Human interactions in online Gaming Live streaming

Abstract

Video game streaming has emerged as a widespread phenomenon on platforms like Twitch and YouTube, attracting millions of viewers. Entertainment stands out as a primary motivation, with viewers enjoying skilled gameplay and the charismatic personalities of streamers. Social interaction is another key factor, as real-time chat allows viewers to engage with both the streamer and fellow audience members. Learning from skilled players is also a motivation for some viewers. Affective motivations, driven by the range of emotions experienced during streams, significantly influence viewer engagement. Factors such as the streamer's personality, stream quality, and the popularity of the game being played further shape participation. Five types of viewers, including System Alterers, Financial Sponsors, Content Observers, Streamer-focused Observers, and Social Players, each reflecting different levels and types of engagement contribute to the live streaming experience. While video game streaming offers positive experiences, concerns about addiction, particularly among vulnerable groups like children, and the risk of social isolation require attention. Ongoing research seeks to unravel the complexities of this dynamic social space, aiming to understand motivations, dynamics, and challenges, with the ultimate goal of fostering positive and inclusive experiences for all users.

Human interactions in online Gaming Live streaming

This literature review explores the reasons behind the rising trend of online video game streaming, seeking to unravel the intricacies of viewer engagement. The study concentrates on both gratifications and affective motivations, highlighting statistically significant connections influencing viewership. It examines five gratification classes, including social interaction and learning, and identifies positive relationships between affective motivations and metrics such as hours watched and followed streamers.

The Stimuli-Organism-Response(SOR) framework serves as a tool for understanding how environmental stimuli, cognitive processes, and viewer behaviors interact. The research highlights the importance of broadcaster appeal, medium appeal, and perceived co-viewer involvement in shaping interactions within Virtual Gaming Spaces. Insights from studies on viewer types and discussions about mental health during game streams and addressing potential issues, the study emphasizes the need to recognize both positive and negative consequences.

Literature Review

1. Motivations for watching online gaming streams. The rise of online video game streaming has prompted an exploration of the motivations behind individuals to engage with this form of social media interaction. By shedding light on the underlying motivations for viewers, this study enriches our understanding of video game streaming and provides practical insights for industry practitioners.

1.1. Gratification, motivations, and the statistically significant associations.

Five classes of gratification

Video game streaming is an intriguing yet relatively unexplored medium, offering a unique perspective for investigation, especially from a user-generated content standpoint. Understanding why people find enjoyment in watching others play video games, as opposed to playing themselves, remains a compelling research subject. While it's perceived that watching lacks the agency of playing, it offers social gratifications often absent in solitary gaming. Previous research on video game streaming has emphasized social interaction, learning, and entertainment(Sjöblom & Hamari, J. 2017). While eSports research has underscored knowledge acquisition, escapism, emotional connections, and competitiveness. However, there's a dearth of3 research quantifying the relationships between spectator gratifications and streaming service usage, making it a crucial area for exploration. Sjöblom & Hamari (2017) study employs user gratification(UG) as a theoretical guideline to understanding and modeling the relationships between gratifications and media consumption.(pp.987)

Table 1

Table showing the UD need types(West & Turner, 2010, p.398 as cited in Sjöblom & Hamari 2017)

Affective motivations and the statistically significant associations

David Krathwohl refers to Affective motivation to the emotional factors that influence an individual’s motivation to perform certain actions. It involves the learner’s active attention to stimuli and their motivation to learn. This can include feelings of satisfaction, willingness to respond, and acquiescence.

A total of 5 hypotheses were tested during a study by Sjöblom & Hamari(2017) for affective motivations, three hypotheses were supported, with positive relationships seen between the motivation and hours watched (H1a b 1⁄4 0.144**), streamers watched (H1b b 1⁄4 0.134**) and streamers followed (H1c b 1⁄4 0.152***) (Results *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001).

1.2. Factors influencing the VGS viewers.

Sjoblom & Hamari(2017 as cited in Xu et al. 2021) in their study highlight, Video game streaming (VGS) is a new social phenomenon that has attracted hundreds of millions of viewers to spend their time watching broadcasters playing video games and socializing with each other on the platforms(pp.1). Twitch(2019 as cited in Xu et al. 2021), the world’s leading VGS platform, has more than 3 million broadcasters streaming each month in 2019 with the number of daily viewers being more than 15 million and, more interestingly, the average viewership at any given moment being more than 1.3 million.(pp.1)

The Stimuli-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework by Mehrabian and Russell explores the interplay of stimuli, organism (individual's cognitive and emotional processes), and response in shaping behaviors. Applied in various studies, it proved valuable in understanding online user behaviors, including website experience and online consumer behavior. In the context of VGS, the framework is utilized to analyze how environmental stimuli influence cognitive and emotional aspects, impacting viewers' participation behaviors.

Theoretical exploration

The findings from Xu et al.(2021)’s research on the viewer participation in VGS viewers confirm the importance of three identified stimuli: broadcaster appeal, medium appeal, and perceived co-viewer involvement. These factors influence both arousal and cognitive involvement, aligning with previous studies. Notably, broadcaster appeal strongly influences the emotional and cognitive states of VGS viewers, akin to a "celebrity-fan relationship." The significant impact of perceived co-viewer involvement underscores the importance of fellow viewers, reminiscent of the referee group in decision-making processes according to prior research. (pp. 3-5) The study's outcomes reveal intriguing insights, highlighting an insignificant link between cognitive involvement and participation, while indicating a robust correlation between arousal and participation in VGS. Essentially, emotional states emerge as the primary influencer of VGS viewers' behavioral responses, overshadowing the comparatively negligible impact of cognitive states. This suggests that, in the realm of VGS, emotional states hold greater significance for viewers than cognitive states, aligning with prior research on the influential role of arousal.

