What's it Like to Be a 'Girl Gamer' on Twitch?

This story begins with a guy that expressed the idea that he didn't like the way people were acting on a particular website, posted a YouTube video explaining his thinking, and suddenly was facing down a storm of criticism. In this instance, the people in question were women, and the website at hand was the world's most popular video game streaming website, Twitch.

[Majin-vegeta]

I frequent the live from PS app 9/10 when there's a girl streaming she be wearing revealing clothes just for views.Half the time most aren't even talking about games just crap in general.They give actual female streamers a bad rep and why most aren't respected in the industry.

[timmyp53]

I see that for COD streams sometimes but it's gotten better though over the years.

[cleft5]

There is a difference between being a female gamer on Twitch and being a female streamer on Twitch that is selling sex. Far to many of the female streamers on Twitch are only selling sex by showing off their breast or body in very revealing clothes or behaving in such a manner that make them come off as little damsels in need of protection.

This isn't something that is done in a cautious manner either, these females that engage in this behavior are blatant as hell about it. You will often see them with the cam going and there picture is bigger than the game they are broadcasting. On top of that, the cam is normally focused on their breasts.

The end result is that everyone knows what they are up to and no one takes them serious. So you get these scumbag guys that come in their room and make comments about the breasts that they put on display. Certainly, the behavior these women engage in doesn't excuse the poor behavior of these guys, but at the same rate they do share responsibility for creating this sort of toxic environment. The end result is that legit female streamers immediately get grouped with these malicious women.

Really, the onus falls on Twitch. Twitch should be stopping this sort of blatant behavior from occurring. Instead, Twitch rewards these malicious women with partnership and sub buttons. Twitch essentially pimps these women out as a quick source of easy revenue. Overall, its a disgusting system and why a lot of people don't take most female streamers seriously and why they wont even watch a female streamer.

[Snookies12]

The ones streaming while half naked deserve no respect anyway. They're obviously doing it for attention. Though I have seen some legitimate girl gamers that get hounded. Now that is screwed up.

[DarkOcelet]

I have seen a twitch stream by Stefanie Joosten (Quite in MGSV) and holy moly the amount of weird stuff i saw in there in the chat is sickening man.

She is amazing, i recommend watching her playing MGSV. I laughed so hard when she said the F word lol.

[WellyUK]

There are plenty of good female streamers. They just don't get the big numbers with exception to a few, especially on twitch. It's the ones on CS, Dota and LoL which are the "cam whores" that people moan about.

[DragonKnight]

"The ones streaming while half naked deserve no respect anyway."

That's a bad attitude and completely wrong. Do you think these girls would do it if they didn't get any views from it? You know, I see a lot of people like you complain that these girls don't care about games, that they give female gamers a bad name, but you never once talk about the guys that go to the streams just to watch half naked girls and they don't give a damn what game the girl is playing.

What's worse, a girl who knows how to make money, or a guy complaining about girls being half naked playing games WHILE he's watching a girl half naked playing a game he doesn't give a damn about?

Using your body to make money is literally no different than using your mind. Knowing what people want and being able to make money off of it is called being smart.

[Omnisonne]

@DragonKnight

Those exploiting twitch to get a quick buck by juggling their front guard isn't excused by ''they know how to earn money'' you have other websites for that.

[Null]

@Snook

Yep, but I've never seen some female streamers(ones with regular clothing on) get hounded for no reason. The only ones. I've ever seen in plain clothing get hounded is when they try and act annoyingly cutesy.

@DO
JC, man. Pick up the spaghetti.. You're sperging all over the place.

[OB1Biker]

To be fair it s not uncommon to see girls wearing clothes you could qualify as 'half naked' in day to day life and its a very common thing in show business too.
No harm done and its mainly the guys who feel entitled to be rude towards them that I dont respect that much.
That said I prefer when they are genuinely focused on gaming and if they parade around showing off their outfit or talking about their make up its best to move on.

[138]

Why shouldn't they be respected? They're smart enough to find a way to make an easy living off of thirsty beta males without even coming in physical contact with them. Good for them. I think you're only angry about the arrangement once you realize that you've been that thirsty beta all along.

