Streaming is an incredible aspect of the Smash community, one that is often undervalued. Many smashers tend to take streaming for granted and forget the work that streamers have to put in. Large tournaments are expected to be streamed somehow. I think we need to take a minute and realize how good we have it.
For all the sad people who can’t go to Apex or Evo or ROM, myself included, being able to watch those events live is excellent comfort. It allows smashers everywhere to be involved with their community and support players by learning new names and viewing the progress of those already established. Small-town smashers especially have a difficult time integrating themselves into the community, but streaming allows them to stay up-to-date on big events. Sure, it’s not the in-person tournament experience, but watching the stream is definitely more exciting than reading the tournament results online and waiting for videos to be uploaded. Watching the Evo 2013 top eight on stream is one of my favorite smash memories. Streams are fantastic for everyone who can’t attend these monumental events.
Not only is streaming awesome for those involved in the community, but it also helps draw in new players by giving exposure to the scene. Super commentator/streamer D1 says he has “received numerous tweets, facebook messages, and the like from people who never knew our scene existed.” More players means more playing. More tournaments, bigger turnouts, and a bigger, more impactful community.
Now I want you to imagine for a second what the community would be like without streams. Not as cool. Streaming is a link between worlds.
As I mentioned earlier, our community tends to take streaming for granted sometimes. We expect streams and we expect them to be decent quality, and we get a lot of whiners when no one delivers. But few people know what goes on behind the scenes. Streaming isn’t easy. In fact, it’s pretty difficult, as I recently heard from D1:
“You have to make sure you have the proper layouts and slides, advertising the event on all avenues of social media, making sure there’s internet at the venue and more.
You have to be spot on with changing scenes, which consists of the crowd cam, player cam, direct feed footage of the game, slides, and also remembering to play ads. Some people find sitting for 7 hours at a desk job to be tough, but streamers (and commentators) sometimes find themselves working for longer periods of time, with barely any time for lunch in between. I've seen streamers do long shifts miles away from their home without getting compensated for their hard work.”
That’s a lot to handle. It’s so important for our community not to take advantage of this amazing aspect of our community, but to give back. Supporting our streamers is the first step.
And how about that last bolded bit? TOs, compensate those who stream your events. Streamers often spend their own hard-earned cash trying to get you the best stream they can. Compensation is only fair considering that, as D1 says, streamers are “practically advertising their event for them and in turn more people will attend the next event the organizer hosts.”
As a viewer, you can of course donate and subscribe to your favorite streams. In general, donating or subscribing to a stream costs significantly less than a venue fee, and you still get to watch the matches. It's a pretty small price to pay for an ongoing experience. But here are a few suggestions from a streamer:
“Money isn't the only way to show thanks to the streamer. A simple thank you message, following their stream, subscribing to them on youtube, and sharing their videos is also greatly appreciated. Just because they may not respond doesn't mean they don't appreciate the love you send their way.”
Basically, our streams depend on streamers. Our streamers, in turn, depend on the community to support them so they can continue streaming. Remember this next time you tune in, and maybe send a quick thank-you to the streamer. I’m sure they’d appreciate it.
Huge thanks to D1 for contributing to this article.
-Venance
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-Venance
