After the face behind PogChamp used social media to invite the continued “civil unrest” of his followers, the popular Twitch emote was removed from the live broadcast service. Twitch has promised to work with the community to create an emote that can capture hype moments on the platform, and many artists are giving suggestions – if not offering their own faces.
Twitch streamer Sean Plott wants to see a variety of faces when users type ‘PogChamp’. But there are also worry that tying an emote to anyone (or people) in the real world can lead to similar problems in the future, as there is no telling when or if someone can pull a milkshake duck.
Yo @Muscular contraction suggestion for PogChamp: create a database of streamer and / or faces in general. Whenever someone types PogChamp, display one of these faces at random. It would give a really nice crowd feel for a PogChamp spamming chat and allow meaning to be linked to all of us.
– Sean Plott (@ day9tv) January 7, 2021
But highlighting a specific personality can also be a great opportunity to encourage inclusion within the community. Natasha “Zombaekillz” Zinda, the content creator who led the charge of asking Twitch to remove the emote, tells Polygon that she would choose Kahlief Adams, presenter of the video game podcast Spawn on Me, to be the new face for exciting moments on the platform.
“He’s been a voice for change in the black community,” said Zinda, nothing that Adams has used his platforms to have “important” conversations about the gaming industry. “He is the epitome of joy and inclusion in our space,” she added. Adams seems to accept the suggestion, not only retweeting the indications of his cartoon emote on social media, but also offering a possible photo option.
Similarly, some are waiting that Twitch singles out a black creator of some kind to succeed PogChamp, ideally someone who is also part of the fighting game community. FGC has a number of black personalities, some of whom are the main players in the field. And since the original PogChamp face has gained popularity for playing Street Fighter, it may be a good idea to follow it with something that goes back to those roots. In the past, Twitch was criticized for supporting black creators only after national attention to police violence – and yet, the platform made the mistake of initially focusing on white voices. PogChamp can be a great move to alleviate some of those tensions.
While replacement suggestions run the gamut, almost everyone wants to see the new PogChamp show someone – or something – with an equally perplexed face. Many indications on social media show faces with the same expression as the original PogChamp. If it doesn’t show a real person, the illustration or emote will still look gaping.
Then again, it is equally possible for Twitch to follow PogChamp with an emote that doesn’t use that expression. Polygon contacted Twitch about their plans for the new emote hype, whether it will be a totally original design or whether it could use another real-world personality.