I’m a yapper. I can’t help myself. Sometimes my friends and colleagues in VTubing come into my streams just to hear me yap, and yap, and yap. While I’d consider myself a smaller streamer, my fans tell me I have a particular knack for eloquent political commentary while I’m clutching up in Valorant. And that’s not including when I’m fully locked in, like my weekly VRChat lecture streams talking about topics like asexuality and gender transitioning. Imagine a demon girl explaining to you how HRT works, and you kind of get the picture.
I feel something in the air. Sensing that, increasingly, VTubers are interested in doing news, drama, and political commentary. I suspect Just Yapping — erm, sorry, “Just Chatting” — will increasingly see more and more VTubers. And that means more VTubers reading articles, reacting, and chatting about the latest news with their chat.
I’m all for this tried-and-true method of yappery. However! Some people find this iteration of discussion boring. They want to spice things up by engaging in multiplayer or single-player gaming while having serious and silly discussions alike. Personally, that’s my preference. I don’t like to sit and read articles. I like to chit-chat with my audience while pouring all my excess energy into a shooter.
Now, I may be a small VTuber, but I have a lot of experience talking on panels, having difficult conversations with sources, and, yes, yapping on Twitch and (formerly, RIP) YouTube alike. Therefore, I’d like to provide my insights into yappery. Consider this your yapping VTuber’s guide to chatting while gaming.
Come prepared to yap
Want to yap? Well, there’s more to yapping than yapping. Before every stream, you should have a list of potential topics to discuss. What’s on your mind? What are you passionate about? What’s popping off in VTubing, gaming, or larger politics? Or, if you’d prefer not to talk about serious issues, what’s something you’re passionate about discussing? Sometimes I like to yap about esports and performance anxiety on my streams, because I like esports, and also because I have performance anxiety. Other times, I like to talk about games journalism, because I have a decade’s worth of experience in the industry, so I have Opinions.
Also, don’t just yap. Study other yappers. Watch people who spend their entire livelihood talking on Twitch. Watch successful yappers across the political spectrum, and beyond VTubing, for that matter. For example, I learned a lot about presentation, flow, and using the word “cooked” by watching HasanAbi. Before I became a Hasan viewer, I was a daily viewer in Valorant coach Woohoojin’s Twitch streams. In 2023, his streams taught me that charisma isn’t just about sounding cool and based. Passion, expertise, and a sense of humor can also have an endearing effect on viewers.
Also, you can learn a lot about yapping by looking into unexpected places in the VTubing scene. I enjoy watching pubbyvtuber because she shows you can talk openly and freely about any topic while integrating other activities, such as ASMR. Pubby is really good at maintaining voice and tone regardless of what she’s talking about; she’s also very genuine, which I admire.
Don’t forget to study your VODs afterwards and take notes. Good yappers are good listeners, and you should assess your skills as an orator with as much objectivity as possible.
The games you pick matter
If you want to yap and game on stream, pick your games carefully. Please, please, please do not pick something that demands undivided focus. For example, I find it impossible to chat when I play Aim Labs. All I can think about is clicking the funny little blue orbs. I feel similarly about the mainline Touhou Project games, as those require fast reflexes to dodge incoming bullets. I also wouldn’t play Beat Saber or Blade & Sorcery for yapping streams, as those VR titles are physically intensive. VRChat is better suited for yappery. Otherwise, I’ll be huffing and puffing while I talk about, I don’t know, the price of video games in 2025.
In my opinion, the best game to yap over is one you’re confident in, comfortable with, and one that offers some downtime between play. For example, I like to yap while streaming Valorant. I have well over 1,000 hours in the game, and Riot offers a lot of casual modes where my competitive rank isn’t on the line (such as Unrated or Swiftplay). Additionally, there’s a lot of time to read chat and react to your community while you’re dead. In fact, you can even catch up on chat while you’re between stages in a round (for example, if you’re rotating from one site to another for retake and know there aren’t any enemies along the way). This is one reason why Valorant became a popular game for yapping among VTubers several years back.
