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June 30, 2021
Gaming
Opinion: How Twitch lost its identity and became a second OnlyFans
Time to have a serious discussion about what Twitch looks like nowadays and how it seemingly lost its identity over the years.
There is no denying that the platform has taken a far more ‘erotic’ turn in recent years, spurred on by streamers such as Amouranth, the whole hot tub craze, ASMR taking the weirdest turns, and really just the entire platform taking a nosedive.
It all started somewhere…
I will not act as if this supposed “hot tub meta” came out of the blue. Twitch has always known streamers using their body and general attractiveness to pull in viewers. Personally, I think that is okay to a degree. If someone is proud of how they trained really hard to get themselves somewhere, or they just know they are attractive, all power to you for owning it.
The problem lies with it cascading into becoming more focused on the body and the attraction and gradually moving away from gaming. In my opinion, Twitch should be a site focused on people playing games and sharing that with their viewers. That should be the core and is to my knowledge what Twitch is about. But sadly, that is not how certain people run the show anymore.
A gradual shift
Things did not suddenly change. It was gradual. It started with whiteboards, more revealing clothing, people skirting the line of what was okay and what was not. In the blatant cases where there is straight up nudity or sexual acts Twitch still intervened, but it feels as if that is the only point where they draw the line anymore.
Enter platforms like OnlyFans becoming mainstream and suddenly Twitch starts to feel more like a stepping stone for personalities to lure in people. Already luring them in with blatantly revealing clothing or light erotic content (looking at some yoga or workout streams too here) and then start peddling it because there will always be people that want to find that next step.
Where Twitch straight up dropped the ball
Now in more recent times, the hot tub meta. Literally streamers in swimwear, the less clothing the better and the more people will be enticed to get caught in some sort of OnlyFans black hole. The worst part? Twitch seems fine with this. DjWHEAT, Head of Twitch Community Productions admits himself that he does not watch this type of content; this is telling a lot if you ask me.
You are correct, I have not watched more than 2 minutes of those streams because that’s not what I watch on Twitch.
Altogether it feels like Twitch is losing its identity. Sure, the platform still has plenty of streamers focusing on gaming, but it is as if there is a virtual Red Light district, where people can go to feel some sort of fake engagement with a streamer that is just out there trying to sell their body. That is the feeling with all of these obviously sexual-themed streams. Twitch should not be a site to sell yourself on. It should be a site for sharing your unique experiences with other people.
All in all I believe people have complete freedom in what they choose to watch, nobody will force you to look at Amouranth in a hot tub or with revealing leggings. But the question is: should that kind of content be on Twitch in the first place?
