Streaming & Youtube Guidelines

This page is an overview of technical guidelines regarding streaming runs and uploading to Youtube written to clarify what the standard for video recordings on Runnerhub is and get you up to speed on how to stream and record runs for Runnerhub.

We understand that not everyone here has the best internet connection, but we also want to make sure that any content made available to other users is at a level of quality that can at least be considered to be “watchable without frustration”. This page should help walk through some steps you can take to both set your stream quality to an acceptable level and to reduce the bandwidth that streaming takes up.

Streaming for Runnerhub

We do not require you to use any specific platform to stream a run, as long as the live-stream is publicly accessible to viewers, but the most common way that people stream is using the Open Broadcaster Software to stream on Twitch.tv. There is an excellent guide made available by Twitch detailing the various features in OBS and how to use the software to stream on their site.

You do not have to be the GM to stream, or even be a player participating in the run to be allowed to stream a run. However, you need to get permission from everyone at the table to record their run.

Youtube Uploads

The official Youtube channel is where we gather all the recorded runs on the Hub. In order to link us a video, it is required that you have your own Youtube channel where you upload the run. Once the run has been uploaded to your personal channel, all you have to do is send the link(s) to the run(s) to us at Hubkeep modmail. Once the link has been sent to us, we will make a playlist for your runs and add them to it.

Multi-Part Runs

We understand that runs can get very long, and can go over Youtube's length limits for videos sometimes. If your video of a run is split into multiple parts, please send us a link to the first video in the sequence of videos for your run recording, and include links to the subsequent parts of the run in the video description for your run. We will link Part 1 of the run in the playlist for your runs.

Quality Standards

Video Quality

All video should be *at least* 720p. No exceptions.

"Buuuuuuuut other people stream games at lower quality like 480p and it’s fine!"

Shadowrun is a textually intensive game, moreso than any video game, meaning that most of the action conveyed in the game comes in the format of tiny text in the chatbox rather than from movement within the game. If viewers cannot easily read the text on your stream (which becomes difficult at qualities lower than 720p), then there becomes a substandard viewer experience.

Framerate

Now, from my previous point you might be thinking to yourself,

"Man, how am I supposed to stream Shadowrun on my non-business internet connection if the quality standards are so much higher than for other games that people stream?"

That’s where framerate comes in. The cool thing about Shadowrun’s primarily-text format is that there is indeed very little motion. That means that you can set your recording framerate extremely low, much lower than for any other stream, and still offer a great viewer experience while significantly cutting down the bandwidth requirement to stream your runs.

A good setting for a Shadowrun stream to record at is 10fps. For an example of what a video recorded like this looks like, check out this example. You probably can’t even tell the difference unless you are specifically looking for it.

Audio Quality

There’s not too much to say about audio, other than that it needs to be high enough quality to be understandable. We’re not audiophiles, and this isn’t a music forum, so you don’t need a solid 320kb/s or anything. Our ears won’t mind. 128kb/s is a pretty good standard for a relatively low-bandwidth but still understandable bitrate to set your audio to record at.

Final Notes on Quality

These are not the ultimate requirements for quality. If your connection is capable of providing a higher quality stream and recording, feel free to go for it!

However, the standards presented in this post should be considered to be the bare minimum for earning GMP as a streamer.

Earning GMP

Streaming

You are eligible to earn 1 GMP for live-streaming a Runnerhub run.

As we are obviously not around at the time of every run that occurs, we rely on the word of GMs for the dispersal of stream GMP, usually noted at the end of a GM AAR for a run.

That being said, we would like to encourage GMs to load up the stream for any run going on on their own table and make sure that it is up to the above quality standards. If a GM opens a stream and considers it to be below the acceptable standard of quality, they retain full authority to withhold the GMP reward for streaming in their AAR. For audit purposes, GMs must note down in their AAR whether or not GMP was given out to a streamer.

Youtube

You are eligible to earn 1 GMP for uploading a recording of a Runnerhub run to Youtube.

We will be performing a cursory check on all Youtube submissions sent to us to be at the minimum quality level set forth by this posting. Submissions that do not meet the minimum quality standards will not be eligible to receive GMP.

Please keep in mind that in order to receive GMP, your video must be tagged for language/vulgarity and maturity as necessary. Please also be wary of the use of copyrighted music or other content; videos containing such media will not be eligible for upload directly to our official Youtube channel. As we are a relatively large community entity, this is to prevent us from getting into legal trouble or getting our Youtube channel shut down.

That being said, if you link us a video from your own channel that contains copyrighted content, we will assume that you have attained proper rights to its usage and add it to a playlist on our channel, as it falls outside of our jurisdiction or responsibility to police other people’s channels for their usage of copyright material.