A regular stopped coming after I got more chatters. Have some of you dealt with something similar?
I just started streaming some time ago, and I had this great follower stop by. They were there for every stream, and shortly after became a regular. I really enjoyed our banter so much, and it genuinely made my day every time they came by. Their takes were so funny and insightful too.
Then I made some streamer acquaintances, and they started stopping by my streams and chatting every now and then. I'm super grateful for them, but you can kind of tell that the chat feels a bit less genuine. Sometimes it feels like they are there mostly to make sure I’ll stop by their streams as well, and the chat feels a lot less committed/genuine. It feels like they’re coming in and out, maybe just leaving the tab open in the background, and what they write isn’t always as engaging or as excited about the game as the comments from the regular were. The comments are also very few and far between, they don't answer to my questions, exactly opposite of how the regular had communicated previously, which is such a step back.
I remember the regular mentioning that they purposely prefer smaller streamers because they dislike very lively chats, and that they use it to socialize. I knew this, but I never would have guessed that even just 1–2 other people showing up might be an issue. I was thinking more like 50+ viewers or a super lively chat. And that’s where my confusion comes in.
Ever since those 2 of my streamer acquaintances started tuning into my streams, the regular either leaves soon after or doesn’t come to the stream at all, whereas before they were always there in every single stream. Only once did I see them send a message while one of the streamer acquaintances was there, and I hoped maybe they’ll see that this isn’t anything scary, especially since the streamer acquaintances aren’t even that chatty anyway, and the regular will eventually start chatting as they used to, but instead it seems that if anyone else is in the chat they simply don't come.
And that sucks. It sounds weird, but I really miss the genuine interactions. Did you come across something similar? How can I make sure the regular still feels welcome, could I possibly do something to make them come back? I thought that if they are shy, maybe they can first feel out the situation, and slowly start interacting when it feels again right or at least lurk, but I'm genuinely so puzzled that they just stopped coming/leave if there are others.
On one hand, I was happy more people finally started to tune-in, but as said, I don't even know if it's worth it if it leads to less engaged and genuine conversation. I'm genuinely feeling like I'm in the "dead internet theory" and it feels like many viewers of small Twitch streamers are just other streamers, and it turn the interactions feel less genuine. I'm honesly even not sure if it makes any sense to continue stream, if I suddenly lost the only truly natural viewer I got. (not someone potentially watching because they want to network)