Twitch is replacing PogChamp with a new face of the community every day for the rest of the year, and while the platform’s intentions were good, the actual launch has been tricky. Some streamers who were featured in the new initiative experienced greater harassment during their management at PogChamp, and many fans want the live streaming service to be more proactive in their efforts to support these streamers.
PogChamp is one of the most popular emotes on the platform, but Twitch removed the original, which was the face of Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez, from his service after Gutierrez used social media to incite “more violence” after the last week’s Capitol attack . Twitch also banned Donald Trump’s Twitch page to “prevent Twitch from being used to incite more violence”.
“We want the feeling and use of Pog to continue – its meaning is much greater than the person portrayed or the image itself – and it has a big place in Twitch culture,” Twitch tweeted on January 6. “However, we can’t in good conscience continue to allow the use of the image. “
Twitch quoted streamer and former StarCraft two expert Sean Plott for the new idea, after suggesting the creation of a database of different PogChamp faces from different streamers. Kenny “unroolie” McWild was the first new face of PogChamp, followed by streamer and dancer UmiNoKaiju, Pokémon Streamer Reversaland actor and vocalist Omega Jones (also known as Critical Bard) Each played the role of PogChamp for 24 hours and, on Tuesday, drag queen Deere took the title.
Although some expressed hesitation about the idea – particularly in linking the popularity and language of emoticons to real people – was also positively received as a way to elevate marginalized creators on Twitch. The hope was that, by presenting a broader cast of streamers, Twitch could help create a more inclusive community. And in fact, the PogChamp emote experiment featured a wide variety of streamers in the past few days. However, members of the Twitch community are criticizing the company for not doing enough to protect these streamers from the harassment that comes with increased visibility.
Each of the streamers featured so far has had a wider reach, after having their faces broadcast to Twitch’s 7.8 million Twitter followers. There are advantages to this: Twitch is bringing new voices to the forefront of its service. But there is also a downside, which is the toxicity that the Twitch community can sometimes bring along.
Reversal, PogChamp’s face on January 10, said he received small trolls for being PogChamp’s face – but not enough to detract from his experience. The harassment was strikingly different on January 11, when Jones took over the role.
Although Jones said he received a lot of support from viewers and fans, he also received “many painful messages and death threats” on his social media accounts, including during Monday’s stream. “I prepared my Twitch and Discord moderators on what was likely to happen, considering that I am a black man who is about to be the face of a global emote that Twitch has loved for so long,” Jones told Polygon via Twitter DM.
The harassment is due to a comment that Jones made in the sequence explaining “the difference between saying that white lives matter and black lives matter,” he said. Specifically, people stuck to Jones saying that “white lives don’t matter”, outside the context of what he was really saying: that whites can be proud of their heritage – as if they were Scottish or Irish – but proud to be white It’s not the same as being proud to be black.
“Black people have to say that black life is important because we were stolen from a country, […] stripped of our heritage and our identities, ”he said in the broadcast. “All we know is our darkness. There is a difference. “
Critics on social media invoked “reverse racism” in Jones’ comments, even if it doesn’t exist in the United States, given the broader power dynamics at stake.
Twitch told Polygon via email that he is in “close contact” with the streamers featured in the PogChamp experiment.
“Highlighting a new PogChamp every day was an idea that came directly from our community and was created in the spirit of celebrating the diversity of creators on Twitch,” said the spokesman in a statement. “While we have seen an extremely positive response from both the community and the leading, we are also in close contact with the new faces of PogChamp to offer support as needed. We do not tolerate harassment on Twitch and will take action regarding any behavior in our service that violates our rules. “
But Jones said Twitch is not doing enough. “I just want them to realize that they have the ability to suppress a lot of that,” he told Polygon. “To completely ban people who fuel these flames, makes it more difficult for people to do random accounts just to harass. Saying nothing is the silence in which racists and fanatics thrive. Speaking clearly and taking a stand against racism and hatred does much more than they seem to realize. Don’t expect a black person or marginalized people to send you a message – we shouldn’t have to educate you on how to be more secure. “
Community members agree, including content creator and activist Natasha “Zombaekillz” Zinda, who led the previous push for Twitch to feature Black Twitch streamers. “The rallying cry for mods every time one of us has an opportunity,” she tweeted on Tuesday. “The feeling of dread whenever we are successful. The erasure of our contributions. That’s why I speak. “
People are speaking out in solidarity with Jones, especially after the visible increase in social media harassment. The general essence of the fans is that the Twitch idea is a good one, but the execution needs to work to protect the streamers, especially due to the platform’s history with viewers using emotes to express racism.
“Once again, Twitch doesn’t seem to understand how divided his community is, and many viewers now resort to harassing one of the new streamers they chose to be an emote,” Twitch streamer JG, also known as UTxJGTheDon, said Polygon by email.
Likewise, after Twitch’s implementation of Deere as the new PogChamp, the streamer received a mixture of support and harassment, the latter of which includes transphobia.
“This ALWAYS happens when Twitch tries to promote inclusion in any way,” said UTxJGTheDon. “A broader conversation needs to be carried out between the people who frequent the platform and the superiors who manage the platform. Things like that won’t stop until Twitch simply condemns any kind of hostile / toxic behavior. ”