GIRL GAMER and the POWER of PERSONA: the EXPERIENCE of VIDEO GAME LIVESTREAMERS by NAOMI BRAUN a THESIS PRESENTED to the GRADUAT

Home , Imaqtpie, League of Legends, Sjokz, Tyler1

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

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.

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

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.

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?

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 for often making their webcam big enough to take up much of their screen and, when in game, covering half of the game action, furthering the accusation that these streamers do not actually care about the game and are not truly looking to share their gameplay. These accusations are not levied against all female streamers, but there is a general feeling among the community that the “non-serious” streamers described make things harder for more serious female streamers who are trying to legitimize themselves. A comment in the stream of

Kaceytron, one of these persona-focused female streamers, expresses this attitude.

(1) mah201: @kaceytron You're the reason that people don't trust in Girl Gamers anymore! Thank you for ruining girl gamers' dreams, deceiver!

7 Ranked matches are associated with a public ladder containing the ranks of all players who participate in ranked matches. Normal matches have a separate, hidden rating and are generally regarded as less serious than ranked, with people often playing new characters or trying sub-optimal strategies. 9

The contempt many people seem to express for these female character streamers is often excused with this attitude. They are considered trivial and actively degrading the community. If there is truth to this comment, we might expect to see some, albeit less, similar harassment in the chats of game-focused female streamers as appears in the chat of persona-focused streamers because of this negative impact on female players as a whole. On top of that, both would be expected to get more abuse than their male counterparts.

CHAPTER 3 LITERATURE REVIEW In most literature on gender in computer-mediated communication, both parties are assumed to be anonymous. There is a lack of published research when it comes to an anonymous party interacting with a non-anonymous individual. While there are no perfect matches to what I am studying, there has been research that may give some clues as far as what to expect from communication in particular with female streamers.

There is plenty of research on the opinion of individuals toward sexist language. In the studies I discuss below, sexist language is language that unnecessarily differentiates linguistic elements based on sex. While it is hard to relate this specifically to the type of chat seen from viewers to female streamers, there are some conclusions that emerged from the following studies that may be relevant.

Recent research found that a correlation existed between opinions on sexist language and empathy (Parks & Roberts, 2005). People who were more empathetic toward women tended to be more receptive to inclusive labels. This primarily meant women were very receptive of these labels, while men’s receptivity was affected by age.

The study found a rise in empathy and receptivity to inclusive labeling in their older male participants. However, the range they studied was quite narrow, with older males still being in their low twenties. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to know just how well this fits the viewers on Twitch. As said above, 85% of League of Legends players are between the ages of 16-30, a range much broader than the one in Park and Roberts’s study. The streamers themselves have analytics on their viewers, but these are not available for public viewing. Considering the high proportion of male players, there is likely also a

11 high proportion of male viewers of League of Legends on Twitch. The lower end of the age range for most League players correlates with the lower empathy group. If this group has a bigger presence on streams, we would expect a viewer base that tends toward less empathetic toward women, which may have some influence on the way they speak to and about women, aside from just sexist vs inclusive labeling.

Parks and Roberton (1998) also studied sexist language in relation to sports specifically. While video games are not quite the same as sports, sports are often used comparatively among the gaming community (e.g. People trash-talk when playing real sports so I should be able to trash-talk my opponents online without getting reported).

As with sports, gaming communities are often considered to be very male-oriented

(perhaps even more so than sports fan communities). However, Parks and Roberton did not find more resistance to inclusive language in sports-related contexts. In fact, it was in the opposite direction (1998, p. 486). As stated above, sexist language in this context is not exactly what will be seen in the chats of these female streamers, but it may give a sense of what to expect, especially with the connection to empathy this inclusive language holds. In the case of Parks and Roberton’s study, there seems to be a willingness to be more inclusive in sports related contexts. This might suggest a willingness to be inclusive of female streamers who are considered “more serious.”

These streamers would behave in a way more like how the community views itself.

People who embed themselves in the community, regardless of gender, might be the recipients of a more empathetic view, which could encourage viewers to be more accepting and inclusive. While all these streamers are playing the same game, some

12 put the focus on the game, and some put the focus on a character they put on for their stream.

Because video gaming is considered a masculine domain, this may have an effect on the type of language used, according to Thomson (2006). In Thomson’s study, he found that, when discussing stereotypically female topics, people tended to use more feminine language features (or at least, features they perceived to be so). For masculine topics, there was a tendency toward masculine language features. Some of the masculine features given were “giving a directive, disagreeing, insults, adjectives,

[and] statements emphasizing differences between group members” (Thomson, 2006:

170). Beyond just those features, there may also be an effect on the type of vocabulary used by viewers (and potentially by streamers as well). In James (1998), a series of derogatory terms were studied and their meaning and distribution was analyzed separately among men and women (however, this was not in a specifically game- related context). If people are inclined to speak in a more masculine way in a stereotypically masculine gaming-related context, then it would follow that they would be inclined toward a more masculine interpretation and distribution of derogatory terms. As

James’s study is somewhat dated at this point, the distribution and meaning of the derogatory terms she studied may not hold true to today’s standards, however.

For such a distinct community as the one studied in this paper, understanding contextual clues can be vital to accurately interpreting the intended meaning of chatters.

John Gumperz stressed the importance of these contextual clues in his contributions to interactional sociolinguistics. The language used by chatters to address streamers is influenced by the culture that surrounds them and helps define them. In addition, their

13 language choices contribute to how they identify themselves in the community. Both the viewers and the streamers carefully maintain a certain face within the community.

Erving Goffman describes face as “the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume he has taken during a particular contact” (1967, p.

5). As will be seen below, however, it seems that sometimes a streamer’s face is not strictly positive, and intentionally so. Often, these personas deliberately go against what is socially acceptable. Goffman explains that once a person “takes on a self-image expressed through face [they] will be expected to live up to it” (1967, p. 9). While the self-image accrued by these character streamers is not a positive one, they are equally committed to maintaining it as Goffman says the everyday person is to their everyday persona. In everyday face-work, people will generally build communication upon the line presented by someone. The communication between streamer and viewer is much less personal, with most viewers not getting a response from the streamer, but there is still some similarities to this everyday relationship. Many of the viewers communicate in chat in accordance with the line presented by a streamer, but they may go about this in different ways.

Because this is in a computer-mediated and mostly text-exclusive environment, there are some modifications to the types of clues that elucidate underlying meanings.

