Meet Moonbeam, The Bold New Twitch Alternative for TTRPG Fans

Known as a new content streaming platform moonlight We want to create an alternative to Twitch and Discord, leveraging the knowledge of real-world TTRPG play organizers and content creators.

Moonbeam is a new streaming platform launched by Vokamancy last week. Backer KitThe platform is attempting to create a hybrid version of Twitch and Discord, aiming to give online creators the tools they need to earn a steady income, build strong communities, and combat online hate in chats through powerful content moderation tools.

Co-founded by Anthony Joyce Rivera and Patrick Conley, the platform lays out a grand vision of what Twitch can be by focusing on three pillars in its presentation: Joyce Rivera A military veteran with several years of experience in TTRPG design. Important role, MCDM and Wizards of the Coast. ConleyIn contrast, is a PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University who specializes in how AI and voice interact online, and who has also worked on app development.

Moonbeam is built on three pillars, Joyce Rivera and Conley said in an interview.

1. Community and conversation
2. Content Moderation
3. Monetization

Moonbeam Community:

When asked what their backers’ priorities were, Joyce Rivera said in a survey over 60% said building a community was their top priority. Moonbeam plans to create “Realmsm,” an independent server where creators can host their streams on the same platform where their community regularly chats. The model I was presented with was similar to a hybrid of Twitch and Discord.

The two founders argue that this design decision will help alleviate two problems: streamer presence and community. Joyce Rivera said that if Twitch streamers want to be successful now, they are forced to work long hours, essentially turning streaming into a side hustle. Having the streaming platform, called “realms,” host Discord-like servers when streamers are not on the platform ensures that the website remains available and visible. It also allows multiple streamers, allowing users to continue conversations and interactions after streaming.

Moonbeam “coexists where the community is,” said Joyce Rivera. Fundamentals.

Moonbeam Content Moderation:

Conley has developed Pyxis, an AI-powered content moderation bot that claims to be 100% accurate in determining whether a statement is hate speech or not. This claim seems both impressive and unclear to me. In a short demo I saw, Joyce Rivera typed some statements into Moonbeam’s alpha chat, and Moonbeam identified what the tone of the statements was and whether they were likely to be hate speech. From this, moderators can choose to leave the post up or remove it.

Conley argued that Pyxis could do what the big social networks had struggled to do, and he had 140 content moderation testers try out the software, none of whom had any luck with it.

I admit to some skepticism of Conley’s claims. Former Employers We report on tech companies and their efforts to police speech, and we can safely say that content moderation is hard, and there is only so much algorithms can do.

Moonbeam Monetization:

This refers to both how the company raises funds and how it provides funding to creators. One of the main selling points is “Moonstones”, a premium currency that can be purchased to buy subscriptions and other servers on the website, which directly funds Moonbeam. Moonstones can be spent on any streamer you like, and the streamer also receives 100% of the revenue.

The company’s proposed main revenue stream appears to be Moonstone and a premium subscription service that removes ads.

Conley said the company is considering selling copies of Pyxis to other companies for content moderation purposes, but declined to provide details about those plans.

Moonbeam’s Future:

The three pillars seem promising, especially considering the founders’ interest in contributing to the TTRPG/Actual Play community. Available on Backerkit There are also five other projects centered around Moonbeam, sponsored by organizations like Monte Cook Games and Gen Con TV. Moonbeam could easily serve other communities, but there is a strong focus on real-life play streamers and the TTRPG community.

While $10,000 is a bit low for a startup with a big vision like Moonbeam, the company plans to then seek venture capital funding to cover necessary technology costs.

Moonbeam is still in its early stages of development, so it’s hard to make claims about the product’s future. Facebook Games or kick It’s easy to be skeptical about Moonbeam’s future, as it has struggled to build and retain an audience. At the same time, it’s hard not to find Moonbeam’s vision as an alternative to Twitch appealing. Moonbeam combines two popular models into one, giving creators new tools to succeed. If their claims are correct, Moonbeam could be a meaningful alternative to Twitch and Discord, profitable and helping TTRPG and real-world gameplay creators stream their content online.

Image courtesy of Moonbeam

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