Cargando…

Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life

Live streaming platforms such as Twitch that facilitate participatory online communities have become an integral part of game culture. Users of these platforms are predominantly teenagers and young adults, who increasingly spend time socializing online rather than offline. This shift to online behav...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: de Wit, Jan, van der Kraan, Alicia, Theeuwes, Joep
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7714943/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33329243
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.586975
_version_ 1783618839201710080
author de Wit, Jan
van der Kraan, Alicia
Theeuwes, Joep
author_facet de Wit, Jan
van der Kraan, Alicia
Theeuwes, Joep
author_sort de Wit, Jan
collection PubMed
description Live streaming platforms such as Twitch that facilitate participatory online communities have become an integral part of game culture. Users of these platforms are predominantly teenagers and young adults, who increasingly spend time socializing online rather than offline. This shift to online behavior can be a double-edged sword when coping with difficult periods in life such as relationship issues, the death of a loved one, or job loss. On the one hand, platforms such as Twitch offer pleasure, distraction, and relatedness with others to help with coping, and the increased sense of anonymity and control could stimulate self-disclosure. However, the prevalence of trolling and memes may also discourage people from opening up, and relationships that are built online—especially those with microcelebrity streamers—could be perceived as more meaningful than they actually are. To create a deeper understanding of Twitch as a new media platform embedded in game culture, and how users perceive its potential as a coping mechanism, we have conducted a first exploration by means of a survey. The questions focused on general Twitch behavior, the difficult period in life, and the role of Twitch during this period. It was distributed online among people who considered themselves active Twitch users, and who had gone through a difficult period. Eighty-four participants completed the entire survey. The majority of participants indicated that Twitch helped them cope, and that it became a larger part of their lives during the difficult period compared to regular viewing. Recurring themes were the entertainment, distraction, and sense of community Twitch offers. Viewing behavior during difficult periods appears to remain largely the same in terms of the streamers that are watched, although time spent viewing increases, and there is a change toward more time spent actively watching rather than having the stream on in the background. With this work, we aim to create a deeper understanding of Twitch as a platform, and its importance for gamers that are going through difficult periods in life.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7714943
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-77149432020-12-15 Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life de Wit, Jan van der Kraan, Alicia Theeuwes, Joep Front Psychol Psychology Live streaming platforms such as Twitch that facilitate participatory online communities have become an integral part of game culture. Users of these platforms are predominantly teenagers and young adults, who increasingly spend time socializing online rather than offline. This shift to online behavior can be a double-edged sword when coping with difficult periods in life such as relationship issues, the death of a loved one, or job loss. On the one hand, platforms such as Twitch offer pleasure, distraction, and relatedness with others to help with coping, and the increased sense of anonymity and control could stimulate self-disclosure. However, the prevalence of trolling and memes may also discourage people from opening up, and relationships that are built online—especially those with microcelebrity streamers—could be perceived as more meaningful than they actually are. To create a deeper understanding of Twitch as a new media platform embedded in game culture, and how users perceive its potential as a coping mechanism, we have conducted a first exploration by means of a survey. The questions focused on general Twitch behavior, the difficult period in life, and the role of Twitch during this period. It was distributed online among people who considered themselves active Twitch users, and who had gone through a difficult period. Eighty-four participants completed the entire survey. The majority of participants indicated that Twitch helped them cope, and that it became a larger part of their lives during the difficult period compared to regular viewing. Recurring themes were the entertainment, distraction, and sense of community Twitch offers. Viewing behavior during difficult periods appears to remain largely the same in terms of the streamers that are watched, although time spent viewing increases, and there is a change toward more time spent actively watching rather than having the stream on in the background. With this work, we aim to create a deeper understanding of Twitch as a platform, and its importance for gamers that are going through difficult periods in life. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-11-20 /pmc/articles/PMC7714943/ /pubmed/33329243 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.586975 Text en Copyright © 2020 de Wit, van der Kraan and Theeuwes. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
de Wit, Jan
van der Kraan, Alicia
Theeuwes, Joep
Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life
title Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life
title_full Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life
title_fullStr Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life
title_full_unstemmed Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life
title_short Live Streams on Twitch Help Viewers Cope With Difficult Periods in Life
title_sort live streams on twitch help viewers cope with difficult periods in life
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7714943/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33329243
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.586975
work_keys_str_mv AT dewitjan livestreamsontwitchhelpviewerscopewithdifficultperiodsinlife
AT vanderkraanalicia livestreamsontwitchhelpviewerscopewithdifficultperiodsinlife
AT theeuwesjoep livestreamsontwitchhelpviewerscopewithdifficultperiodsinlife