Saussure’s signaling mechanisms are some of the important contextual features of languages. In Gumperz’s words, “signaling mechanisms such as intonation, speech rhythm, and choice among lexical, phonetic, and syntactic options... [are] said to affect the expressive quality of a message but not its basic meaning” (1982a, p. 16). For this

14 text-restricted medium, elements like intonation and speech rhythm are replaced by features such as capitalization and emotes1.

1 Twitch’s version of emoji 15

CHAPTER 4 METHODOLOGY I analyzed the chat of nine streamers using a general discourse analysis along with elements of interactional sociolinguistics. I chose streamers that were among the most popular of their type. About sixty to ninety minutes of each stream was watched, with time spent on different contexts (e.g. in-game and out of game). Streamers can have Twitch save their past streams as videos-on-demand (VODs). When watching a

VOD, Twitch also has the chat from the stream recorded, so past streams can be watched with the chat experience in-tact. This system was used to access the streams sampled. Much of what I gathered from this data was strongly aided by my own insider knowledge of the community. This was a look into a particular community of practice: people who play League of Legends and/or watch streamers play it on Twitch. My membership in this community allowed for a more intimate understanding of the community’s contextual clues. In addition, I consulted with other members of the community to confirm my intuitions, particularly in regard to the nuance of various emotes. I looked at five male and four female streamers. The male stream group had one character streamer (putting emphasis on an extreme persona), two game-focused streamers, and two others that existed somewhere on the spectrum between the two groups, although they tended more toward the game-focused end. The female group had two character streamers and two game-focused streamers. Samples are selected from the comments they received and analyzed to get an idea of the way in which

Twitch chat interacts with streamers. There are also quotes from the streamers to give context and also show the relationship between the streamer and their viewers.

In my research, I encountered two main categories of streamers: the character streamer and the game-focused streamer. Character streamers have extreme personas which make up the core personality of their stream. For character streamers, their face is bound to their extreme personas. The way they behave and the way they are treated by most members of the chat is a product of the type of character they play, genuine or not, on stream. Game-focused streamers have more mild personas. They are less likely to have extreme reactions or demonstrate bizarre behavior. They have a primary focus on the game that they are playing. There are male and female streamers in both categories, and both categories have some variety in the skill level of the streamers.

While it is easier to be a popular game-focused streamer with a higher skill level, even skillful players may rely on an extreme persona to give them an edge over their competition.

Below I will introduce the streamers whose chats I sampled from in this paper.

Kaceytron: Kaceytron is a female character streamer. Her persona is someone who thinks they are very good at the game League of Legends and generally talks herself up. She claims that she has a Challenger account, but that she plays on a smurf while on stream (the account she currently uses on stream is Bronze V, the lowest possible rank). She occasionally calls herself the first female pro League player. She often wears low-cut tops. Kaceytron has 441,705 followers on Twitch. She usually gets several thousand viewers.

Miramisu: Miramisu is a female character streamer. Her persona is someone who is all-around strange. She often uses pop-culture Satanic symbols and makes comments about hunting people down who annoy her (often saying she is just kidding

17 and that she will get in trouble if she does that). While she sometimes uses very standard make-up, she will occasionally appear in extreme make-up. She usually wears low-cut tops. Miramisu’s account is Diamond V, but she plays normal games on stream, which leads some to suspect she had someone boost her account. Miramisu has

83,521 followers on Twitch. She usually gets several thousand viewers.

Tyler1: Tyler1 is a male character streamer. Tyler1 was a Master tier player

(although he was regularly leveling up new accounts to level 30, the level required to play ranked matches. As a result, he was often playing at lower ranks). This means he is around the same rank of most popular male game-focused streamers. However, the main focus of his stream was on his persona: the rager. He would often get mad at his teammates and flame (insult and berate) them. Occasionally, he would also intentionally feed and had a list of players who, if he happened to be matched up with them on his team, he would always intentionally feed, effectively giving up the game. Tyler1 advertised on his stream bio that he had been account banned over 18 times. Riot

Games eventually banned Tyler1 as a player, which means any account found to belong to him will be banned on sight, regardless of his behavior on that account (if he were to play anonymously, Riot would have little chance of identifying him. The main point of a ban like this is to stop him from ever being able to stream). Tyler1 has

130,074 followers on Twitch. He sometimes gets as many as 10,000 viewers, but usually is in the 4000-7000 range.

Nyxeira: Nyxeira is a female game-focused streamer. Her account is currently

Platinum IV. She has 182,327 followers on Twitch. She usually gets around 1000 (plus

18 or minus a few hundred) viewers, which is generally the highest amount female game- focused streamers get.

Behkuh: Behkuh is a female game-focused streamer. She was, for a time, ranked Diamond V, but recently fell to low Platinum. Behkuh’s chat is unique in that it has a very high proportion of subscribers talking. While she has a good number of subscribers, they tend to dominate the chat more than other streamers with a similar number of subscribers. Behkuh has 164,947 followers. She usually has around 1000 viewers.

Doublelift: Doublelift is a male game-focused streamer, although he sometimes has elements of a character streamer. He is a current pro player who has been extremely popular in the scene for several years, often considered one of the best players in the West. Doublelift is often very harsh on his mistakes and can also be quite critical of other players in his games. Doublelift has 714,259 followers. He usually gets around 10,000 viewers (plus or minus a few hundred depending on who else is streaming).

Imaqtpie: More so than the other in-between streamers I sampled, Imaqtpie is one of those streamers who exists on the border of character and game-focused streamer. He was a former pro player who found a huge amount of success in streaming and eventually stopped playing professionally to be a full-time streamer. He is one of the top-ranked streamers (and is generally a very good player). While he is primarily a game-focused streamer, he does have a persona that exists to enough of a level for his viewers to play along with it. Imaqtpie’s persona views himself as one of the best of the best League of Legends players. Imaqtpie has 1,183,941 followers on

Twitch. He is regularly one of the most viewed League of Legends streamers, usually getting well over 10,000 viewers (although he streams at a time of day that not many other popular streamers are playing).

Sneaky: Sneaky is a male game-focused streamer. He is a current pro player.

While he is game-focused, he, like Doublelift, does have something of a character. He makes many sexual comments about himself and his teammates (who are all male).

