Better DLive Survey, charitybot's unwelcome advice on how to succeed as a platform.

So, DLive is asking users to describe their experiences with the platform. I've seen some of the other replies so far and they talk about the quality of the platform itself, I'd like to go more into why I think the current model is unsustainable and they need to rethink their approach and use of their delegation.

Question #1
"How do you decide a stream is good or not?"

Me, personally? It needs to be more entertaining than playing the game would be. That's a high bar for myself as I prefer to play instead of watching someone else play and I rarely watch others. But then again that exact reason is why I'm not the target demographic DLive should be aiming for if it wants to grow. If you're looking to take marketshare away from Twitch then you need to see what makes them successful.

You need engaging, entertaining streamers who have decent quality streams (sometimes hard to achieve on DLive with the connectivity issues, though they seem to have abated over time), and you need an engaged userbase. Let's not kid ourselves here, the userbase of steemit is tiny, and that reflects itself in the viewer counts. You need streamers with loyal, fervent fanbases to draw big numbers, and with the amount of cash at your disposal it's quite puzzling that we've managed to poach so few of them.

Question #2
"What do you think about DLive and how can DLive improve?"

That makes me to my next set of points. I personally believe that DLive is missing a huge opportunity. Look at the ways that other members on steemit have managed to create incentives to recruit users to the platform. Is DLive trying to do any of that? Not really. Are they actively reaching out to streamers on other platforms with big followings? Are they planning to roll out a login system where you don't require a steemit account but can still at least chat with the broadcaster?

What is being done with the delegation? You keep hosting these contests for streamers and I'm not sure what your aim is with them. If you want to test your servers, then fine, go ahead and blow a bunch of votes on streams with 0-1 viewers. Test your throughput, that's fine. But don't expect streamers to hang around for long and don't expect any of that growth to be organic and lasting. Streamers aren't going to find the couple of cents per hour they get out of streaming at the low ends to be worthwhile, so you're kind of shooting yourself in the foot by putting their expectations of payouts so high in the first place when these contests end.

What is the point of reaching the trending or hot page if it doesn't yield any lasting results? Is there really a point to the service if it's just designed to allow a handful of admins to stream to 5-15 viewers and get paid hundreds of dollars a pop? That's more a reflection of how steemit's buddy-voting system works moreso than a problem with DLive itself, and is an entirely separate issue.

Why even hold contests at all if streams have no viewers and no users outside of steemit are aware of them? Sure, you get mindshare with steemit users, but you should be thinking outside of the steemit platform if you want to really generate returns on your delegation and benefit DLive and steemit for years to come.

If you're going to blow that much capital on things that don't work, you might as well start paying existing middle-sized twitch streamers fat, it shouldn't be too hard to consistently overpay them what they're currently earning, and give them bounties based on how many twitch viewers they can convert into steemit users and DLive viewers.

If you're looking for really dumb ideas, you might as well hire a group of curators with too much time on their hands, and start paying viewers for interacting with streamers.

I'm not a marketing expert, and I'm pretty sure the streaming business is cutthroat and most fail and they continue to operate at losses, or more companies would be in on it. Amazon bought Twitch, and it's hard to compete with that amount of money and how ingrained they are in the general public's mind as THE go-to website to watch gaming streams, but it's generally just odd that DLive chooses to think that paying current steemit users to use their platform will net them anything worthwhile.

Not to be mean, but if this is all a complicated charade to pay out a couple of buddies then at least do the general steemit public the favor of just stating that outright. If you're trying to make something that can compete with the outside world, then you need to start making plans on how you can extend your reach outside of steemit and into the hearts and minds of millions of potential viewers and users. I'm here to see steemit become more successful than it is or has been, I don't want steemit to be a fad dictated by price spikes that we can't control. You have a clear opportunity here, I don't want to see you squander it, which is why I'm being so critical of how you're currently running things.

Gaming is a growing industry, and the cottage industry of streaming could very well become an entertainment source for many millions more in years to come. We need to figure out how to tap into that userbase with incentive plans that make sense and help DLive compete with media giants like Twitch and Youtube.

Hell, even something as simple as an SMT that loyal viewers can trade in for prizes from their favorite streamers like co-op gaming sessions could be a start. You have many tools available to you and a lot of, well, basically startup angel investor money available to you, so you aren't too limited in where you can go with all of this. Start rewarding people for adding value to the platform. Start setting goals for people to onboard people from the outside world. Stop thinking that if you fix technical issues with the platform somehow people will come in droves, it doesn't work like that. We can't depend on cannibalizing existing user activity on steemit to make steemit grow. This is a tall task but DLive can do it. You can do it. I know you're technically apt, but you need to get professional-level consultation on how startups of your type work. I've seen enough startups go bust from the outside to know that throwing money at the wrong solutions will never work. At least you aren't in a situation where you're going into debt, but at the very least you need to make it obvious that delegating that SP to you wasn't a mistake. GL HF.

Oh, and to answer the rest of the questions, I was curious and saw the fat payouts, I'm not streaming because my upload speed is crap for now, and I might stream in the future when I have 1000000000 terrabit internet and can host streams for charity.

I'll put it bluntly. DLive is an attractive platform for new streamers compared to other platforms because there's at least a chance they'll get paid heftily even without viewers or fans. But as a new viewer no sane person would choose to watch on DLive, as there are many obstacles in the way and there's a dearth of talent. Viewers like communicating with other viewers, they like being a part of a crowd, they like the spectacle and they like memeing and cheering on their favorite streamer or team. There are things that are out of your hands related to the difficulties of getting on DLive as a viewer but you have ways to combat them and make it a more attractive viewing option. You aren't putting enough thought into how you'll get viewers at the moment, and need to focus on getting a critical mass of dedicated viewers.

When I think about ways that other platforms have poached users, have you thought to enlist pro-gamers or competitions, or is in that in the works for a later date? The stipend and living expenses of a group living in a gaming house are tiny in comparison to what earnings your delegation could generate, you could easily host a competitive team for each of the major sports like League of Legends, Dota, CS:GO, etc. And you can definitely get into talks with any of the major venues for exclusive streaming rights for major tournaments. Maybe start with some lesser tournaments at first and see how it goes.

And as far as teams go it might be a bit pricey to get A-list teams, you could do well to experiment with getting a scaffolding in place to back a couple of C or B list tier 2 or 3 teams (expenses vary depending on region and game). Steem and SBD are perfect for the kind of micro-payments that would entice some rather underpaid talent in the form of coaches, analysts, chefs etc. to work with the teams. Depending on the contracts teams pay for themselves if they jump in skill level and start winning tournaments. As far as I know you'd be the first to back an esports team with cryptocurrency, hell, that's a headline in itself.

Think with the distant future in mind and you'll find that the options are endless.

Oh, and for whoever at DLive was tasked with reading these surveys, sorry about the length, but I hope it helps you out. I really do.