0:00:00.881,0:00:04.750
I am obsessed with forming[br]healthy communities,

0:00:04.750,0:00:06.962
and that's why I started Twitch --

0:00:06.962,0:00:10.477
to help people watch other people[br]play video games on the internet.

0:00:10.712,0:00:11.712
(Laughter)

0:00:11.769,0:00:13.492
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

0:00:13.782,0:00:14.778
(Laughter)

0:00:15.443,0:00:17.220
So in seriousness,

0:00:17.220,0:00:20.700
video games and communities[br]truly are quite related.

0:00:21.704,0:00:24.596
From our early human history,

0:00:24.596,0:00:27.731
we made our enterainment[br]together in small tribes.

0:00:28.202,0:00:30.465
We shared stories around the campfire,

0:00:30.465,0:00:31.527
we sang together,

0:00:31.527,0:00:32.648
we danced together.

0:00:33.109,0:00:36.761
Our earliest enteratainment[br]was both shared and interactive.

0:00:37.743,0:00:41.831
It wasn't until pretty recently[br]on the grand scale of human history

0:00:41.831,0:00:44.516
that interactivity took a back seat

0:00:44.516,0:00:46.365
and broadcast entertainment took over.

0:00:46.992,0:00:52.218
Radio and records brought music[br]into our vehicles, into our homes.

0:00:52.454,0:00:57.121
TV and VHS brought sports and drama[br]into our living rooms.

0:00:57.842,0:01:01.919
This access to broadcast entertainment[br]was unprecendented.

0:01:02.313,0:01:05.351
It gave people amazing[br]content around the globe.

0:01:06.073,0:01:09.448
It created a shared culture[br]for millions of people.

0:01:11.702,0:01:15.894
And now, if you want to go watch[br]or listen to Mozart,

0:01:15.894,0:01:19.436
you don't have to buy an incredibly[br]expensive ticket and find an orchestra.

0:01:20.734,0:01:22.279
And if you like to sing --

0:01:22.279,0:01:25.588
(singing) I can show you the world --

0:01:25.588,0:01:30.071
then you have something in common[br]with people around the world.

0:01:32.556,0:01:34.504
But with this amazing access,

0:01:34.504,0:01:40.062
we allowed for a separation[br]between creator and consumer,

0:01:40.062,0:01:44.209
and the relationship between the two[br]became much more one-way.

0:01:46.520,0:01:52.570
We wound up in a world where we had[br]a smaller class of professional creators

0:01:52.570,0:01:56.329
and most of us became spectators,

0:01:56.329,0:02:01.671
and as a result it became far easier[br]for us to enjoy that content alone.

0:02:02.474,0:02:04.286
There's a trend counteracting this:

0:02:04.286,0:02:05.339
scarcity.

0:02:05.339,0:02:10.033
So, Vienna in the 1900s,[br]was famous for its café culture.

0:02:10.404,0:02:14.149
And one of the big drivers[br]of that café culture

0:02:14.149,0:02:17.579
was expensive newspapers[br]that were hard to get,

0:02:17.579,0:02:18.772
and as a result,

0:02:18.772,0:02:21.941
people would go to the café[br]and read the shared copy there.

0:02:22.470,0:02:23.879
And once they're in the cafe,

0:02:23.879,0:02:27.125
they meet the other people[br]also reading the same newspaper,

0:02:27.125,0:02:28.127
they converse,

0:02:28.127,0:02:29.822
they exchange ideas

0:02:29.822,0:02:31.177
and they form a community.

0:02:32.604,0:02:34.375
In a similar way,

0:02:34.375,0:02:37.267
TV and cable used to be more expensive,

0:02:37.267,0:02:39.904
and so you might not watch[br]the game at home.

0:02:39.904,0:02:42.006
Instead you'd go to the local bar[br]

0:02:42.006,0:02:44.448
and cheer along[br]with your fellow sports fans there.

0:02:45.662,0:02:51.520
But as the price of media continues[br]to fall over time thanks to technology,

0:02:51.520,0:02:55.944
this shared necessity that used to bring[br]our communities together falls away.

0:02:57.373,0:03:02.388
We have so many amazing options[br]for our entertainment,

0:03:02.388,0:03:07.904
and yet it's easier than ever for us[br]to wind up consuming those options alone.

0:03:09.260,0:03:11.365
Our communities[br]are bearing the consequences.