When in doubt, I recommend picking games that let you stop and start play at your leisure. Turn-based games, cozy games, strategy games, and management games are all great. The Sims, Stardew Valley, and Cities: Skylines immediately come to mind. If you’re going to pick something that may be intense, or may stress you out, you might want to assess whether the stress will affect your ability to speak. I find that a bit of adrenaline tends to improve my social skills and confidence, but that’s not the case for everyone.
But! Gameplay Doesn’t matter that much
I’m going to hit you with some harsh news: You’re not going to be playing your best while you chat on stream. This is exactly why you should play something you’re comfortable with and confident in. You won’t take as much of a performance anxiety hit while you stream, and you’ll be much more likely to accept the fact that you’re going to make more mistakes than usual. Or do things that are a little silly or dumb because you’re focused on reading your chat and responding.
Unless you’re an elite esports athlete (and you probably aren’t), people are not tuning into your stream to watch you play perfectly. They’re there for you! Your personality, your perspective, your vibes, and your opinions. So don’t worry about embarrassing yourself as you game. If anything, you should own the mistakes and have fun with them. Sometimes I like to scream, shout, or otherwise crash out when I die in Valorant. Why? Because it’s funny, and if you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?
But yes. Please don’t set yourself up for failure. Avoid queuing for comp matches while you’re in yapping mode. Keep gameplay a little more relaxed, if not prioritizing casual play altogether.
red, yellow, green: Control the space
In summer 2024, I began spamming Deadlock matches while yapping about politics with my chat. It was fun, but sometimes heated political discussions came up, especially because I have a left-leaning viewership that’s passionate about their beliefs. When this happened, it was really hard for me to step in and cool the discourse. I was way too busy collecting souls or trying to steal the Rejuv.
My mods and I got our heads together, and that summer, we invented a tool for moderating politics across streams. This is the “red, yellow, green” system. Think of it like a traffic light, but instead of managing cars, it stops chatters from yelling at each other about organized religion.
Here’s how it works. Every stream has a color clearly outlined in the stream’s title. In my Twitch account’s rules section, all three colors are clearly defined.
- “Red” means zero political discussion
- “Yellow” means political discussion is moderated by me and led at my discretion, i.e.: We only discuss political topics that I bring up
- “Green” means it’s open season to talk about any political issue
Most of my streams are “Yellow,” unless I’m doing ASMR content. These streams are almost always “Red.” I also use a command, “!politics,” that lets new chatters read up on the rules right from chat.
I recommend other VTubers use this system. It’s a great way to control your space, especially if you’re a variety streamer that specializes in both yapping and ASMR content. Or if some of the games you play demand more attention than others, thereby taking time away from chat. Or, conversely, if you just don’t feel like handling intense conversations with chatters for a stream.
More than anything, the “red, yellow, green” system gives you the power to stop a discussion as soon as it crosses a line. It’s super effective, as long as you feel confident in moderating your community and punishing rule-breaking behavior.
Be confident. Be brave
Why do people become yappers? Some of us are very passionate and opinionated on certain topics. Some of us are free-thinkers and want to express ourselves freely. Or are otherwise seeking validation from an audience. Others just have a lot of energy best dealt with via talking. And yes, some people want to share their beliefs because they believe they can make the world a better place.
Regardless of the reason you want to yap, be brave. Be confident. And speak your truth. Whether that truth is, “trans people are dealing with some really awful stuff in America right now,” or “Popeyes is kind of mid.” Confidence and self-assurance are important to being a yapper. Confidence in yourself, confidence in your opinions, and confidence to disagree with others. And I don’t just mean people you dislike. Sometimes, being an orator is about standing up to your friends and allies and saying, “Well, I disagree.” Other times, it means speaking up in the face of people with bigger platforms, knowing full well you might get clipped out of context.
People will admire your bravery and your self-assuredness. And they might just become yappers, too.
So, yap away. And to brutally misquote Paul Atreides, “Long live the yappers!”
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