Twitch now permits streamers to broadcast non-gaming vlog-style content

Twitch is dropping some of its strictest rules to give its streamers more ways to interact with their viewers.

The Amazon-owned livestreaming service launched the IRL category today for broadcasters who just want to talk to the camera and their audience in chat without having to play a game (or painting a landscape or eating spicy chicken). Previously, Twitch moderators were rather strict about people who would go too long talking with their fans without creating “gaming content,” but the IRL category creates a space where people never have to do any gaming as long as they stay in the proper category. This definitely harkens back to the origins of Twitch as Justin.tv, which was a live “vloging” service. But Twitch marketing boss Matthew DiPietro explained that Twitch’s IRL streams and Justin.tv are fundamentally different because the latter focused on content while the former has taken a community-first approached.