0:03:12.269,0:03:13.272
For example,

0:03:13.272,0:03:16.771
the number of people who report[br]having at least two close friends

0:03:16.771,0:03:18.367
is at an all-time low.

0:03:21.443,0:03:26.197
I believe that one of the major[br]contributing causes to this

0:03:26.197,0:03:31.231
is that our entertainment today[br]allows us to be separate.

0:03:33.756,0:03:38.190
There is one trend reversing[br]this atomization of our society:

0:03:38.190,0:03:40.910
modern, multiplayer videogames.

0:03:42.583,0:03:45.951
Games are like a shared campfire.

0:03:46.409,0:03:49.083
They're both interactive and connecting.

0:03:49.916,0:03:53.433
Now these campfires may have[br]beautiful animations,

0:03:53.433,0:03:55.124
heroic quests,

0:03:55.124,0:03:57.648
occasionally too many loot boxes,

0:03:57.648,0:04:00.318
but games today are very different

0:04:00.318,0:04:02.375
than the solitary activity[br]of 20 years ago.

0:04:04.003,0:04:05.657
They're deeply complex,

0:04:05.657,0:04:07.565
they're more intellectually stimulating,

0:04:07.565,0:04:08.574
and most of all,

0:04:08.574,0:04:10.304
they're intrinsically social.

0:04:12.378,0:04:15.720
One of the recent breakout genres[br]exemplifying this change

0:04:15.720,0:04:17.113
is the battle royale.

0:04:17.803,0:04:22.540
100 people parachute onto an island[br]in a last-man-standing competition.

0:04:23.261,0:04:26.437
Think of it as being[br]kind of like "American Idol,"

0:04:26.437,0:04:29.773
but with a lot more fighting[br]and a lot less Simon Cowell.

0:04:31.722,0:04:33.331
You may have heard of "Fortnite,"

0:04:33.331,0:04:36.999
which is a breakout example[br]of the battle royale genre,

0:04:36.999,0:04:40.592
which has been played by more[br]than 250 million people around the world.

0:04:41.019,0:04:43.080
It's everyone from kids[br]in your neighborhood

0:04:43.080,0:04:45.159
to Drake and Ellen Degeneres.

0:04:45.619,0:04:48.816
2.3 billion people in the world[br]play video games.

0:04:49.256,0:04:54.167
Early games like "Tetris" and "Mario"[br]may have been simple puzzles or quests,

0:04:54.167,0:04:57.158
but with the rise of arcades[br]and then internet play,

0:04:57.158,0:05:01.779
and now massively multiplayer games[br]of huge, thriving online communities,

0:05:01.779,0:05:05.032
games have emerged[br]as the one form of entertainment

0:05:05.032,0:05:08.905
where consumption truly requires[br]human connection.

0:05:09.720,0:05:11.926
So this brings us to streaming.

0:05:12.166,0:05:14.829
Why do people stream themselves[br]playing video games?

0:05:15.470,0:05:19.650
And why do hundreds of millions[br]of people around the world

0:05:19.650,0:05:21.642
congregate to watch them?

0:05:22.973,0:05:25.631
I want you all the imagine for second --

0:05:25.631,0:05:28.185
imagine you land on an alien planet,

0:05:28.185,0:05:29.195
and on this planet,

0:05:29.195,0:05:30.727
there's a giant green rectangle.

0:05:31.303,0:05:33.185
And in this green rectangle,

0:05:33.185,0:05:34.604
aliens in matching outfits

0:05:34.604,0:05:37.289
are trying to push a checkered[br]sphere between two posts

0:05:37.289,0:05:38.511
using only their feet.

0:05:38.761,0:05:40.048
It's pretty evenly matched,

0:05:40.048,0:05:42.947
so the ball is just going back and forth,

0:05:42.947,0:05:46.728
but there's hundreds of millions[br]of people watching from home anyway,

0:05:46.728,0:05:49.958
and cheering and getting excited[br]and engaged right along with them.

0:05:50.634,0:05:53.409
Now I grew up watching sports with my dad,

0:05:53.409,0:05:56.877
so I get why soccer[br]is entertaining and engaging.

0:05:57.618,0:06:00.545
But if you don't watch sports,

0:06:00.545,0:06:03.435
maybe you like watching[br]"Dancing with the Stars"

0:06:03.435,0:06:05.014
or you enjoy "Top Chef."

0:06:05.882,0:06:07.962
Regardless, the principle is the same.

