When gaming first began to gain popularity around the 1980s, it was originally seen as a masculine space and hobby. Even though women participated in developing computer technology, they received less recognition as computers became globalized standard technology. As more women began to break into gaming specifically, they faced clear sexism for their involvement in the industry. The article, “Streaming out of the Spiral of Silence. Women’s Visibility in Gaming Community and on Twitch,” discusses how women were met with hostility, heightened competitiveness, and negativity. They reported cases of men being angry and aggressive if they lost, insulting their skills, or otherwise being unencouraging to get them off the game. Thus, many women avoided the gaming sphere. 

Around the 2010s when gaming became mainstream and 2011 when Twitch was established, women were seen as “fake gamers,” or “posers,” those who faked interest in gaming to gain attention. In other words, they were seen as invading the community that was thought to be a safe space for men only (Carradore). In response, some women initiated programs meant to publicize women’s discrimination and misogyny through video essays (such as Anita Sarkeesian) or discussions, aiming to carve a supportive community for women and publicize the issue.

It came to a head in 2014 during a scandal known as #GamerGate. Eron Gjoni published a blog documenting sexual infidelity by his ex-girlfriend, Zoe Quinn, author of “Depression Quest,” accusing Quinn of “[exchanging] sexual favours for positive coverage of her game with journalist Nathan Grayson” (Carradore). Although the accusations were false, supporters of GamerGate claimed to be outraged by how news outlets were not covering a case of unethical actions. However, the publicization of GamerGate brought to light how videogames needed to grow more inclusive, and did not need to be a strictly masculine sphere.

With the popularity of Twitch in the present time, more women than ever have been able to grow communities around gaming and personality then before. In spite of that, they still face opposition by peers and audiences. A glaring example is the viewpoint that women use their bodies and sexual attractiveness to garner audiences and donations on Twitch, therefore not being “real streamers or gamers,” but instead cheating the system unfairly and stealing viewers. It goes to show that success on Twitch doesn’t depend on just playing games for others to watch. Marginalized groups can face unique barriers even within the Twitch community, and all streamers need effective methods to protect themselves online while still creating an engaging experience for their viewers. Making yourself known to hundreds or thousands of people who can stay anonymous over the internet presents its own challenges, but women and marginalized groups have found more supportive communities for themselves and their issues than ever before.

Twitch is understood as a platform promoting “cultural production”, as described in chapter 22 of Digital Sociologies by Kishonna L. Gray. A site in which nonprofessional users predominantly generate content as both players and commentators on existing games, the environment on Twitch encourages an audience that actively engages with its content instead of passively consuming it. This environment, which gives its audience such license, works to provide independence both for the Twitch creator and the audience member while also contributing to the economic success of Twitch as a corporation. However, this sense of empowerment has also led to mockery, ridicule and social discordance among audience members against marginalized creators on Twitch, specifically against its Black creators. The chapter examines racially-charged harassment on Twitch against Black streamers by evaluating the comments posted in a public gaming forum. These comments revealed the narratives at play relegating Black creators to the sidelines of gaming and streaming culture, as well as foreshadowed the future of racial discrimination on Twitch. 

Before understanding the implications that these comments revealed, it is important to know how communication operates on a digital platform. While in public in-person spaces between an individual and several people host a level of discretion in order to maintain social balance, exchange of thought in private spaces, such as between two individuals or one’s own thoughts, substantially eliminates discretion. With the development of the digital space, communication by a user through a digital device facilitates the comfort of private communication, especially with its ease of anonymity. Virtual environments amplify a sense of entitlement in users to share the thoughts that otherwise would be kept to themselves, and thus exacerbates the social systems which marginalize those who deviate from the norm. Gray includes Black cyberfeminist thought as a lens to view this research under. Although the study highlights the discrimination of Black male creators in particular, it is worth noting how the intersection of identities in Black female creators often means marginalization in a way distinctive to their experience of the platform and separate from their male counterparts. In the same way, while Black male creators may socially benefit from their masculinity in public spaces, it is their race which undermines their masculine advantage as compared to white male creators in virtual platforms like Twitch. 

One quote examined from the forum, in reference to the behavior of Black creators on Twitch, claims that “They’re just too urban. I mean, if they would just be more normal, like regular gamers, then they could probably get more followers.” The use of “urban” in this context brings to light awareness of class differences and structural racism, often perpetuated in political contexts like gentrification. One creator noted, “They showed the black dude from The Walking Zed and everyone started dropping the N-bomb and asking, ‘Lucian is that you?!’” In reference to Black creators opposing this harassment, another commenter wrote “But no one wants to hear all that. We can’t relate,” and “What do you expect when the majority of the player base seems to be white people?” By enforcing the idea that such harassment is to be expected on the platform, it propels audiences to speak freely and without regard to the real discrimination they sustain. In response to the suggestion of racism on Twitch, one user stated that “95% of popular Twitch.tv chats are filled with memes, mindless drivel, and oftentimes offensive messages. It’s just part of the culture. It’s not meant to be taken seriously. Anonymous people acting like idiots. It’s been around forever.” Normalization of this behavior as “part of the culture” and recategorizing it as “mindless drivel” gives audiences greater permission to share often inflammatory statements on Twitch without it being viewed as reprehensible, although in public nonvirtual contexts this behavior would be chastised. The exacerbation of systemic racial hierarchy on virtual platforms like Twitch proves to currently be at the disadvantage for its Black creators, but their continued visibility on the platform, however small, may provide hope in increasing the invitation and acceptance of Black creators as the model for popular Twitch streamers.