The online YouTube and Twitch streaming community is growing rapidly. With many adopting streaming and making videos as a hobby and some making it their career.
Here is why some creators are going viral.
The Internet Enjoys Watching People Sleep
Twitch – a platform where content creators are involved in live activities (playing games, playing music, etc) – streamer, JesseDStreams, became an overnight Internet sensation, albeit unintentionally.
JesseDStreams usually streams games on Twitch, however, he went viral as he fell asleep during a live stream.
Before the stream started, his subscriber count stood at 100 and now has over 2500 followers. With each follower having to pay a minimum of $4.99 per month, the streamer made a massive profit for dozing off.
The stream lasted for over 6 hours out of which he slept for nearly three hours. Watch it here.
Here is another streamer who got caught sleeping while streaming and gained hundreds of followers.
Being viral, however, has its cons.
Swatting!
Virality on the Internet is not always a good thing. Swatting - a crime where someone finds your address either through your IP or because your name and location is known. Then they call 911 anonymously and report a fake emergency – is another infamous Internet trend that has not only endangered the wellbeing of a content creator, it has also turned into a logistical nightmare for the police around the world.
Unlike JesseDStreams, who gained followers for sleeping, swatting is a rather serious offence in where the victim is in danger of sustaining serious injuries. There have been many instances of famous streamers getting swatted and making the headlines unintentionally on the Internet.
ABC 7 News had reported of a horrifying ordeal that a 12-year-old boy had to undergo, when he was swatted while playing the popular online game - Fortnite. He said, “I am scared that people have our address and could do it again.”
Swatting of popular streamer Jordan Mathewson is one of the well known incidents of content creators being detained in their own home.
He was later released when the police realised that they had been duped and no illegal activity was being carried out in the house of the gamer.
With people finding it easier to get a hold of the IP addresses of gamers, it has become easier for the Internet to send SWAT teams to the creators houses.
With the increasing frequency of these attacks, the police has set very rigid punishments for those involved in swatting, including jail time.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)