Twitch Streamer Burnout

Jared Miller known as FlibbityFlam made his living by playing video games to hundreds of people on a nightly (technically morning) basis on Twitch. When he first started streaming, he only had about fifteen to twenty people at a time watching him. He enjoyed how he could interact with a small community, cracking jokes and memeing while people cheered him on.

Unfortunately, the vibe changed as his popularity grew and his want to live a “normal” schedule.

"Around 200 viewers was when it started getting exhausting," says Flib. "Living a normal life became impossible even though my 'success' was rising. Every time I kept adjusting the gears to feel more like myself instead of feeding into the frenzied mob/audience I had created on Twitch I kept losing more and more viewers which also wrecks havoc on one's mental health."

FlibbityFlam is in a better place now stepping behind the scenes, but his story isn't unique. Burnout is on the rise across the country, even for those who play for a living.

Sporadic downtime, infrequent vacations

While professional video gaming can sound like an enviable gig, it's not too different from being a performer. Streamers have an audience, a persona, and act in the same role for long hours.

Streamers can't really take breaks, either. They risk their fanbase losing interest during a stream and logging off. Since they're self-employed, they can't rely on paid vacation, or sick leave. That leaves streamers wondering how to navigate making an income that isn't an official "job."

I, being a streamer myself, take breaks regardless of the notion that it does stymie my audience for those crucial 10-15 minute breaks and even 25 minute full food breaks. I got creative by having prerecorded content playing which minimizes the dip that comes with a food break but I had to start considering my long term health as this is my career.

A redditor commented on the appropriate length of a break: "20 minutes is way too long. I recommend five minutes because you don't want people to lose interest."

I know many feel this way and its the sad truth but I know personally I cannot afford to sacrifice my mind and body in this manner because a viewer can leave at any moment in time for any reason good or illogical and there is nothing we, as streamers, can do about it.

"I would worry about viewers losing interest in my channel if it was offline for a week or two," says FlibbityFlam. I also felt the same way but realized that well-timed breaks paid dividends for a creative recharge and the viewers simply wanting your butt back in front of the camera.

Yet, even now, many of my own "vacations" are really still work.

Conventions like TwitchCon, stay-cations (working on projects even though not streaming) all give the illusion of taking a break while ultimately actually being another work weekend and then some.

Russian Roulette Variety Streaming

Twitch audiences can also demand that streamers play games they may have soured on. Spazee_Mcgee another Twitch streamer known for playing FPS titles leaned heavily into Star Citizen a multiplayer space trading and combat simulation game which grew his stream's popularity. However, his fans were not pleased when he decided to branch back out from there.

"I was already burnt out from Star Citizen, but I was splitting my time 50% FPS games and 50% Star Citizen," says Spazee. "You get people that you don't really wanna hear say 'When is he gonna switch to Star Citizen?' 'Why isn't he playing Star Citizen yet?'"

What happened next is what happens with particular gaming titles for particular gaming communities. Viewer participation dropped when Spazee started dedicating more time to other games. Fewer people and fewer would tune in taking what was a very successful rise into an unfortunate reassessment of where to go from here.

"Every content creator has gone through this, especially the ones that play games or a single game for a long period of time," says Spazee. "They start with this one thing that they hope is popular, then thankfully it does pay off in popularity but as soon as they try to do something else, their game specific community turns their back."

Neverending Competition, Finite Support

The need to be “always on” is a pervasive mindset fostered by Twitch's competitive culture. The ability to stream whenever you want has it's benefits but it also means other “competition” can stream whenever they want as well.

Taylor Chou, Director of Talent Management at Evil Geniuses, an esports and gaming entertainment company, says that Twitch can be a pretty toxic work environment.

"When you're a streamer, you truly know that every single second that you are not online, grinding, posting, streaming — somebody [else] is," Chou says. "That's a lot of pressure for people to learn how to manage."

The hardest thing about striking out on your own is when it is time to finally lean on your support system. Without co-workers one avoids all the close quarters potential for toxicity, but it leaves individuals vulnerable to feeling alone and isolated without co-workers to bounce ideas off of or to lessen worries about a decision.

I learned that to be able to achieve everything I wanted to achieve that I would need to lean into my support system. FlibbityFlam is one of those members of my personal brand's team that has been able to lend the necessary helping hand. I continue to add key members along with the likes of Flib and long-time friend Dospostmann.

Granted this kind of structure took me years to build, and while the Dreamers have rallied around myself and many of the amazing 8-Bit Dojo and ESN streamers, the stress of putting on a good performance for them or for a random troll harasser to appear are always a possibility. I know I have dealt with burnout, and it is also why many others face the same scenario every single year.