[DragonKnight]

@Omnisonne: It's not an excuse, it's a fact. What about the thirsty guys who only visit the channel to see half naked girls? Why do they get a pass but the girl who is fulfilling the minimum requirements to be a twitch streamer, that being actually streaming themselves playing a video game (there is no requirement to even engage the chat at all, you just have to stream), shouldn't be respected?

To be successful in any business, including being a twitch streamer, you need to supply what the demographic demands. These girls do that. They supply themselves playing video games while enticing men and lesbian women to watch by showing off their figure.

Why is it "better" that some guy can be "funny" while streaming and entice others to watch, but it's not ok for a girl to be hot and do the same? Does her appearance somehow make you less interested in the game? If it does, can you say you were even interested in it in the first place?

All this is is a complaint commonly used by other female streamers who don't show off their bodies and thus don't get the same attention. That sucks, it really does, but that's no one's fault. It's the same thing as being a mom and pop game store trying to compete against the likes of Gamestop. Gamestop offers more to the masses, the mom and pop store may offer a more personal touch, Gamestop comes out on top for various reasons.

Get over it.

[Omnisonne]

@DragonKnight

Look, I'm not a member on twitch and so do not have any personal experience with the streamers there, but I figured a gaming-related streaming service should stay gaming related no?

[Edit]
If some ladies want to expose their decollete a bit more then that's fine, but i've heard of some less subtle instances

[Servbot41]

I believe some of the fault of hounding lies on the shoulders of the women who treat streams like a cam-whore service. It brings in the bad apples, and when they turn off their stream for the day they spread like flies to the other streams.

[garrettbobbyferguson]

@dragonknight

IF they want to stream with their tits out there are plenty of porn sites they can go to.

[DragonKnight]

None of them are streaming naked, so there's no reason for them to go to porn sites.

Going to porn sites would be stupid because who wants to see them playing games there?

Honestly, any man complaining about this is hypocritical because it either doesn't affect you in any way, or you watch it and don't want to admit it, or you can NOT watch it all and focus on the people you like to watch.

The women that are complaining about this are either streamers who can't build the audience they want (again, sucks, but that's competition), insecure about themselves, or think that these girls in any way shape or form form the opinions of what people think female gamers are actually like.. and NO ONE thinks these girls represent girl gamers.

In the end, if they were actually doing something no one wanted to see, as has been implied by so many comments here, then they wouldn't be successful and you'd never see them. Evidently, they are doing something right.

[rainslacker]

I don't think the whole discussion on is if they have the right or not, but rather whether it reflects poorly on other female twitch streamers...although I'd assume the premise extends to any similar medium.

Do they have the right? Sure, nothing illegal about it.

Does it reflect poorly? Not to me personally, because I judge people based on an individual basis. In the grander scheme of things though, it's pretty obvious that many have the perception that gets generalized to be all encompassing of all female streamers.

More personally...do I feel it's right or ethical? Well I'm always of the opinion that the game is more important, and should the streamer be able to present the game in the proper constructive light, then I don't care what else they do. Otherwise, I could care less about the individual streamer, as I can form my own opinions and I find these streams far from a constructive discourse on the merits of a game itself, but rather the assertion of one's opinion as better than others because they happen to be the entertainer.

@Dragon

I think it's a bit of a disservice to say the women complaining about it are not up to par in some way. One from the article even addressed that it still requires the ability to retain viewers, which is partially true.

However, to muddy the look of whether I agree or disagree with you, I think that above premise also underestimates the fact that while some may leave, there is always someone ready to take their place. In the world of Twitch streaming revenue, all it takes is views and subscribers...it doesn't really matter if they're regulars.

[DragonKnight]

@rainslacker: I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you. I've seen enough women complain that the women who stream provocatively prevent other women from building a successful channel because all the men just want to see half-naked women.

I'm not saying that the women who don't engage in that are somehow "worse" than the women who do, I'm saying that the nature of competition is such that the women who are willing to do it are going to have an advantage over the women who don't simply because they are offering something that others (mostly men) want.

This is just like television. If your sitcom isn't as funny as mine, then I'm going to have higher ratings than you are. And it's not necessarily because you don't have a funny show, it could be because I pander to a specific low brow audience with easy humour, or I have a busty blonde on my show or whatever. It's the nature of competition.

