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CultureTwitchDr Disrespect’s Shtick Takes A Dangerous Turn Into Spreading Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories
During a stream today, Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm, whose 4 million followers make him one of the most popular streamers on Twitch, shared two pieces of widely debunked coronavirus-related media with his viewers. Many viewers reacted with shock and disappointment. Others cheered him on. He never dropped his facade—never removed his trademark wig or sunglasses—but…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 1, 2020 -
CultureTwitchFollowing Valorant Beta Key Controversy, Twitch Prohibits 24/7 Streams With Drops
For the past couple weeks, a growing number of Twitch’s top streams have not been live, despite claiming to be. In order to maximize viewership gain from Valorant’s beta key drop system, some streamers have been tossing up non-live footage to keep streams going 24/7. Now, that’s no longer allowed. Twitch announced the change to…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 29, 2020 -
CultureTwitchValorant Twitch Streamers Are Gaming The System With 24/7 Streams That Rack Up Viewers Desperate For Beta Keys
If you take a look at many of Twitch’s top Valorant streams right now, you’ll note that they claim to be running “24/7.” This might strike you as odd, given that human beings generally need to eat, sleep, and all that fancy, life-sustaining jazz. Most of these streams, however, are not actually live. At least,…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 24, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTwitch’s Budding Weed Stars Are Doing Their Best To Educate People, Whether Twitch Likes It Or Not
Twitch’s gardening section contains multitudes. Some people broadcast apple orchards. Others build birdhouses. Others play Stardew Valley. But at most times of the day, those streams are crowded out by one of the most instantly recognizable plants on earth: the seven-armed starfish, Beelzebub’s kale salad, other names I didn’t just make up. I speak, of…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 20, 2020 -
CultureTwitchNASCAR Driver Suspended For Saying N-Word On Stream [UPDATE]
Yesterday evening, professional NASCAR racer Kyle Larson used the n-word during an event hosted by prominent simulation esports league iRacing and broadcast on Twitch and eNASCAR.com. He’s since been suspended by NASCAR, as well as his racing team. With covid-19 forcing people across the world to pump the brakes on everything, professional racing organizations have…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 13, 2020 -
CultureTwitch‘OK, Boomer’ Girl’s Rise To Twitch Fame Was ‘A Perfect Storm’ Of Memes And Politics
Several decades ago, at the beginning of March 2020, when Bernie Sanders was still in the race for president, a streamer who goes by the handle Neekolul posted a short video of herself lip syncing and dancing along to a song by YouTuber Senzawa made up entirely of variations on the phrase “OK, boomer” to…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 8, 2020 -
CultureTwitchRiot’s New Game Valorant Has 1.6 Million Viewers On Twitch Right Now [UPDATE]
Valorant, a game that’s not out yet and that most people can’t play, currently has 1.6 million concurrent viewers on Twitch, putting it within spitting distance of the all-time record. The new game from League of Legends (and only League of Legends, until now) developer Riot Games mashes up Counter-Strike-style tactical shooting with hero powers…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 7, 2020 -
CultureTwitchWith Tours Canceled, Venues Closing, And Futures Uncertain, Musicians Flock To Twitch
Popular musician Marc Rebillet’s March 17 Twitch stream—the first in his “Quarantine Livestream Tour”—began just like his other shows: Wearing a silken robe, he improvised a series of songs based on topic suggestions from his audience. People asked for songs about the apocalypse and toilet paper. About an hour and a half in, he announced…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 2, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Just Made It Harder To Be A Jerk In Chat
A good Twitch chat is like a serene sea: always welcome, but all too rare a respite from the choppier waters of the internet. Over the years, Twitch has given chat moderators tools to lock out ugliness-spewing ne’er-do-wells, but a number of loopholes have allowed dedicated trolls to slip back under the gates with relative…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 1, 2020 -
CultureTwitchSatirical Twitch Streamer Kaceytron Suspended For ‘Insensitive’ Coronavirus Joke
While Twitch has not explicitly stated that dark jokes about covid-19 are grounds for an indefinite stay in the site’s purple-barred slammer, it’s now spoken with its actions. Popular satirical streamer Kaceytron has been suspended after making such a joke last week. Kaceytron (real name Kacey Caviness) was on an episode of reality show streamer…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 18, 2020 -
