Limmy on Twitter and webcam [split topic]

[thugler]

All this 'community' shit is probably going to be what turns Limmy off from streaming eventually just as he got sick of the negative parts of doing tv/shows. It looks like a lot of time and energy to dedicate just doing the streams, without all the additional infighting and complaining to listen to.

The parasocial relationship stuff is pretty scary, and covid has probably cranked it up a notch.

I rarely watch his streams now as I don't really have the time to commit and the bits I like I can usually find clipped or linked to on here. I've never watched him play dead by daylight just as I never watched him play overwatch. The idea of watching him play any FPS has no appeal to me. The justin.tv days felt quite different, such a weird culty thing you had no idea how it was going to go.

I hope he earns a ton of money from streaming and then eventually goes away to write something he can make entirely on his own terms and in his own time. A film or something maybe.

[Retinend]

Agreed. If I were a betting man I'd wager against his stated intent to continue streaming forever. Reading his excellent autobiography, it is my personal impression that he is always moving onto the next thing and can't sit still for long. Even if Twitch has helped his mental health in the short term, in the long term this weird fanbase that he has cultivated is only going to cause him headaches and diminishing returns of joy.

Wow this is getting a bit weird and personal from my end, too. But in my defense, what is there left to talk about re Limmy?

edit: typo

[fit bird]

I don't know why people (on reddit, on discord, in here) get so worked up about 'the mods'. Honestly, who cares what they do?

Don't care about them banning horrible bastards in the chat, but fucking hell the streams where he was playing with them on voice chat were bad. Half of them are just staggeringly unfunny people and it wasn't fun to watch them. He seems to have packed that in now after all the complaining though, thank fuck.

[privatefriend]

Twitch is a cesspit but I don't see him ever moving away from it, it's too lucrative.

I think Limmy does enjoy the twitch hangers on and personality cult aspect of being a conventional streamer/content creator. See the constant retweeting of grifters who sell things referencing his image or catchphrases.

[Bronzy]

And all this bollocks is why being financially dependent on your relationship with your 'fans' is a bad idea that will probably end in tears.

People aren't paying for the content, they're paying for his attention, affirmation and/or approval. A mental health time bomb all round IMO.

I'd tend to agree, Limmy has said in the past that (and I'm probably paraphrasing here) that he likes streaming as he can just sit at home and play games and get paid for it. That seems to me to be a massive simplification and I fear he's gone into it slightly naive to the extent to which people can become possessive of streamers and the drama that often follows them.

[bgmnts]

I'd tend to agree, Limmy has said in the past that (and I'm probably paraphrasing here) that he likes streaming as he can just sit at home and play games and get paid for it. That seems to me to be a massive simplification and I fear he's gone into it slightly naive to the extent to which people can become possessive of streamers and the drama that often follows them.

To be fair though, I sometimes chuck bawkbasoup on in the background and he does genuinely seem to just sit there and play games all day with no drama.

Twitch is definitely unhealthy as fuck though, no matter what it's advocates say.

[ajsmith2]

I don't want to see Limmy acting like an idealistic 4th year teacher trying to reason with disruptive students 'on their level'. If that's the point that his Twitch career has taken him to, it's not worth it for the good parts.

[frajer]

Twitch is the one of the few things that makes me feel old, as my brain cannot conceive of a way that dog's mess of a chat stream is enjoyable for anyone involved.

[Ferris]

I resigned from my job and "worked" a month's notice period moving my mouse around, approving things without reviewing them, and watching Limmy play RDR2 on YouTube. First time I've watched his stuff in ages.

When it was just him riding his horse around and doing funny little ideas and stories it was great, but it was 1hr of intro chat (skipped), 90 mins of the actual game (with him occasionally pausing to argue with mods/chat etc), then 2hrs of dull DBD with some no-mark no-patter Americans. Skip that cheers, onto the next RDR2 vid.

Fair enough, he's doing what he enjoys and if you don't like it then don't watch, but when you are directly financially reliant on people enjoying your output it seems a bit mad to not take that into consideration. I don't follow this thread closely, but it seems like his regular viewers felt the same as me (albeit far more intensely).

The ownership/access/social aspect of this also seems fucking weird. He's not your mate any more than the guy selling you windows. Wouldn't be surprised if possessive streamers/mods are the reason he eventually sacks off Twitch.

[frajer]

The ownership/access/social aspect of this also seems fucking weird. He's not your mate any more than the guy selling you windows. Wouldn't be surprised if possessive streamers/mods are the reason he eventually sacks off Twitch.

