The streaming community’s had a pretty hectic year, whether it’s been explosions in popularity thanks to the pandemic and working from home, or controversies stemming from copyright or unacceptable behavior. Being the leading platform to make a living off livestreaming, Twitch itself has not been immune to criticism and controversy this year. That being said, Twitch has made efforts to be more transparent than ever in 2020. Even if the company’s decisions haven’t been met by universal praise 100 percent of the time, Twitch has advocated for, received, and in some cases acted upon feedback it has received from viewers/streamers on its streaming platform.
Recently, it was announced that the “Blind Playthrough” tags for streams were removed in favor of less derogatory language. Twitch made the change in response to feedback from disabled gaming fans and content creators, who cited concerns of unnecessary ableism. Isolated on its own, it’s an incredibly positive change from a company that’s not always been the most receptive to feedback. Backlash to this decision is plentiful and mostly out of ignorance or misunderstanding, but levied against the decisions made by Twitch in the past, it’s a proper step on a long road of becoming a more inclusive livestreaming community.
The “Blind Playthrough” tag was often used for streamers indicating their lack of knowledge on the game they’re playing. Any time a streamer wanted to warn their viewers they’d never played a game before, or perhaps help discourage any mention of spoilers, that’s where the Blind Playthrough tag would be used. But Even if most streamers never used the tag for the express purpose of alienating or defaming blind or otherwise disabled persons, it’s another example of unnecessary gamer “slang” that was better off replaced regardless.
Gaming and/or more specifically livestreaming communities aren’t often showcased in a positive light, but oftentimes the viral tweets and videos don’t showcase the truth. Responses to this change by Twitch have been a slew of negative comments, just as many as the positive comments praising the removal of the “Blind Playthrough” tag. The truth is that, despite any negative backlash garnered by this change, there won’t be a vocal majority of players asking for the tag to be reinstated. Removing a phrase that indirectly targets subsect of disabled persons, especially those who responded to Twitch opposing its derogatory language, is only better for Twitch’s inclusiveness.
To be fair, Twitch has notoriously struggled with inclusiveness in several pivotal aspects. The company often provides resources and options for content creators on the platform, but the company’s been extremely inconsistent when it comes to making actionable attempts at encouraging and highlighting the platform’s diversity. Whether it’s been women in the livestreaming community, people of color in the livestreaming community, LGBTQ+ members in the livestreaming community, Twitch has (and frequently still does) exhibit complacency and ignorance to abuse on its platform.
When Twitch was accused of lacking encouragement for POC in the livestreaming community, the company released a Black Lives Matter video on social media platforms with mostly white content creators. When Twitch wanted to celebrate its Latinx streamers and viewers, the company added stereotypical Mexican sombreros and maraca emote modifiers for Hispanic Heritage Month. Inclusiveness on Twitch hasn’t always been the best, as clearly outlined, but this recent change is a reflection of Twitch’s slow and steady reforming of its business culture and platform.
Even if people want to argue that “this isn’t the biggest problem on Twitch,” or people saying “who cares?” in response to this change, this is just a small step in the right direction for Twitch’s platform. Any efforts to improve inclusiveness on the livestreaming platform, even if it’s not the biggest issue with diversity on Twitch, is a positive change. One could certainly argue that there are more streamers asking for a better solution to the DMCA and copyright strikes, but that’s not the point of this change or the conversation surrounding it. Twitch is at least demonstrating a capacity to listen to the community, encourage feedback, and in this case, act on it.
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply