"Gambling" in video game streaming is becoming more prominent, with many streamers offering gambling style products to their viewers as well as filming live poker tournaments for real money.
What's this?
In the latest release Kahlil Philander webinar series the host talked to two experienced scientists about the "gambling" of video streaming platforms.
Who is this?
Moderator - Khalil Philander
Speaker - Brett Abarbanel , University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Speaker - Mark Johnson , University of Sydney
What do they say?
Johnson began: “Twitch has a very open infrastructure for accepting new extensions, and for this project we looked at a little over 400 Twitch extensions that fell into these groups, and we found that boost systems can be found in most of these groups. These are increasingly common methods to draw viewers' attention to twitching.
“Basically, we found five key themes here - the first was that some of these extensions are in line with most of the ways we think about gambling, but instead have social rather than financial results, so if you “win” , you will win. choose which game they will play next, not money.
“Secondly, many of these extensions allow you to predict what might happen next in the stream, and many Twitch channels now have their own currencies that people can 'play' with. The third one is that some of these systems match most of the legal components of gambling, but parts of that gambling are assigned to different people within that stream.”
Continuing, he outlined how the fourth theme was the presence of pranks, and finally defined the use of terms such as "addictive", which is an acceptable term to use in the context of gaming, but not in the context of gambling.
“These extension tools serve a purpose – they attract the person who is watching you and create content – the whole idea is to create content,” Abarbanel added.
"Something that you can provide that will keep you entertained, like a mini-game or a lottery, that's what you just provided - even if it's advertising - those are the things that create those gaps."
Why should I watch this?
To hear the opinions of seasoned academics and experts in video game streaming, discuss "gambling" in the sector and the forms it takes.
Where can I see more?
Source: Khalil Philander's YouTube channel.
The video game streaming Gamblification post "serves to engage the audience" first appeared on GamblingTV.com.