Viewbotting and Its Impact on the eSports Industry
I will NOT mention specific channels or streamers in this article, as it is not meant to be a witch hunt. Instead, the goal is to highlight the influence of viewbotting on the eSports industry, specifically on Twitch.
How Viewbotting Works
There are several services available that compete to offer the most efficient money/bot ratio. A quick Google search will give you dozens of viewbot websites, all offering similar services:
- Stable Twitch live viewers
- Load accounts to your viewer list
- Followers
- Bot disguises (adding avatars, followers, past broadcasts, etc.)
- Chatters (to prevent slow chat with a high viewer count)
Identifying Viewbotting
Collect suggestive/circumstantial evidence
There are tools available for measuring idle vs non-idle viewers or chatting vs not-chatting. Some viewbotting services even offer chat options to avoid detection. To identify viewbotting, you can observe the quality of chat and the validity of viewer accounts. Additionally, there are YouTube videos demonstrating how to identify channels populated by bots.
However, this evidence is only suggestive and circumstantial. Viewbot services use botnets with multiple IP addresses, making it difficult to pinpoint the true source. Streamers can claim that the viewbotting was done by someone else, which makes it challenging to make reliable judgments.
Catch streamers using viewbotting software
In rare cases, streamers have been caught using a panel for their viewbot service on stream. These incidents provide reliable evidence and can help Twitch take action. However, such instances are not common enough to completely solve the problem.
Implications of Viewbotting
Legal Implications
There are currently no specific legal sanctions against viewbotting. Streaming is a relatively new phenomenon that lacks the necessary legal infrastructure for effective enforcement. Twitch cannot monitor every minute of every stream, making it impossible to catch all instances of illegal streaming activities.
Short-term Benefits for Streamers
Viewbotting can temporarily boost a streamer’s visibility by placing them at the top of their game category. This can lead to increased exposure and potential growth in viewers, followers, donors, or even subscribers for partners.
Long-term Disadvantages for Streamers
Viewbotting is frowned upon by the community, especially by aspiring Twitch streamers. Watching others gain success through viewbotting can be demotivating for those who struggle to grow organically. This resentment and frustration can discourage consistent streaming efforts.
Social Consequences
Aspiring streamers often seek inspiration from popular streams. If some of these popular streams are using viewbotting to increase viewership, other streamers may try to imitate certain elements, such as appearance or style. However, these imitations may not resonate well with the community, leading to wasted efforts on ineffective strategies.
Market Consequences
Viewbotting creates short-term community inflation. For example, if 10k viewers in the CS category are bots, potential investors may see this inflated number as a target audience for advertising. However, this can mislead investors into believing that the market is larger than it really is. When investments based on inflated statistics yield unexpectedly low returns, investing in streams becomes less fruitful than anticipated.
Possible Solutions
While there is no perfect answer to this problem, here are a few potential options:
1. Ban streamers suspected of using bots, even if some may be innocent.
2. Advocate for legislation that prohibits viewbot providers, encouraging prosecution.
3. Twitch could issue warnings on suspected viewbotting pages and disclose the approximate number of bots to inform users and investors.
If you have anything to contribute to this topic, feel free to contact me on Twitter @MartinStuessy.