When people subscribed to him, he used to respond with “Welcome to my butthole,” although he has since been asked to stop by some higher authority. Sneaky has

686,288 followers and generally gets around 5,000-7,000 viewers, although he will sometimes get around 10,000.

Pobelter: Pobelter is a male game-focused streamer. He is a current pro player.

Pobelter has very little in the way of an extreme on-screen persona. If there is anything, it is that he sometimes jokingly acts very hard (fans will sometimes call him The

Notorious P.O.B.). Pobelter has 246,472 followers. He can get anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand viewers.

CHAPTER 5 ANALYSIS Below I will analyze five themes that emerged from the conversation viewers had about and toward the streamers. The first section discusses relationship building. It covers the methods used by streamers and viewers to establish some semblance of closeness. The second section covers teasing and insults. It will explore the variation in negative remarks received by different types of streamers and possible causes for those differences. The third section will look into the type of criticism and commentary received by streamers. It will include criticism of the way streamers run their streams, as well as general commentary on their gameplay and skill. The fourth section will look into the ways viewers interact positively with the streamer. There I will discuss ways viewers encourage streamers, both on a general gameplay level and in relation to the personas streamers put on. Finally, the last section will discuss sexual comments streamers receive.

Relationship Building – the Illusion of Closeness Having a good relationship with your chat can be a huge boon to your streaming business. It encourages viewers to subscribe to feel more truly like a part of a streamer’s community. Many streamers also have a few people who regularly donate money to the stream. Often, the streamer will recognize the name of such a donator.

Again, this creates the idea of a relationship between the streamer and the viewer/donator. The relationship between a streamer and their viewers is, usually, not the same as two people speaking face-to-face, or even two people speaking to each other electronically. Unless the streamer has very few people speaking in chat, they will

21 not be having a one-on-one conversation with viewers. Instead, they will pick and choose comments to respond to and generally try to respond to the general mood of the chat. This creates unique challenges for streamers to simulate that one-on-one relationship.

As a whole, the chat is much more focused on the streamer in character streams.

The chat in general is constantly commenting on the streamer and their gameplay or behavior. Other streams sometimes have huge amounts of totally unrelated talk, usually with viewers having conversations among themselves. Generally, streams with fewer viewers and, more importantly, less active chats are more likely to have personal conversations occurring. When the chat moves too quickly, it becomes too difficult to have unrelated conversations among just a few viewers, so that kind of conversation eventually gets crowded out.

It is not uncommon for viewers to greet a streamer, especially at the beginning of the stream. When the chat is not too active, streamers will often say hello back. When

Kaceytron first turns on her stream, she receives a few hellos.

(2) Icecreamcake1ooo : Hi Kacey [s]1 MarioPlaysKeys : @Kaceytron 2 Even an hour into her stream, there are still some instances of viewers saying hello (3) jonathansymes : HEY kaceytron how are you … [s] Aytenishot : @Kaceytron, Hi kacey how are you today

1 [s] denotes subscribers to the channel 2 ‘HeyGuys’ – An emote used to say hello (or goodbye). 22

When streamers have very regular viewers, they will often form some sort of relationship with each other and with the streamer. A great example of this is Behkuh, who even calls some of her viewers by (presumably) their names rather than their usernames. While playing the game, it can be hard to keep up with the conversation in the chat, but Behkuh will often chime in or ask “What are you guys talking about,” remaining an active member of the conversation. In many ways, the discourse between

Behkuh and her viewers most resembles a typical conversation among a group. It by and large follows the general social guidelines.

Streams as friendly as Behkuh’s, predictably, are less likely to have a disparaging relationship between the viewer and the streamer. Negative remarks toward Behkuh are exceptionally rare. Instead, there are comments that are more personal but from a context of a friendly relationship.

(4) [s]StayGoldPonyPleb: Is behkuh just really sad today

Viewers will also ask Behkuh questions that are not necessarily directly related to the game she is currently playing (although questions related to gaming in general are more common).

(5) [s]StayGoldPonyPleb: Behkuh do you listen to childish Gambino (6) Vasuvious1: @behkuhtv do you think you're gonna play overwatch when it comes out? This aspect is certainly not exclusive to a player like Behkuh. Viewers often ask streamers questions when it comes to the higher rated streamers too. However, viewers are more likely to ask questions about League of Legends with the higher rated streamers. Clearly viewers expect these streamers to have more insightful knowledge on the game than lower rated streamers, even if the lower rated ones are also game-

23 focused. The following question appeared in Doublelift’s chat (talking about an in-game item build).

(7) RuiSix: why korean build is better?@tsm_doublelift But Doublelift too will get unrelated questions that come from the position of a relationship.

(8) [s]Winningsomegames: @tsm_doublelift how was vacation?

All streamers will get questions but, rather than being based off of what type of stream they run, it is based on rank whether or not viewers are likely to ask a streamer for advice about League of Legends itself.

Even very popular streamers will at least seem to have discussion with their viewers. Streamers will often answer questions during downtime. During one stream,

Sneaky was discussing changes to the queue process for League of Legends after a viewer asked his opinion. He said his thoughts and then asked his viewers, who are all lower rank than him and less affected by the changes in the queue process, if it was actually a problem for them. In this way, he also encourages the idea of a friendly relationship between himself and his viewers, strengthening the feeling of a community

(and thus probably encouraging new people to subscribe and current subscribers to stay subscribers). These streamers get thousands of viewers, but by recognizing names and directly responding to questions, they can create a closeness with these viewers, which is something many of the viewers are looking for from a streamer.

Teasing and Insults – Are they Unprovoked? Insults are not rare on Twitch, both for character streamers and game-focused streamers. When a stream gets popular, the nature of Twitch chat is simply on the

24 aggressive side. However, not all insults are created equally. There is variety both in the target of the insult and in the apparent severity of it.

Some insults are directed more at the streamer as a person than at their gaming ability. This type is extremely common for female character streamers. The following are comments Kaceytron received from viewers on her stream.

(9) jamesyktron : SHUT UP WHORE … Frogtech_ : @Kaceytron you talk too fucking much just shut the hell up Miramisu often finds herself receiving very similar comments. (10) ganjafarmer01 : Fat bitch stfu (11) sargentokabukiman : boosted annoying ugly bitch

While in polite society, there is no excuse for such harsh language, there is more going on when it comes to these character streamers. The insults Kaceytron receives run the gamut from light-hearted to cutting, but regardless of their intensity, they are often orchestrated by Kaceytron herself. She guides the chat’s topic and encourages the insults by giving them attention. At one point, Kaceytron asks the chat to, “Please stop calling me a whore. I don’t show boobs on stream. If I showed boobs on my stream then

I would be banned.” Almost immediately after saying this, her chat rang back with just that. Even some subscribers joined in.

