Kags, THE STREAMER

Don’t know if this should go here - admins, move this where you see fit - I digress, I’m curious:

Do any of you watch female video game streamers? If you do, what drew you to them, do you like the games they play, their personalities? And if not, why? Do you not watch streamers at all or is it something else?

I’m really curious and trying to figure something out.
 
I've watched a few female streamers, and I watched them for the same reason I watched male streamers, because I liked the games they stream and the personality of the streamer. It's been awhile since I watched any one streamer with regularity, though, so it would have to wait until I get home before I can give more than just a couple names, but I was always a fan of Dodger/Dexbonus as well as... I think her name was Kiyeberries? She streamed a lot of heroes of the storm back when I used to be into that game.

Female streamers do have the misfortune of drawing just the worst of the internet though, which I'm sure is nothing surprising, but a good moderating team was always able to ban the toxic and still allow for community interaction.
 
The only streamer I watch with any regularity is Olivia Gobert-Hicks and she does streaming paper Commander Magic the Gathering with some other folk via webcam.

What she does is really unique in streaming and almost entirely unheard of (there's only one other channel that live streams paper Magic and they only do Commander once a month at most) so that's a bonus in her favour.
 
While I don't watch streamers, because, like Tin, I'm an old fogey in denial, a podcast I occasionally listen to sometimes features SoldierHawke and I think she had lots of interesting things to say. If I were to watch a stream, hers might well be it (if she doesn't have obnoxious habits I'm unaware of)
 
And, just to underscore how much us numbered accounts need to band together, I first misread the topic as female streakers and my interest was piqued.
 
I watch A LOT of YouTube, but I don't tend to have the attention span to watch hours long streams anymore. When I do, it's almost always something that is entertaining to listen to in the background.
 
I tend to watch streamers who are playing a game that I want to improve at, so I gravitate to people who are both skilled and informative; past that gender and personality don't really play into it as long as they're not grating enough to drown out anything useful they might talk about. I think Hafu is the only female streamer (out of 3 or 4 total, I'm not big on watching them either) that I've spent any amount of time watching.
 
Nope. Game streams generally bore me pretty quickly, guy or girl. I used to watch X plays Minecraft back in the day, but that's about it. Though part of it might be because I don't game much; I might watch a stream of someone playing Beat Saber, for example Taichi, but it pretty much never occurs to me to try and find a streamer playing it. My first instinct would be to just watch a playthrough on Youtube.
 
I don't have the time to watch streamers.

That said, when I do watch streamers/vloggers, I don't do so because of their gender or dress, I do so because they're streaming a topic I find interesting in a manner I find informative and/or entertaining, and I especially appreciate someone who appears genuine while they do it.

I mean, watch this and tell me she's not being genuine. I don't even think she couldn't be genuine. You just can't fake that level of heart-on-sleeve.


--Patrick
 
I'll buck the system of the "older people not watching streamers" since I'm turning 40 next year, I watch one female individual streamer (FIreKitten), one male individual streamer consistently (CivRyan), a smattering of a handful more individual male streamers (Jeff Favignano, Kage848, Glock9, and Dammit Dave), one group (Critical Role), and one channel for certain RPG videos (Geek & Sundry - primarily the LA by Night and Dread series).

However, most of the streaming I watch are of various role-playing - Critical Role does D&D, LA by Night is based in another pencil and paper RPG (Vampire: The Masquerade), and the individuals typically in GTA V-based RP on private servers. I do watch the RoosterTeeth channel Let's Play

What's drawing me to these streamers: Entertainment value/them having fun, being consistent and true to themselves (they do what they want to and rarely give in to the "peer pressure" but are open to legitimate suggestions), willingness to interact with people and not be just about their "subscriber numbers."
 
I don't watch streams, but if I did I'd probably gravitate towards female streamers. Not necessarily to perv on them or anything like that, I just prefer to see a girl on screen.
 
When I was really into heroes of the Storm, I'd watch a lot of streamers. Two female ones I liked a lot we're Kieberries (possibly not spelled right) and Gillyweed.

What I liked about them was that they were neat and had fun streams and we're at a level of play that I could appreciate and follow a bit better than some of the grandmaster level streamers. Gillyweed was also a pro commentator for the official blizzard league when that was still a thing.

I haven't watched streams lately since the main game I liked went downhill.

I know female streamers have a stigma on places like Reddit and they have to do a whole lot more to gain respect than any male streamer.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I generally only watch streamers that I know, such as Dave or Dei or Terrik or DimentoGraven (who isn't a HF user but some of you might remember from my ill-fated Empyrion server). That said, I don't watch often.

But I will echo that you'll probably want a friend riding shotgun in your chat with moderator rights to police your users - IE, ban the incels and pervs. I've seen how bad it can get, and it's too much work to moderate your own chat while you're "performing."
 
