Twitch‘s newest feature is actually one of the internet’s oldest formats. The streaming service has launched Rooms, always-on chat windows that remain active even when a streamer isn’t active on his or her channel. In other words, turn on the dial-up modem and bust out the 90s jams, because chat rooms are back.
Rooms make use of Twitch’s iconic chat, which has long been one of its defining features. The window users are used to is defined as the “Stream Chat,” and several other Rooms will now allow Twitch users to foster exclusive discussions among their viewers. A Twitch blog post suggest subscribers-only, moderators-only, and spoilers allowed as three potential designations for Rooms.
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Twitch announced Rooms during last year’s TwitchCon, which took place in October. The new feature is synchronized with several of Twitch’s other perks, including the chat badges it recently expanded.
For internet users of a certain age, the concept of internet chat rooms recalls an era when AOL ruled the web and its chat rooms were hives for all manners of conversation. It is fascinating that chat rooms are still relevant in 2018, despite all of the innovations that have come to the online video industry over the past 20 years. And yet, for Twitch, this move makes perfect sense. Chat is one element that has set the Amazon-owned streamer apart from its competitors, and in promoting the use of that feature, it is making a smart decision. As the popular saying goes, everything old is new again.
