In a packed house at the Twitch Unity Lounge at TwitchCon 2019, a discussion about building communities was held. On stage for the discussion were Shamanom, TheeDoctorB, Captain_Richard, ElisaRockDoc, Adam Kobel, and the moderator, CypherOfTyr. This was one of the more academic talks of the show with two PHDs on estage, one in Comparative Sociology and another in Clinical Psychology. The discussion has not been cut into its own VOD but it can be found here at timestamp 02:29:56.
The discussion kicked off with an examination of what a good community looks like on Twitch. One example of communities forming was that certain types of games, like tabletop RPGs, actually require community to function. Another positive aspect that was brought up was the fact that community involvement allows both the streamer and their audience to avoid the negative effects of isolation. Other positive aspects included meeting new people and being exposed to new ideas and the energizing effect that interacting with a community can have.
The panel then moved on to some solutions for dealing with communities that are less than welcoming. The discussion got a bit philosophical here with the panel coming to a definition of Twitch chat as a community formed around shared behavior. They then went on the talk about more practical advice for streamers to avoid forming less welcoming communities, like modeling good behavior.
After defining some types of community the discussion moved on to some common issues that come up as a community develops. An example of this type of issue was how hands on a streamer should be with their community spaces. This was one question where the panelists’ methods differed with some taking an entirely hands off approach and relying on moderators and others being more involved. Other problems that can develop were: toxic members, loss of community, in-fighting, unreasonable expectations, and a community becoming unsustainable.
The audience question and answer also raised some hurdles to growing communities. Dealing with community members who are at risk for depression was one such audience question.
One thing that is clear from the panel is that creating a healthy community on Twitch takes a lot of care and effort.