Having been an advertising partner on JustinTV before they gave up on it to focus on Twitch and having used Twitch’s service for over a year, I find them to be a terrible company.
Given that Twitch isn’t exactly a tiny operation(I’m not sure about market cap; but they are pretty much the name associated with livestreaming games, and Google just added some features to YouTube specifically to spoil their day, so they aren’t exactly small-time); I’d be curious to know what the perceived value behind this decision is.
At some penny-ante operation the mere whims of the founders/operators might we be enough to push a policy; at this size, though, surely somebody is working the angles on PR, customer numbers; and ad sales?
Is the assumption that the audience doesn’t want to see that sick gay stuff; bro; because they are all stereotypical Halo frat boys? Is it that ad spend from major publishers pays the bills, so any major-label game is presumptively OK, while all low-ad-spend and indie titles get held to controversy-averse standards of banality? Some combination of these?
I think you hit the nail right on the head, FuzzyFungus. I don’t think they are concerned at all about having a consistent content policy. It’s all about brand management.
Hrm, what the heck is gay nudity? It sounds like you’re talking about male nudity which none of these prohibitions seem to be against, but rather games which makes nudity a significant part of the game.
It’s brand management. It started early on with people setting up camporn channels asking for paypal donations. Twitch didn’t want to host camporn. So they added that onto the list of prohibited stuff.
It took the usual route from there, some people like to be exhibitionists for fun and profit, and that doesn’t serve Twitch.
Its gotten to the point where any depictions of twerking were explicitly banned.
I don’t think it’s homophobia, so much as trying to cover their ass from the prudes. As it stands MGSV’s quiet isn’t central to the game, and is rather optional. If some streamer spent all their time, eg showing off her character model on stream and animating it to have sex, then Twitch would ban that streamer too.
It’s inconsistent, and I’d rather have anything goes, but they do better than some places.
OK, I clicked on the links for unnecessary nudity in other games and that is some deep weirdness right there. A game about soaping some guy’s back cannot possibly be any odder than the Metal Gear 5 “Quiet” thing was.
I have to say there’s a lot of disingenuousness going around here. There’s a difference between nudity and sexualized nudity, and we all know that. The line is very fuzzy, and I think everybody knows that too. So if a media platform wants to avoid sexualized nudity, I think that’s their right, and probably a good idea. If they want to continue to allow innocent or artistic or political nudity, I think that’s a good idea too. And since there’s a lot of grey, there’s certain to be a few bad decisions, and some inconsistency and some hypocrisy. It’s a messy area, and clean decisions are hard.
In a situation like this, the only good answer is dialog, which means arguing and disagreeing. We’re doing it right. I would be a lot more put out if they banned nipples, or naughty words, or any other simple black-and-white rule. Allowing community feedback would help, but of course the trolls are sure to show up in force. Bring a sword.
Does anybody really think the rule is “no the gay but aliens are fine?”
And that’s a different line for every one of us.
(And I’m just gonna have to owe you a fave. Nm, got it!)
Twitch isn’t great at actually talking with the users. They much prefer talking at the users. Dialog happens every day in the channel chats, but isn’t likely to happen with the actual operators of Twitch.
As a channel mod for several people, it’s actually a very nice community my group’s built up. We treat each other well, newcomers are welcome and those scrubs get their n00b questions answered civilly quickly and are allowed to participate as much as they care to. It’s actually really fun, and I very much enjoy hanging out with everyone on Twitch.
Sure I’m a mod, but that really just means it’s my job to ban the people who come by just to be nasty and rude.
What I’m trying to say is, while the corporate side of Twitch is somewhere out in space and makes some nonsense decisions and doesn’t seem to listen to us or care, the users and channel operators are often decent people, we have a good time, and we try not to actually hurt or exclude anyone.
You’re good at that. I saw that with the dude in the dog thread last night.
Twitch is ok with brief or indirect mentions of sexuality, regardless of how crass, and not ok with explicit and extended depictions of sexuality, regardless of how careful. It’s not a particularly healthty attitude, but it’s hard to get outraged at Twitch in particular when basically every other American media company follows the same ideas.
Also, Mass Effect is…not the game I would have gone to for an example of crass, exploitative use of sex.
Dead or Alive is a worse offender, along with MGSV’s Quiet. “She can’t wear any clothes, because she breathes through her skin! Also you have to watch her take a shower, so I can simultaneously explain that she can’t take baths, since, y’know the skin thing.” Klassik Konami.
It’s grooming for ducks sake.
Get over it liberal types. Not everyone is into it.
Ducks sake?
Haha!
Well then you’re in luck, since Twitch has about 1.5 million active channels that regularly go live. If you don’t like what’s on one channel, there’s 1,499,999 other people you can go watch.
Oh, hey, look, yet another person using an inaccurate description of Mass Effect for their own ends, only this time it’s a game developer–what a twist!
Oh good
I feel like I just read one overlong QQ.
Oh.
(sparkling smile)
Never mind.