If the women that are complaining are not doing it because they are unable to build a successful channel WITHOUT resorting to those tactics, then the only other reason to complain is on the grounds of image. An image argument is baseless, always has been. No one thinks that female gamers as a whole are women who game in lingerie and makeup, basically purposely objectifying themselves for the pleasure of others. So it sounds like insecurity to me.

[rainslacker]

Maybe I'm just looking at it differently then.

It seems you are generalizing two rather different viewpoints held among groups who discuss this. Nothing wrong given the forum nature, but many anecdotal accounts do not a reason make.

To me though, it's more of if these women have the right to perform their services in the way they do. I think they do, and I think the other side has the right to be critical of such methods. However, I don't think it's right of the critical group to try and demean or try to subvert those they don't approve of just because they don't hold the line on what is a current vocal woman's issue. To me, that is the real issue here, and all the other stuff is just noise. Two distinct groups within what in our community is generalized as one group of women who want equal representation...and I feel much of this debate extends from that even if it's not directly related.

I actually do agree 100% that women who do it will have an advantage. I'm sure we don't need to get into a discussion over the male libido over this point, because I know we're both well versed in why such things are effective.

But now we get into the more interesting argument...at least for me, and that is the quest for ratings.

What I feel is that these two different groups are pandering to different audiences. One is going for the more intellectual gamer who wants compelling content to go along with their stream, where as the other is going for those that just want something "low brow" to use your own term. Do Jerry Springer fans watch Downton Abbey? Probably not...or not much. But for my argument, I feel that at the very least, those offering sex appeal will have a immediate advantage, but not really a long lasting one. However, they also have the advantage of not having a short supply to replace those who lose interest. To go back to Jerry Springer, occasionally, you may watch an episode because it's entertaining on some level on just how screwed up it is, but you either tune out, or don't actively try to watch it because in the long run it's not interesting. I feel the same applies here...for different stimulants.

Anyhow, I think you may have thought I was speaking of everyone complaining, and I was not. I was speaking more generally, and I actually do believe that if one markets themselves correctly, and provides compelling content, that they will be successful. These women selling their sex appeal are not hurting good streamers in the long run, nor do I believe they give women a bad name or reputation on the large scale, simply the scale of idiots on the internet who want to make sweeping generalizations about something based on anecdotal evidence.

The real hard truth is is that high viewership streaming is a very hard market to break into, and even harder to be successful at. There will always be more low-brow people than those who seek more intellectual content. PewDiePie for example is not terribly intellectual, but he's entertaining to many, so he gets more viewers. His success is also about timing but I'll keep it simple. The female streamers who exploit themselves are not taking away his viewers in droves. One's a male, others are female, but if it all came down to sex appeal, why are male gamers still more popular in general? Some of it may come down to males preferring to listen to a male play a game, but to me that goes against the very argument of if using one's body is harmful to others success. To me, it seems quite likely that the ultimate reason people watch these streams is because they're entertained. Some are entertained by intelligent content, some by humor, some by skillful players, others by sexy women.

[christian hour]

An ex of mine (dated her from age 13 to 15, over half a lifetime ago for me) once said the thing she hated most about me was how much I talked about video games all the time....

She now makes a living off streaming videogames... Irony :)

Still a good friend of mine though, she probably doesn't even remember saying that. I'll never forget though haha, cut straight to the core XD

She actually games though; unlike those girls who clearly have self esteem issues, stream half-naked and rarely discuss gaming in general.

http://www.twitch.tv/antiti...

I've never actually bothered watching her stream until now XD

[sergons]

You have a bad taste son.

[christian hour]

Who we were 15 years ago is not who we are now, for starters, so to gauge my "taste" off of a twitch steam, is dumb.

One thing that hasn't changed for me is that looks are not essential. When you're 13, and you've been bullied your whole life and are clinically depressed, you'd be an idiot not to turn away someone who showed you nothing but kindness and then asked you out.

You'd be an idiot not to realise that, "son".

A**hole. Grow the hell up.

[Null]

Christian, I think you're on the wrong site. Why do we have to know you dated her when you were a kid, what you look for, your relationship, etc? . how is any of that relevant?? Sheesh, The man says you have bad taste And that's his opinion.. So, you tell him to grow up, but then you turn around, drag them through the mud and insult him repeatedly. Makes sense.

[NarooN]

sergons: Git rekt gg no re

null: Get over yourself lol. This is a public forum and people post personal stuff all the time, and yes it IS relevant since it's actually on-topic. If you don't like it, feel free to not read it.