0:06:08.979,0:06:12.751
If there is an activity[br]that you really enjoy,

0:06:12.751,0:06:15.579
you're probably going to like[br]watching other people do it

0:06:15.579,0:06:17.399
with skill and panache.

0:06:18.853,0:06:21.139
It might be perplexing to an alien,

0:06:21.139,0:06:23.954
but bonding over shared passion[br]is a human universal.

0:06:24.820,0:06:31.256
So gamers grew up expecting[br]this live, interactive entertainment,

0:06:31.256,0:06:33.948
and passive consumption[br]just doesn't feel as fulfilling.

0:06:34.428,0:06:38.194
That's why livestreaming[br]has taken off with video games.

0:06:39.436,0:06:44.237
Because livestreaming offers[br]that same kind of interactive feeling.

0:06:47.418,0:06:51.527
So when you imagine[br]what's happening on Twitch,

0:06:51.527,0:06:57.378
I don't want you to think[br]of a million livestreams of video games.

0:06:57.742,0:07:04.229
Instead, what I want you to picture[br]is millions of campfires.

0:07:04.786,0:07:06.658
Some of them are bonfires --

0:07:06.658,0:07:10.268
huge, roaring bonfires with hundreds[br]of thousands of people around them.

0:07:11.007,0:07:14.074
Some of them are smaller,[br]more intimate community gatherings

0:07:14.074,0:07:15.583
where everyone knows your name.

0:07:16.660,0:07:20.454
Let's try taking a seat[br]by one of those campfires right now.

0:07:23.112,0:07:24.352
Hey Cohh, how's it going?

0:07:24.758,0:07:26.411
Cohh: Hey, how's it going, Emmett?

0:07:26.411,0:07:29.948
ES: So I'm here at TED with about 1,000[br]of my closest friends,

0:07:29.948,0:07:34.007
and we thought we'd come[br]and join you guys for a little stream.

0:07:34.564,0:07:35.555
Cohh: Awesome!

0:07:35.555,0:07:37.430
Well, it's great to hear from you guys.

0:07:37.430,0:07:40.430
ES: So Cohh, can you share[br]with the TED audience here --

0:07:40.430,0:07:43.586
what have you learned[br]about your community on Twitch?

0:07:44.352,0:07:45.855
Cohh: Ah, man, where to begin?

0:07:46.488,0:07:48.790
I've been doing this[br]for over five years now,

0:07:48.790,0:07:53.663
and if there's one thing that doesn't[br]cease to impress me on the daily

0:07:53.663,0:07:57.300
is just kind of how incredible[br]this whole thing is for communication.

0:07:58.097,0:08:00.768
I've been playing games[br]for 20 years of my life,

0:08:00.768,0:08:03.778
I've led online MMO guilds for over 10,

0:08:03.778,0:08:08.105
and it's the kind of thing where[br]there's very few places in life

0:08:08.105,0:08:11.300
where you can go to meet[br]so many people with similar interests.

0:08:11.940,0:08:13.510
I was listening in a bit earlier;

0:08:13.510,0:08:14.888
I love the campfire analogy,

0:08:14.888,0:08:16.288
I actually use a similar one.

0:08:16.288,0:08:18.523
I see it all as a bunch of people[br]on a big couch

0:08:18.523,0:08:20.458
but only one person has the controller.

0:08:20.458,0:08:23.368
So it's kind of like[br]a "Pass the snack!" situation, you know?

0:08:23.368,0:08:24.802
700 people that way --

0:08:24.802,0:08:27.742
but it's great and really it's just --

0:08:27.742,0:08:31.367
ED: So Cohh, what is going on[br]in chat right now?

0:08:31.590,0:08:33.616
Can you explain that a little bit to us?

0:08:33.616,0:08:37.655
Because my eyesight isn't that good[br]but I see a lot of emotes.

0:08:37.910,0:08:39.343
Cohh: So this is my community;

0:08:39.343,0:08:40.566
this is the Cohhilition.

0:08:40.884,0:08:42.201
I stream every single day.

0:08:42.201,0:08:44.518
I actually just wrapped up[br]a 2,000-day challenge,

0:08:44.518,0:08:48.406
and as such, we have developed[br]a pretty incredible community

0:08:48.406,0:08:49.442
here in the channel.

0:08:49.442,0:08:51.543
Right now we have[br]about 6200 people with us.

