Well since Covid basically started - my job has more or less been shut down. Without getting into details, I work in the film industry and not much is happening right now. It’s looking more and more like all of my projects are pushing to next year. So that sucks.
That being said, I’ve been playing a lot of DnD with friends on roll20 and just been considering possible forms of alternative income based on my skill set while we all wait out this horrible (possibly never ending) disease to end. I wanted to reach out here for advice. I’ve watched a lot critical role, and while I love them, I’d intend to run a channel a little different. I also don’t want to minimize their success, it took Years of great playing to get the following they have and deserve. So my expectations aren’t super high.
Questions for Streamers / anyone who’s looking into such a thing.
-what should I set my expectation level at? DnD is not hugely popular on twitch outside of CR. It seems the Twitch model is a bit of a mystery to everyone not streamers so looking for any insight on that.
-do DMs who make money on twitch pay players? If so is it at a percentage? What percentage?
-what can I show and not show? I totally understand the rules on music IP, but what about art? If I wanted to run a campaign / adventure and I own the book and a digital copy - can I show it on stream?
-what are ways to grow a DnD audience? -
what potential pitfalls am I not seeing in something like this?
-I have a bit of money saved up I can use to get some things rolling, but is it even really viable to expect a stream of once a week (with reruns and additional content) to make money in a window of a few months?
To anyone who watches twitch DnD
-what do you like in channels, what do you not like?
-very interested in running the new frost maiden adventure when it comes out, but also like home brewing things and story lines - how tight do people expect me to stay with the written story?
-what gets you to stay and watch, what turns you away?
So yeah. Anyone please feel free to comment on any part of this you like. I greatly appreciate it.
I am not a streamer, but I'm going to take a stab at some of these questions.
• what should I set my expectation level at? DnD is not hugely popular on twitch outside of CR. It seems the Twitch model is a bit of a mystery to everyone not streamers so looking for any insight on that.
• I have a bit of money saved up I can use to get some things rolling, but is it even really viable to expect a stream of once a week (with reruns and additional content) to make money in a window of a few months?
The popularity of D&D and the Streaming of D&D is steadily growing. There are a handful of other successful streamers beyond CriticalRoll at this point in time. So, it is entirely possible to monetize D&D play. With that said, it is my understanding that the majority of twitch streamers have two major sources of income. Twitch subscriptions and outside Sponsors. Both of these sources of income require having a large community.
Building a strong following will take both a large amount of time and resources. Your expectations should be very low in making any amount of serious income any time soon. This will be a slow burn to success and relies on a large amount of luck.
• do DMs who make money on twitch pay players? If so is it at a percentage? What percentage?
This type of information is not and should not be widely known, unless the employee wishes to share such details. But, as to your question if they should be paid or are paid. Ask yourself, if you were a player and the DM was making money off of your performance would you be happy not being paid? A DM needs players just as much as players need a DM. This is a give and take relationship. As to how much you should pay them that is a discussion to have with the players themselves. If you truly want to make a living/profit from streaming you will need to be as fair as you can in this decision.
• what can I show and not show? I totally understand the rules on music IP, but what about art? If I wanted to run a campaign / adventure and I own the book and a digital copy - can I show it on stream?
I have no idea. You would need to look at the licencing of all material that you are using live on stream. As a small player in the industry you will initially have a lot of leeway. But! If you do become popular and rise up the ranks of D&D streamers that leeway will disappear. At which point if you have been using licensed material incorrectly you are in for a very large headache as you try to make all previous content fit in the scope of the material licencing.
•what are ways to grow a DnD audience? -
• what potential pitfalls am I not seeing in something like this?
• what do you like in channels, what do you not like?
• what gets you to stay and watch, what turns you away?
There is one thing that you need to remember for streaming and all online content. Consistency. You need to be pumping out content at a constant rate. Remember that on the internet a week is an equivalent of a month. There is a lot of other content besides yours. If you want to stay in people's minds you need to be reminding them you exist as often as you can.
The biggest pitfall you need to be aware of, is that this will most likely not become a profitable venture for you. You are not already a large player in the D&D world. You don't have a audience from other sources that you can transplant into your twitch stream. There is a lot of competition and getting people to care about your stream over others will require a lot of work.
I myself, and I assume most others, expect a few things from the content that I watch. First the quality needs to be high. Video and Audio quality are a must. Bad audio will drive me away faster than anything else. I also expect a consistent format. I should have an idea of what the streamers/content producers release schedule is like and what the videos content will consist of. You need to find a format for your content as soon as possible and stick with it. Take note of how CRs format works. At the start of the show they have announcements and sponsored messages. Then they have a title drop moving into a summary of the last episode. Then game play with a mid-point break and then move gameplay. They then end the stream with any short announcements about the schedule. This happens every episode like clock work. My expectionions are set and I trust that, for the most part, I know what I'm going to get by tuning in each week.
• very interested in running the new frost maiden adventure when it comes out, but also like home brewing things and story lines - how tight do people expect me to stay with the written story?
This entirely depends on your audience some people do care others don't. As long as you are consistent your audience will grow with whatever choice you make.
-do DMs who make money on twitch pay players? If so is it at a percentage? What percentage?
To gather viewer interest / audience is really hard, if you plan to make money only, I don't think this is the best idea unless you have a lot of money to make give away or you are handsome / beautiful enough. Other than that, you need a unique personality to attract the viewer.