(12) [s] Hi_there_007 : WHORE Willmaillet : WHOREEEEEEEEE

Miramisu operates in a similar fashion. She is self-aware enough to know the insults her viewers will throw at her. When a streamer receives a donation, they will often have a sound and picture appear on screen to announce it. Miramisu has a variety, but one sound-picture pairing is a whale call accompanied by a picture of

Miramisu making an “ugly” face. Miramisu directly addresses the two most common insults she receives: fat and ugly.

Kaceytron’s character is one that easily orchestrates these strings of insults. She plays someone who is painfully detached from their own reality, a character that is easy to mock. Her total lack of modesty paired with an equal lack of skill puts her far off the expected ritual pattern of interaction. However, she is not in wrong face or out of face, as Goffman puts it (1967: 8). Rather, these features are a part of her face, and her viewers expect it and interact predictably with the line that she has taken. The ritual of her stream is one characterized by her ignorance and ego. Her viewers respond generally in one of two ways. They can either respond with indignation, as might be expected from someone interacting so far off script in general society, or they can respond positively, enthusiastically going along with her character, which will be elaborated on below.

By simply asserting that she is one way, Kaceytron’s viewers who take the more negative approach have a clear path to tease and insult her for actually being the opposite way. There is rarely any subtlety to it, either. In one stream, Kaceytron was saying “um” more than usual. This first prompted her chat to simply parrot back the

“um”s.

(13) [s] Frogthree : ummmm rubibby : ummmm tooospicy : ummm

Kaceytron stayed true to her character, oblivious to reality. When she noticed the “um” comments in her chat, she responded with, “Um, I’m not saying um,” which was answered by another round of “um” responses in her chat. By bringing attention to the

“um” comment and making an obviously false retort about her use of “um,” Kaceytron easily baits her chat into a flurry of “um”-related activity.

(14) Guyver123 : For someone who claims not to use um , you have said it about 10 times since then just so you know

Whether or not she was intentionally saying “um” more than usual or was simply inclined to say “um” that day is, Kaceytron saw the opportunity to stir up her chat when they responded to her and she took it wholeheartedly. She can do the same with insults regarding her gaming ability. Her persona already has a huge gap between her self- perception as a player and her actual play on stream, but she can further encourage these comments. After being told to shut up in (9) above, she refuses, saying she likes to keep her stream educational and that she knows people want to learn from her commentary. She suggests that if people want a streamer who does not talk as much, they should look elsewhere. Some commenters scoff at her assertion that people want to learn from her.

(15) rrema123 : i know how to play better then u ... ReallyDK : YH WE ARE LEARNING WHAT TO NOT DO 3 YH WE ARE LEARNING WHAT TO NOT DO YH WE ARE LEARNING WHAT TO NOT DO YH WE ARE LEARNING WHAT TO NOT DO YH WE ARE LEARNING WHAT TO NOT DO YH WE ARE LEARNING WHAT TO NOT DO YH WE ARE LEARNING WHAT TO NOT DO YH WE ARE LEARNING WHAT TO NOT DO

3 ‘EleGiggle’ – An emote used to represent a derisive laugh 27

Once again, Kaceytron has orchestrated this insult. There are no popular game-focused streamers who have a rank anywhere near as low as Kaceytron. It is clear to anyone who is a part of the community that Kaceytron’s stream is not watched for her gameplay. By suggesting otherwise, Kaceytron creates an avenue for comment by her viewers.

As for the male end, Tyler1 generally receives far fewer insults, but he still has a hand in the ones he does get. Unlike Kaceytron and Miramisu, Tyler1 does not respond nearly as much to insults or negative comments. They do still exist in his chat, but to a lesser degree. The insults he does receive, though, are generally related to his persona.

Before his permanent ban, Tyler1 would often claim that he had reformed and was no longer a toxic player. Of course, he always returned to the flaming, raging character sooner or later. This opened him up to sarcastic remarks about the nature of his in- game attitude in much the same way the gap between Kaceytron’s words and actions opened her up to comment.

(16) carlxbrah : 4REFORMED

(17) fh8f8x : TOXIC AF (18) THEOPTICNOOB : ROID RAGE 5 ROID RAGE ROID RAGE ROID RAGE ROID RAGE ROID RAGE ROID RAGE

There are relatively fewer popular male character streamers compared to female, so it is hard to say if the lesser rate of insults and the nature of those insults (Tyler1 is never

4 ‘BigBrother’ – An emote used to reference Tyler1 due to a (coincidental) resemblance. 5 ‘BabyRage’ – An emote usually used to designate whining. 28 called a whore, although he always wears a tank top on stream) is a result of the gender difference, or Tyler1’s much more moderate response to those insults.

The idea of creating an avenue for insults is not totally exclusive to character streamers. Even for game-focused streamers, like Behkuh, the streamer can exert their control over their insults. Female game-focused streamers tend to receive around 1000-

1500 viewers at the most. Whether because this allows for more strict moderation, because there are fewer chatters to rile one another up, or another reason altogether, these streamers tend not to receive many insults. When they do, other viewers are often the ones to chastise those comments. However, teasing can be an important part of building the community, so these streamers must allow some avenue for such comments. In a sense, this is quite similar to what the female character streamers do.

Rather than giving attention to a negative comment they receive, these game-focused streamers will instead be the model comment themselves. They will open up the floor by insulting themselves, thus giving an approved topic (although for some streams, even this is not enough to drive the viewers to actually insulting the streamer). During one game, Behkuh’s team was significantly ahead, giving them some breathing room to make sub-optimal plays without throwing away the win. Behkuh uses a teleport (TP) ability to try and kill an enemy character when there were more important objectives elsewhere on the map. However, the enemy evades her and ends up getting killed by one of her teammates, avoiding ever taking damage from Behkuh. After the enemy character dies, she says, “God damn it, I tp’d so that I could get a kill. I got nothing. I didn’t even get an assist.” Someone in her chat responds.

(19) [s]PirateTawnee : Didn't even get an assist 6 [s]PirateTawnee : NA tp?

