Twitch Removes Playroom From Stream Directory

We will look into adding it back as PS4 owners become more familiar with the games-only focus of Twitch content.

What was Twitch expecting to happen?

Someone gets a PS4 and starts streaming Playroom on Twitch, and not knowing what Twitch is or what their rules are, immediately is spammed by hundreds of people telling them to "show tits" and "shoe on head". To top it all off, when their channel is eventually banned by Twitch, they aren't given a reason why and are back in a matter of minutes under a new user name.

@gunharp said:

Ustream isn't a gaming-only site, so it's not as limited as Twitch.

Ustream it is!

@gunharp: Ustream allows Playroom streaming, because Ustream doesnt bill itself as "gaming only". Whether they ban you or not for your stream's content is really up to their admin staff.

maybe we are not ready for this? Right now there's people editing out single lines that streamers onto youtube as though it's the most entertaining thing they ever heard in their lives.

@mistzero: go to any popular twitch stream. the vast majority of that community are sub-9gag memespewing scum. ambulatory barely sentient garbage, essentially.

@jimmyfenix: Uuuuuugh, it's 10,000 times worse than I imagined. Now I really don't want anything to do with these consoles.

Ok, well fuck Twitch then. I'd much rather see people using the streaming feature for stuff that is actually creative, rather than some dipshit's 500th Resogun marathon. Time for another service to be center stage, whether it's usstream or something else that finds a way to capitalize on it.

This is great news!

The only reason any of these shows got viewership is because of the novelty of PS4 streaming. People have been streaming insane crap on the Internet 24 hours a day before the PS4 . Had Twitch left this source alone it would have either petered out as the novelty wore off, or maybe Playroom would have gained a chat roulette-like reputation.

What's stopping the Spartan show from using a webcam and streaming on Ustream, or Justin.tv or Google Hangouts, or etc etc.?

@hobozero: Twitch dominates. Sure, they can go on Ustream and maybe be just as successful. But More eyes are on twitch.

You just know this was one of those situations where someone in a board meeting was thinking to themselves:

"We're going to be allowing people to live stream to twitch using their actual faces? There are going to be a lot of dicks... a LOT of dicks. I can't bring that up in a meeting like this though, can I?"

Now people just have to get creative with the small video box that is allowed in other games.

Why wonder, when the answer is staring you right in the face? You can wish all day that the world were different but eventually you're going to have to face the fact that really you're the one who needs to change.

Oh well, fun's over; back to PC then.

"We removed Playroom content from the directory because a majority of it was non-gaming related," the company said in a statement. "We will look into adding it back as PS4 owners become more familiar with the games-only focus of Twitch content. In the meantime, you can view all of the amazing gameplay from PS4 broadcasters in this directory page on Twitch."

This word has officially lost all meaning and reason for existance.

Dude, what. This guy is fucking gross, harassing people 4chan-style then exploiting it for a "PURE COMEDY GOLD" YouTube video.

Aw c'mon. Some of those were pretty funny, like the kid who went up and checked the window.

But you are right. 4chan /v/ was running playroom threads for days. They were clearly psyched about the opportunity to torment the unwitting.

@dougquaid: exactly! Twitch viewed from any angle is a logistical clusterfuck. I'm sure what they do is extremely difficult, but they do almost everything wrong from the perspective of the users. They are horrible on technical support, they go down more and more often despite insane rises in popularity and view counts, they take huge, almost excessive cuts of the ad and subscription revenue from streamers, and to top it all off their PR is as transparent and inviting as a brick wall. I can't wait for a new streaming service to pop up because I'm sure if they make any effort whatsoever they will undoubtably take the market.

P.S. This is in no way meant to condone the actions of that one streamer or any of the others who we're acting like idiots when they should have known better.

The Spartan Show and other streaming programs are still streaming through the app. They didn't remove the entire capability of it, just the easy accessibility of it on computers.

Well, guess i'm back to just streaming games nearly naked and cursing.

@deathpooky: The issue is the perception of games in the media. The last thing either Twitch or Sony need is to have parents up in arms against the PS4 a couple days before Black Friday. While the truth is that most of these consoles will be purchased by adults, many in the media still associate consoles with children. Also, Twitch is very specific about the content you claim is being streamed on your channel is the content actually being streamed. So those two things combined caused this.

@dark_lord_spam: Oh it gets more worse. 4chan tricked multiple streamers into making them mods. It did not end well. Also i do not understand what is with the shoe on the head stuff ?

Well, Twitch is for games so having talkshows is kinda not the purpose, there are plenty of ways to do that, Google , youtube streaming, ustream and a ton of other places.

So i get why twitch remove the content, but now its back next to the girl who plays lol but always show her tits for the small kiddies out there and the funny part is she writes "im not here to show myself off" ofcourse not :)

I think the best thing you can do for a service like this is have the community moderate videos or streamers, it's impossible to have enough staff to be able to control the the public.

lol, so this wasn't taken into account when they allowed live streaming from a camera in peoples living rooms?

where can I watch some of the crazier moments? I want to know what the big deal is.