2. Viewer types

P Schuck et al. (2022) discusses the importance of classification of user types in his study “Viewer types in game live streams”. Understanding user interactions with games and gameful systems is crucial for enhancing user experiences. Efforts to categorize users based on motivations or behaviors have been extensive. Bartle's early classification in Multi-User Dungeons (MUD) categorized players into Achievers, Explorers, Killers, and Socializers based on action vs. interaction and player vs. world orientation. However, criticisms include limited generalizability to diverse game contexts beyond MUD, emphasizing the need for more adaptable classifications. (P Schuck et al. 2022)

Five different viewer types

Using a 25-item questionnaire, P Schuck et al. (2022) identified five viewer classes: the System Alterer, who prefers influencing both the stream and the game; the Financial Sponsor, willing to financially support the streamer; the Content Observer, seeking uninterrupted stream consumption; the Streamer-focused Observer, highly interested in the streamers themselves; and the Social Player, focusing on playful interactions with the streamer, incorporating methods like gamification.(pp. 433-434)

3. Communities and Mental health discussions

Charles Butler in his study “The Effect of Leaderboard Ranking on Players Perception of Gaming Fun” highlights that the player reactions to winning, losing, or a lack of competition vary, with winning polarizing perceptions of fun and losing centralizing them. Players facing competition replay the game more frequently, especially those experiencing losses. Surprisingly, fun ratings don't always align with replay likelihood. Measuring behavior is more reliable than responses. Games deemed too easy, or shallow can receive lower fun ratings, and higher scores don't always mean more fun. Player opinions on a game's difficulty can be resistant to change. (Ozok, A. A., & Zaphiris, P . 2013 p.134)

Mental Health Discussions During Game Streams

R Gandhi et al. (2021) through their study on Mental health discussions in live streaming gaming communities identified three main scenarios in which the discussions occur first is “Streamer Initiated”, the second “Chat-Initiated” and the third “Donations/Subscriptions Prompting the Conversation”. (pp 4-6)

The study further investigated and identified four types of viewer reactions and emotional response, offering support, respecting the streamer, and spreading awareness. Viewers on Twitch have varied opinions on whether the platform is suitable for serious discussions. While previous studies emphasize entertainment and gaming knowledge as key motivations, serious topics are often relegated to off-stream platforms like Discord or Twitter. The live, unedited nature of Twitch makes streamers cautious, and participants find it challenging to discern the intent behind messages during mental health discussions. The question of authenticity in viewer’s responses is crucial. Some streamers actively spread mental health awareness, prompting more careful and understanding viewer responses. This suggests potential for reducing stigma through targeted interventions and leveraging micro-celebrities within niche communities for impactful behavioral change. (R Gandhi et al. 2021)

4. Potential Problematic Uses

The Uses and Gratifications theory serves as a foundational framework in video game live streaming research, explaining media consumption behavior by assessing motivations and rewards. Users are driven by gratifications sought and obtained, influencing platform choice, frequency, and intensity of use. Studies on live streaming, especially in esports and Twitch, reveal motivations such as knowledge acquisition, entertainment, sociability, and community.

The study by Cabeza-Ramirez et al.(2022) expands on information motivation, distinguishing between instrumental utility and benefits gained, aligning with the theoretical framework's principles. This study contributes novel insights to the video game debate by highlighting the positive impact of user perceptions, particularly in the context of esports and live streaming. It emphasizes the need to consider potential adverse consequences, especially6 for vulnerable groups like young people, who may intensify gaming and viewing in response to positive expectations. The research underscores the importance of recognizing both gaming and viewing as complementary activities rather than mutually exclusive. While the study indicates that the intensity of gaming or viewing alone may not be problematic, adverse effects may emerge when expectations related to competencies, relationships, and professionalization are not met.

5. Future Work

The studies discuss the need for a larger investigation into the human interactions across various gaming genres to identify patterns. limitations, including a sample bias of predominantly Caucasian, English-speaking participants, prompt for further inclusive investigations. Future research suggestions include exploring the benefits gamers derive from live streams and investigating streamer’s perspectives.

6. Conclusion

Research on human interaction in online gaming live streaming delves into the intricacies of individual and community-level engagement from both streamers and viewers perspectives. The analysis of motivations for watching online gaming streams unveils a nuanced interplay of gratifications and affective motivations. The S-O-R framework explains the stimuli shaping cognitive and emotional aspects in Virtual Gaming Spaces (VGS), highlighting the importance of broadcaster appeal and perceived co-viewer involvement. Viewer categorization studies highlight a diverse array of user types, ranging from stream influencers to financial supporters and playful social participants. Mental health discussions during game streams manifest in various scenarios, with viewer responses spanning from providing support to raising awareness. This comprehension offers valuable insights for industry practitioners, emphasizing the necessity for nuanced approaches in researching and engaging with online gaming live streaming communities.

References

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