Fame! I wanna stream forever! Analysis and Critique of Successful Streamers' Advice to the Next Generation

Abstract

This paper examines the practice of large-scale and successful streamers in creating ‘how-to’ videos with advice for smaller streamers and content creators. The goal of this study was to investigate how successful streamers encourage newcomers and/or smaller streamers to “grow” on Twitch, examining such factors as the advice they offer, the evidence that such advice works, and their reasons for sharing such information. More critically, how do their materials invoke rhetorics of meritocracy, and how does the creation of such videos further entrench those creators as successful, able to deploy “streaming capital” to buttress their claims? While the initial focus was on Twitch, this research led to a wider ranging exploration as the advice of successful streamers was to employ other platforms in combination, as the field of live streaming has extended far beyond Twitch itself.