Twitch is a streaming site that allows any individual over the age of 13 to be able to stream, under the condition of the terms of service. Twitch has the option for a viewer to follow, subscribe and even use emotes from the site and channels.

Twitch was published on June 6, 2011, and is associated with Amazon. Due to Twitch being owned by Amazon on August 25, 2014, Twitch offers a one free prime subscription that you can renew every month that can go toward your favorite Twitch streamer. 

There are currently different streaming sites, the main ones being Twitch and YouTube, both offer a specific type of exclusive item if you pay that channel. If you go to a YouTube channel, you can press ‘Join’ and be a part of channel membership, and get exclusive emotes, while as for Twitch, you can subscribe to the channel, and also get exclusive emotes.

Recently, Twitch removed the emote ‘PogChamp’ on January 6, due to the face of the emote, he encouraged further violence toward the Capitol. Many Twitch users were disappointed in the removal of the emote, as well as streamers themselves. 

“I do not think the removal of the emote really changed much, seeing how they instead introduced a rotating Pog face of some kind,” Xavier Schulte (‘21) said. “It was really interesting, and I feel that the controversy actually helped Twitch gain an even larger reputation.” 

On January 8, Twitch announced that they would put a new face on the ‘PogChamp’ every 24 hours.

The emote being removed has shown the Twitch community that many viewers felt empty that there was no current emote that represented what ‘PogChamp’ was. The meaning behind the emote ‘PogChamp’ was represented as excitement or an exciting moment.

“I am not positive how it has changed the site, but I think it is making sure people who genuinely aren’t good people lose their platform or at least get in trouble for things they do that are bad.” Amber Miller (‘22) said.

Recently, the Twitch community wanted to replace the emote ‘PogChamp’ with ‘KomodoHype’, before the emote changed every 24 hours. 

Twitch offers different styles of streaming, whether it is through video games, in real life streaming, or just chatting. The site has different terms to classify a stream, categories such as languages, common terms, world wide terms, and LGBTQIA+.

On Saturday, February 20, 2021, streamer “RanbooLive” was able to set multiple records in a single day, as well as raising money for “The Trevor Project”. The records being, youngest streamer to hit 100k on Twitch, youngest to be number one on Twitch, most subs in a single stream, largest hyper train on Twitch and fastest time to get to 100k on Twitch. 

The Twitch community is mostly made up of viewers who watch videogames, rather than the other categories. There is a site that tracks most subscribed Twitch channels, currently there are no female streamers within the top 30. 

On February 16, 2021, Twitch streamer “CaptainPuffy” was announced the most subscribed female on Twitch due to gaining 10k+ subscribers. 

Viewers of the site have their own choice of choosing who they want to watch. However, male streamers are more favored over female streamers due to different opinions the viewers have.

“The gaming/streaming community is not inherently sexist at all, there just tends to be more guys that are interested in the hobby just like there are more women making makeup videos on YouTube and other platforms,” Andrew Frecks (‘22) said. “If there is more than one type of person rather than another interested in a topic those people will always be the most represented or talked about in the community as they are the majority.” 

Toward video games categories, men are highly seen as the gender that is the face of the category. 

As female streamers can have stalkers/creepy fans, on February 22, Twitch streamer “triciaisabirdy” had to abruptly end her stream due to someone breaking into her home. Tricia stated that her roommates were protecting her while she tweeted out that she was safe. However, few people have discussed that they believe the break in was fake.

In the terms of service, there is currently a list of banned words as well as rules in general that could get a streamer banned. Before the words were banned, streamers could use them as insults toward each other. Both genders were most seen either gaining the insults or using the insults themselves.

“Many other things can help a streamer stand out from the crowd,” Schulte said. “It is not a matter of sexism, but more so a matter of differentiating yourself from doing the same thing as other people.” 

Inside Twitch, there are different stereotypes that can be portrayed through the insight of different categories. 

There is a stereotype inside of Twitch that can portray the way the Twitch community and outsiders view female streamers. Female streamers can gain attraction by the way they dress, in most cases streamers dressing in revealing style clothes will gain a bigger fanbase. No matter how a female streamer dresses, they will always get creepy attention from viewers and/or fans.

“Frankly, some of the most popular ones are only up there because they use their looks to get people to pay them money,” Nicholas Swaringam (‘21) said. “A girl could be super good at games and go to stream on Twitch, but if she doesn’t use a facecam or doesn’t look as pretty as the viewers want her to, she’ll never grow a fanbase.”

As any gender that streams, inside of their content and the personality of the streamer, toxicity will always be lurking.

Twitch consists of different communities that view specific categories which allows the site to thrive. Throughout the communities, the viewers still show their support toward individual creators.