The combination of a mocking emote and an NA __ comment (see glossary) are clearly negative, but the fact that this viewer is following Behkuh’s example as far as what to mock suggests that it is done without malicious intentions. There is a scale of how much power a streamer has over the insults they receive, and Behkuh is at the very controlling end. Whether thanks to her persona, her moderation, or some other factor,

Behkuh’s chat culture has far fewer strong insults or aggressive language, and aggressively sexual comments are extremely rare. Behkuh gets some comments calling her pretty or beautiful, but rarely the type of explicit comments that some other

(character) female streamers receive. This sort of pattern is fairly common with the higher ranked female game-focused streamers. There are some who are lower ranked, usually gaining their popularity due to some other medium. For many of these streamers, the viewers are even kinder (although they are also usually fewer in number).

The male game-focused streamers I looked at had more insulting comments than their female counterparts, but they also had more viewers. The insults they received generally insulted solely their gameplay in some way or another. They could be quite mild, but there were some that were rather harsh. After poorly using the ability Flash while playing Jinx, Sneaky received this comment.

6 ‘LUL’ – An emote used to express mocking laughter. 30

(20) OpieOP_DansGame_OpieOP: MY JINX7 IS BAD 8 MY FLASH WAS

SHITTY YOU GUESSED IT RIGHT IM C9 SNEAKY

This is not quite on the level of many of the comments that female character streamers get, but it is quite a bit harsher than anything one could regularly expect from the chat of most female game-focused streamers. Explicitly calling something the streamer did

“shitty” is nearly unheard of in a stream like Behkuh’s. Instead, she gets a mild euphemism when she messes up badly.

(21) Sparkliest: awkward ult9

However, they are not rare at all in the chat of many male game-focused streamers. Of course, all of these streamers are extremely high rank and many are professional players. It could be that viewers know that the streamer will not think he is unskilled and that these comments can safely be made and expected to be understood as teasing. It may also be a case of gender. Most of these commenters are likely male and they may be used to bantering with other males, but feel that it is inappropriate with female game- focused streamers. This possible chivalry does not seem to extend to female character streamers. It could also be that the female game-focused streamers have had more strict moderation or a chat culture that shuns insults. The reasoning behind these changes is hard to judge without being able to speak with the commenters themselves.

Criticizing and Commenting on Streamers Criticism is another instance where the biggest divide appears between female character streamers and everyone else. A huge part of the criticism female character

7 Jinx is the name of the character he was playing 8 ‘4Head’ – An emote used to represent a derisive laugh 9 Refers to her ultimate ability, one of the abilities of her in-game character 31 streamers receive is toward their stream conduct. This can be nicely conceptualized in a comment Kaceytron received (although Miramisu has received the exact same comment too).

(22) houbal90 : ░░░▄▄▄▓▀▀░░░░░░░▒▒▒▀▀▀█▄░ ░░▐█░▄▀░░░NICE░░░░░░░▀▄░░█▌ ░░▐░▐░░░░GAMEPLAY░░░░░░▐░░▌ ░░▐▐░░░░░░░▀▄▒▄▀░░░░░░░▐░░▌ ░░▐▐░░░░░░░▒▒▐▒▒░░░░░░░▐░░▌ ░░▐▐░░░▄░░░░▒▐▒░░░▄░░░░▐░░▌ ░░▐▐▒░░░░░▒▒▒▐▒▒▒░░░░░░▐░░▌░ ░░▐░▀▄▒▒▒▒▒▄▀▒▀▄▒▒▒▒▒▄▀▌░▌░ ░░▐░░▐▀▀▀▀▀░░░░░▀▀▀▀▀░░▌░▌ The intent in a comment like this one is clear. The viewers who paste this comment are expressing an opinion that these streamers are not interested in showing their gameplay. Instead, their goal is simply to show off cleavage. The juxtaposition of an

ASCII picture of a pair of breasts accompanied by the text “NICE GAMEPLAY” in (22) show that the words are sarcastic, but the comment as a whole is critical of the streamer. The ASCII art shows the underlying implication of the comment. Sometimes the comments are a bit more direct.

(23) toper997 : lol. is she really showing her boobs in half of the stream? xD (24) Dr_Richard_Gaypenshart : tit streamer

We can see this type of streamer criticism parodied in the chat of the male, game- focused streamer, Sneaky. At one point, he increased the size of his webcam to let viewers see his teammates sitting beside him. After entering the game, he did not reduce the size of his webcam back to normal for the first minute. Of course, Sneaky’s stream does not usually have a large webcam, so the “criticism” he receives is, most likely, tongue in cheek.

(25) [s]rapperdovahkiin: QUALITY GAMEPLAY Hi_Im_TwisteX: NICE GAMEPLAY 10 Blapblapsyu: BANNED Aside from my own intuition, there are some more concrete signs that these comments are said sarcastically. The most obvious is the use of the Kappa emote. This emote is generally used to indicate that an accompanying comment is sarcastic. Unlike the comment in (22), which uses a discrepancy of picture and comment to convey a secondary, critical meaning, the Kappa face is more light-hearted. It is often used in negative comments that fall onto the side of teasing versus harsh insults. Sarcastic comments, or comments in general, that are meant to be more insulting and come across with a harsher nuance are more likely to appear with emotes such as EleGiggle, which appears in (15) or the less harsh 4Head, which appears in (20). There is also the use of all capital letters. Using all capital letters is generally meant to show excitement or yelling. In this case, though, such a meaning is unlikely. Due to the size of Sneaky’s webcam, the gameplay is not visible, which would make a genuine compliment of it unlikely. A less common but still present use of all capitals is to express boisterous, rather than dry, sarcasm. The excitement component of all capital letters is maintained.

There are also times when streamers receive oddly specific appearance related criticism. This is, again, most common for female character streamers.

(26) Indym : @kaceytron can you fix your uneven eyebrows?

While it is not unheard of for the other groups of streamers to receive criticism related to how they run their stream, it is much rarer. They are more likely to be

10 ‘Kappa’ – An emote used to designate sarcasm. 33 criticized for their gameplay. Gameplay criticism takes two forms: simply criticizing an aspect of the gameplay or backseat gaming. The former is more common among these female character streamers, as in this example from Miramisu’s stream.

