GIRL GAMER and the POWER of PERSONA: the EXPERIENCE of VIDEO GAME LIVESTREAMERS by NAOMI BRAUN a THESIS PRESENTED to the GRADUAT
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GIRL GAMER AND THE POWER OF PERSONA: THE EXPERIENCE OF VIDEO GAME LIVESTREAMERS By NAOMI BRAUN A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2016 © 2016 Naomi Braun ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my parents (all three) for encouraging me and allowing me to make my own choices. I would also like to thank all the teachers who have informed those choices along the years. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 3 ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 6 2 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................... 7 3 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................... 11 4 METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................... 16 5 ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................... 21 Relationship Building .......................................................................................... 21 Teasing and Insults ............................................................................................ 24 Criticizing and Commenting ................................................................................ 31 Positivity and Playing Along ............................................................................... 35 Sexual Comments .............................................................................................. 38 6 DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................... 41 7 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................. 44 8 FUTURE RESEARCH ........................................................................................ 46 APPENDIX GLOSSARY ............................................................................................... 47 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 48 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ............................................................................................ 49 4 Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts GIRL GAMER AND THE POWER OF PERSONA: THE EXPERIENCE OF VIDEO GAME LIVESTREAMERS By Naomi Braun August 2016 Chair: Diana Boxer Major: Linguistics Twitch is a live-streaming (streaming) service with a focus on video game gameplay. This study looks into the discourse present in the chat of several League of Legends streamers and how these streamers interact with and respond to that discourse. I put particular emphasis on negative comments. The goal is to analyze the type of language on two axes: 1) streamers whose main selling point is an extreme persona versus streamers who focus on their gameplay, and 2) streamers who are male versus female. The main question I looked to answer was if there were negative elements in the chat of female game-focused streamers that could be traced to the negative attention female persona-focused streamer generate. The chat of male streamers was used as a baseline of Twitch’s general behavior. 5 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In the world of video game livestreaming, there is a lot of animosity toward a certain group of female streamers. These streamers are accused of being little more than cam girls, more interested in making money by showing off their body and cultivating a persona than caring about the game. But the damage is not limited to just their own reputations. Some believe that these female streamers are actively making the community a more difficult place for all female streamers, even ones who are more conventionally acceptable and care about the game first and foremost. In this paper, I sought to test this belief. I analyzed a distinct community of practice: League of Legends players and viewers on Twitch. I myself am a part of this community. I have played League of Legends for six years and am an avid stream watcher. I am subscribed to one of the streamers who appears in this paper, Pobelter. I focused on two primary questions: (1) to what degree do these persona-focused streamers affect the chat of game-focused female streamers and (2) how much do the chats of these female streamers differ from the chat of the typical male streamer? 6 CHAPTER 2 BACKGROUND: LEAGUE OF LEGENDS AND STREAMING In recent years, live-streaming oneself playing games has become an increasingly popular trend. The most popular live-streaming site in the U.S. is Twitch, the 4th highest trafficked site during peak hours1, which was purchased by Amazon in the summer of 2014 for nearly one billion dollars2. The most famous of these streamers are able to solely live off the income they receive from said streaming. Streamers make money in one of four ways: (1) They make a portion off of advertisements (although this method is a smaller and smaller source with the rise of ad-blocking extensions), (2) viewers can purchase monthly subscriptions to the channel (a portion of the money goes to Twitch), (3) viewers can directly donate money to the streamer, or (4) some streamers get sponsors. Creating a popular image and accruing a large fan-base can lead to serious money. While this is usually something streamers keep private, an extremely popular streamer like Lirik, who has around 6,000 subscribers, would be making about $18,000 a month off of subscriptions alone3. League of Legends (League), a 5v5 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) created by Riot Games, is one of the most popular online games in the world. In January of 2014, they reported to have 27 million active daily players4. A part of being such a popular game is having a thriving market of non-employees that works off your game, such as artists, youtubers, and streamers. League of Legends is often, even usually, the most viewed game on Twitch. There are many streamers, but only a few 1 http://www.dailydot.com/esports/twitch-streaming-money-careers-destiny/ 2 http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/25/amazon-buying-twitch/ 3 http://www.dailydot.com/esports/twitch-streaming-money-careers-destiny/ 4 http://www.riotgames.com/our-games 7 reach the higher levels of popularity at which they can make a living off of their streaming. While they are only “playing games,” it can be a very time-consuming process. Most top streamers, whose primary income comes from their online presence, make it a point to be consistent with their streaming schedule, to stream often, and to produce other content (usually YouTube videos). Historically, video games have been considered a male-dominated hobby. In 2008, men made up 62% of gamers versus 38% female5. The gap has been steadily closing, though, with a 52% male to 48% female split in 2014. Despite the increasing presence of female gamers, it is a common belief among the gaming community that the majority of women play “casual” games, such as mobile games. In the case of League of Legends, over 90% of players were male in 2012 (and 85% were between the ages of 16 and 30)6. While the gap has likely narrowed in the years since this data was released, women playing the game are still treated as something of a novelty, particularly high ranked women. Among the top ranked players of League of Legends, although we cannot be sure, it is likely that, at least on the North American server, none of the top 200 (Challenger tier) players are female. Many of the players in this highest tier are known to the community, either by being streamers or part of a team. In the next highest rank (Master tier), there are some female players, but the number is very low and very probably below 10%. Judging who is a female player is made more difficult because in these sorts of games, most female players do not reveal themselves to be female. 5 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/24/female-gamers_n_5207137.html 6 http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/10/15/riot-games-releases-awesome-league-of-legends-infographic 8 Among League of Legends live-streamers, most top streamers are male and ranked either Master or Challenger tier players. There are some popular female streamers as well (although generally they do not pull in the same numbers as the top male streamers). None of the top female streamers are Master tier. The highest ranked are in the lower divisions of the next tier down, Diamond. Some are even lower ranked and many play exclusively or near-exclusively non-ranked matches7. There is a lot of criticism leveled against these streamers. Some feel their popularity is undeserved because there are less popular male streamers who are higher ranked and better players. Many feel these streamers’ popularity is solely due to their gender. They are regarded as not serious about the game and purely looking to make money. Some of these streamers are accused of spending large chunks of their stream time not playing at all and, instead, doing unrelated activities like chatting with their viewers, dancing, or eating on stream. They are also judged critically