Answering any questions around Official Streamers for MindArk on Twitch

[Hypnotyk]

Hello everyone!

As some of you may know, I am fortunate enough to be one of the 8 people that were asked to be an official streamer during this short test by MindArk. Since there have been many questions around this topic on PCF lately, I have decided to post this thread as an open Q&A around this venture. I will answer the best I can that is in-line with my agreement with RektNation, the company which MindArk employed for this initiative.

I look forward to your questions!

Cheers,
-Hyp

 

[Atrax]

Hello everyone!

As some of you may know, I am fortunate enough to be one of the 8 people that were asked to be an official streamer during this short test by MindArk. Since there have been many questions around this topic on PCF lately, I have decided to post this thread as an open Q&A around this venture. I will answer the best I can that is in-line with my agreement with RektNation, the company which MindArk employed for this initiative.

I look forward to your questions!

Cheers,
-Hyp

a) Who/what is RektNation?

b) How/why were RektNation selected, who approached whom (MA/RN ??)

c) Is there any documentation available on this program? Selection guidelines, streaming guidelines, limitations, anything?

d) Is this a trial, a one-shot campaign, or are there plans for this as a long-term, or ongoing promotion?

e) Is there a term once selected, or any plan to rotate/add official streamers in the future?

f) Is there any information/guidelines on what bonus items are being given out, or will be given out?

e) Is twitch involved or just happens to be specified by rekt, or just the most popular (only?) platform for this sort of gaming/sharing network at this time?

f) Do you feel recognized/honored by this? I mean also was it a mystery selection, or did you apply somewhere?

g) Have you accepted any obligation to stream a certain number of minutes/hours per time period, or a particular ratio/percentage of your gameplay?

h) Have you received any bonus or compensation (outside of promo items supposed to be given away) for your participation?

i) Is RektNation being paid?


I'm sure others will come up , but here's a good start for Q&A

 

[Hypnotyk]

a) Who/what is RektNation?
That's best answered by their about us page and website, found here:
http://www.rektnation.com/pages/aboutus/

b) How/why were RektNation selected, who approached whom (MA/RN ??)
No idea, nor would I be able to answer that question even if I did.

c) Is there any documentation available on this program? Selection guidelines, streaming guidelines, limitations, anything?
I cannot answer this question.

d) Is this a trial, a one-shot campaign, or are there plans for this as a long-term, or ongoing promotion?
At the moment, I am under contract for a period of time. I cannot share more details.

e) Is there a term once selected, or any plan to rotate/add official streamers in the future?
I am not involved in anything between MA and RektNation, therefore I do not know of any future plans between MA/Rekt Nation or their goals for streamers in the future, nor would I be able to answer this question if I did.

f) Is there any information/guidelines on what bonus items are being given out, or will be given out?
We were given promotional items to use for giveaways based on the guidelines of our contract.

e) Is twitch involved or just happens to be specified by rekt, or just the most popular (only?) platform for this sort of gaming/sharing network at this time?
Again, I am not involved in any agreements between RN/MA/Twitch so I cannot answer this question.

f) Do you feel recognized/honored by this? I mean also was it a mystery selection, or did you apply somewhere?
Yay, a question I can truly answer (well, the first half anyways). Yes, I feel honored by this because it not only helps me spread the word about the game I love for the past 11 years, but it also motivates me to stream more often too. In regards to the second half, I cannot answer that in explicit detail but I am the moderator of the entropia universe subreddit (www.reddit.com/r/entropiauniverse), and there was a public post on there which got me in contact with the respective party.

g) Have you accepted any obligation to stream a certain number of minutes/hours per time period, or a particular ratio/percentage of your gameplay?
Cannot answer that question.

h) Have you received any bonus or compensation (outside of promo items supposed to be given away) for your participation?
Cannot answer that question.

i) Is RektNation being paid?
Again, I am not involved in any agreements between RN/MA/Twitch so I cannot answer this question.

I'm sure others will come up , but here's a good start for Q&A

Nice list to get started. Sorry I cannot answer many of these questions.

 

[Atrax]

Nice list to get started. Sorry I cannot answer many of these questions.

Fair enough, though.

It's good to hear there was some outreach and promotion outside the game that seems to have reached an upcoming and excited gamer community (twitch and game streamers in general).