(27) xLancerr : jesus she sucks at farming This type of criticism can appear in male game-focused streamers’ chats too. The following comes from Sneaky’s stream. The enemy did an unusual strategy, resulting in killing his character early on in the game. Sneaky says that he was cheesed by the enemy—that they used a strategy whose effectiveness comes from being surprising rather than being well played. Some viewers in his chat take issue with this excuse.

(28) Doomdaey: playing lane better isnt cheesing

Backseat gaming is fairly common for the male game-focused streamers. This is when viewers in chat question the decisions of the streamer and say what they think would have been better, or try to tell the streamer what to do next. Often times, other viewers in the chat will be the ones to point out flaws in the backseat gamer’s proposed course of action. The following comes from Pobelter’s channel. He has just died to an enemy, but he came somewhat close to killing the enemy first. One commenter thinks

Pobelter could have gotten the kill if he had used his Ignite ability.

(29) ACcentuation1: IGNITE???? foxygoat: ignite wouldnt have helped had barrier

Backseat gaming does occur in the chats of character streamers who are not very skilled, but it is often drowned out by general criticism of ability.

Aside from these criticisms about the actual streamer, there is also some insight into opinions on other streamers, particularly Kaceytron, in the chat of game-focused streamers. This first example comes from Sneaky’s stream.

(30) ge69200: KACEYTRON WAITING ROOM 11

This comment facetiously claims that the viewer is only watching Sneaky because

Kaceytron is not streaming. Knowing that this comment is being sarcastic comes from knowledge of the community and the use of all capital letters, but there are more blatant examples that make the negative opinion of Kaceytron clearer. This example comes from Behkuh’s stream.

(31) Onionmann: shes almost as good as kaceytron jpnm92: @onionmann I want to rage at you so bad Onionmann: but why Onionmann: i did nothing jpnm92: you're comparing her to show boobs kaceytron Onionmann: wasnt talking aboot boobs. was talking aboot skill Onionmann: we know kacey got dem skillz Most likely, Onionman is joking here, but regardless of how genuine or not he is, the response by jpnm92 shows the very negative view they hold of Kaceytron. Even comparing Behkuh to Kaceytron is an insult according to this viewer. They, as the commenter in (22) did, do not see Kaceytron as someone who cares at all about the game she is playing. To them, Kaceytron is just someone who shows off her body, and clearly this is not a good thing for jpnm92 (nor for most of the community).

Positivity and Playing Along Female character streamers get a huge amount of insults and negativity but, even for them, no streamer is without allies. For character streamers, there will be

11 ‘ResidentSleeper’ – An emote used to designate boredom. 35 viewers who defend them against other people in the chat, who make generally positive comments, and who play along with their persona. Defending streamers generally has viewers either respond directly to a negative comment with a counter-comment or generally bemoan the state of the chat. The following comments come from Miramisu’s and Kaceytron’s chats, respectively.

(32) lemon_the_killer : ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ █▀█░█▀█░█▀█░█▀█░▀▀█░█▀▀░░█░░░█ █▀█░█▄█░█░█░█░█░░█░░█▀▀░░░█░█ █▄█░█░█░█▄█░█░█░█▄▄░█▄▄░░░░█ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ [m][s]Graograman2 : ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ █▀▄░▀█▀░▄▀▄░█▄░▄█░█▀▀█░█▄░█░█▀▄ █░█░░█░░█▀█░█░▀░█░█░░█░█░▀█░█░█ ▀▀░░▀▀▀░▀░▀░▀░░░▀░▀▀▀▀░▀░░▀░▀▀░ ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ (33) airienae: Everyone should chill and give her a break.

More common than simply defending the character streamer is playing along with their character. Tyler1 receive far fewer insults (other than calling him toxic), so he has less need for a chat defense force, but he too has plenty of viewers who emulate his character in his chat.

(34) peacedrop : FLAME HER12 (35) MrDrDaddy : USE UR HEAD NAMI

Even when Tyler1 himself makes a huge mistake by misclicking, there are plenty in his chat who will continue to go along with his character, which blames Nami for tilting him, for negatively affecting his mentality.

12 The ‘her’ here is referencing the character, Nami, who is female, rather than an assumption that the player is female. 36

(36) fh8f8x : NAMI KYS13!

Tyler1 and Kaceytron both have very easy characters to emulate, so it is very common to see viewers playing along with that character than a more vague character, like

Miramisu’s. This is even true for the in-between streamers who have personalities that are easy to emulate, like Imaqtpie and Sneaky. Imaqtpie’s persona actually has some similarities with Kaceytron. He calls himself one of the best to have ever played the game. On one stream, while playing low level games to level up a new account, he bemoans (sarcastically) that he cannot turn off his brain to play because he is simply hard-wired to always play at the highest level. Some of his commenters go right along with this.

(37) raptor0719: Why am I so good at everything 14

Some game-focused streamers really have no on-screen persona to play along with. Of course, there will still be inside jokes developed among the community, like that

Pobelter has 200 IQ, and chatters will use those as the basis for something that resembles playing along with a character. However, simply positive comments are also a simple alternative, as with this comment chain from Behkuh’s stream.

(38) [m][s]xSpackle: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAS AJNAZ: YES … [s]ishoryukenu: POP OF BEHKUH [s]ishoryukenu: WOW [m][s]xSpackle: GOOOOO PENTA

Behkuh made a very good play and killed four of the five enemies (almost getting all five, hence the cry for a “penta” – a pentakill). When Behkuh is doing well, her chat will

13 ‘kill yourself’ – a catchphrase of Tyler1’s 14 ‘FeelsBadMan’ 37 generally say positive things that do not necessarily have anything to do with any character. This is true of every streamer. When someone makes a good play, they will be praised by their chat, even if they are in the heavily disparaged simply getting a single kill, though, there will be friendly remarks. Of course, the better the play the bigger the response, but even getting a single kill can net positive responses. The following is from Kaceytron’s stream.

(1) GARY8193 : gottem 15

A comment as basic as this would not be out of place in the chat of any streamer. While

Twitch may often skew toward a more negative chat, there is still a good amount of positivity to be found in any stream.

Sexual Comments Female character streamers who tend to wear low-cut tops get many more sexual comments than any other group, such as the following from Kaceytron’s stream.

(2) Mokochie : is my dick stuck on in your throat ? (3) JAKEHUTTON123 : you're pretty hot not bad bad

There were several comments made in Nyxeira’s chat about admiring her hair. Most were simply commenting that her hair was nice or that the viewer liked her hair. One viewer used a more sexual register.

