My response to the Better DLive Survey

Hello Reader,

@dlive made a post asking streamers to answer a few questions and provide some feedback on the platform.

I've only been on Steemit for a month now and have 15 streams under my belt, but I still want to provide my feedback as DLive was one of the primary motivators for me joining the site. Let's get to it.

1. How do you decide a stream is good or not?

• Theme - Am I interested in what's being presented? (For example I enjoy gaming streams, but not IRL streams.)
• Video Quality - Can I see what's happening? (If the stream is too blurry or choppy it's hard to stay engaged.)
• Audio Quality - Can I hear what's happening? (Can I hear the game sounds clearly, the streamers voice clearly, and are the two balanced well.)
• Language - Can I understand what's happening? (If it's a foreign language stream I won't be interested.)
• Original Content - Is the content newly created or a novel presentation of an existing idea? (OC is self explanatory, and if the streamer is using existing content but putting a twist on it like commentating it that works for me as well.)
• Interaction - Is the streamer watching chat and responding to the comments?Are they involving the chat in there dialog and if relevant engaging the chat's opinion on the subject of the stream?

2. What do you think about DLive?

I think DLive is revolutionary. Being built on the steemit platform allows stake holders to reward content creators without having to actually take the money out of their own pocket. This means that a user does not have to reach a critical threshold of viewers, followers, or donaters in order to be compensated for the content they are creating. This dramatically lowers the barrier of entry for people wanting to participate. This will also encourage users to stay on the platform as the rewards will only grower larger as their fan base does. I think DLive will be a major force in drawing new users to the Steemit platform.

3. How can DLive improve?
I'm interpreting this question as a call for feature requests as well as a chance to report areas that need improvement.

• Major suggestions - Ideas that would take major development effort and time.
  • VODs - Automatically re-upload the stream so that viewers can watch past streams if they missed the live broadcast.
  • Clips - Allow viewers or the streamer to clip a moment of the action that is instantly uploaded and available for viewing from in the chat by the viewers or streamer.
  • Notifications - A plugin for OBS or a built in feature for the DLive page that notifies the streamer and viewers when a user joins the stream, follows the streamer, or upvotes the stream. Also a notification for viewers when a streamer they follow comes online.

• Minor improvement suggestions - Ideas that would take minor development effort and time.
  • Formatting - While the description of the post may look nice on the steemit post, it all falls apart and smashes together on the DLive post.
  • Authentication - There are four fields that must be copied to OBS in order for it to connect. Two of those fields have a copy icon and the other two do not as they are passwords. I feel these fields should also have an easy button to press to copy the text.
  • Upvotes - I feel the chat feed should have an upvote icon for each comment so the streamer could reward good comments and encourage more audience participation.

4. Why did you start streaming on DLive
I have a day job and busy home life that takes up a large chunk of my time so I can't be someone who streams as their day job. With Twitch this would mean I would most likely never be compensated for streaming. On DLive there is no barrier to entry and being compensated. This means I can stream my normal game time and interact with a community that will reward me for it. Speaking of the community, they are amazing, and another major draw to be on DLive. While Twitch chat is noticeably toxic the community DLive and Steemit has built is very positive and supportive. I've had the opportunity to not only interact with my chat, but bring them into voice chat and the game with me. I've built new relationships with people that may end up being gaming friends for life.

5. What are you streaming?
I am a gaming streamer. I have no bias towards a specific genre, but I am heavily influenced by what my friends are currently playing as I enjoy spending time gaming with them. So far I have had success with my streams of Hearthstone and Player Unknowns Battlegrounds.

6. How are you planning to improve your stream?
I plan on re-investing the rewards I have received from streaming on DLive into creating a better experience for the viewers.

• Microphone - Right now the headset mic does a passing job, but a dedicated microphone will provide a better quality and allow more configuration.
• Monitor - I need an additional monitor to better keep track of the what I am streaming, what OBS is displaying, and chat's response.
• System - Right now my gaming system is starting to show it's age and is unable to play the newer games at the graphical quality the deserve which means a lower video quality for the viewers.

Non-monetary improvements I can make.

• Editing - Providing clips from the stream and uploading them so viewers have something to see when I'm not online
• Promotion - Encouraging viewers to attend my stream by announcing stream dates and times, hosting giveaways, and creating attention grabbing thumbnails.
• Relationships - Continue to build a relationship with my viewers so they come back to watch me instead of other streamers.

Thank you for reading my thoughts and opinions, I hope it has been useful. I tried to balance the post between brevity due to the large number of submissions you will receive and details that answer your questions. If you would like me to expand on my response you need only ask.

-Ajaxalot