Everyday when you log on to Twitch you see streamers talking. They may be “Just Chatting” or they may be raging over a video game they are playing. Either way, streamers are constantly talking to their chat. But, if you are trying to break into the stream scene, do you have to be constantly talking like they do?

Can You Stream Without Talking on Twitch?

Yes, you can stream without talking on Twitch. There is nothing in the terms of services that requires you to talk on Twitch; however, it is not recommended if you are trying to grow your channel. Many people enjoy the community aspect of Twitch and bonding over a game or hobby. If the streamer is mostly silent, it will be much harder to attract new followers and build your stream/community.

Twitch is a very social platform. People go to Twitch to make friends and to be a part of your community. If someone is in your chat trying to talk to you, and you just sit there quietly and ignore them, then they will most likely just leave. Why would they just sit there to watch a random person play a video game?

Not to mention the fact that people like the attention they get from following, subbing and donating to your channel. 

If you are avoiding talking because you don’t have a good mic then look no further than the Blue Snowball mic on Amazon.

For a small price you can get an amazing quality mic that sounds great. You don’t need to break the bank to sound good on your stream. Trust me. This mic will get the job done if a bad mic is your concern.

Although you should always try to talk on Twitch, there may be times when it is ok not to talk on Twitch AS MUCH. You should never go totally silent on your stream though.

It will be nearly impossible to grow your Twitch channel unless you are just some prodigy at the game you play and people are tuning in just to watch you play. 

If you are just not feeling the whole talking thing, here are a couple of things you can do to avoid talking.

Ways to Avoid Talking on Twitch? 

If you just don’t want to talk on Twitch, maybe you had a long day at work or maybe you are sick, then here are a few things that you can do to avoid talking on Twitch.

For one you can put in your title that you will NOT be talking on the stream. Doing this sets an expectation for the viewer so that way they don’t come into the stream and start complaining that you aren’t talking enough. If you put it up front, and they still come into the stream then cool, but they can’t be upset since they were forewarned. 

Another thing you can put in your stream title is that you won’t be reading chat. Again, this sets the expectation that chat won’t be read and so if they want to come in and chat with other people on the channel, great, but you won’t be talking with anyone.

Again, these strategies probably won’t get you a lot of new viewers or followers, but it sets the expectation for your stream and lets people know what to expect. 

Lastly, you can set the chat to followers only, sub only or emotes only. These different modes are a great way to filter your chat. If you want to know how to switch your chat to these different modes go here.  

If you are just feeling overwhelmed by chat, then start by doing followers only mode. You can adjust how long someone has to have been following you in order to chat.

You can go as low as 30 minutes and as high as 3 months. This can help you limit how many people you are talking to if you are beginning to feel like chat is just too much to handle.

The next thing you can do is turn your chat to sub only mode. And now guess what? If you don’t have any subs then nobody can chat.

This may not be the best way to grow, blocking all chat, but if you are not concerned with growing and don’t feel like talking then go for it. 

If all else fails, just turn on emote only mode. If chat is getting too out of control, or you just really don’t feel like talking then this is your best bet.

People will just spam emotes, but if that doesn’t bother you then this may be the solution.

There is no way to turn off chat completely, but there are ways to mitigate the chatter as I have just outlined. Again, this is not the best strategy for growing a stream, but it will have you talking less. 

When is it ok Not to Talk on Twitch?

There are only two reasons I can think of where it would be ok not talking on Twitch and that is if you are doing a music stream or if you are hyper focused on what you are doing (drawing, game tournament, etc.). 

If you are doing a music stream where you are playing the drums let’s say, well it wouldn’t make sense that you would be playing the drums and talking at the same time.

And your viewers will get that. Imagine playing the drums, reading the chat and calling out followers, subs and donos all at once? No way that’s even possible. 

So if you are doing some kind of music stream where you are playing an instrument or mixing beats, you can get away with talking less.

However, I still suggest that in between your sets you still take time to interact with your viewers. People still want to feel special and feel like they are a part of your community. 

Another time when you don’t have to talk as much on Twitch is if you are in the middle of a tournament. Even if it is small, there is still money on the line and so your viewers will understand if you are a little less talkative on stream.

However, just like with playing music, you should still take the time in between games to shout out your chat. 

Big streamers who play in tournaments can obviously get away with not reading subs, donos and follows for a day, but you can’t. You don’t have the clout yet.

At the beginning you have to really work on building that community and you really can’t afford just ignoring a whole bunch of people for the day. 

Should You Talk if Nobody is Watching Your Stream?

If you have 0 viewers, which is likely when you first begin streaming, then it may be difficult to talk the whole time. However, you should at least be giving commentary of your game play, even if nobody is watching. If someone pops into the stream and there is silence, they will most likely just leave. It may be hard, but try your best to keep the chatter going, even if it is just you in the stream. 

As always, if you have any questions or just want to hang with me, stop by my Twitch channel here and say what’s up!

Can you legally stream without talking on Twitch? Yes. Should you though? Absolutely not. Twitch is all about making connections and building a community.

It will be much harder, if not flat out impossible to do that if you are sitting there silent the whole time. Look at the major streamers for example; how many of them stream in silence?

Every now and again you may be able to get away with a silent stream, but you should let those coming into your stream kow this before they enter so that way they aren’t let down.

But to be perfectly honest, if you don’t plan on talking on your stream because you just aren’t feeling it that night then it may be better to just not stream at all. 

In the end I say just do what you can to talk on stream. It may be weird or uncomfortable at first, but in the words of the great shoe company Nike, “Just Do It.”