(4) Bryank75: Your hair is hot Bryank75: I'd totally sleep with her hair!

Even if they are not overly vulgar, Behkuh still receives some borderline sexual comments.

15 ‘PogChamp’ – An emote used to express awe at something. 38

(5) Charlie__Bear : are you still single???? [s]ohjgc : its a mystery [s]ohjgc : last twitch streamer i try to pry that info from last time, banned me on twitter.. she told me she was single tho, but said i never had a chance with her Charlie__Bear : @Ohjgc it's worth the ban to me. you miss 100% of the shots you don't take, am i right?? … Charlie__Bear : she's not even gonna notice me anyway. lol While this is not obscene, it is looking at Behkuh in a sexual way, wanting to date her.

On the other hand, you have very explicit comments, such as the below from Miramisu’s stream.

(6) sargentokabukiman : SHOW ME TITS (7) funktone221 : I would tap that idc (8) funktone221 : My penis is erect (9) Vulgrim44 : DO THE ONLY THING YOU ARE GOOD FOR FLASH YOUR TITS WHORE

Sometimes there are viewers who intentionally play on the trope of saying sexual comments to female streamers. To a degree, the comments Sneaky received when he left his webcam at a huge size could fall into this category. Another example would be the following, which appeared in Behkuh’s chat when she and her viewers were discussing food.

(10) LadyGuava: i love seeing a huge juicy rack LadyGuava: of ribs

Sexual comments are far from exclusive to female streamers, but there are different kinds of sexual comments. On top of that, they are quite rare for most male streamers. Sneaky would be a big exception. People often make highly sexually charged comments, either about having sexual contact with Sneaky himself, Sneaky having sexual contact with others, or the commenter having sexual contact with others.

This alluded to sexual contact is almost always homosexual between males. In this way,

39 they are influenced by Sneaky’s on-stream character. This becomes another way of playing along with his persona.

(11) HaudNomen: @c9sneaky Enjoying being back in the land of big, American penis? (12) It was dinner time in the Cloud Nein Gaymer house. Zachary “Sneaky” Scuderi dishes up a steaming plate of pasta when he realizes he forgot the meat. William “Meteos” Hartman looks up from his plate with a gleam in his eye. “I got the meat right here for you baby.” Lubing up with Marinara Sauce, Meteos begins to pound his sausage into sneaky’s lightly buttered dinner roll. With a scream of delight Meat-eos releases his load calling an end to another successful team dinner. Pobelter has a fairly common memetic comment that appears in his stream as well. (13) One day, I walked into the LCS studios - a happy and eager fan. I saw Eugene "Pobelter" Park smashing Eefje "Sjokz" Deporteres on the ANALyst desk. I didn't know what to do, I panicked and let out a shriek, Eugene looked at me and said, "Better keep your mouth shut kid," he then took a puff of the blunt and kept destroying the European cooch.

Both (50) and (51) do not refer to any actual event. They are merely supposed to be funny or shocking. In Pobelter’s case, unlike Sneaky, he does not make sexual comments at all. It is not a part of his streaming persona, yet a comment like this still exists, although it is rarer than the similar comments in Sneaky’s stream. In other words, sexual comments may just be a part of the experience of being a popular streamer on

Twitch, even without any further orchestrating on the part of the streamer. Of course, some streamers receive a much higher concentration of these comments and that is where the streamer’s own actions play a part.

CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION There are a few elements to be gathered from this data before discussing the influence of character streamers on other female streamers. As male gamers are the norm in the community, their streams are a good source for determining the baseline that popular, active streams can expect. Even in the chats of male pro players, who would be expected to be the most normalized and respected group, there are still plenty of instances of insults and aggressive comments. They often focus on insulting the gameplay, though. Female character streamers also are insulted for their gameplay, but a huge number of their insults are also targeted toward the streamers themselves and how they run their streams. These insults often come across as more personal than the ones male streamers receive.

Because of the rarity of full character streamer males, it can be hard to compare them to their female counterparts. There are several male streamers who tip their toes into the realm of character streaming, though. For all these streamers with noticeable, extreme personas, viewers will often comment with those personas in mind. None seem to raise the ire, however, of the female character streamers who have a sexual component to their stream. Character streamers and female streamers who wear revealing clothing both separately rile up viewers. Combined, they make for some of the most active and most vulgar of stream experiences. Because of this aggression toward female sexuality in particular (although sexuality can be as little as a low-cut top), female streamers do seem to have a more insult-heavy and more serious insult-filled chat than male character streamers. However, this does not extend to the game- focused female streamers. In fact, in many ways, this group has the most unique chat

41 experience due to just how kind their streams are. These streamers get far fewer insults and sexual comments, while present, are not overwhelming and are not nearly as common as female character streamers. It is a little tricky to strictly say these streamers purposely have the kindest of chats. They tend to be the least popular of these groups, and that is not unexpected. While a streamer’s personality does matter even in most game-focused streams, if a streamer’s personality is not sufficiently unique, most viewers are looking for high level gameplay. Many people in the community see streams as a learning tool to become better players. In that case, you would naturally learn more by watching a Challenger tier professional player than a Platinum tier player. However, even when some of these other streamers have fewer viewers, their chats still tend to be more rambunctious and more aggressive than the chats of female game-focused streamers, so there are likely other factors that play into these friendly and kind chats.

One possibility is that female game-focused streamers tend to be friendlier. While the other groups sometimes have fewer viewers, these female streamers top out at a relatively low number, so it is more possible for them to speak with their viewers.

Another factor may be that their viewers are not comfortable speaking to female streamers who do not stray so far from the ritual norm in an aggressive way. As mentioned above, many of the viewers are likely male and may have less experience in talking to women. While gaming is considered a masculine space, these streams may feel more feminine when viewers are constantly staring into the face of these female streamers.

The use of an extreme persona is a common strategy among several of the most popular streamers. They have chosen to keep up a face that distinctly strays from the

42 ritual norm. They are consistent in maintaining this face, but it is one that would typically be seen as wrong-faced or out of face. This creates controversy and chaos among viewers. Many in the community look at these streamers in disgust, and plenty comment in their streams in disgust too, but they are still watching and interacting. Goffman indicates that when there is a conflict that threatens face and one party is firmly recalcitrant toward ritual norms, a common strategy for the other party is to withdraw.

