Gamers' fight against trolls

At TwitchCon 2019, partners and affiliates of the platform spoke out about the challenges and frustrations of the community in a variety of panels over the weekend. One panel in particular focused on how women find success in the gaming industry.

Stephanie Harvey, a competitive gamer, hosted the panel with two players Xmiramira and Jennifer Rynn who said they need to fight a lot harder to prove they are valid gamers.

“If you play video games, you are a gamer,” Xmiramira said during the panel. “It doesn’t matter if it’s your cell phone, your console, your [Nintendo] DS, Sims, it doesn’t matter.”

Rynn said she has to prove her status in the Twitch community. Rynn is a Twitch “Partner,” an elevated status bestowed on top broadcasters.

“Sometimes when I’ve worn merch that says ‘partner,’ I’ve gotten ‘is that your boyfriend’s backpack?’ things like that.” Rynn said in the panel. “We are still in these little categories, and you are only a real gamer if you play this game or that.”

Several panelists gave credit to their top subscribers for reduction in online harassment and said Twitch could do more. In the Twitch Unity Lounge, named after the platform’s diversity campaign, many panels featured Twitch partners and affiliates of different marginalized groups discussing their struggles and achievements on the gaming platform.

Gaming and other broadcasting is a newer profession where Twitch users are navigating and handling online harassment while growing their brand and platform. Since its launch in 2011, Twitch has expanded beyond a gaming platform and allows broadcasts involving music, sports, art and the live vlogging tag known as Just Chatting. President Donald Trump launched his own Twitch account to broadcast a campaign rally in Minneapolis on October 10, 2019.

Over fifteen million people visit the Amazon-owned platform daily, half the number of users on YouTube. As of 2017, over 82 percent of Twitch users were male whereas over half of YouTube's users are female. In that year, the Twitch celebrated its first Twitch Unity Day to acknowledge the diversity and inclusivity on the streaming service.

Harvey, who has over a hundred thousand followers on Twitch, advocates for the inclusion of females in the industry. She moderated a panel at TwitchCon that consisted of female gamers who have found success in the gaming industry despite rampant harassment. She said that Twitch does not clarify what actions get punished.

“We are still at the baby steps of making a difference for diversity,” Harvey said.

According to Harvey the most difficult part of being a female gamer is proving her legitimacy in her profession.

“You can’t always prove that you are decent at a game when you are not playing or when you are having a bad day,” Harvey said.

BuzzFeed Multiplayer hit over 17 million views on the first video of the 100 Baby Challenge. Photo courtesy of BuzzFeed

During the panel, Ryan discussed her frustration about how she is not taken as seriously when playing games like the Sims and Animal Crossings that are perceived as feminine.

“We are still in these little categories, and you are only a real gamer if you play this game or that,” Ryan said.

Twitch allows for creators to ban, block and report any user. The platform defines harassment as “any content or activity that attempts to intimidate, degrade, abuse or bully others or create a hostile environment for others” according to their website.

Broadcasters can name their subscribers as moderators who can regulate the chat during any live streams. They can welcome new viewers and call out any negativity or hateful rhetoric. Based on the broadcaster’s policy, moderators can ban people from the chat. The moderators have a private chat with the broadcaster called a discord where they can bring any issues to the creator’s attention.

While some companies staff moderators for their YouTube videos and Twitch streams, most independent creators have moderators who are friends or long-time subscribers. Kelsey Impicciche, a video producer for BuzzFeed, streams on both BuzzFeed’s Multiplayer Twitch channel and her personal channel, Kelsey Dangerous. Impicciche has found success with a Sims 4 series on BuzzFeed multiplayer with the first video having over seventeen million views. Despite a few harassing comments, Impicciche has maintained a positive environment for her online community.

Originally Impicciche stayed away from gaming spaces after seeing other female gamers targeted, out of fear of receiving the same scrutiny.

“But finally, with Twitch I was like you know I'm going to try to make this as positive as possible for me and make it feel like a safe space,” Impicciche said. “It ended up being so easy to just set my ground rules and be like this is what I want out of my community.”

While researching Twitch for a BuzzFeed video, Impicciche asked well-known Twitch streamer, Pokimane for tips on how to build her community. She learned to find moderators that can be pillars of the community and are skilled in communicating with people in a positive way what is and is not tolerated in the chat.

Kassandra Guerra started as an active viewer. Impicciche liked Guerra’s attitude and decided to make her a moderator for the channel.

“Modding is somewhat different than just regular watching,” Guerra said. “I also help those with questions and welcome new viewers. I also have to be available for any moderation actions that are needed. Like if a message is flagged, I have to accept or deny the message being posted. Or if someone is posting content that is not family friendly, I have to give out warnings, timeouts or bans.”

Guerra has had to deal with some aggressive messages. Impicciche has received harassment for being a woman a couple of times and knew that was a possibility when she started. From the beginning she strives to have a chat that was a safe place for everyone.

“For the most part, people get the vibe of the chat very quickly and trolling is a pretty rare sight nowadays,” Guerra said.

Recently Twitch defended the moderation process of their streaming content on Twitter after a shooter live-streamed a shooting in Halle, Germany.

“We are shocked and saddened by the tragedy that took place in Germany today, and our deepest condolences go out to all those affected,” Twitch said in a tweeted statement.

Twitch continued to tweet that they have “a zero-tolerance policy against hateful conduct, and any act of violence is taken extremely seriously. We worked with urgency to remove this content and will permanently suspend any accounts found to be posting or reposting content of this abhorrent act.”

About 2,200 people saw the live stream before Twitch removed the video 30 minutes after it was posted.

Twitch included in the series of tweets that the account only had one prior stream and was created two months ago. They said that the video did not register in anyone’s recommendations for streams on the platform, but their investigation showed that people on the platform were sharing the video through other messaging applications.

They ended their statement by tweeting “We take this extremely seriously and are committed to working with industry peers, law enforcement, and any relevant parties to protect our community.”