Slightly similarly, James Acaster was on the most recent Comedian's Comedian pod talking about this. He said that the way some of his fans behaved like they had a personal stake in your life was unsettling and infuriating, and led to him deleting his social media (which he acknowledges led some of his fans to go "ah, he's depressed - I knew something was up with my pal James!")

Must be very strange when fans think that the product you're selling is yourself, rather than your comedy. But I agree that Limmy now being exclusively on Twitch and relying on fan interaction for an income probably isn't helping keep those distinct.

[bgmnts]

Living on a lighted stage approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality beyond the gilded cage
Cast in this unlikely role, ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact
Living in the limelight, the universal dream
For those who wish to see
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation, the underlying theme
Living in a fish eye lens, caught in the camera eye
I have no heart to lie
I can't pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend

[Beep Cleep Chimney]

Twitch is the one of the few things that makes me feel old, as my brain cannot conceive of a way that dog's mess of a chat stream is enjoyable for anyone involved.

Same.  The chat's always the worst thing about watching anything on Twitch for me so I always get it hidden.  Same applies to watching any of Francis Higgins' live streams on YouTube.  Get that deathly chat turned OFF. 

[El Unicornio, mang]

I hate any of those realtime chat things. The ones on football streams are the worst, kids (or childish adults) bickering with each over who the best players are, and loads of racist comments. Just a rapid constant stream of the first thing that pops into the minds of idiots.

[chveik]

Same applies to watching any of Francis Higgins' live streams on YouTube.  Get that deathly chat turned OFF.

I really like the way Francis handles the chat (EMBARRASSMENT ALERT) he's also made it very clear that he won't move to twitch.

[Ferris]

Slightly similarly, James Acaster was on the most recent Comedian's Comedian pod talking about this. He said that the way some of his fans behaved like they had a personal stake in your life was unsettling and infuriating, and led to him deleting his social media (which he acknowledges led some of his fans to go "ah, he's depressed - I knew something was up with my pal James!")

Must be very strange when fans think that the product you're selling is yourself, rather than your comedy. But I agree that Limmy now being exclusively on Twitch and relying on fan interaction for an income probably isn't helping keep those distinct.

I think with Instagram influencers and youtubers and things, the line will get more blurred.

When those Americans got done for cheating their kids into college, I googled the name of one of the kids and they were a youtuber (Jade something?) and watched one of the videos out of interest. I was struck by how personal it was, like a confessional conversation between two close friends but with your dialogue cut out. Ooh I'm excited for prom and what do you think of these earrings and I like a boy and so on.

If you were an impressionable teenager, bit weird and lonely and awkward (and I assume that's the demographic these things are aimed at) then I can see how enticing a new video from that person would be, and I say that as a former weird/lonely/awkward teenager. From what I know of onlyfans (basically the CaB thread on it) it seems to be set up the same way. Even for an old Luddite like me there are TV/podcast hosts I like and follow their work (but why do I like them if they don't know me from Adam?)

I can see how people with fewer forced day to day interactions (schools/universities and workplaces are all closed) would start to value those one-way relationships more than they should, especially if you occasionally get some acknowledgement/interaction/validation from the person.

These kind of virtual parasocial monetized relationships are only going to be more common. I doubt Limmy is after that, from what I know of his persona.

Rambling post that no one will read. Submit.

[frajer]

I both read it and liked it, so deal with that.

It is interesting and probably is something that's only going to get more commonplace. I can understand it, too. I catch myself sometimes thinking it'd be great to go for a pint with Adam Buxton or summat but that's where the thought ends (honest, Buckles).

So glad I was already leaving my teens when the internet was in its infancy as I shudder to think of the messy emo content I'd have put up. Worst I did was have an arrogant try-hard MySpace page that you couldn't pay me to open up again.

[brat-sampson]

I loved the Death Stranding stuff and would be into watching him play more focused single-player / open-world stuff like that (sadly, there's hardly a lot out there like DS) but don't give a shit about DBD or trucking sims. But whatever, it seems to be working for him and that's great. As to the parasocial thing, it is weird, he's not really reliant on those nutters as they'll only ever be a small minority of the followers/subs overall, I'd hope. If he ends up upsetting a few to the point they leave, he'll still be fine, I imagine.

[chveik]

beats working in a office I guess. and online drama is still more entertaining than customer service

[Ham Bap]

As long as he can keep gaming and the money rolling in he'll not give a shite, I wouldn't.
He must be on a couple of grand a month at least (probably from RustyJuice's donations alone).
Beats leaving the house or having to put effort and stress into work.
Anymore hassle down the line he can bin Discord and all of the mods and start again.