[Null]

@Nar
Nice one, M80. Give him a free pass to unfairly attack another user just because he posted an opinion.

[christian hour]

@null

Just sharing stories, trying to start a conversation, and I have very low tolerance for immature responses like that. Yes, my buttons are easily pressed, but I never claimed to be all there.

[remixx116]

Ignore the ignorant my dude, keep hustlin christian that's all.

[blackblades]

I watched a streaming of a couple of gamer girls the other day for the 1st time in general. They was boring one sounded fake as hell. They have to be hilarious for me to watch a stream.

[spicelicka]

Basically this.

Its plain and simple, this doesn't just apply to twitch either. And the reasons you'll head to justify it are àmazing.

[lvl_headed_gmr]

Yup. Guys don't care what they look like. Girls make themselves sexual objects.

If you're playing a game people are interested in, pr9vide good conversation and discuss gaming related topics, the viewers will watch and subscribe.

[OCEANGROWNKUSH]

pretty much this, not to generalize but alot of them do. I run into them on instagram as well and alot of times they are posting risque pictures of themselves there to promote streams... My thing is i just dont get this idea of "streamers". its cool occasionally to see a new game or somebody attempt something like a record or secret in a game, but i dont understand the idea of following these people and watching them constantly... i guess im just old school.

[Dee_91]

@Majin-vegeta
I don't get it, you want women to stop wearing revealing clothing and attention whoring so that women in the gaming scene will be more respected..
Why not just respect the women who deserve your respect? Why does every single women need to be respectable in order for women in general to be respected in the industry? Do you not see how stupid that is? You're just looking for an excuse to justify why you dislike something. If you don't like women using sex to sell, then just say that. Don't pretend like you are trying to help them, because your not.
Personally, I could give two craps if a chick is using her boobs to get more views, but of course I will relate more with the chick whose actually knowledgable on gaming and entertaining.

[AstroCyborg]

your talking about ducky aren't you

[Jason_Plays_PC]

The girl in the title pic is stunning and should just do modelling instead.

[McToasty207]

AND? Who gives a shit if their wearing revealing clothes? Are you a closeted homosexual? do you just hate women? I mean surely you jerk off sometimes and I sure as shit don't expect the women in that to be wearing fucking parkours. If you don't like it don't watch it, myself I watch 0 streams because watching somebody else play a game bores me to tears but you don't see me criticising the whole thing.

[ChrisW]

I think that many of the colored-haired, anime-goth girls are mostly responsible for giving female gamers a bad rep.

[SaveMeJebus]

Who knows the name of the girl in that picture?

[Roccetarius]

I'm pretty sure that's Pokket from Twitch, but i could be wrong. The only time i watched her was on Gamebreaker TV, but even then, i thought she was a bit of a drama queen.

[WellyUK]

Ye that's Pokket, atleast she plays stuff that isn't just Dota, LoL and CS.

[Jason_Plays_PC]

She should do modelling instead shes hot as hell.

[Rimeskeem]

I like the ones who are actually interested in the games. But the ones that wear revealing clothing, dont care or talk about the games, and just do it for the views, i do not respect at all.

[DevilOgreFish]

Too much glamour usually translates to a person seeking hits. Me personally, i never really saw the point to these types of fan clubs. A lot of them don't even talk to all of their fans and just use the figures for dumb bragging rights.

[SaveFerris]

It is great to see a lot of people make a living from playing video games, though I personally find it odd watching someone else play (and donating to them) instead of experiencing it myself, I won't judge those who do enjoy this.
I guess it can be said anyone who watches sports on TV is doing exactly the same thing.

[DiaperFace]

Most are just attention whores using their sexual allure to attract male viewers, the rest are just ditzy chicks talking about nothing, and the minority remainder are actual gamer girls but 9/10 times only play GTA and CoD type stuff, casuals who are into mainstream gaming because their boyfriend got them into it. Rarely (I say rarely but I have never even seen it) will a girl play like Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, any turnbased JRPGs at all, or even God of War/Uncharted/Killzone, let alone anything niche like Hyperdimension Neptunia or anything.

