Twitch For Dummies

Tee Morris, an early adopter of podcasting, is no stranger to building audiences and releasing original content online. Now he adds Twitch to his online arsenal of creativity, managing his own streaming channel featuring a variety of gaming, cooking, and talk shows. Tee is co-author of Podcasting For Dummies, 4th Edition, a contributor to Making YouTube Videos, 2nd Edition (Dummies Junior), and a writer of science fiction and fantasy, including the award-winning steampunk series The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences.

Foreword xi

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

How to Use This Book 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Your Game On 5

Chapter 1: Welcome to the World of Twitch 7

Creating a Twitch Account 8

Press X to begin: The basics 9

“New Twitch, who dis?”: Completing the Profile 11

All in the details: Channel and Videos settings 13

Controlling the signal: From privacy to connected third parties 16

Learning at the Feet of Masters: Following and Subscribing to Twitch Channels 17

Following on Twitch 18

Subscribing on Twitch 19

Other Twitch Resources 22

Chapter 2: Turning a Console into a Streamer’s Studio 25

What’s Your Preferred Platform? 26

PlayStation 27

Xbox 30

Nonessentials That Are Essential 33

Video cameras 33

Audio gear 34

Laptop computer or mobile device (on a stand) 35

Green screen 35

Virtual assistants 35

Chapter 3: Making First Impressions 39

Creating a Complete Twitch Channel 40

Creating an Info Panel 40

Deciding which Info Panels to create 42

Editing and deleting Info Panels 44

Streaming Off Your Console 47

Setting up your PlayStation for streaming 48

Setting up your Xbox for streaming 50

Chapter 4: And We’re Live! (Wait, We’re LIVE?!) 55

Streaming Your First Gameplay 56

OMG! I’m live! What do I do now?! 57

Wrapping up your stream 59

Post-Show Production: What to Do After a Stream 61

Take a bow: Social media shout-outs 61

YouTube: Your content, on demand 62

Creating a highlight 65

Chapter 5: Setting Schedules and Managing Social Media 69

Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel: Setting Your Schedule 70