0:08:51.543,0:08:55.198
What you're seeing is a spam[br]of "Hello, TED" good-vibe emotes,

0:08:55.198,0:08:57.205
love emotes,

0:08:57.205,0:08:58.310
"this is awesome,"

0:08:58.310,0:08:59.719
"Hi, guys," "Hi, everyone."

0:08:59.719,0:09:02.545
Basically just a huge[br]collection of people --

0:09:02.545,0:09:03.940
huge collection of gamers

0:09:03.940,0:09:06.624
that are all just experiencing[br]a positive event together.

0:09:06.624,0:09:08.836
ES: So is there anything that --

0:09:08.836,0:09:10.040
can we poll chat?

0:09:10.040,0:09:11.477
I want ask chat a question.

0:09:11.658,0:09:15.100
Is there anything that chat[br]would like the world,

0:09:15.100,0:09:17.928
and particularly these people[br]here with me at TED right now,

0:09:17.928,0:09:21.749
to know about what they get[br]out of playing video games

0:09:21.749,0:09:23.416
and being part of this community?

0:09:24.507,0:09:25.751
Cohh: Oh, wow.

0:09:26.265,0:09:28.798
I am already starting to see[br]a lot of answers here.

0:09:31.100,0:09:34.352
"I like the good vibes..."

0:09:34.352,0:09:36.507
"best communities are on Twitch."

0:09:37.579,0:09:38.577
(Laughter)

0:09:39.502,0:09:42.083
"They get us through[br]the rough patches in life."

0:09:43.109,0:09:45.748
Oh, that's a message I definitely[br]see a lot on Twitch,

0:09:45.748,0:09:46.937
which is very good.

0:09:47.737,0:09:49.312
"A very positive community,"

0:09:49.312,0:09:51.656
"a lot of positivity,"

0:09:51.656,0:09:53.155
which is pretty great.

0:09:53.345,0:09:57.503
ES: So Cohh, before I get back[br]to my TED talk,

0:09:57.503,0:10:00.653
which I actually should probably[br]get back to doing at some point --

0:10:00.663,0:10:01.657
(Laughter)

0:10:01.657,0:10:04.314
Do you have anything else[br]that you want to share with me

0:10:04.314,0:10:05.974
or any question you wanted to ask?

0:10:05.974,0:10:09.252
[Something] you've always wanted[br]to get out there before an audience?

0:10:09.734,0:10:11.391
Cohh: Honestly, not too much.

0:10:11.391,0:10:13.976
I mean, I absolutely love[br]what you're doing right now.

0:10:13.976,0:10:15.803
I think that the interactive streaming

0:10:15.803,0:10:19.193
is probably the big unexplored frontier[br]of the future in entertainment,

0:10:19.193,0:10:22.113
and just thank you for doing[br]everything you're doing up there.

0:10:22.113,0:10:24.836
The more people that hear[br]about what you do, the better --

0:10:24.836,0:10:25.910
for everyone on here.

0:10:25.910,0:10:26.922
ES: Awesome, Cohh.

0:10:26.922,0:10:27.919
Thanks so much.

0:10:27.919,0:10:30.143
I'm going to get back[br]to giving this talk now,

0:10:30.143,0:10:31.536
but we should catch up later.

0:10:31.536,0:10:32.546
Cohh: Sounds great!

0:10:32.546,0:10:34.326
(Applause)

0:10:37.092,0:10:39.458
ES: So that was a new way to interact.

0:10:40.290,0:10:43.721
We could influence[br]what happened on the stream,

0:10:43.721,0:10:49.011
we could cocreate[br]the experience along with him,

0:10:49.011,0:10:54.165
and we really had a multiplayer experience[br]with chat and with Cohh.

0:10:55.480,0:10:58.107
At Twitch, we've started calling this,

0:10:58.107,0:10:59.313
as a result,

0:10:59.313,0:11:01.447
"Multiplayer enterainment."

0:11:02.479,0:11:08.720
Because going from watching a video alone[br]to watching a live interactive stream

0:11:08.720,0:11:14.654
is similar to the difference between[br]going from playing a single-player game

0:11:14.654,0:11:16.999
to playing a multiplayer game.

0:11:18.804,0:11:22.933
Gamers are often as the forefront[br]of exploration in new technology.

0:11:26.014,0:11:31.534
Microcomputers, for example,[br]were used early on for video games,

0:11:31.534,0:11:37.963
and the very first handheld, digital[br]mass-market devices weren't cell phones,

0:11:37.963,0:11:39.671
they were Gameboys ...