If I watch a female stream it's because she is hot, but when I want to wat h actual gamers play a variety of good games and play well, it has to be men, because the female equivalents just simply do not exist in any significant capacity. It isn't sexist, it's just not even an option to watch them, all most want is to show their tits or get attention for being hot, and we shall watch.

[plmkoh]

Twitch etc is just the new form of adult webcam service, once the money starts pouring in it's only natural these things happen.

[FrostedFire]

Repjaws guide to becoming a famous female streamer,alright check it out

Step one.Dye your hair,pref blue or red but really doesn't matter.

Step two.Show that cleavage.

Step three.point that camera at your cleavage.

Step four and arguably the most important one.You must have a cat on camera at least 2 times every stream

Follow the above proven steps and you too shall become a famous streamer

*Disclaimer:The above do not apply if you're a male"

[DiaperFace]

Haha, thing is, those steps can be modified to adapt to a variety of situations. It boils down to cleavage. Streamer, waitress, stripper, you name it, women have it easy in modern developed countries. Success is always just a boob away. Men gotta struggle. In poverty stricken but if I had nice fits I'd be at the strip club making bank tomorrow lol...f*** this world.

[SaveFerris]

'but if I had nice fits...'

I don't know about anyone else, but seizures don't look like they would be very 'nice'.

[Nucleux]

What's the problem? Tits are a truly wonderful thing - they feed and entertain you

[WitWolfy]

FFS there is nothing I hate more than a female Titch "Gamer". Freaking posers always flashing their tits to get free $$$. FFs screw them ALL!

[quaneylfc]

No one needs to use the term "girl gamer."

Just because the majority of male gamers are nerds who were treated badly by girls in high school doesn't mean that they should be listened to when they get scared of someone taking their fake identity from them.

[Perjoss]

I find it a lot more sexy when a girl in gaming knows her stuff when she's talking about a particular gaming topic. If I want to look at pretty girls wearing sexy stuff there are many other places to go do that. It's kind of annoying when they plant a pretty girl on show or something and her input is limited to words like "interesting", "cute", "awesome" and "cool".

[blib]

Showing your tits for more subscribers/money is simple prostitution. Twitch should just ban cams, and that removes most of the problem. Cams are only there for narcissistic idiots who have dreams of becoming TV stars. Not to improve the game experience.

[annoyedgamer]

Poster spends his time uploading hit mongering articles and anti-GG stuff, move along he is a spammer.

[SaveMeJebus]

Your comment is so ironic. Out of your 151 stories posted, 1 broke 250 degrees. Maybe you should be more interesting, and less mediocre.

[annoyedgamer]

Or maybe it's because I post meaningful gaming related stories and not shallow garbage meant to drive hits? I bet you a full advocate of not sexualizing women..but yet somehow the majority of your posts are about "sexiest" women in games.

You do realize how much of a hypocritical SJW you look like right now right?

[BillySpandex]

"Girl Gamer"? Quite frankly it's one of the most redundant phrases, either you're a gamer or you're a poser!

[GrimDragon]

The term girl gamer is so stupid wonder who's the @ss that came up with that term. Way to segregate genders in gaming bro. Any girl into games is marriage material especially the ones flexing cleavage while playing bloodborne on twitch. Bless them hoes

[Bobafret]

Well, judging from your tasteful avatar and use of "hoes", I can see you are quite a catch.

[GrimDragon]

Dam right boba iam all that and a Slice of cheese. Real men get them chickens in check. And every hen want a rooster to put them in place. That's why the ladies love the bad boys. If she ain't in the kitchen spreading Love on my meat, she's in the living room riding my stick or in the bedroom begging for a power up. You see hoes love attention and wherever men are entertained be it football, pool table, or gaming on twitch a hoe will be their trying to distract you. And it's the ones you ignore that won't leave you alone until you get them alone. So don't hate the player boba hate the game or man up and grab a hoe by the hair and make her spit shine your rod unless of course your to much the gentleman for that if so step aside enjoy your virginty while the rest of us get laid

[138]

Friend of mine linked me to some LoL streams she frequently watched on Twitch. It was so strange. They're like cam girls that keep their clothes on (sometimes barely). I mean, I don't want to knock the hustle. Use it if you've got it, but I almost feel really bad for those beta males lining up to fund their streams. Almost.

[Bobafret]

I see the hair and makeup, roll my eyes and move on.

