Game Development Live on Twitch : Observations of Practice and Educational Synergies

Abstract

This chapter explores how professional game developers live stream their creative work on Twitch.tv. It asks how these developers engage in co-creative acts with their viewers and how they engage in game talk during their design process. These practices lend themselves to daily professional practice and advancement, which is structurally incentivized by the platform itself. This chapter is therefore framed in a broader examination that questions the potential use of streaming platforms as educational environments, and how these practices intersect both formal and informal educational models. There are synergies between the practices emerging on Twitch and the educational practices surrounding game development as a field as universities find themselves engaged in exploring how to deliver educational experiences at a distance.