It just my experience, just sharing with you. A lot of my streamer friends aren't making any money.
Hey thank you for the responses! Greatly appreciated! Both of you guys.
As far as personality goes I totally get that. I have noticed a few DnD streams don't show faces, and I think part of this is for immersion. I have no problem with showing my face on camera but I am interested in possibly in using commissioned character art with some sort of talking indicator (trying to figure out how to do that in OBS) to help people stay immersed instead of distracted by what our faces look like. Would love to hear some opinions on that!
Well since Covid basically started - my job has more or less been shut down. Without getting into details, I work in the film industry and not much is happening right now. It’s looking more and more like all of my projects are pushing to next year. So that sucks.
That being said, I’ve been playing a lot of DnD with friends on roll20 and just been considering possible forms of alternative income based on my skill set while we all wait out this horrible (possibly never ending) disease to end. I wanted to reach out here for advice. I’ve watched a lot critical role, and while I love them, I’d intend to run a channel a little different. I also don’t want to minimize their success, it took Years of great playing to get the following they have and deserve. So my expectations aren’t super high.
Questions for Streamers / anyone who’s looking into such a thing.
-what should I set my expectation level at? DnD is not hugely popular on twitch outside of CR. It seems the Twitch model is a bit of a mystery to everyone not streamers so looking for any insight on that.
-do DMs who make money on twitch pay players? If so is it at a percentage? What percentage?
-what can I show and not show? I totally understand the rules on music IP, but what about art? If I wanted to run a campaign / adventure and I own the book and a digital copy - can I show it on stream?
-what are ways to grow a DnD audience? -
what potential pitfalls am I not seeing in something like this?
-I have a bit of money saved up I can use to get some things rolling, but is it even really viable to expect a stream of once a week (with reruns and additional content) to make money in a window of a few months?
To anyone who watches twitch DnD
-what do you like in channels, what do you not like?
-very interested in running the new frost maiden adventure when it comes out, but also like home brewing things and story lines - how tight do people expect me to stay with the written story?
-what gets you to stay and watch, what turns you away?
So yeah. Anyone please feel free to comment on any part of this you like. I greatly appreciate it.
I am not a streamer, but I'm going to take a stab at some of these questions.
The popularity of D&D and the Streaming of D&D is steadily growing. There are a handful of other successful streamers beyond CriticalRoll at this point in time. So, it is entirely possible to monetize D&D play. With that said, it is my understanding that the majority of twitch streamers have two major sources of income. Twitch subscriptions and outside Sponsors. Both of these sources of income require having a large community.
Building a strong following will take both a large amount of time and resources. Your expectations should be very low in making any amount of serious income any time soon. This will be a slow burn to success and relies on a large amount of luck.
This type of information is not and should not be widely known, unless the employee wishes to share such details.
But, as to your question if they should be paid or are paid. Ask yourself, if you were a player and the DM was making money off of your performance would you be happy not being paid? A DM needs players just as much as players need a DM. This is a give and take relationship.
As to how much you should pay them that is a discussion to have with the players themselves. If you truly want to make a living/profit from streaming you will need to be as fair as you can in this decision.
I have no idea. You would need to look at the licencing of all material that you are using live on stream. As a small player in the industry you will initially have a lot of leeway. But! If you do become popular and rise up the ranks of D&D streamers that leeway will disappear. At which point if you have been using licensed material incorrectly you are in for a very large headache as you try to make all previous content fit in the scope of the material licencing.
There is one thing that you need to remember for streaming and all online content. Consistency. You need to be pumping out content at a constant rate. Remember that on the internet a week is an equivalent of a month. There is a lot of other content besides yours. If you want to stay in people's minds you need to be reminding them you exist as often as you can.
The biggest pitfall you need to be aware of, is that this will most likely not become a profitable venture for you. You are not already a large player in the D&D world. You don't have a audience from other sources that you can transplant into your twitch stream. There is a lot of competition and getting people to care about your stream over others will require a lot of work.
I myself, and I assume most others, expect a few things from the content that I watch.
First the quality needs to be high. Video and Audio quality are a must. Bad audio will drive me away faster than anything else. I also expect a consistent format. I should have an idea of what the streamers/content producers release schedule is like and what the videos content will consist of. You need to find a format for your content as soon as possible and stick with it.
Take note of how CRs format works. At the start of the show they have announcements and sponsored messages. Then they have a title drop moving into a summary of the last episode. Then game play with a mid-point break and then move gameplay. They then end the stream with any short announcements about the schedule.
This happens every episode like clock work. My expectionions are set and I trust that, for the most part, I know what I'm going to get by tuning in each week.
This entirely depends on your audience some people do care others don't. As long as you are consistent your audience will grow with whatever choice you make.
To gather viewer interest / audience is really hard, if you plan to make money only, I don't think this is the best idea unless you have a lot of money to make give away or you are handsome / beautiful enough. Other than that, you need a unique personality to attract the viewer.
It just my experience, just sharing with you. A lot of my streamer friends aren't making any money.
Hey thank you for the responses! Greatly appreciated! Both of you guys.
As far as personality goes I totally get that. I have noticed a few DnD streams don't show faces, and I think part of this is for immersion. I have no problem with showing my face on camera but I am interested in possibly in using commissioned character art with some sort of talking indicator (trying to figure out how to do that in OBS) to help people stay immersed instead of distracted by what our faces look like. Would love to hear some opinions on that!
hola