Blog: I will not take livestreaming for granted ever again

Recently I was on a business trip. It is one of those things us gamers have to do to support the habbit, or in my case support my dreams of writing and commentating fame. I had a very odd realization. Not odd like TheOddone, but odd like I never expected this to happen. So follow along on my little adventure across the country.

 It was a company conference, so there were a lot of us. The big shenanigan was in Dallas, so Pacific time I was waking up at about 4:30am everyday. Not my ideal kind of conference. The long days of training and talking would leave me all interactioned out, so instead of hanging out to play Magic: the Gathering, or Pokemon (ya, my co-workers are cool) I would head up to my room and just watch TV.

Now I used to watch TV all the time. Just loads of History channel, discovery channel and food network. You know, all the good stuff. However, those nights in the hotel I spent watching Castle and some Big Bang Theory. While watching, I had this sense that something was wrong. I was getting irritated, impatient, but I did not know why. Laying on my bed and watching TV is supposed to be relaxing right? Then it hit me...

I was having to sit through full commercial breaks.

I have just basic cable in my apartment, and I do not even use that because I watch livestreams of my favorite League or SC2 players all the time. Sitting through these inane ads was hard enough (I really enjoy having computer hardware and games marketed to me) but there would be 4-6 in a row...4 times every half hour!

The whole thing just felt so archaic. These TV shows have to be scheduled for me, and cannot be paused, and all the episodes are played out of order. The whole exercise felt just so, well, antiquated. My favorite streamers are online all the time; I get to chat with them and others who enjoy their show and I only see maybe ten ads per hour, tops. Not only that, but the adds never pop up just before the true villain is revealed, or right as the police are busting down the front door of some miscreants house.

Needless to say, I was loving life when I got back home and hit that league of legends section on twitch.tv. I pulled up my gaming chair and tabbed up about 4 of my favorites. I can pick which esport and whatever streamer I desire. I also have options for streamers that are funny, helpful, or that just play music.

I really hope you do not take all this for granted. Do not be rude in comments or chat, leave adblock off to support your favorite streamers. When ads do come on, you can tab out, you can turn the sound off. Seriously, everyone has time for that. Us gamers have got it made, and I for one am really thankful that streamers and casters do not just see us as a way to make money.

They want us to enjoy something together.