These answers (and non-answers) give us a pretty clear idea of where the actual streamers fit in the deal. So I appreciate you taking the time to address the list.

Good luck with this

 

[the-unknown]

Mentioned eight of you. Who are the eight?

 

[Billy Jean Ruby]

Mentioned eight of you. Who are the eight?

selective 8! What's that? something like N.A.S.A. Mercury program?

 

[Oleg]

It's good to hear there was some outreach and promotion outside the game that seems to have reached an upcoming and excited gamer community (twitch and game streamers in general).

Is that really happening though?

The people streaming are people who were streaming anyway, so it's not increasing EU's presence on Twitch.

Only people who already play EU can benefit from the giveaways so there's no incentive for people who don't know or don't play EU to take part.

I don't really see the point.

If anything, isn't it likely to reduce activity, as it gives players an incentive to watch streams instead of playing the game?

 

[matthew]

Is that really happening though?

The people streaming are people who were streaming anyway, so it's not increasing EU's presence on Twitch.

Only people who already play EU can benefit from the giveaways so there's no incentive for people who don't know or don't play EU to take part.

I don't really see the point.

If anything, isn't it likely to reduce activity, as it gives players an incentive to watch streams instead of playing the game?

I have no idea how this steaming thing works, if it is similar to other sites then I guess popular and well rated feeds show higher in the list and are generally more visible. Maybe they have "featured" or "recommended" functions as well. I can see how this could expose more people to EU who were watching other feeds or browsing the site in general.

Sometimes if I am planning to buy a particular game I might search on youtube to see how the gameplay feels and from that I might see some other "recommend" game which also looks appealing (or better). The greater the number of videos a game has and the more popular those videos are the higher the chances of me being exposed to that game for the first time.

I can appreciate how the giveaways only help EU participants however they help grow the popularity of the stream which equals a better ranking and greater exposure to non-EU participants.

 

[georg3]

Is that really happening though?

The people streaming are people who were streaming anyway, so it's not increasing EU's presence on Twitch.

Only people who already play EU can benefit from the giveaways so there's no incentive for people who don't know or don't play EU to take part.

I don't really see the point.

If anything, isn't it likely to reduce activity, as it gives players an incentive to watch streams instead of playing the game?

I can't speak for everyone but I know a majority of regular twitch streamers and viewers now have dual monitors or more. Also they can watch through mobile either tablet or phone. I play and watch all the time.

I think it's more about keeping up with today's crowd. Streaming is only growing. MA is at least trying to get with current streamers and in a way, motivate them to be more active to bring in more viewers. Giveaways is a great way to have a current EU player sign up to twitch and potentially keep a circulation of viewers on EU streams when playing or hanging out.

Hopefully with this we can see 5-10 streamers up on peak hours with multiple viewers on each one.

GL to the "Chosen 8" !!

 

[Hypnotyk]

Mentioned eight of you. Who are the eight?

I don't think I can explicitly write who everyone is (I don't want to accidentally breach my agreement), but many have posted on here and all of us use the official mindark image in our twitch layout while streaming. It is a mix of players from all ends of the spectrum though! Come check us out on Twitch and make sure to follow if you enjoy the content!

selective 8! What's that? something like N.A.S.A. Mercury program?

I've always wanted to be an astronaut

Is that really happening though?

The people streaming are people who were streaming anyway, so it's not increasing EU's presence on Twitch.

Only people who already play EU can benefit from the giveaways so there's no incentive for people who don't know or don't play EU to take part.

I don't really see the point.

If anything, isn't it likely to reduce activity, as it gives players an incentive to watch streams instead of playing the game?

As I stated before, there are players from all across the spectrum in this initiative. Some are new players, some are old geezers (like me). There are a few in this list that already have a large twitch following, which in theory should promote the game. I recommend you checking out their stream if you can!

Furthermore, the twitch front page is the place where games are sorted by most concurrent total viewers for that game. So in theory, if Entropia were to get say... 1000 viewers at some point in time, Entropia Universe would appear on the front page (granted towards the middle/bottom), but it would definitely draw some clicks from twitch viewers that are exploring new games. I know that I have clicked through some random games that popped up on the front page just to see what they are about, only because I haven't heard of them before.

