Camera? No Camera? Avatar?

[Josh]

Time to have that age-old debate / discussion again...

If you're doing livestreaming, do we think it matters to have a face cam? And then a subquestion: if no face-cam, then do we use a VTuber / PNGTuber avatar?

If we said no to the previous two, and just go minimal, no camera, does that really fly in 2026?

Personally, whenever I get around to actually DOING this again, I am really thinking No Camera / No Avatar is going to be my way, but simply because that's the vibe I want. I want the games and my personality to take center stage. I want that interactive color commentary that is there to complement the (not-so-great) talent being displayed in game to be the focus.

I just think about this often and would love to hear what anybody else thinks.

[xBobaFattx]

For me, I don't mind someone not having a camera. Unless the person is just going for shock value, I just don't (personally) think a camera is necessary as long as you are vibing and interacting vocally. I cannot stand the Avatar/Vtuber thing, honestly. I get why people do it, but it just annoys me. When I watch someone stream, I want to see gameplay and hear the person talking.

I hope that helps, I am sure it doesn't

[Josh]

I hope that helps, I am sure it doesn't

No, this helps a LOT. I am sure some people might get up in their feelings on the vtuber/avatar thing, but I'm not a fan either.

I want to be the Chris Collinsworth of live streaming!

[xBobaFattx]

I hope that helps, I am sure it doesn't

No, this helps a LOT. I am sure some people might get up in their feelings on the vtuber/avatar thing, but I'm not a fan either.

I want to be the Chris Collinsworth of live streaming!

Now here's a guy...