The 'golive' emote is used to express a viewer's desire or demand for a streamer to start their broadcast. It combines urgency with humor through the pleading, emotional expression of the crying cat paired with the text 'GO LIVE RIGHT NOW.' The emote conveys a sense of impatience mixed with playful desperation - viewers use it to jokingly beg their favorite streamers to start streaming. Despite the commanding text, the pathetic appearance of the crying cat makes the demand seem more endearing and comedic rather than genuinely aggressive. It's a lighthearted way for fans to express that they miss the streamer's content and want them to go live.
The 'golive' emote originated from a popular meme format that combines text with an image of a crying cat (often referred to as 'crying cat meme' or 'sad cat meme'). The specific image shows a close-up of a cat's face with watery, emotional eyes. This emote format became popular around 2019-2020 when the crying cat meme template exploded across social media platforms and was subsequently adapted into various Twitch emotes. The text 'GO LIVE RIGHT NOW' paired with the emotional cat face creates a humorous contrast between the urgent demand and the pathetic, pleading expression of the cat. This particular version likely originated as a custom emote on various Twitch channels or through third-party emote services like BetterTTV, FrankerFaceZ, or 7TV, where streamers and communities create personalized variations of popular meme formats.
This emote is commonly used in several contexts:
- In a streamer's offline chat when viewers are waiting for them to start broadcasting
- On social media (Twitter, Discord) when fans are asking their favorite content creator when they'll stream next
- When a streamer is late to their scheduled stream time
- During long breaks between streams to express that viewers miss the content
- In other streamers' chats as a joke when someone mentions a streamer who isn't currently live
- As a playful response when a streamer says they might not stream on a particular day
