This Week at the Crumb Club - Feb 19, 2023

This week at the Crumb Club, we're operating on schedule with the first of a (hopefully!) weekly series of blog posts dedicated to discussing the state of stream in time for the completion of the first weekly streaming schedule I've ever posted. The plan is for these posts to follow the completion of any weekly schedule I post and to discuss upcoming changes, new features, and findings from the past week to provide a better experience for the audience and myself as a broadcaster. Think of it like a weekly digest to keep the community up to date on what goes on behind the scenes.

To those that were able to stop by to any of these streams, whether to lurk or to chat or simply passing by, thank you for tuning in! It means a lot to have people stop by and talk or loaf around in chat and I'm always grateful to see y'all stop by. To our new followers and to those who cheered or (re)subbed, thank you for your support and for being a part of the Crumb Club!

With all that said, let's discuss what's happened this past week and what you can expect from stream going forward.

Scheduling

I knew that I wanted to become a variety streamer from the very beginning of my streaming career but going down this route came with additional challenges that I had not properly accounted for. One of these hurdles was enforcing routine on when I stream to make up for a lack of consistency with what I stream. At worst, whole weeks would pass between streams with nothing in the way of communication, which only added to the difficulty of finding my footing as a broadcaster when I'd go live after a long absence.

Part of this can be attributed to personal life events but in truth it was equal parts boredom and the way I had structured my stream that are largely to blame. Normally I'd want to focus on one game at a time till its eventual completion but the idea of playing the same game till its completion sounded stale to me and unbecoming of the idea of a variety stream. To address this, more games would be added to the rotation (the list of games that are currently being played on stream) to incentivize streaming that day and to alleviate boredom by injecting variety. As well intentioned as this approach was, it only allowed to the rotation to balloon in size and made streaming feel more overwhelming than it needed to be.

The problems that needed to be solved were as follows:

• Lack of structure in stream timings.

• Personal investment diminishing due to repeated streams of games.

• Far too many games added to the Rotation, leading to unfinished playthroughs.

• No communication regarding scheduling, cancellations, absences, etc.

To rectify these issues, a schedule template was made and used for the past week's streams that would be posted on Twitter and Discord for followers and members to see. So how did this trial run for a stream schedule go? What were the results and how did they affect the quality of the stream? What kind of lessons can I take from this first attempt and what will need to be changed?

• Right away: First attempt was a SUCCESS but opportunities for refinement still remain.

  • Scheduling stream days made it much easier to get into a specific headspace for what I'd be doing that day.

  • In creating a stream schedule, it allowed for a reusable and modifiable template that could be altered seamlessly for each week depending on what needs to be changed.

  • By posting a streaming schedule, it enforced a sense of commitment and structure; knowing I'd be live on those days created a greater incentive to show up and to take care of outstanding business on my end before the cameras start rolling, leading to better organization and fulfillment.

    • This also includes properly communicating any unexpected delays or cancellations that may occur across social channels.

This week's stream schedule and the average time/length most streams lasted for.

• While the results were promising, there were a few problems that were identified upon closer inspection:

  • Specific times were never communicated properly. Despite streaming at a somewhat consistent time (An average time of around 6PM EST or so), a lack of disclosure of what time/time zone I'd be streaming on caused confusion for when viewers could expect to tune in.

  • In its current incarnation and with what's currently in the rotation, there's not enough room for creative streams or introducing new games with how long I'm currently streaming for.

    • The average length of this week's streams were roughly two and a half hours which led to streams not feeling substantial enough when it came to making progress.
      • If not attended to, this can be detrimental towards a variety stream and if it takes multiple weeks (and months) to complete a game, it can feel very stale to tune in if it's the same game from however long ago it's been since first streaming it. Even worse if I started all over. (An exception can be made for multiplayer games, but within reason.)

  • The schedule itself could also stand to look more distinct and "brand-appropriate". At this point, it seems too utilitarian to stand out on its own, nor is there enough room to add additional information beyond the date and game logo.

• So what are some changes that you can expect to see with stream scheduling in the future?

  • Future schedules will include specific timings in both Eastern and Pacific time zones.

  • Three streams will be planned for each week.

    • Two of which will occur with the aim of making substantial progress towards specific games and to "clear the rotation".

    • A third stream may do much the same as the previous two streams of the week or -should the rotation allow for it- introduce new games.

      • A third stream may also accommodate flex categories such as co-op/multiplayer games, or creative streams.

    • A fourth "bonus" stream may also be planned to better accommodate flex categories.

  • Expect more diverse timings. Ideally, there might be more morning/afternoon streams should my own personal schedule allow for it.

    • Example: Saturday Morning streams.

You can expect to see some of these changes in the next stream schedule, however with family leaving this week no streams will be planned throughout the week of February 19th to the 26th meaning that no schedule will be posted.

Now to discuss the state of redeems, meme scenes, and more.

Redeems & Memes

Redeems have seen a facelift over the past week with new and reworked awards, icons, and -most exciting of all - meme redeems. In allowing viewers to exchange their crumbs to express themselves on stream with many of the meme scenes you know and love, redeems have seen increased usage (partly because there weren't any cooldown timers at first) across lower and higher-cost rewards! At the same time, it's clear that things still require plenty of tweaking.

One notable concern is the way that rewards are priced; currently they're scaled to benefit new followers and lurkers but those with a massive reserve of crumbs can spam meme redeems which can impact the viewing experience considerably, especially for those who want to redeem other awards but can't do so due to the cooldown. While I'm happy with the state of lower cost awards and most meme redeems, there's currently a dearth of higher-cost rewards that are compelling enough for viewers to want to save and redeem their crumbs for. You can expect more of these to be added in the future.

As for specific meme redeems, the "First!" redeem lasts significantly longer than other meme scenes clocking in at 35 seconds from start to finish. In its current state, it's obstructive for other viewers (especially if it's redeemed in the middle of a stream) and will be trimmed down to a fraction of that time to better match other meme scenes. All SoundAlert-based channel point redeems will be retired and will be replaced by meme redeems but SoundAlerts will still be available from the extension below the stream player. Across most-if not all- redeems, cooldowns are fairly long but viewer-specific redeem limits are in an acceptable place and will be adjusted accordingly. Costs, cooldowns, and redeem limits will change in response to feedback and new meme scenes that will be added to stream.

Commands

Throughout this week, StreamElements has seen outages due to maintenance being performed on the chatbot. It seems that the bot has been restored to its prior functionality so StreamElements will remain but work on commands has been suspended to verify that the bot is working as expected. While StreamElements has been an incredibly invaluable tool throughout my time as a streamer, I've been exploring moving timer messages, shoutouts, and custom commands to Nightbot in the foreseeable future to ensure that they all work properly in the event of another outage to keep stream running smoothly. While these outages are unavoidable, extra steps need to be taken to ensure that features like stream commands and shoutouts continue to work properly to keep the stream going without a hitch.

Leaving outage issues aside, there's been a notable lack of usage when it comes to chat commands and this will change in the future with more informative timer messages and other ways to remind viewers of various commands available to use on stream, especially for subscriber-exclusive commands like "!clip".

Wrap Up

And that's it for this week! Extra huge shoutout to the mods, community members, and those of you who visit stream just to loaf around. As the stream changes in response to feedback and new features are added, you can expect these weekly posts to brief you on all the exciting things coming to the stream along with new projects currently in the pipeline, especially when it comes to [REDACTED] in the (hopefully very) near future.

Stay Toasty!

-BallisticToaster