As quarantine nears its second month, do you find yourself running out of binge-worthy Netflix shows? Do you wish your favorite Youtubers were uploading more, longer videos to help fill the time between classes and projects? Are you up to date on all your podcasts that you use as background noise to fill your homework time? Be honest, do you just wanna procrastinate?
Allow me to introduce you to Twitch, one of the internet’s largest streaming platforms. Chances are if you’ve ever heard the name Ninja, you’ve also probably heard about Twitch at the very least in passing.
Twitch is by far my personal favorite platform to watch video game themed content on. I’ve been relatively active on the site for the past two years and even stream here and there myself as a destresser during the semester. The Twitch streams I watch on average can last anywhere from two to eight hours, which is an awesome chunk of time if you need background noise while working on assignments, something to keep your mind engaged, or even something to fall asleep to if you watch something like Animal Crossing.
I also prefer watching Twitch streams because, over the past two years, I’ve become a member of a few close-knit communities that I’ve made incredible friends in. I find that chatting in streams has been an awesome way of staying socially active during the quarantine as I get to catch up with tons of friends and interact with the streamers for a few hours (if you’re in a smaller stream of course).
Lots of popular Youtubers are also starting to use Twitch more frequently as a way to fill time and interact with their fans throughout the day as well! Jacksepticeye and Markiplier stream pretty often between their videos, as well as plenty of other Youtubers that you might be familiar with.
Another fun perk about Twitch is that it’s actually owned by Amazon, meaning that if you have an Amazon Prime account, you can link it to your Twitch! Linking your account will give you tons of Twitch Prime benefits such as exclusive content in certain video games as well as a free monthly subscription to one streamer of your choosing for no extra fee.
So what does it mean to subscribe to someone on Twitch you might ask. Twitch’s version of a Youtube subscription is actually just called following someone. You click on a little heart above the stream you’re watching and you’ll get updates about when that streamer goes live! Subscribing on Twitch is a way to give directly to the streamer you’re watching by paying $4.99 a month to get access to fun, channel exclusive emotes you can use in chats across the website, as well as a little subscriber badge that changes depending on how long you continue to stay subscribed.
For example, I’ve been subscribed to a steamer named Tooshi for close to two years now using my Amazon Prime membership. When I first subscribed to him, I had a tiny egg badge next to my name that slowly hatched the longer I stayed subscribed. It’s a really cute way of seeing who’s been in certain communities for how long, and it gives an awesome sense of what different streamer’s communities are like.
However, if you’re not really all that into video games, there are plenty more categories on the site you might be interested in. There are streamers on the platform who do crafting, art, makeup, and even outdoor activities like gardening and sports! Even though the site was primarily made to focus on video games, Twitch has something for everyone to enjoy!