0:11:39.671,0:11:41.004
for video games.

0:11:41.338,0:11:44.519
And as a result,

0:11:44.519,0:11:49.920
one way that you can get a hint[br]of what the future might hold

0:11:49.920,0:11:54.201
is to look to this fun, interactive[br]sandbox of video games

0:11:54.201,0:11:56.504
and ask yourself,

0:11:56.504,0:11:58.392
"what are these gamers doing today?"

0:11:58.392,0:12:01.761
And that might give you a hint[br]as to what the future is going to hold

0:12:01.761,0:12:02.772
for all of us.

0:12:04.311,0:12:07.179
One of the things[br]we're already seeing on Twitch

0:12:07.179,0:12:09.447
is multiplayer entertainment[br]coming to sports.

0:12:09.896,0:12:14.950
So, Twitch and the NFL teamed up[br]to offer livestreaming football,

0:12:14.950,0:12:19.182
but instead of network announcers[br]in suits streaming the game,

0:12:19.182,0:12:21.653
we got Twitch users to come in

0:12:21.653,0:12:24.403
and stream it themselves[br]on their own channel

0:12:24.403,0:12:26.765
and interact with their community

0:12:26.765,0:12:29.653
and make it a real,[br]multiplayer experience.

0:12:30.130,0:12:35.385
So I actually think that if you[br]look out into the future --

0:12:35.385,0:12:40.043
only hundreds of people today[br]get to be sports announcers.

0:12:41.618,0:12:44.544
It's a tiny, tiny number of people[br]who have that opportunity.

0:12:44.544,0:12:48.597
But sports are about to go multiplayer,

0:12:48.597,0:12:51.489
and that means that anyone[br]who wants to around the world

0:12:51.489,0:12:56.200
is going to get the opportunity[br]to become a sports announcer,

0:12:56.200,0:12:57.316
to give it a shot.

0:12:57.690,0:13:00.830
And I think that's going to unlock[br]incredible amounts of new talent

0:13:00.830,0:13:01.936
for all of us.

0:13:02.112,0:13:03.716
And we're not going to be asking,

0:13:03.716,0:13:05.202
"Did you catch the game?"

0:13:05.272,0:13:07.102
Instead, we're going to be asking,

0:13:07.102,0:13:10.336
"Whose channel did you[br]catch the game on?"

0:13:12.443,0:13:17.104
We already see this happening[br]with cooking, with singing --

0:13:17.104,0:13:19.019
we even see people streaming welding.

0:13:20.476,0:13:24.532
And all of this stuff is going to happen[br]around the metaphorical campfire.

0:13:25.823,0:13:28.305
There's going to be millions[br]of these campfires lit

0:13:28.305,0:13:29.660
over the next few years.

0:13:29.911,0:13:33.176
And on every topic,

0:13:33.176,0:13:35.274
you're going to be able to find a campfire

0:13:35.274,0:13:37.376
that will allow you to bond[br]with your people

0:13:37.376,0:13:38.624
around the world.

0:13:39.334,0:13:40.942
For most of human history,

0:13:40.942,0:13:43.024
entertainment was simply multiplayer.

0:13:43.639,0:13:46.262
We sang together in person,

0:13:46.262,0:13:50.169
we shared news together[br]in the town square in person,

0:13:50.169,0:13:52.696
and somwhere along the way,

0:13:52.696,0:13:57.667
that two-way conversation[br]turned into a one-way transmission.

0:13:58.780,0:14:00.995
As someone who cares about communities,

0:14:00.995,0:14:02.963
I am excited for a world

0:14:02.963,0:14:07.381
where our entertainment could connect[br]us instead of isolating us.

0:14:09.886,0:14:14.677
A world where we can bond with each other[br]over our shared interests

0:14:14.677,0:14:17.110
and create real, strong communities.

0:14:18.625,0:14:21.895
Games, streams and the interactions[br]they encourage,

0:14:21.895,0:14:26.064
are only just beginning[br]to turn the wheel back

0:14:26.064,0:14:30.099
to our interactive, community-rich,[br]multiplayer past.

0:14:31.137,0:14:34.153
Thank you all for sharing[br]this experience here with me,

0:14:34.153,0:14:36.160
and may you all find your best campfire.

0:14:36.580,0:14:38.963
(Applause)