Gaming for Good: a guide to Twitch

Gaming for Good is among the fastest growing areas of fundraising, as charities look to generate income by broadening their appeal among young people interested in gaming.

 

Often this form of fundraising involves streaming fundraising events and appeals, using inventive ways to link aspects of gaming with good causes.

 

For example, in August 2021 the Institute of Engineering and Technology’s environmental Difference Makers campaign linked up with some of the best players of Fortnite, one of the most played games in the world.

 

During this event players were encouraged to chop down virtual trees in the game, which were then replanted in real life to combat deforestation.

 

This Fortnite event is one of the many gaming for good initiatives to take place on Twitch, the platform where gamers can showcase their game play in livestreams.

 

The popularity of Twitch among live streamers has seen it effectively become the unofficial home for gaming for good initiatives.

 

Here we offer a guide to Twitch for charities looking to develop their gaming for good initiatives and engage with gamers and influencers.

 

 

What is Twitch?

 

Twitch launched in 2011 and was acquired by Amazon three years later. Its growth over the decade has been phenomenal.

 

During 2020, 13 million people streamed via the platform for the first time. As of 2021, it had 9.3 million unique creators each month, up by a third over the year. So far more than 815 billion minutes have been watched and it attracts more than 30 million visitors every day.

 

The key demographic of Twitch is young adults and teenagers, with 70% of its viewers aged between the ages of 16 and 34.

 

 

Livestreaming

 

Twitch’s biggest rival in gaming content is YouTube, which focuses on pre-produced videos that are uploaded, as well as streams. Meanwhile, Twitch is concentrated squarely on streaming.

 

Livestreaming gives content a greater sense of immediacy and excitement as it has not been edited. It also offers viewers the chance to interact with creators by becoming involved in streams themselves through live chat functions.

 

 

Using Twitch

 

When logging into Twitch for the first time the array of visual content available can be overwhelming. But, worry not, we can break it down and offer you a little insight.

 

 

The Home Page

 

 

This is the first place where visitors to Twitch arrive. The homepage offers the chance to log on to streams that are currently live as well as a search function to find specific content and creators.

 

There is content around sports, comedy, and politics on Twitch, but it is immediately evident to first time users that gaming content rules supreme. Most creators that aren’t streaming about gaming use the “just chatting” category. Viewers can also use the search function to find specific games and creators.

 

Once a creator has been identified using the search function the viewer is then taken to their Twitch channel.

 

 

Creator channels

 

The middle of the screen of creators channels is focused on their current video. Around this are further details about the stream, social media links, and ways to support the creator. This can also include details of how to support good causes and charities that the creator is backing.

 

In addition, Twitch will recommend other, similar channels. These will be based on the viewers history and the viewing record of other viewers of the channel.

 

 

Notifications

 

If you creator looks to be a good fit for fundraising, charities are advised to ‘follow’ them. This is the same as ‘liking’ a Facebook page and ensures you receive notifications about the creator to stay up to date with their content. Also on the Twitch channel is a live chat function, to interact with the creator and their followers during live streams.

 

 

Subscribe

 

Subscribing on Twitch is a paid subscription to that channel. This is for people who want to help support the creator financially. Subscriptions (which start at under £4) also offers benefits to users.

 

These can include ad-free viewing, subscriber only badges and special icons called emotes that can be used in live chats. Paid subscriptions can also be given to other users as a gift.