In this article, we'll take a brief look at popular chatbots for streaming to help you with moderation, alerts, and more. Let's start with the fact that chatbots are not the bots that some unscrupulous streamers cheating to simulate chat activity. Do not forget that this violates the Twitch rules and can easily get a ban for it. This article about other chatbots - they are rather robot moderators. Humans make mistakes, they don't react as fast as machines, and of course, people need to sleep sometimes. But robots never get tired.
For these reasons, third-party developers have created "bots". They can perform basic moderation tasks such as automatic timeouts (temporarily banned the user) if the user uses forbidden words or insults, executing custom commands, and more.
Why do I need a bot on a channel if I have moderators?
Bots are not necessary for very small channels with a few viewers, but if your channel has started to grow, you should think about having a bot. With his help, you can stop answering a lot of standard questions like: "What's the PC of the streamer?", simply create a command for a bot that will display information on a certain request. Just don`t overdo it, because when you have little active chatting people, and the bot "spams" link to your social networks, it becomes annoying, and people can leave.
Let's say I want to add a bot, where do I get one?
Currently, there are many bots, both completely free and with paid features. Consider the most used chatbots at the moment:
· Nightbot
· Moobot
· StreamElements
· OWN3D Pro
· Wizebot
All of these bots have similar functionality but are optimized for different purposes and scenarios. They can be easily programmed and controlled with "chat commands", these commands usually look like this: !social - the command will display links to social networks in the chat.
Let's give a brief overview of these chatbots for streaming and consider their main functions.
NIGHTBOT, website: https://nightbot.tv/
Nightbot is a popular cloud-based chatbot that specializes in the simplicity of use and fun features, suitable for small channels. But that doesn’t mean that large channels shouldn’t use it. Although it looks simple, its functionality is very versatile - from auto-moderation and deletion of obscene messages, to run giveaways and polls. The bot is free, but if you donate money to the developers, you'll get extended functionality. A complete list of commands can be found in the bot control panel. Nightbot has one specific feature – the bot can track loyal viewers and put them on the list thanks to which override link protection & spam filters.
MOOBOT, website: https://moo.bot/
Moobot is designed for ease of use, with a high-level interface from which you can edit all bot settings. A big advantage is its very speed and trust, designed to prevent spam by instantly disabling users. The functionality of this bot is also huge, with many tools to personalize your stream, from displaying information about the game or hero you are currently playing, to a personal greeting of the new chat user. With Moobot, you can run giveaways and polling systems. The bot is free, but for an additional fee, basic features are expanded: personal greetings of new chat users, an increased number of slots for saving user commands.
STREAMELEMENTS, website: https://streamelements.com/features/chatbot
StreamElements is actually an All-in-one solution that includes a donate board, a stream control panel, a loyalty system ("points") with the ability to buy for these points, and, of course, a bot. This bot has a lot of pre-set settings and options events, you just have to turn on the necessary, and everything is ready. It has a spam filter with flexible settings, a smart timer auto-post to chat, custom chatbot naming, auto-moderation, mini-games, song & media requests, leaderboards and etc. The bot is free and provides many interesting features that are initially set up. A special feature is a system of loyalty points in combination with a stream store.
OWN3D PRO, website: https://own3d.pro/
This bot can be branding your stream. The company offers free & paid versions of OWN3D Pro. The Pro option gives access to a large number of premium overlays and alerts, it's an opportunity to try out different options to customize them to suit your style. It makes the branding process easier and you can quickly make a professional channel through add overlays to change the look. With this bot, you'll be able to create custom commands, and you can also moderate your channel and customize lists. The Pro pack gives you the ability to accept donations through PayPal. And with premium alerts, you'll see when someone gives a tip for you. The paid version gives you a complete feature set. At the moment this bot available only for Twitch.
WIZEBOT.TV, website: https://wizebot.tv/index
WizeBot is a very simple pre-configured bot for all your needs. It contains a large number of pre-configured commands: incorporated chat games (Bingo, Roulette, Duel, etc.), music with SongRequest, betting and giveaway systems, virtual store, rank & level system, and much more. This bot has some, additional game integrations for Project Zomboid and 7 Days to Die, which allows the chat to interact with the game and help or hinder the streamer. The bot is totally free, also the streamer can conclude a partnership contract with a developer (if you meet their conditions - minimum 10 000 followers & 45 viewers per live session, the user of WizeBot service for more than 3 months, 60 hours of live by month). There is also a premium subscription, available provides additional benefits and premium features.