[Sketchy_Galore]

It really is ridiculous whenever I check the live from playstation app and half the streams are named things like, 'Girl plays Destiny'. Why would that be the first thing you mention? Who the hell cares what gender you are?

Unless it looks like she's gonna show something of course, then I'll watch for a few minutes.

[Sixstring]

These bloggers or whatever need to stop BS'ing and just admit that women can be just as manipulative and corrupt as men. That's the problem though even whenever they try to write a logical article they still can't help but keep up the political correctness and pretty much take the womens side.

So which is it women deserve responsibility for their own actions? Or it's mens fault because they're attracted to women? The simple fact is a man's being attracted to a woman is natural and there is nothing wrong with that but a woman profiting off of manipulation is subversive and most people can admit that it is wrong. TL;DR Stop putting women on a pedestal and then claiming to want equality or to be an Egalitarian.

[iceman06]

Twitch is a bit of a double-edged sword when it comes to women. You will find, mostly at the top of the page, several cam-whore women. Those that use the cam as the entire means of entertainment. But, you will also find women that are truly into games. (many of the PMS clan stream regularly) So, because of the fact that people gravitate toward whatever is on the front page, the cam-whores get hits quickly...even when the guys are going in to complain about them. It's quite like click-bait. A click is a click and a viewer is a viewer. In the past, Twitch partnership was STRICTLY viewer based. If the streamer maintained an average of 400 viewers over the course of a certain amount of time, they could apply for partnership. (and would usually get it) This led to many streamers doing more than just gaming to get viewers. (twerk streams, "workout" streams, dancing game streams, etc.) Even guys were trying to get in on the action. Now, many of those streams and streamers will get banned. Due to rule changes. That being said, I can't knock the hustle. If there are guys silly enough to stare at cleavage for hours on end (all the while KNOWING that you will see nothing more), then it's just what it is. It reminds me of strip club culture. The double-edged sword is that these guys get conditioned to expect that from every female gamer they see on Twitch. The women that AREN'T doing this often have a tougher time getting views and partnered. Those that ARE doing this often find that it's a short-term boost and either they have to continue to do it, or their viewership shrinks. Plus, because of the way that they started, they won't be seen a legit streamers by the community. (though I would venture to say that they probably don't care about that part)

As an aside, and ironically, I have seen a former porn star that really enjoys gaming. (mostly MMO's and MOBA's) She doesn't talk about what she used to do and is always covered up. But, I've also seen a woman that financed her boob job from Twitch and then came back to stream the results. The worst was one that cam-whored her way to views simply by wearing revealing clothing and streamed for hours on end fake crying and fake outraging while people doubted her motives for streaming. She sat in training levels of LoL and just whined the entire time. She was partnered...but then quickly banned. (there were some hilarious parody streams with guys dressing and acting like her)

[alti]

by girl gamer, are we referring to a gamer who happens to be a girl, or a whore?

[PrinceOfAllSaiyans]

Most females gamers are all fake. Wearing half naked clothing to get attention, and most of them suck. And most of them don't even play real games. Its all COD, or some other generic FPS.

[tanukisuit]

League of Legends, Runescape, World of Warcraft are also pretty common, BUT that's about it.

[Jag-T1000]

Girl gamers? What's the world coming to?

[SavageFlamingo]

The worst of all was Liz Katz or however you spell it. Went from porn star to cosplay/gaming "enthusiast".

[Chinkyinc18]

If game-streaming is your intention, then why do you care certain streamers are getting people who care more about sexiness than gaming anyways? These are viewers that would have never joined your stream even without these sex-sellers taking up space. If you are losing viewers because of these type of streamers, it's most likely your fault that your content and interactions were so weak, boobs were all it took to lose them. Step your game up. These people whining are like those kids in school who complained that it's not fair that the popular kids get elected to student council due to their popularity. Yes, life is unfair, some people have to work harder than others for the same things; if you can't handle it, just give up on life because it's impossible to change that axiom.

[rainslacker]

It's simple human psychology. People will be more prone to view something that appeals to them before they seek out something with more substance. Since one wouldn't know if they'd enjoy the gaming content/discussion before joining, the chance that they'll gravitate towards the attractive person is much higher. If given the choice of watching an interesting, pretty girl gamer playing a game, or watching an average looking, or less flirty, one who is also interesting, they'll likely go for the alluring one.