I'm not defending people behaving inappropriately on a Twitch stream, but is characterizing the PS4 as a "youth-targeted consumer device" accurate, necessary or helpful? It's reminiscent of rhetorical tactics used by reactionary parent groups and politicians trying to censor games because "would someone please think of the children." It's nonsense. The majority of people buying and using the PS4 are adults.

twitch sucks

Hi,

We're Twitch.TV and even though we're the same company that started Justin.TV we're not terribly bright and can't comprehend that people using our service is a good thing. We have tiny minds and can't even begin to comprehend that we are destroying the good will of users that might want to use our service.

We have no imagination and really hate inventive uses for our service and want people to stop using it so we go out of business.

We hate you so please bugger off,

Twitch.TV

P.S. Bwoobs teeheehee

I do hope Sony doesn't have a change of heart towards streaming because all of these horrible things could've been achieved just as easily with a webcam. The onus is on Twitch to moderate their streams.

'Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.'

-Mark Twain

I expected this and it will be a mess in future also. With kids, teens and dumb so called adults. I expect some really nasty things to happen with kinect, and it will probably be shutdown for good. Making streaming so easy when most have no clue on how to do so will bring up the worst out of people.

The true question is did this wife divorce this dude? Don't know how she can live with a douche like that for the rest of her life. You are right, nice guys finish last.

Also twitch is nasty. Sure there's good content but a lot of trash out there, even porn stars advertising themselves there.

You are very much right. Twitch literally says the reason for the 'blocking' is non-gaming related content. Not people abusing the playroom app for whatever disturbing or mature shit they feel like broadcasting. Going by twitch's statement, the Spartan Show is more a part of the problem than anything else.

I can see how Twitch thinks this is a problem as well. If people suddenly get the abilty to stream EVERYTHING they want on your service, policing it becomes crazy hard all of a sudden. At least when it's limited to games of some sort at least you kind of know what you're getting into as a viewer, and more importantly, kind of know what you're offering as a streaming service.

Twitch is for games, go stream on youtube if you want to do a talkshow, and if you're into making amateur pornography I'm sure there's sites for that as well. I applaud them setting their boundaries... before you know it, twitch turns into the next Playstation Home or god forbid, Second Life in the sense that the community becomes this weird and scary place, and much less inviting to people who just want to see games.

They're already half way there anyway, with all those streams that offer little more than horrible gameplay and some cleavage.

It was bound to happen. I think maybe they thought it'd last a little longer than it did, and maybe it'd be something a bit easier to manage...than, say a woman being striped while unconscious.

And fuck it, I think they have a point. Pretty much everything I've seen on Twitch has been about gaming. Having a "talk show" run through it does sound like a misappropriation of the service. And then they still had to go ahead and still fuck that up.

I think we all saw this coming, though.

Just like any other video service it will need several system of monitoring, reviewing, and pulling content. It can work, but my guess is that it will take awhile.

That does bring up the concept that publishers and developers don't have a lot of controll about what people do or say over the top of their games in this interconnected 'self publishing' world. The prime example being Barbie Dream House Party, does Majesco Sales Inc care if Jim Sterling does a "Let's Play", in his own special style? Is that good publicity for a bad game, or is it bad publicity? I think I have seen three or four Lets Plays or quick-looks of Barbie Dream House Party, each of them was dismissive of the game; yet, that sort of exposure sells that sort of game more.

In time, I think publishers will ease the rules and let video of their games resume, but both Sony and Twitch will now have to monitor even more. However, that might be worth it since more streams makes Twitch more money, more games being streamed makes Sony happy for more exposure that sells more copies of games.

sorry,I also think children shouldnt be exposed to this,but seriously,kids who play Killzone or Dead Rising should be a bigger concern then they might seeing a women exposed.

But I guess its okay if they see someone chop somebody elses head off as this is a beautiful natural thing,not like naked people wich are evil and will bring jesus down to Earth and give you eternal hell fire or something like that O.o

I love you guys in the U.S of A but pretty please,look into what does more harm to your kids,sensless violent is not part of Nature (well shouldnt be atleast) but the human body is,neither should be shown in a way it does harm kids,but long exposure to violence,atleast I think so,is more harmful and I cant really see the harm with the other one,Iam sry!

First thing i thought of when i saw this was Xbox Live Uno

Which makes me completely not surprised why this was removed

Hey, Judgey Dude... The Playroom is a completely separate app that has nothing to do with what games kids are/aren't allowed to play. Just because a kid could be using Playroom on their brand new PS4 doesn't mean they are ALSO playing the new Killzone or Battlefield or whatever. I'm with you, parents should be vigilant about letting their kids play age-inappropriate games (my currently-two-years-old son will not be touching any of my games anytime soon), but that has nothing to do with the potentially horrible things they could be exposed to on an unmonitored/regulated Playroom stream.

Besides that fact, the instance of nudity that Patrick references in the article. which you brush off so nonchalantly, was that of a woman drunk, passed out, and involuntarily exposed by her partner. That's sexual abuse, that's not harmless nudity.

If Playroom had to be sacrificed in order to allow continued streaming of actual gameplay then fine. Of course, I could hook up my Hauppauge HD PVR and stream via Twitch so the PS4 is simply making it easier to do what has always been possible.