Twitch is one of the most popular gaming streaming sites currently on the web with around 15 million daily viewers in 2018. It can be speculated that depending on your gender, your experience as a Twitch streamer can be very different. Along with Twitch’s growing popularity has come an emerging community which dubs select female streamers as ‘boobie streamers’. This name is tied to the perception that a female streamer who dresses in low cut, or tight clothing (or in some cases even t shirts and hoodies) is doing so in a bid to attract more viewers, subscribers and money. The notion that female gamers use their bodies to attract viewers may be true in some cases, although many female streamers refute this strongly.
Select female streamers admit to using clothing as a method to attract more viewers such as in the case of Raihnbowkidz. In March 2016 she released a video explaining her use of cleavage to increase viewer engagement, the reason behind this being fear of not being good enough on her own. The video has since been removed along with her account.
Unlike Raihnbowkidz, a majority of female streamers pay no attention to what they wear and how it may relate to their viewer count, with many actively avoiding dressing in a way which could see them grouped into this ‘Boobie streamer’ category. Streamer Djarii notes “I feel pressured into dressing a certain way to avoid being tormented online” and as a result often wears sweaters in her videos. This sort of anxiety surrounding the way a female streamer dresses isn’t totally uncalled for as in 2016 the Twitch streamer ‘Trainwreck’ live rated a number of female streamers resulting in only a one day ban. Streamers like Djarii make it apparent that there is a growing tendency to condemn female streamers who wear anything less than a sweater when streaming. This culture of attributing a females success as a gamer to the way she looks makes it extremely hard for female gamers to gain legitimate respect within their industry and gather a following of loyal viewers who watch purely for the game play.
Many male streamers will make the argument that it is easier for a female to gain more viewers and subscribers when gaming due to their ability to use their body for views. A study by Indiana University found that the types of messages a streamer receives is strongly associated with their gender. They point out that Females often receive objectifying messages when compared to males who receive more game play related massages. Popular Twitch Chat words within female channels include ‘boobs’ ‘tits’ ‘cosplay’ among many other degrading terms. Popular words within Male Twitch Chat include ‘Frankerz’ ‘Points’ and ‘Winner’. This research helps to discredit the opinion that its easier for a female to succeed in Twitch as a gamer since viewers themselves in many cases aren’t interested in the game play within female channels. Alternatively the argument could be made that in order to appeal to this audience a female is pressured to dress in a more revealing manner in order to become successful.
Male streamers account for 81.5% of Twitch users, with the top 10 Twitch streamers all being male. This data is surprising as Dickey (2016) points out that almost 40% of video and computer game players are female and over 40% of online gamers are female. Gaming in the past has been considered a primarily male pastime, indicating that perhaps the game design itself does not cater towards a female audience. Whilst the number of female gamers increase, they still only account for 18.5% of Twitch’s users, this itself could be attributed to the generally negative culture surround female Twitch streamers.
Twitch is a website which is supposed to facilitate an online community where a passion for gaming is shared. Although the experience of a female streamer vs a male streamer on Twitch are two completely different stories. The female gamer often faces objectification when using this platform and has a number of obstacles including prejudice and general opposition from select male streamers. With the popularity of gaming growing amongst females, it is essential that Twitch becomes an area in which both females and males can partake in an equal gaming experience. These issues will be explored through a series of video essays posted on youtube, in which I explore this issue from both sides and go into depth into how the male and female gamer experiences differ. If you’re interested, my pitch is linked here where I explain my ideas for this digital artefact.
References:
D’Anastasio C. 2018, The Stereotype That Women On Twitch Are ‘Asking For It’, Kotaku, accessed 8 August 2019, <https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/01/the-stereotype-that-women-on-twitch-are-asking-for-it/>
Dickey M. 2006, Girl Gamers: ‘The controversy of girl games and the relevance of female-oriented game design for instructional design’, British Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 37, no. 5, accessed 10 August 2019
Hernandez P. 2016, Twitch Player: I’m Done Being A ‘Boobie Streamer’, Kotaku, accessed 9 August 2019, <https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/03/twitch-boobie-streamer-says-shes-done-showing-cleavage/>
Iqbal M. 2019, Twitch Revenue and Usage Statistics (2019), BusinessofApps, accessed 9 August 2019, <https://www.businessofapps.com/data/twitch-statistics/>
Nakandala S., Lua G., Su C., Ahn Y. ‘Gendered Conversation in a Social Game-Streaming Platform, Eleventh International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media, pp. 8-12, accessed 8 August 2019, <https://arxiv.org/pdf/1611.06459.pdf>
Skinner L. 2017, The 15 Hottest Streamers on Twitch, TheGamer, accessed 10 August 2019, <https://www.thegamer.com/the-15-hottest-streamers-on-twitch/>
Trainwreck, November 12 2017, Twitter, accessed 9 August 2019, <https://twitter.com/Trainwreckstv/status/929481727042641920>
25 Useful Twitch Statistics for Influencer Marketing Managers [Infographic] 2019, Influencer MarketingHub, accessed 10 August 2019 <https://influencermarketinghub.com/25-useful-twitch-statistics/>
Generally unimpressed. 
Reblogged this on Game Cultures.
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As someone who has only visited twitch once (Drake & Ninja collaboration) this concept blows me away, it had me instantly going out and researching more about the topic. One thing I instantly understood was that years of mass marketing had influenced the female gaming community that video games weren’t really for them. If you wanted to digress from your topic a little bit, it would be interesting at looking at how the most dominant games over the last decade (GTA series, FIFA, COD ) were games that were primarily male marketed and dominated, and the impact this had on the female gaming community.
The way you plan on executing this DA is well thought out. It makes sense that YouTube be your primary platform but it would also be interesting if you did a twitch live stream, especially since your target audience will consist heavily of Twitch streamers. An podcast with a Female Twitch star could also be an interesting approach to this topic as well. The interview linked below, really highlights the issues female streamers face. https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/women-of-twitch/
This topic is extremely interesting and as someone who has just been introduced to it, i cannot wait to see what how your DA turns out!
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I’m utterly impressed with the quality of your pitch video, you pretty much ticked all the boxes!! In your blog, you have also indicated your own analysis and engagement with both mainstream and academic sources, and I can see that this pitch is well thought out! Here are some of my suggestions and I hope you find it useful .
With the argument about how the popularity and success of female streamers still greatly depend on how they look, you focused on the way they dress on screen. To broaden this perspective I would suggest looking into the case of Pokimane when she did a live stream without makeup and received huge backlash. As female streamers, they also face the pressure of ‘looking pretty’ all the time. You can explore this case in these articles:
https://www.tubefilter.com/2018/10/25/pokimane-makeup-stream/
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/10/women-on-twitch-go-without-makeup-to-support-a-fellow-streamer/
You have also made a really interesting theory that game design might not be catered for women, Chris in the lecture this week showed us a game since 1913, which was titled ‘a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more INTELLIGENT SORT OF GIRL WHO LIKES BOYS’ GAME AND BOOKS’. This might prove your point, making it a legit statement, not just a mere theory.
My only concern with this work is its scope. If you are to examine both youtube and twitch, and the game media industry as a whole it might be too broad and will potentially be a bit overwhelming. What about narrowing it down to a certain game on one of the platforms that you have presented?
All things considered, this is already so great for a pitch! Keep up with the good work! I’m eager to see the result ❤
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