At a minimum I think VGS should have a YouTube account for user's to share recorded stuff they did.  I'd be easy to review and makes sure there are no issues.  Can even categorize what the video is; NES Weekly Challenge, Walkthrough, Tips/Tricks, General Gameplay/Stream, Misc.  Again there should be some limits on what you can do/say in the video.  But with every post would include in the video description of where to find more content from that VGS content contributor.  So there is some incentive for people to allow VGS to post their content.  ANY MONEY MADE FROM VGS YOUTUBE ACCOUNT GOES TO VGS!  Again stuff given to VGS to upload to their account is considered volunteer work/fund raising.  I'd be stupid cool if VGS channel actually made it to be monetization and becomes a source of funds to help VGS be the best VGS Community it can be.  

As you can see I have a passion on this subject(s).  If you'd like I can really go into the weeds on any of these ideas.  I'd legit do a presentation on this shit because I'm actually looking to practice "public speaking/presenting" for my actual career and why I got involved in streaming recently.  At my job I don't get too many opportunities to practice public speaking/presentation so I've decided to make my own outside of work and have it overlap with other hobbies/interest.  I'm legit looking to work the following skills: "streaming" (seriously, I think this will be important skill/knowledgebase down the road for my career/job), public speaking, writing, video editing (Da Vinci/Blender), WordPress, python, animation (Blender).  

[Mega Tank | 960]

33 minutes ago, FireHazard51 said:

I think the Stream Team should use similar OBS Scenes.  Like any streamer there will be multiple scenes to chose from to fit the needs of the stream but they will need to be a uniform theme/look. 

I've seen people stream representing the same Group, say 123 Games as a random name and they have the same logo in a corner with different colors, text styles, animations etc and it's just not an organized look. I believe the logo, animations, cut scenes etc should be the same layout throughout to maintain a more professional look. Basically everyone wearing the same uniform.

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

55 minutes ago, Mega Tank said:

I've seen people stream representing the same Group, say 123 Games as a random name and they have the same logo in a corner with different colors, text styles, animations etc and it's just not an organized look. I believe the logo, animations, cut scenes etc should be the same layout throughout to maintain a more professional look. Basically everyone wearing the same uniform.

Branding is all about consistent color/fonts and so much more than a logo.  To me this means it'd be easy to get OBS Scenes made since the VGS website pretty much got most of this stuff figured out already.  Basically I see two main OBS Scenses, 4x3 games and 16x9 games.  Then you'd have variations to allow one with or without a camera of the streamer.  But alerts and stuff would be the same for all.  I don't think it needs too be too fancy but if VGS Community have the talent to volunteer and make cool transitions and stuff that'd be cool.  I'd like to keep things kinda simple so it's more open for more people to be able to be part of the Stream Team which means static scenes.  

Again I'm just dipping my toe into this whole topic/industry so I know some basic stuff and soaking up a lot of information as I go.  Not trying to make a "stream career" with the VGS Stream Team.  We are just trying to be a good outward representation of the VGS Community and sure as hell not try to embarrass the community with something completely half assed and cringe to watch.  I think that bar is something that wouldn't be hard to hit.  Especially with a Co-Host to keep things fun and engaging.  If there is something I wouldn't want to happen would be a dead stream with no conversations going on screen or within the chat.  But this community is supportive and I don't doubt it will be hard to make it a worth while project.  I think the key thing is there is no pressure to stream.  Do it when you want and with content you want to make/show.

Course I think there should be some "dry runs" to make sure this is a pretty polished idea.  Start small and let it grown in it's on time/pace.  If there is people who stream well on their own then this will be a super simple thing to do.  I'm thinking of how do we make a Stream Team with people that have little or no experience streaming yet are interested in do it.  Playing games we all know how to do that.  Setting up the software and explain a few things to run it and you can go live pretty quick.  It's avoiding a "dead stream" that is the hard part in my mind and I think we can collectively make that an easy thing with good Co-Host or community members engaging in the chat.

Edited July 8, 2022 by FireHazard51