Skip to content
Translate Ideas and Comments
Choose language:
There was an error during translation
← Discover

How can we improve browsing, filtering, and searching?

Discover: Categories

Categories

Multiple/Stacking Categories

Hey there Twitch loving friendos,

Categories on Twitch are fantastic and one of the major things that helps to connect us with each other. I think we can all agree that categories often help us find a new stream or even pick between which streams we want to watch in that moment. I understand why we have to pick a category when streaming instead of streaming in many or none, but there are some categories that are really hard to connect with others in and others where it's great it exists for the niche audience looking for it but if someone isn't looking for that very specific underrated gem or whatever... are never going to find you.

So imagine this, we have the category system much like we currently have where you could pick the specific game you're playing as always but if you select (for example) "Retro" and next to it it pops up an additional category field where you can pick "Secret of Mana" (a category that often only has 1 viewer even though it has over 35.3k followers as a category, a "dead category" as it were) - imagine how much that would help you reach both groups? The Retro crowd as well as the passionate fans of the specific game? Another example would be when you select "Games + Demos" and then get to also select the game/demo you're playing because they more often or not already have their own categories but there's nobody looking at those yet except the game publishers/developers. It'd help connect the makers of the games, the streamers, and potential viewers all together way more effectively than just being in the category for the game or the category for "Games + Demos". This applies to many categories that already exist but are much larger nets of things that also have their own infrequently looked at categories that are streamer CCV killers when used on their own, even though they have many fans/people interested in checking them out in the world.

There's also some weirdness where there are categories for just different releases/ports of the same game and it divides fans in ways it likely isn't intended to. If we could select the game as a main category and then the specific edition of it as a secondary category in case people search for it that way, that'd be amazing. A recent example I had several streamer friends all vent to me about would be: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as a main category (a category that has 2.5m followers) and being able to pick "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition" (a release that cleaned up some graphics and loading screens which is a category that has only 180k followers). Many people are looking for Skyrim and don't mind which edition it is, but WILL miss a stream they might've loved depending on how they searched the category yet some people might be pretty upset if they can't distinguish between the versions of games.

I LOVE the Games + Demos category and the Retro category, but I know for a fact that there are many games that fall under them that have their own categories with fans of these games I love that I wish I was reaching also. However right now you have to pick between those and which wonderful people you are going to exclude. Some things can be done with tags, but we don't have enough tags already as it is sometimes and we all know tags and categories hit different. They are used so differently - they are followed different since categories are followable and tags always have to be searched, the custom tags are GREAT but also not having some standardized tags means a typo or just a slightly different stylization of the same thing means you miss everyone you're looking for like a ship in the night but a category will never let you down like that.

The argument for sub-categories like that Retro -> Secrets of Mana or Games + Demos -> Rabbit and Steel Demo, Makers + Crafting -> 3D Printing 👀, or other such examples is one that I can elaborate on further if desired. But I have another thing I'd like to bring up.

In addition to/alternatively to a stacking sub-category system, it might be more beneficial to add the ability to add multiple categories to the same stream at the same time even when they are unrelated. So unlike Retro going with Super Mario World, an example would be if you were in the category Placid Plastic Duck Simulator but you're also doing Stream Raiders battles every half hour and doing Art in the meantime while both the others are still on stream. Which category do you pick? If you're doing Makers + Crafting stuff but you're also doing Nitro Stream Racing, why should you have to pick between them? And which one is the "more correct" to pick.
Please consider giving us either multiple category fields by default, still keeping that it's against TOS to stream to irrelevant categories and stuff so people don't do anything weird with it, but making it so that we can do a main game + Stream Raiders or Art + Nitro Racing or whatever AND/OR please consider letting specific categories trigger unlocking an additional category for things like Retro + Specific Retro Game or "Games + Demos" and Specific Demo. If it was both, the ideal would be having [Number Higher Than 1] default category fields AND when you select broad umbrella categories like Retro or Games + Demos then it'll prompt you to select an additional subcategory that you'll also show in, in addition to the blanket category.

The amount of success this would help people playing obscure games that are related to much larger viewer bases could help, or the people doing multiple types of activities at the same time could be aided by this... it's just off the charts what this would do for streamers.

It would also be amazingly helpful to be able to have multiple categories on the VODs where you have done multiple things in that stream instead of it just being categorized as the one you started with. It would help so very much. There are many streamers who do more than one thing in the same stream and would love to be able to at least expand what the VODs are listed as.

Thank you for your consideration!
151 votes

We're glad you're here

Please sign in to leave feedback
Signed in as (Sign out)
Close
Close

We’ll send you updates on this idea

FieryAshes shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
How important is this to you?

We're glad you're here

Please sign in to leave feedback
Signed in as (Sign out)
Close
Close

We're glad you're here

Please sign in to leave feedback
Signed in as (Sign out)
Close
Close
Submitting...
An error occurred while saving the comment
  • Mr_Mirv commented  ·   ·  Report

    This would be great to see happen!
  • GeeksGrimoire commented  ·   ·  Report

    I think it would be nice to have stacked categories. I agree with this idea.

  • Akron90sGamer commented  ·   ·  Report

    I stream generally under whatever game I'm playing. Only a few times has a audience generated.

  • Zophar1 commented  ·   ·  Report

    Agreed. We need sub-categories in a category where there's literally tens of thousands of games that can fall under it!

  • Hystericmoon_ commented  ·   ·  Report

    This would really benefit the retro community who want to stream the correct game title but it may only have 5-10 followers. It feels too counterproductive for discoverability to stream outside of the retro category unless it’s a very high profile game.

