Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins has proven again that the game streaming website Twitch needs constant rules and guidelines. Ninja recently quit Twitch to stream on Mixer, a streaming platform from Microsoft. Microsoft acquired Beam in January of 2016 but renamed it as Mixer in May of 2017. The move is being touted as ‘motivated by money’ which isn’t a bad thing at all. However, it’s not the whole story.
Twitch has always had its problems. The rules on the platform aren’t consistent, the content on the platform often strays towards extremely mature (NSFW) and so on.
Sure Ninja was offered a big-fat check to stream on Mixer but as he pointed out today, Twitch was and still is tarnishing his brand.
Why Twitch Needs Consistent Rules
The problem which Ninja is talking about began when an adult porn video got recommended during the recommendations of his dormant channel on Twitch. Ninja has the most subscribed channel on Twitch and most of his audience consists of teenage kids.
Such a type of recommendation on his dormant channel damages his brand and rightly so. One of the reasons for Ninja’s move is to attract a new audience. Microsoft Mixer generally has an audience that plays more on consoles like Xbox instead of mature ones that usually prefer PC gaming. Ninja expected to retain it and hopefully regain some new young audience for his channel.
Disgusted and so sorry. pic.twitter.com/gnUY5Kp52E
— Ninja (@Ninja) August 11, 2019
‘If you go to my Twitch channel they advertise on other channels and they don’t do this for any other channels by the way,’ said Ninja in a Twitter video he posted recently.
‘There are other streamers that have signed on to stream on other platforms but their channels remain the same on Twitch,’ says Ninja as his Twitch channel is being used to recommend porn videos to a young audience.
After the video was posted, Twitch reverted Ninja’s channel back to an offline screen. Naturally, people started expressing their anger at Twitch for letting something like this go unnoticed.
Twitch CEO Emmett Shear has also apologized by saying that it wasn’t their intent. The matter is being investigated internally and the account streaming the Porn has been banned. Ninja also apologized to all those who might have seen porn on his channel.
The controversies surrounding the Twitch range from racial slurs, nudity, animal abuse, violence, and others. Controversies include both female and male streamers alike, however, it is usually the female streamers that most of the time get a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card, according to the male streamers. On the other hand, male streamers get bans ranging from anywhere between a few days to even several months.
Twitch’s Unbalanced Treatment of Male and Female Streamers Echoes On YouTube
YouTube has been one of several voices that have criticized Twitch over its biased treatment of streamers. YouTuber Keemstar has balmed Twitch staff for having relationships with female streamers. In one of his videos, Keemstar made a claim that Twitch staff is mostly comprised of young people who are easily persuaded by female streamers.
Other big YouTubers like Pyrocynical, L of the Day and Twoon have raised their voices against unfair Twitch policies. Their rants mostly contain a clear cut comparison between a male and a female streamer doing one particular thing, but only the male streamer getting the pointy end of the stick in the end.
YouTuber Penguiz0, also known as Critikal, in his latest video titled ‘Is Twitch Dying’ said that ‘Their latest enforcement of the rules is unbelievable.’ He further went on to say that ‘and it really makes everyone believe Twitch is run by people that favor certain [female] streamers for certain reasons.’
My Take
Twitch as a platform does not need new rules, it needs better enforcers. As a streaming platform, Twitch is a great place; it offers a good amount of freedom to the streamers to express themselves, something which the Microsoft-owned Mixer isn’t at all ready for.
Mixer exists as the polar opposite of Twitch in terms of guidelines. The platform has strict rules regarding clothing you wear during a stream, things you can say while streaming and a lot more. However, Mixer has previously said that they’re open to suggestions so the platform could likely change a lot in the coming months.
Speaking of change, Twitch does not need any. As I mentioned, by keeping the rules consistent for all its audience, the company can avoid controversies and easily remain the best place to stream.
