Building a Community

You teach people how to treat you by what you allow, what you stop, and what you reinforce.

One of the most frequent questions I get from viewers who are interested or currently stream is — “I like the community you’ve built. How can I do the same with mine?” The community you find yourself surrounded by is a reflection of you (this goes for people who don’t stream as well!). Good, happy, honest, friendly people like to be surrounded by the same — kindness breeds kindness in the same way that misery loves company and toxicity poisons those it touches. So practically, what does this mean? How do you put this into effect?

Have rules and be able to coherently explain WHY those rules are in place.

Sometimes the only explanation is “Honestly, I just feel like that’s the best way to approach it”, but it’s always better if you’re able to explain it. That way, when people question the rules, you can calmly and easily explain them. If they still disagree with the rules, that’s on them but you’ll know you stood by your rules and what the rest of your community expects. It’s important to remember that some people have much different expectations for a Twitch community based on the experiences they’ve had. This lends to people often thinking my channel rules are “too strict” because they’re used to a free-for-all in other channels.

Be flexible and willing to change your rules.

If you feel like they’re not working, it’s time to switch things up and be able to explain that too. I started out my stream with different rules and they’ve evolved over time as my channel has grown and changed. Mostly I think we’ve relaxed on the rules because I moved away from being a Minecraft-only streamer (which attracts a younger audience) into variety.

Be able to accept / ignore criticism.

I struggle with this regularly, but you need to be able to learn when to ignore certain comments and when to address them — usually I try to address them when I see it as a teaching moment for others. But this can sometimes go the wrong way and steer chat in a negative direction. Chat is kind of like a school of fish and you’re the current influencing their direction. If you start going super negative, chat will too. If you call out someone, you risk alienating them or others because chat might swarm them. Often times, one of the best things to do is just ignore someone looking for a fight. Problems arise when they refuse to be ignored, however, and start dragging down the rest of the chat. This leads us to my next piece of advice…

Be in control.

You know in The Office when Michael Scott is so proud of himself because he “captivated the guy who captivated a thousand guys”? Some people are so determined to get your attention that they’ll refuse to be ignored. Most times, they’ll cross a line with spamming that will warrant a moderator to take action, but sometimes they just won’t quit trying to be the focus of chat. Don’t let them take over. It’s your chat, it’s your community, you are in charge. If you have a problematic viewer whose presence in chat is causing a disturbance or discord among others, it’s your responsibility to shut it down. Depending on their attitude, it’s your choice whether you acknowledge them or not before timing them out.

Being strict isn’t inherently a bad thing.

Occasionally I’ve had an aggressive viewer declare that they think I’m (insert one of the 20 rude names I’ve been called) after being timed out for breaking a rule and that I’ve “lost a viewer”. (Sidenote: as a Twitch viewer, try not to take it too personally if your comment is purged. It’s likely that you’ve crossed a line or broken a rule which you may not have been aware of. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re in trouble, it’s just that your comment needed to be removed. It’s easy to ask the moderators why so you don’t accidentally overstep again.) I prefer quality over quantity in this regard. Much like in all our daily interactions, there’s no possible way to please every single person you come into contact with. Human beings are simply too diverse and the internet allows us to interact with such a range of people from all backgrounds, beliefs, and lifestyles, that it’s actually impossible to please everyone. So I don’t bother with that- I would rather have good viewers than more viewers. I don’t want to dread streaming every day because it means interacting with rude people. I’m willing to appear strict if it means enforcing community standards that make it a place people want to be.

Recognize the difference between being disliked and being disrespected.

As mentioned, I understand that not everyone will like me or my content. However, it’s important to recognize the difference between that and being disrespected. If someone doesn’t enjoy my content, they don’t have to watch. But how they express themselves is what’s important. Nine times out of ten, if someone doesn’t like my channel or the game I’m playing, there’s not really any reason for them to comment (“if you don’t have anything nice to say…”) but that doesn’t stop some people. If this is you — just close the channel, you don’t have to declare “this is boring” or “this channel sucks” before you go. All you’re doing is spreading negativity. Imagine how you’d feel if you were throwing a party for your friends and a stranger walked in, said “your party sucks” to your face before taking a handful of chips and walking up to all your guests to tell them how they think the party they weren’t invited to isn’t fun.

But I digress. I understand not everyone will like my channel however, I won’t allow them to be disrespectful to me. Insulting me, haranguing my viewers, arguing with everyone… it’s just completely unnecessary and toxic. And, like I said, toxicity poisons those it touches. Going back to “Be in control” — don’t let toxic people stick around to constantly disrespect you or your other loyal viewers.

Don’t allow fighting, bickering, name-calling.

I love having discussions with viewers because you’ve all experienced things in ways I’ll never be able to. We’ve talked about education in the United States, sexuality, gender, interpersonal relationships, and more, but the second it devolves to name-calling or disrespectful language, I shut it down. People like to say that Twitch or the internet isn’t the place for meaningful discussion, but I think we should all give ourselves a bit more credit than that. We are all human beings communicating with each other like humans do, simply on a digital platform. More people should see this as an opportunity for discussion rather than something to be avoided.

That being said, politics and religion are still two topics I avoid. I think both topics are too divisive and too personal to discuss with large groups at a time. It’s extremely difficult to have a political/religious discussion in real life with strangers — the added component of anonymity, short-form communication, and lack of focus from the streamer just contributes to the perfect storm of terrible conversation.

Have solid moderators.

I talk with my mods on a near daily basis. They’re all people I asked to moderate because I knew they understood the rules, why the rules were in place (this is important), and had a good sense of the community’s identity. When we need to change rules or change the way we address things, they talk to each other and get advice. When they feel we’re not addressing something properly, they ask me how I’d like to handle it.

Be sure to choose your moderators carefully. They’re going to have a huge impact on the way your chat communicates amongst themselves when you’re playing games. They weren’t chosen on a whim — I had them picked for weeks or months before I asked. It’d be impossible to stream and maintain the chat without my moderators, that I’m sure of.

Remember that you’re there to have fun.

Unless you’re a competitive player who is training for tournaments, your job is to entertain. Remember that one of the main reasons video games exist is for fun and enjoyment. The chat will take heavy influence from your mood and they can tell if you’re having fun or not.

Being a streamer is incredibly hard work sometimes, harder than most give it credit, but it’s definitely the most fun job I’ve ever had. That’s largely due to the wonderful people I have in my community who make it a genuine joy to stream every day. I don’t just look forward to streaming because I get to play games — I look forward to streaming because I get to hang out with amazing people all day.

So thank you all who have been a part of my community at any point.

I hope this advice helps — now get out there and have fun!