I have no idea how this steaming thing works, if it is similar to other sites then I guess popular and well rated feeds show higher in the list and are generally more visible. Maybe they have "featured" or "recommended" functions as well. I can see how this could expose more people to EU who were watching other feeds or browsing the site in general.

Sometimes if I am planning to buy a particular game I might search on youtube to see how the gameplay feels and from that I might see some other "recommend" game which also looks appealing (or better). The greater the number of videos a game has and the more popular those videos are the higher the chances of me being exposed to that game for the first time.

I can appreciate how the giveaways only help EU participants however they help grow the popularity of the stream which equals a better ranking and greater exposure to non-EU participants.

Your last sentence nailed it. Also, streaming is quite straightforward. You download a streaming software, OBS or xsplit being most popular, start a twitch channel, link them up and start streaming! You basically get to watch someone play live with their perspective online. Some of the biggest games like DOTA2, CSGO, and League of Legends have hunreds of thousands of people watching. Take a look today on twitch and see how many people are watching the Manilla majors for DOTA2. While I don't think Entropia will get to that point, I do think Entropia is capable of having 400-1000 viewers which would land Entropia somewhere on the front page of twitch. Also, if we can get to a point where 5-10 streamers are streaming on average at any time of day, that allows anyone that stumbles upon the game to see real game play and ask any questions they may have, which hopefully helps attract or retain new players.

I can't speak for everyone but I know a majority of regular twitch streamers and viewers now have dual monitors or more. Also they can watch through mobile either tablet or phone. I play and watch all the time.

I think it's more about keeping up with today's crowd. Streaming is only growing. MA is at least trying to get with current streamers and in a way, motivate them to be more active to bring in more viewers. Giveaways is a great way to have a current EU player sign up to twitch and potentially keep a circulation of viewers on EU streams when playing or hanging out.

Hopefully with this we can see 5-10 streamers up on peak hours with multiple viewers on each one.

GL to the "Chosen 8" !!

Your reply in general is spot on in my opinion. Many gamers have two or three monitors nowadays, and like you, I play and watch twitch all the time. It is great to have twitch up especially when you're solo playing a game, because you can interact with twitch chat and the streamer while playing your own game simultaneously.
Also, thank you!

 

[ZPF]

I've been watching streams semi-actively lately, sometimes just listening to them while I play EU and occasionally alt-tabbing and just chatting with the other viewers.

There are definitely a few new players in twitch chat occasionally, though I admit not that many. We need to get EU on that front page!

Personally I am not a fan of the whole giveaway thing, I wish there was a better way to improve activity on twitch. But we've gotta start somewhere and it's nice to see Mindark taking this first step.

Also would be great if people start using the Entropia reddit page a bit more! Advertise things such as mentoring, services etc so the redditers can see that EU has a lively community ^^

 

[Oleg]

<snipped reply to my post>

OK, could be quite interesting to see if anything comes of it then. At the very least it's good that they're trying new ways of bringing people in, when marketing has always been a weakness for MA.

 

[atomicstorm]

Mentioned eight of you. Who are the eight?

I am one of them.

 

[the-unknown]

How is your returns / loot in activities, compared to when you were not a part of this program?

Better ? Worst? Same?

 

[forgo]

Did mindark contact you directly?

I remember writing to the media segment of Mindark asking about this very option 3 years ago, as well as website kits they initially offered but never finished.

Not that I particularly care anymore, but a request was made and I never got an answer. I even made an Overwolf app for Entropia (the only Entropia ingame twitch based app, where you could actually watch all of these streams in the client, grouped by everyone streaming Entropia(or any other game) at the given moment) for a Twitch Dev challenge (to help promote the game more via Twitch)..... that another company entirely rewarded me for. It has since been removed....no point in making things for a company that has zero customer appreciation.


I suppose it is a similar feeling if I bought a 100k usd moon for revenue streams....only to realize that Mindark gives this "unique" mechanic away to certain websites for free.


But it does raise the question on how they determined who participated. Cool program for those who got invited, but a kick in the face for the other couple of streamers who were interested, yet deliberately avoided. These kinds of things are cool in theory, but it alienates the rest of the dedicated players even more.

I am not sure alts created for the purpose of winning these items is exactly the kind of account they are looking to gain.