Then there is also the matter that if one decides to gravitate to enough of the pretty ones, and they happen to not be interesting, then they just leave, or start to think all other streamers who are of the same gender are going to be the same way.

Unfortunately, many people are not able to realize that each person/stream is an individual, and each one will have it's own merits. People tend to get an idea in their head, and gender can indeed be a discriminatory reason that people will use to base their decisions...even if they would never admit it.

In this case however, I think the biggest thing it comes down to is that some female streamers are gaining what could be an unfair advantage, so their content delivery is less important. Whether that's unfair or not isn't for me to say, and in this regard I will agree that others need to step up their game.

Any level headed person would come to realize that the competition isn't going to care much about you, and will use any advantage they can gain, even if it's morally or ethically dubious.

[mixelon]

I'll watch an interesting gamer, male or female.

It can be relatively easy to get #s as a girl but you also have the problem of a lot of the # being there just because you *are* a girl and often contributing negatively. :/

All power to them though, I see no problem with anyone of any type using their appearance as part of the package to appeal to fans, as long as they're respectful of whatever site they're on's rules.

[rainslacker]

The biggest problem I'd see in the ones that only get the numbers because they are girls, who may also be more flirty or whatever, is that the actual chat would be a madhouse of idiocy.

Sadly, the male gender, in large groups...on the internet...can be some of the most offensive types out there with their disrespectful mannerisms or comments.

If an attractive girl gamer, who also decided to be more outgoing, was also interesting that one would actually want to go there for that, I could easily see someone being turned away by a rather negative or offensive tone within the chat itself. Things like that can turn me off pretty quick, and I prefer not to participate or be associated with it, so I'll go elsewhere. I'd imagine many people really looking for good content would feel the same way.

[memots]

Put pic of a chicks on thumbnail for article. reach top heat. Genius

[contradictory]

i really hate the term girl gamer..
i don't call myself a boy gamer do i?

also the "girl gamers" who show cleavage just for views and have no actual interest in gaming are the worst. No reason to beat around the bush there, i'm just gonna call them whore gamers from now on and delete the term girl gamer from existence in my brain altogether. bloop, gone.

i happen to follow a fair share of gamers who are female
and it really annoys me that people automatically have negative bias towards them because they've seen the
whore gamers and think that all female streamers have no real interest in gaming which is just plain wrong.

[Dannycr]

They put "Girl Gamers" just to attract attention.

There are plenty of gamers (female included) that just put a title in their streams because they want to have real followers, not horny people.

In fact, that is my personal filter, if I see "Gamer Girl" in the title, I will not even check out the stream.

[Mr Lahey]

Lol, so many guys in this comment section talking about women like they're some kind of other worldly species! What's up with that?

[Artemidorus]

A gamer is a gamer.

Sex sells and men are the main customers. If they use a gaming camera and gain money in anyway shape or form then power to them.

One thing that does make me laugh and it's usually found in Xbox Live in my case.

Every time you hear a woman's voice they got a small group of guys hanging around them and if you even mutter the words "hi", they group gets mad for communicating with them.

[MoveTheGlow]

I get that they'll wind up with more subscribers for doing somewhat vaguely sexy stuff, but it doesn't seem sustainable on Twitch. You can't retain even an audience of pervs on looks alone - at some point, the non-stalker crowd will get bored, and they have other choices for gamers and much more... um, detailed... options for porn.

In a way, I'd expect the market to mostly push those types of streamers out to the margins. Who are the most popular streamers out there? Gamers with insane skills, entertainers, and/or just every-dang-day tenacious people providing a zillion hours of entertainment. It takes special skills and a lot of grit. A good budget for equipment doesn't hurt, either.

[DVAcme]

I completely agree on this problem going away on its own with time. Titillating girls with no game skills on a game streaming site will be abandoned by gamers looking for actual game content for not offering any and by pervs for not putting out enough. You can write "girl gamer" in the XVideos search engine and get a bazillion hits of actual bardcore porn with girls playing the girl gamer stereotype.

[DVAcme]

The main problem with the whole girl gamer phenomenon is the fact that the term itself exists. A gamer is a gamer, his/her gender should have no place in either enjoying gaming or enjoying a gamer's content. There's bad on both sides, of course. Like it's been mentioned by you guys here, the t&a girl game crowd makes the genuine female gamers look bad and the creep gamers make the guy gamers look bad. Just bad juju all around.