[monkfromhavana]

I quite enjoyed the DBD streams, it was the kind of game that was made for streaming between friends. The people he played with could be a bit annoying at times, but I don't think it would work as well with a load of randoms every time.

I just think that maybe I'm just a bit bored of his streams at the moment, none of the games he has played recently seem to have stood out.

As for the chat, I always just switch it off. It's unreadable. I have to admit to being nosey about the seedy goings on the underside of the Limmy streams though. If he is genuine about doing this for a considerable amount of time, he's going to have to continually take a position on this kind of thing (people getting to close, wanting to influence him for whatever reason) and be ready to gently fuck people off / ease them out in the style that Ham Bap suggested.

[Ferris]

I both read it and liked it, so deal with that.

It is interesting and probably is something that's only going to get more commonplace. I can understand it, too. I catch myself sometimes thinking it'd be great to go for a pint with Adam Buxton or summat but that's where the thought ends (honest, Buckles).

So glad I was already leaving my teens when the internet was in its infancy as I shudder to think of the messy emo content I'd have put up. Worst I did was have an arrogant try-hard MySpace page that you couldn't pay me to open up again.

Buckles is the person I thought of as well! Seems a lovely bloke.

[Ferris]

beats working in a office I guess. and online drama is still more entertaining than customer service

Yeah but if you're Limmy, your options aren't "deal with online drama or get a job at Tesco".

He's already shown if he doesn't like doing something (live shows, TV writing/producing, acting roles) then he sacks it off and does something else. If it becomes too much hassle he'll do something else though fuck knows what that is. Back to flash animations maybe.

[Mister Six]

Got a free Prime account on my alt email and used it do a free subscribe to Limmy on Twitch. Is that it, he's got "my" money now? Can I just cancel the Prime subscription tomorrow without him losing out on that payment? Want to support the man, but I don't trust myself to not forget about it and end up getting charged next month.

[Ham Bap]

Yeah Rachel from his old streams, this is the thread - reading that you'd understand why he doesn't want to go to meetups that his internet pals keep trying to initiate.

He spoke about this today 25 minutes in.

[Fishfinger]

Got a free Prime account on my alt email and used it do a free subscribe to Limmy on Twitch. Is that it, he's got "my" money now? Can I just cancel the Prime subscription tomorrow without him losing out on that payment? Want to support the man, but I don't trust myself to not forget about it and end up getting charged next month.

Prime subs need to be manually renewed, so it's not a problem. If you cancel, you keep the 'benefits' until the sub would've expired, i.e. you've bought a month. So he'll get paid regardless, presumably at the end of the subscription period.

[Wet Blanket]

He spoke about this today 25 minutes in.

That's really interesting. I remember that incident and sort of seeing it from both perspectives - the fan had been a bit full on, but Limmy's cancelling her ticket seemed a bit harsh. Hearing about it from his perspective you can appreciate how much it can fuck with your head being a celeb with an overfamiliar fan and just wanting to put a stop to it as quickly as possible (and it does seem there was a lot more happening over DM, too)

[thelittlemango]

That's really interesting. I remember that incident and sort of seeing it from both perspectives - the fan had been a bit full on, but Limmy's cancelling her ticket seemed a bit harsh. Hearing about it from his perspective you can appreciate how much it can fuck with your head being a celeb with an overfamiliar fan and just wanting to put a stop to it as quickly as possible (and it does seem there was a lot more happening over DM, too)

It was still going on last year: https://twitter.com/RachelPrevails/status/1156888217028845571

[thugler]

That's really interesting. I remember that incident and sort of seeing it from both perspectives - the fan had been a bit full on, but Limmy's cancelling her ticket seemed a bit harsh. Hearing about it from his perspective you can appreciate how much it can fuck with your head being a celeb with an overfamiliar fan and just wanting to put a stop to it as quickly as possible (and it does seem there was a lot more happening over DM, too)

Yeah I think he's pretty fair in that clip. There's one side of it in that it's making him feel uncomfortable and effecting his mental health, but allowing it to go on is probably not good for the person with the obsession either. The sort of mild darkness/negativity he references can easily get amplified over time and it could turn unpleasant, or certainly feel like it could, so probably best to nip it in the bud like that.

[fit bird]

He spoke about this today 25 minutes in.

It's always a bit freaky seeing him talk about something seriously.
How the fuck he wasn't freaked out enough to quit twitch when his moderators were planning on flying around the world to meet up with him in the middle of the coronavirus mayhem is beyond me. If that didn't do it then it must be something properly weird to get him rattled.

[Cold Meat Platter]

The quick and easy path leads to the dark side. I was told this by some decrepit wee cunt with huge lugs.