From start to finish: A basic schedule 71

Your own pocket of time: The length of your stream 73

Consistency and Communication 75

Notifications on Twitch 76

Notifications on Social Media 78

Notifications on Discord 80

When Life Happens: Changes in the Schedule 84

Chapter 6: Improving Your Stream: Being Your Own Harshest Critic 87

G, PG, PG-13, or R: What’s the Rating? 88

Setting the Mature Content option 90

The parameters of adult content 91

Popularity Versus Pleasure: What Are You Streaming? 92

Streaming popular games 93

Streaming games you enjoy 94

Streaming retro games 96

Beyond Consoles: Streaming without Video Games 98

Part 2: Creating Your Broadcasting Studio 105

Chapter 7: Streaming without Constraints: Streaming from a PC 107

Looking under the Hood: What a PC Needs 108

The computer processor 108

Cooling systems 109

Random access memory 111

Graphics card 111

Capture card 111

Power supply 112

Setting Up Your Console 112

Making Creativity and Interactivity Happen with StreamElements and OBS 114

Downloading a template from Nerd or Die 115

Setting up OBS with StreamElements 117

Incorporating your template 118

Customizing your template 120

Adding a camera to your template 122

Adding a console to your template 124

Setting Up Audio: Easier Said than Done 125

Setting up your audio in OBS 126

Using Discord as your Party Chat solution 128

Chapter 8: Bells & Whistles: Nifty Add-Ons for Your Twitch Stream 131

Stand By for Stream: Introduction and Intermission B-roll 132

Second-in-Command: Channel Moderators 135

StreamElements: Your Friendly Neighborhood Virtual Assistant 137

Say it again and again: Using custom commands 138

Locking it down: Spam protection 139

Complete Control: The Elgato Stream Deck 142

Chapter 9: All the World’s Your Stage 147

Quiet on the Set: A Critical Look at Your Twitch Studio 148

Couchcasting 148

Streaming from the office studio 149

Streaming from the set 150

Twitch on the Go: Streaming from a Mobile Phone 152

Setting up your mobile stream with Streamlabs 155

Customizing your mobile stream on Streamlabs 157

Live from the Metaverse: Streaming in Virtual Reality 160

Setting up your PC for VR streaming 161

Launching a VR stream 163

Part 3: Levelling Up With Twitch 169

Chapter 10: Let’s GOOOOO, Chat: Welcome to the Show! 171

Announcing Who, What, Where: Your Show Intro 172

Gittin’ Gud at Multitasking: Responding to Chat 173

Checking in with Chat in real time 174

Checking in with Chat at specific points 175

Creating Content for Two (or More): Hosting Interviews 176

Extending interview requests 177

Asking really great questions 178

Avoiding really bad questions 180

Taking a Bow: Ending Your Stream 182

Chapter 11: In between the Streams 185

Meanwhile, at Penguin’s Secret Lair: Your Channel between Streams 186

Why host other streamers? 187

Selecting other streamers 189

Twitch on Demand: Past Broadcasts 192

Past broadcasts on Twitch 193

Past broadcasts on YouTube 194

Highlight Reels, Revisited 195

Creating highlight reels with iMovie 196

Leveling up: video editing with HitFilm Express 200

Chapter 12: From Hobby to Side Hustle to Full-Time Job? 207

Semi-Pro: The Affiliate Streamer 209

Expressing yourself: Emotes 210

Patrons of the Arts: Subscribers 215

Expressing your loyalty: Subscriber badges 216

A penny for your thoughts: Bits 217

Skipping the intermediary: the Tip 218

Achievement Unlocked: Partnership 219

Why become a Twitch Partner? 220

The checklist for a Twitch Partner 221

Show Me the Money: Revenue Opportunities 222

This Twitch stream is sponsored by 222

Affiliate programs: Working together 223

So, Chat, let me tell you about this amazing product from 223

Show me your swag! 224

Don’t Quit Your Day Job Just Yet 224

Part 4: Beyond the Console 227

Chapter 13: Building Your Twitch Community 229

Check Me Out Now: Publicizing Your Stream 230

Twitter 230

TikTok 231

Instagram 234

Hover 236

YouTube 239

Creating a social media strategy 241

Who Is “The Fam” and Why Do They Matter? 241

Oh hai, Mark: Talking to Chat 242

The Fam includes other streamers too 243

The Community Board: Discord 244

Setting up channels 244

Share with the class: Talking to your Chat 246

Family Matters: The Unseen Community Members 247

The significant other 248

When your kids want to stream 249

Chapter 14: Twitch Etiquette 251

Don’t Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out: Bad Behavior on Twitch 252

Yo, check out my stream 252

Hey, Streamer! Hey! Listen! Pay attention to ME! 253

Well, I support this stream, so you owe me 254

They See Me Trollin’ and Hatin’ 255

You just earned a timeout, kiddo: Muting trolls in stream 256

Hate raids 259

Not-So-Merry Melodies: Twitch, the RIAA, and the DMCA 262

What the DMCA is 263

When the DMCA leveled up 264

The simple (but complicated) relationship between the RIAA and Twitch 264

Where to find stream-safe music 265

Positive Impressions: Putting your best foot forward on Twitch 266

Chapter 15: Game Over: Twitch Outside of Gaming 269

Game On: The Rise of Esports 269

NASA TV: Going Live in the Sky 272

The Food of Love on Twitch: Music 273

Harping on a passion: Meadow Fox 273

Sing a song: Ashley Abbink and Camila Knight 274

The Sounds of Serenity: ASMR 276

Phasmo for Real: Old Spirits Investigations Live 277

Gaming for Good: Charity Streaming 279

Remembering rule 1: Charity streaming is not about you! 279

Setting up a Tiltify profile 280

Doing a little prep before you get started 284

Part 5: The Part of Tens 287

Chapter 16: Ten (or More) Life Lessons from Twitch 289

Twitch Enabled Me to Take Center Stage 290

Twitch Opened the World to Me 290

Twitch Helped Me Realize I Am Not Alone 290

Success Is Waiting for You If You’re Willing to Work for It 291

Twitch Encourages Me to Look for Improvement 291

You Always Have Someone Watching Your Back 291

Twitch Can Surprise You in the Best of Ways 292

One Life Lesson from Twitch 292

It’s a Glimpse of How Good We Can Be 293

Twitch Took My Education and Leveled It Up 293

Twitch Restored My Faith in People 293

To Thine Own Self Be True 294

Twitch Doesn’t Believe in a Comfort Zone, and That’s a Good Thing 294

Twitch Opened Doors I Didn’t Know Existed 294

There Are a Lot of Good People in the World — Connect with Them 295

Twitch Taught Me the Power of Community 295

If You Have Something to Share, You Have to Make It Happen 296

Twitch Proves the Power of Paying It Forward 296

Chapter 17: Ten Final Thoughts from a TeeMonster on Twitch 297

Five Lessons from Five Years 297

Grow at your own pace 298

Don’t let life pass you by 298

Stream fearlessly 299

Make yourself your stream’s top priority 300

Stream because you love it 300

Five Goals for the Streams to Come 301

Don’t define yourself by analytics 301

A good mantra to focus on: My stream is a fun place to be 302

Remember, there’s no silver bullet to success 303

To thine own self be true 304

Partnership is not the endgame 304

Index 307