    Maybe viewers also don’t follow many of their favourite game name categories for retro games because of lack of people streaming in them and so it feels not worthwhile.

  • ThatRadioGeek commented  ·   ·  Report

    This has been discussed to death and then some, and it needs to actually happen already.
  • Lierxagerate commented  ·   ·  Report

    As a retro gaming streamer, I would really like to be able to stream Retro as a primary category and then a second category for the specific game I'm playing. I play many different games under the existing "Retro" category (which was user-adopted as a workaround) and always raid out, and it's awkward to have to explain what I was playing because the raid message only says I was playing "Retro"

  • hungrygoriya commented  ·   ·  Report

    I love this idea. As a retro streamer, I would love to be able to choose Retro as a general category and add a second one with the specific game I'm playing. Having a second stackable category would go a long way to help with discoverability for people playing niche things that don't necessarily get individually searched. I've been dreaming of something like this for a long time and I really hope it gets implemented for the categories that want it, especially Retro!
  • FieryAshes commented  ·   ·  Report

    I can't believe it's been almost 2 years since I first made this Uservoice so I'm glad that it wasn't closed so it is still able to be voted for and commented on. I still think that this idea would revolutionize how Twitch works for a LOT of streamers.

    There are SO many arguments for multiple or stacking categories.

    For stacking categories - things like:

    "Retro" -> "EarthBound"
    "Games + Demos" -> "Wax Heads Demo"
    "Makers + Crafting" -> "Knitting"
    "Co-working & Studying" - > "Spirit City: Lofi Sessions"
    "Special Events" -> "Award Show" or "Birthday" or "Charity Fundraiser" would all be really cool stackable categories that could be reasonable to create to these ends.
    "Resident Evil" -> "Resident Evil 4 Remake"
    "Pokémon" -> "Hey You, Pikachu!"
    "Pokémon" -> "Pokopia"
    "Elder Scrolls" -> "Skyrim"
    OR "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" as a main category (a category that has 2.5m followers) and being able to pick "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Special Edition  (a release that cleaned up some graphics and loading screens which is has its own category that has only 180k followers)"
    "Tabletop RPGs" -> "Dungeons & Dragons"
    - and then request there are some other stackable categories made that would be their own uservoice notes. It wouldn't need to be every single game but I'd probably make a uservoice suggesting "Mythos RPGs", "Powered By The Apocalypse Games", "Indie RPGs", "Horror RPGs", or and some other broad buckets that are really common.

    For multiple categories:

    "Special Events" + "Words on Stream"
    "Special Events" + "King of the Castle"

    "Makers + Crafting"  + "Placid Plastic Duck Simulator"
    "Science & Technology" + "Talk Shows + Podcasts"
    "Tabletop RPGs" + "Talk Shows + Podcasts"
    "Spirit City: Lofi Sessions" + "Words on Stream" or "Placid Plastic Duck Simulator"

    So many people technically qualify for multiple categories at once. But also, it'd be SO much better of not just a streamer experience but a viewer experience if you're looking for "Tales" series games being played in general and you could go to a broad series category and see "Tales of Symphonia" streams in the same place as "Tales of Eternia". Being able to see every Resident Evil rather than checking every single sub category, but also being able to see which one they are playing while checking the broader big category. Like "Oh, I checked all big Resident Evil category and I'm seeing a couple RE2, an RE2Remake, an RE0... oh! Cool, someone is playing Code Veronica right now! Nice!" ya know?
    "Looking in Retro... oh man, someone is finally streaming my favorite game from when I was a kid - Tiny Toons: Buster Busts Loose!" rather than sifting through every thumb nail of retro in case they are in Retro to reach more people rather than being in a category only a very small number of people follow or ever check.

    Plus, so many people will do things like doing a major thing like art or Foods & Beverages or some kind of special event... but also play little chat integrated games at the same time. I think both are equally valid and the people looking for either should be able to find the streams that are doing both.

    Thanks to everyone who has voted on this already and shared this already. I appreciate it a bunch.
  • dengarik commented  ·   ·  Report

    Awesome suggestion — having multiple stacking categories would really help organize content better! This would make discovery smoother and let users filter exactly what they’re looking for without confusion. Great idea and well explained! 👍

    Also, if anyone’s gearing up for games and needs resources, I can definitely recommend wowvendor — they’ve been super dependable for me. For example, if you need wow gold for upgrades or preparations, check out https://wowvendor.com/shop/wow-gold wow gold — they make the whole process simple and fast.

    Thanks for sharing this improvement idea — things like this make platforms much more user-friendly! 🚀
  • Johan_Singa commented  ·   ·  Report

    If I can stream in a Music + Karaoke JOYSOUND for Nintendo Switch category, that would be really useful.
  • Chainbrain commented  ·   ·  Report

    Great idea. I stream in the Music category using a game called Rocksmith to help me play along to songs on guitar

    I would love to be able to be listen in Music + Rocksmith category as opposed to picking one or the other
  • spikee_j commented  ·   ·  Report

    My only question is how would drops work with multiple categories? If both categories have drops, would you get drops for both or one at a time?

  • duncte123 commented  ·   ·  Report

    The games+demos example is what sold me on this as it was on my mind today due to me wanting to stream a few demos I found online. While games+demos is a great blanket category, I also want to stream to the game category and that is not possible currently. Using tags helps but it's not as solid as categories
← Previous 1