4 ms·

Twitch has recently added channel points and gambling to most (all?) channels. The allure of betting as a way to juice engagement is just too hard to resist in

by synu 4y ago

Twitch has recently added channel points and gambling to most (all?) channels. The allure of betting as a way to juice engagement is just too hard to resist in gaming it seems, even when it comes to young children.

moonshinefe 4y ago
Yeah, they are totally fine with gambling for sure. I was actually a bit surprised to see https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Slots https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Slots near the top of "most watched games" when I was bored the other month and wanted to see what the popular games to watch were. It's literally a bunch of whales flushing money down the drain on gambling while viewers watch it (vicarious thrills? not sure tbh as I'm not a gambler).
- crazysim 4y ago
  Are they real whales or are they "whales"? Could it be possible that the "whales" are provided with fake money to lose?
  - eterm 4y ago
    Yes, they're almost all getting kickbacks, which I think is even worse. These people are effectively getting paid to advertise gambling to children. In some cases the odds for streamers have been rigged by the site owners so that it makes it look like winning big amounts is more likely than the reality.
eterm 4y ago
The big difference there is that those points aren't redeemable for anything, can't be shared and aren't funded with real money. Their slots/gambling categories are far worse, and there are far worse examples of their biggest stars encouraging real gambling.
- synu 4y ago
  They are definitely redeemable for rewards. I’m not sure if they can be bought for cash or not yet, though.
  - grnmamba 4y ago
    They be kinda-sorta bought indirectly. You earn channel points every x minutes you're watching the stream. However, paid subscribers earn more channel points at every interval. Interestingly, gambling with channel points is impossible with an Netherland IP address, but collecting them is fine.
pixelpoet 4y ago
Just an anecdote, but I absolutely love the Twitch betting and it has massively increased my enjoyment of weekly Quake Pro League tournaments. Like most people I have zero interest in real money gambling, it's just imaginary internet points. Alcohol is by far the most harmful drug in the world, and yet plenty legal. Twitch betting is hardly hard drugs to be denied everyone because some people have trouble controlling themselves.
- eterm 4y ago
  If Twitch were routinely encouraging alcohol drinking to it's largely underage audience it'll be taken to the coals over it. Excessive alcohol consumption on stream is also against twitch TOS.
colinmhayes 4y ago
I don't think there's any way to bring money into twitch channel points though. You can't buy them, you can't redeem them for anything.
enlyth 4y ago
One of the most popular streamers on Twitch was streaming slot machines and blackjack today with tens of thousands of kids watching. I remember another popular streamer saying some anecdote about a 11 year old who watches that first streamer I mentioned saying all his friends have accounts on this gambling website too. But the stream title has "18+" in it so it's fine. They get paid obscene money as well, millions or tens of millions a year to advertise gambling to teenagers.
mgdlbp 4y ago
Reddit rolled out something similar a year later, with "Predictions Tournaments". "Tokens" reset to an initial amount at the beginning of each tournament and are used to bet on a series of mod-posted multiple choice questions. No reward other than being declared a tournament winner. https://www.redditinc.com/blog/a-new-way-to-interact-on-reddit-predictions https://www.redditinc.com/blog/a-new-way-to-interact-on-redd... https://reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407383251860 https://reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407383251860 > Do I need to buy anything to participate? > Nope, no purchase necessary. However, Reddit Premium members may get special advantages or benefits in the future, so stay tuned! (Twitch's announcement: https://blog.twitch.tv/en/2020/12/12/channel-points-predictions-let-your-viewers-guess-your-destiny/ https://blog.twitch.tv/en/2020/12/12/channel-points-predicti...)

by synu 4y ago

moonshinefe 4y ago

Yeah, they are totally fine with gambling for sure. I was actually a bit surprised to see https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Slots https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Slots near the top of "most watched games" when I was bored the other month and wanted to see what the popular games to watch were. It's literally a bunch of whales flushing money down the drain on gambling while viewers watch it (vicarious thrills? not sure tbh as I'm not a gambler).

crazysim 4y ago
Are they real whales or are they "whales"? Could it be possible that the "whales" are provided with fake money to lose?
- eterm 4y ago
  Yes, they're almost all getting kickbacks, which I think is even worse. These people are effectively getting paid to advertise gambling to children. In some cases the odds for streamers have been rigged by the site owners so that it makes it look like winning big amounts is more likely than the reality.

eterm 4y ago

The big difference there is that those points aren't redeemable for anything, can't be shared and aren't funded with real money. Their slots/gambling categories are far worse, and there are far worse examples of their biggest stars encouraging real gambling.

synu 4y ago
They are definitely redeemable for rewards. I’m not sure if they can be bought for cash or not yet, though.
- grnmamba 4y ago
  They be kinda-sorta bought indirectly. You earn channel points every x minutes you're watching the stream. However, paid subscribers earn more channel points at every interval. Interestingly, gambling with channel points is impossible with an Netherland IP address, but collecting them is fine.

pixelpoet 4y ago

Just an anecdote, but I absolutely love the Twitch betting and it has massively increased my enjoyment of weekly Quake Pro League tournaments. Like most people I have zero interest in real money gambling, it's just imaginary internet points. Alcohol is by far the most harmful drug in the world, and yet plenty legal. Twitch betting is hardly hard drugs to be denied everyone because some people have trouble controlling themselves.

eterm 4y ago
If Twitch were routinely encouraging alcohol drinking to it's largely underage audience it'll be taken to the coals over it. Excessive alcohol consumption on stream is also against twitch TOS.

colinmhayes 4y ago

I don't think there's any way to bring money into twitch channel points though. You can't buy them, you can't redeem them for anything.

enlyth 4y ago

One of the most popular streamers on Twitch was streaming slot machines and blackjack today with tens of thousands of kids watching. I remember another popular streamer saying some anecdote about a 11 year old who watches that first streamer I mentioned saying all his friends have accounts on this gambling website too. But the stream title has "18+" in it so it's fine. They get paid obscene money as well, millions or tens of millions a year to advertise gambling to teenagers.

mgdlbp 4y ago

Reddit rolled out something similar a year later, with "Predictions Tournaments". "Tokens" reset to an initial amount at the beginning of each tournament and are used to bet on a series of mod-posted multiple choice questions. No reward other than being declared a tournament winner. https://www.redditinc.com/blog/a-new-way-to-interact-on-reddit-predictions https://www.redditinc.com/blog/a-new-way-to-interact-on-redd... https://reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407383251860 https://reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407383251860 > Do I need to buy anything to participate? > Nope, no purchase necessary. However, Reddit Premium members may get special advantages or benefits in the future, so stay tuned! (Twitch's announcement: https://blog.twitch.tv/en/2020/12/12/channel-points-predictions-let-your-viewers-guess-your-destiny/ https://blog.twitch.tv/en/2020/12/12/channel-points-predicti...)