CultureTwitchProfessor Calls Student’s Idea To Teach Class On Twitch ‘Terrible,’ Does It Anyway
NYU Game Center professor and independent developer Robert Yang never thought teaching a class on Twitch would be a good idea, but only once he was in the thick of things did the enormity of the task dawn on him. “Oh hello, Amber,” he said to a student who’d identified herself in chat. “And hello,…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 12, 2020 -
CultureTwitchThousands Of Twitch Scam Channels Are Still Trying To Steal From Viewers
Back in December, I reported on an issue that’s been plaguing Twitch for quite some time: scammers who pretend to be popular streamers and lure people in with the promise of fake giveaways. As of now, Twitch has yet to comprehensively solve the problem. Instead, it’s played whack-a-mole with thousands of fake accounts. The playbook…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 9, 2020 -
CultureTwitchDown The Strange, Sometimes Upsetting Rabbit Hole Of Twitch Streamers’ TikToks
Over the past 72 hours, I’ve spent an ungodly amount of time watching TikToks created by Twitch streamers. It all began with a simple question: Can people whose whole line of work is built around creating the lengthiest, least-filtered form of pop culture possible excel in a medium where minimalism thrives? TikTok is a video…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 6, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Streamer Suspended After Accidentally Firing Real Gun At His Monitor
A professional Call of Duty streamer who brandished a gun on stream and accidentally fired a round into his desk has been suspended from Twitch and dropped from his esports organization. Last night, during a livestream from inside his home, Call of Duty trickshot specialist and former FaZe Clan member Carl Riemer pulled out a…
By Nathan Grayson Published March 5, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Apologizes For Suspending Debate Streamers Over Fake Copyright Claims
Yesterday evening, Twitch suspended a slew of high-profile streamers who, whether occasionally or full-time, cover politics. Those caught up in the snare included speedrunner Mychal “Trihex” Jefferson, lefty podcasters Chapo Trap House, and political pundit David Pakman. This happened after an organization claiming to represent CBS issued copyright claims on streams involving last night’s Democratic…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 26, 2020 -
CultureTwitchBody Painting Streamer Banned For Nudity Despite Efforts To Stay Within Twitch’s Rules [UPDATE]
Twitch’s policies around content it deems “sexual” are inconsistently applied, but body painting—creating art using one’s face and torso as the canvas—doesn’t run afoul of them. Body painting even has its own official tag on the streaming platform. That, however, has not stopped Twitch from indefinitely suspending a streamer who says she was doing everything…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 21, 2020 -
CultureTwitchWhy Twitch Fans Donate Money To Wealthy Streamers
Early last year, then-Twitch streamer Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang received an email from a fan who’d donated $200 to him in 2018. “Hey, I donated money to you a year ago,” read the email according to Wang, who spoke to Kotaku over the phone. “I’m having hard times right now. Do you think you could…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 5, 2020 -
CultureTwitchHow Twitch Encourages Fans To Obsess Over Streamers’ Viewership Numbers
Sit in any sizable streamer’s Twitch chat for long enough, and the topic of numbers is bound to come up. Why isn’t viewership what it used to be? Why has the streamer plateaued? Why aren’t they as big as [insert bigger streamer here]? After a while, it starts to wear on some streamers. Cory “King…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 3, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTop Streamers Are Leaving Twitch Amidst Big Money And Shady Deals
Let’s say you’re an up-and-coming streamer. You’ve done it for a while and you make decent money, although you’re no Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. But you’re on your way there, or so you hope. A while back, you got the opportunity to sign with an agency that promised to help you set up deals to advertise…
By Nathan Grayson Published January 30, 2020 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Streamers Raise Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars To Fight Australian Bushfires
Australia is on fire. Thousands of homes have been destroyed, countless people have been displaced, and 24 people have died. More than 15.6 million acres of land have burned. All this, and Australian summer is only just beginning. With the government failing to act against the blisteringly obvious effects of climate change, some streamers are…
By Nathan Grayson Published January 8, 2020