Streamer's Hell - Investigating Audience Influence in Live-Streams Beyond the Game

In the context of game live-streams, we focus on whether audience influence options can be extended beyond the game, e.g., to the streamers' environment (e.g., controlling their room lighting), the streamers themselves (e.g., activating vibration feedback on their forearms) and the streamers' hardware and peripheral devices (e.g., switching key bindings). An online study (n=81) showed that viewers have mixed feelings and that the context matters, as only a few game genres are assessed as suitable for such an experience. In a lab-study six streamers experienced the idea while playing a horror game. They saw appeal in extending the influence space, but also again highlighted that context matters and customization options are necessary. The studies hint that although this interactivity is from a technical perspective independent of the content streamed, in practice it is not, as the perception is moderated by e.g., the game and why the streamer is playing it.