I've been watching and browsing live streams since the dying days of Justin.tv and although I never did really get to experience the platform, I did get to experience the meteoric rise of Twitch. I've seen the rise and fall of many creators over the years and I'd like to think I have a solid understanding of what makes or breaks a quality stream. Streams can succeed for vastly different reasons, but there is one specific variable I've noticed is present in all of them: content.
Content, in my opinion, is just the presence of something going on at all times. Whether it's interacting with the chat, mindlessly musing to yourself for hours, or just being really damn good at what you're doing. As long as there is something going on that the user can connect with, you're at least succeeding on some level; even if you may not be pulling in the thousands upon thousands of viewers you desire.
When nothing is going on and there isn't anything for me to connect with, I, personally, tend to drift away from a stream.
DLive is an extremely interesting concept with an already burgeoning community of loyal supporters, however I have my doubts. I doubt the existence of such a platform when there are already such prevalent platforms in the public eye, platforms that are so massive that you can hardly go a day without coming across them in at least one way, shape or form. The biggest thing going for it currently, with just the short time in development so far, is the connection to a blockchain and the overlying Steemit community behind it.
Having my doubts doesn't mean I dislike the platform, however; it's actually the opposite. I want DLive to succeed, I wish to personally watch them pioneer a new path in the streaming industry. In the brief time I've spent just browsing the community I've already witnessed the passion the people have for the community and drive they have towards making it succeed, it's inspiring. We must be realistic though; I personally believe the platform has a lot of potential but it also has many hurdles it will have to cross in the future if it truly wishes to take flight.
As for improvements, the most pressing and necessary improvement I can think of is a chat overhaul. I've already made a rather roughly made, heated post on the chat system (here) from back when I was having my very first experiences with the platform. It's been recently cleared up with me that the developers' do indeed have plans for the chat, but I can't help but continue to re-iterate how important this is; the current system is very lacking.
For consumers of content, it's going to be hard for a large shift in audience in take place. People don't like change and the massive, ever-present platforms I've mentioned before are just too enticing for the average person; it's different for the creators, though. Because of just how massive these platforms are it can be hard to find your way and you're more than likely to end up as just another drop drowning in an endless sea of content.
It's significantly easier to build a following and get started out on smaller, refreshingly new platforms. On my first couple streams I managed to pull approximately 8-14 viewers, and they were really short streams at that. I could never imagine myself pulling even half that amount on a platform such as Twitch given a similar situation; almost impossible, especially in the game I play the most (Overwatch). It can be really motivating to see such views when just starting out. It's these exact reasons that I, myself, decided to dive into DLive and see what it was all about.
