Interactions across Displays and Space: A Study of Virtual Reality Streaming Practices on Twitch

Abstract

The growing live streaming economy and virtual reality (VR) technologies have sparked interest in VR streaming among streamers and viewers. However, limited research has been conducted to understand this emerging streaming practice. To address this gap, we conducted an in-depth thematic analysis of 34 streaming videos from 12 VR streamers with varying levels of experience, to explore the current practices, interaction styles, and strategies, as well as to investigate the challenges and opportunities for VR streaming. Our findings indicate that VR streamers face challenges in building emotional connections and maintaining streaming flow due to technical problems, lack of fluid transitions between physical and virtual environments, and not intentionally designed game scenes. As a response, we propose six design implications to encourage collaboration between game designers and streaming app developers, facilitating fluid, rich, and broad interactions for an enhanced streaming experience. In addition, we discuss the use of streaming videos as user-generated data for research, highlighting the lessons learned and emphasizing the need for tools to support streaming video analysis. Our research sheds light on the unique aspects of VR streaming, which combines interactions across displays and space.