But with the girl gamers in particular, another problem is that many just take the girl gamer image to fetishize themselves and actually have no real interest in gaming, which is infuriating. It's bad enough that they're using videogame stream services to titillate, but even worse that they're doing it with no knowledge or even interest in the medium and fandom they're trying to cater to when there's more appropriate outlets for it. I know quite a few girls who do cam shows, who make a good living out of it, and they also happen to be gamers who enjoy gaming as the awesome hobby it is without the need to use it as a way to titillate. I bet if I asked them, they'd find the girl gamer t&a streamers as distasteful as I do.

[JD_Shadow]

I must be with different groups, then, because I usually don't see those types of people flood the female Twitch gamers I sub and follow (like KungFuFruitCup, Aurora Peachy, and Dodger, the latter being one of the most famous ones because of her affiliation with TotalBiscuit). For all the ones that seem to just let sex sell, there are many more that will actually game, know what they are talking about, and have a very kind audience that go there to watch the playthrough (and deals with the occasional troll).

But as long as it's within the bounds of the TOS, then I see no problem with them having the right to do that. Just as they have the right to do that, I have the right to not patron their channel. I don't get why there is such this thing with condemning any woman who dares to dress even the littlest bit skimpy. If they choose to do that, for any reason, then it is within their right to do so. Some women don't mind doing that, and condemning them for doing so is being just as sexist as those who are going into their chats to shout catcalls and ask for a flash.

Seriously, from this to the whole molehill about Quiet's outfit people made into a mountain, I don't get why we have become so fixated with complaining over female outfits. Has Anita Sarkeesian made us all radical feminists all of a sudden?

[thrashette]

1. Girls need to thicken their fucking skin. As a woman, I'm just sick and tired of hearing about this bullshit. Sexist comments bothered me for a bit, years even, but now? The gaming community in general is rife with shit talk, and sometimes drama. That shit talk and drama will occur no matter what. Being female or a minority (gay, African American, speech impediment, grotesquely ugly) will make you an easier target, or at least your "weak point" will be more plainly visible. NO ONE CAN STOP YOU from enjoying video games but YOURSELF (okay, besides technical problems.) Women need to take a ZERO TOLERANCE approach to misogynistic comments-- meaning, don't TOLERATE the effects they have on you. Idiots will fuck with you until they're bored of doing it. Be boring. Online gaming is traditionally a male-dominated past time. You don't walk into the club and demand the music be changed to suit your tastes. Go with the flow, take your place, don't allow others to crush you down.

2. The type of woman who flaunts her sex appeal in male-dominated arenas is NOT exclusive to gaming. There are attention whores at car shows, sporting events, and rock concerts. Are there sexy women who dress sexily and are also deeply invested in these hobbies? For sure! But if she's just posing for photos, messing with her hair, giggling, making sexual jokes, and flirting, well... they have every right to be there. They NEED male attention. A lot of male attention. And so fucking what. Some men want to give them attention. They've got to get it somewhere, and it's pretty damn easy for them. Does it make the rest of us look bad? Well, maybe... but it's pretty easy to distinguish the two. I've been accused of being a fake "gamer gurl" for discussing games with guys at the bar. Who says that? Jealous bitches. I just frankly don't know what else to talk about... so I'll just sit here and discuss my interests with another human being while you get drunk and pretend to be interesting. I know who I am and I don't let others represent me.

[TheSaint]

Are you certain you're female?

[thrashette]

My anatomy and tendency to bleed out of a lower-abdominal orifice for a week every month tells me so. I also was pregnant once, so there's that. I was raised by my father, so maybe I'm just "female" and not a "girl," therefore my opinion on how other girls should behave may be invalid.

[_LarZen_]

I don't get the hate for female gamers that show some skin while streaming. When I see people calling them whores because of it I cant help but think it has to be some kind of stereotype american brainwashed childman that is watching/commenting.

Don't like something then don't watch.

[spoonard]

Well, if you are a pretty girl who does her makup and hair and plays games on Twitch while interacting with her viewers, then there are plenty of people who are willing to throw money at you.

[TheSaint]

Why aren't they simply gamers? I'm not a 'boy gamer', I'm a a gamer.