There are many people who choose to simply not watch these streamers, going along with what Goffman describes. But there are many viewers who come back multiple times just to hurl insults. Another strategy described by Goffman in dealing with abnormal behavior is to try and outmaneuver the offending party. Viewers may be looking for a way to suitably stump Kaceytron. The regularity with which these viewers watch Kaceytron, though, suggests that it is not as acutely uncomfortable an experience as Goffman suggests these conflicts should be. It may be that this negative relationship between viewer and streamer is, in its own way, a ritual norm unique to the stream.

Within the greater community of viewers on Twitch, each streamer has their own community of practice that they shape with their behavior and the line they take.

CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSIONS The most apparent conclusion to be reached from this data is that, more than the category a streamer falls into, it is the streamer’s own actions that have the biggest impact on the composition of their chat. How a streamer reacts to a particular comment and who they give their attention will guide the chat toward emulating whatever comment or topic has achieved that goal. After all, especially in very active streams, the streamer’s attention is a huge prize for any commenter. Being addressed by the streamer also brings the attention of other chatters to that commenter. They become someone who is “known” in that particular community.

The ability of each streamer to have such a large amount of control in their chat suggests that claims of female character streamers ruining the scene for other female players does not hold much water. There are certainly elements of the female streams that distinguish them from the male streams. Male streamers are far less likely to have viewers comment on or compliment their appearance or ask them out on a date. They will still get some very explicit comments, though, and streamers who encourage that sort of comment, like Sneaky, get far more sexual comments than female game-focused streamers who do not encourage that sort of line of discussion.

Despite the control being in the hands of the streamers, it is still clearly preferable to these character streamers to encourage the type of chat they have, even with the abuse it leads to. When the gameplay of a streamer is not enough, having a persona viewers want to interact with is a strategy of popularizing one’s stream. Even in the case Tyler1, who was a good player and high ranked, he did not simply use his rank and gameplay to define his stream. There are hundreds of players in Master and

Challenger and many of them stream too. Tyler1 used an extreme persona to give his stream something extra, and he found huge success even after his permanent ban from the game (he now reviews other players’ replays and plays other games). The divide is perhaps even more apparent on the female end. Female character streamers can sometimes get as many viewers as the most popular male streamers, while female game-focused streamers tend to top out at around 1000-1500 viewers. For all of these female players, none are at a rank that approaches anything close to the top male game-focused streamers. Character streamers compensate in other ways to make their stream attractive or interesting to viewers. The number of viewers female streamers who choose to stay game-focused receive is quite a bit more than any male streamer of the same rank could realistically expect (excluding male streamers whose primary identity lies elsewhere, like youtubers). Certainly there is something to be said about this, but to say that female character streamers are negatively impacting these streamers is, most likely, false.

CHAPTER 8 FUTURE RESEARCH There are two directions that further research can go in to further test the popular thought that female characters streamers make the community worse for women. One would be to have a more thorough analysis of the chats of Twitch streamers, finding comparable contexts across several different kinds of streamers to assess the difference in comments by viewers. This sort of study may also benefit from having a more concrete display of the amount of negative comments using a quantitative approach. This would require developing a method of consistently rating the severity of comments and distinguishing teasing from insults. The other would be to look at how female players are talked about on other platforms to get a more full idea of the opinion of female players in the domain of video gaming.

There are many aspects of the video game world that may contribute to the alienation of many women. Some streamers certainly do feel like they receive more negative attention for their gender. It may be that these comments are not common enough for me to have picked up on them in my analysis. Alternatively, these streamers may be seeing them in places other than their personal Twitch chats, such as on forums, in tweets, or in personal messages. Even if this data does not show a huge negative impact on female game-focused streamers in their chat, it may be that the negative attention they receive is more apparent elsewhere and it may still have roots in female character streamers. From just this data, though, the intensely negative opinion many people in the community have of female character streamers may be misguided.

APPENDIX GLOSSARY Assist When an enemy is killed, all allies who did damage to the enemy but did not land the killing blow receive an assist. Barrier A spell which temporarily gives one’s character a shield. Boost To play with a lower-skilled player or to simply play on the lower-skilled player’s account in order to help them win games. Although it is against the terms of service, some people will pay high-skilled players to raise the rank of their account. Feed When someone dies multiple times to the enemy, feeding them gold and experience. Flash A spell that makes one’s character jump a short distance. Ignite A spell that does damage over time to a targeted enemy. NA ___ North America was for a while considered the weakest major region. To mock this, the community used NA to describe doing things poorly or in an unskilled way. Queue To play a game. Players enter a matchmaking queue and are then sorted into games based on their skill level. Rank In League of Legends, players can queue up for either “normal” or “ranked” games. As the names imply, normal games are the more casual game mode, while ranked games go toward giving the player a rating. Players move up or down in rating depending on if they win or lose ranked games. The ratings are divided into six tiers with five divisions in most of the tiers (the top two tiers do not have divisions). The rankings, from lowest to highest, are Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, and Challenger (which is made up of the top 200 ranked players from Master and is the only division with a maximum size). The five divisions are I-V, with V being the lowest. Smurf A secondary account to one’s main account, usually having a lower rank. Teleport (TP) A spell with a long cooldown that teleports your character to a selected allied unit.

LIST OF REFERENCES

Goffman, E. (1967). On Face-Work: An Analysis of Ritual ELements in Social Interaction. In E. Goffman, Interaction Ritual (pp. 5-45). New York: Doubleday. James, D. (1998). Gender-Linked Derogatory Terms and Their Use by Women and Men. American Speech, 399-420. Parks, J. B., & Roberton, M. A. (1998). Influence of Age, Gender, and Context on Attitudes Toward Sexist/Nonsexist Language: Is Sport a Special Case? Sex Roles, 477-494. Parks, J. B., & Roberts, M. A. (2005). Explaining Age and Gender Effects on Attitudes Toward Sexist Language. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 401-411. Schiffrin, D. (1994). Interactional Sociolinguistics. In D. Schiffrin, Approaches to Discourse Analysis (pp. 97-136). Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers. Thomson, R. (2006). The Effect of Topic of Discussion on Gendered Language in Computer-Mediated Communication Discussion. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 167-178.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Naomi received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida in the spring of

2014 with a major in linguistics and a minor in East Asian languages and literature with a focus in Japanese. Additionally, she received a master’s degree in linguistics from the

University of Florida in the summer of 2016.