But I will echo that you'll probably want a friend riding shotgun in your chat with moderator rights to police your users - IE, ban the incels and pervs. I've seen how bad it can get, and it's too much work to moderate your own chat while you're "performing."
That makes sense. And I’m not even sure I want to steam/will ever do it. Or if I have a friend who would want to mod for me, but that is good advice. :D
I watched the Rocket league championships over the weekend and got into a rage that there were no females on any of the teams I saw, so immediately I was all ‘ILL SHOW’EM.’ :fu:
 
Things I watch with some regularity:

Male streamers I watch: Ray / Br0wnMan, Day[9].
Female streamers I watch: Dodger.
Group/switching streamers I watch (includes both sexes): Critical Role, Yogscast, LoadingReadyRun

I used to watch a lot more streams, including other lady streamers, but with work and stuff, usually I just watch the vods on youtube. Lets me skip through the boring bits too. As far as why I watch these people: they're generally pretty chill (some yogscast salty screams excluded). Dodger is very nice and compassionate, Ray's pretty skilled at games, and Day[9] has some pretty fascinating insight in a lot of stuff. Critical Role is some amazing acting with dice, and both them and LoadingReadyRun are inclusive as heck, which is nice.

For the pure gamer streams, I only tend to watch games that interest me though. Not even a great personality is enough to get me through a stream of a game I have no interest in.
 

Dave

Staff member
I watch for games first, then for the personalities. And if you play games but wear low-cut shirts I will immediately turn off your channel assuming that's all you have to offer. (And by "you" I don't mean "you" in a specific sense, just a general one). There are too many "just chatting" boobie streamers who rely on their looks and vapid existence to take advantage of stupid lonely guys with too much cash, testosterone, but not enough brains.

But of course, those boobie streamers are also wildly popular in a lot of cases so while they annoy and disgust me, I can't really begrudge them for using what they have at their disposal to make their mark.
 
As a follow-up on my post - the one female individual streamer I watch adamantly refuses to do a face cam when streaming - she has pictures of her on her Instagram account, but she wants the content of her stream to be the pull to watch her stream.
 
I watch for games first, then for the personalities. And if you play games but wear low-cut shirts I will immediately turn off your channel assuming that's all you have to offer. (And by "you" I don't mean "you" in a specific sense, just a general one). There are too many "just chatting" boobie streamers who rely on their looks and vapid existence to take advantage of stupid lonely guys with too much cash, testosterone, but not enough brains.

But of course, those boobie streamers are also wildly popular in a lot of cases so while they annoy and disgust me, I can't really begrudge them for using what they have at their disposal to make their mark.
It sounds like you begrudge them a little
 

Dave

Staff member
I do watch female streamers. iBBAA, Danucd, Lumi (I think I'm spelling that right). These are all PUBG streamers that I like and they are amazingly skilled players. I've learned a lot from watching them. There's a few others that I watch for different games, but since I've started playing Ark a lot and hardly any PUBG my Twitch viewing has gone WAY down. Ark is just not that exciting to watch, in my opinion.
 
I can understand people have their own preferences.

I’m enjoying all the Dodger love by the way, I watched her way back in the day and still do when I can. :heart:

Thanks for all of the comments guys! It is helpful. And really cements that if I do ever stream, my goal will be to be myself and to do it for fun.
 

Dave

Staff member
That really is the key. You can tell who is doing it because they love to game and who is doing it for the views and subs for $$.
 
I'm part of the crowd that doesn't watch streamers/youtubers, but it's pretty much for the same reason I'm not a fan of talk radio: I love conversations but I hate people talking AT me. And I apologise if this sounds snobby, but since we've reached the age of "anyone can stream!", there are just so many people out there with horribly grating voices. Voice acting was an art, or a career, for a reason. I hate having to jump for the mute button when I'm trying to find some gaming hints or instruction.

However, I don't think gender really factors into my choices. I like seeing women in the field, but I'm willing to tune into whoever knows their stuff and doesn't act like a jackass.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
I don't watch many streams live, but I do watch segments on YouTube. I don't play Hearthstone anymore, but I still like to watch others play. I don't think I care about gender, but I watch a lot more videos from male streamers than female, and I've wondered for a while why that is. I think there's a number of factors.

First, there are just a lot more male players that are prevalent. More of them play in tournaments, more of them partner with Blizzard, and more of them are favored by YouTube's algorithms. I have no idea if more men play the game, overall, though. Second, of the streamers I do follow (Trump, Kripp, RegisKillbin, Alliestraza, Hafu, etc.) there are more men who are consistently putting out a video every single day. I don't know why that is, though.

Third, and this especially applies to the rare occasion that I watch a stream live on Twitch, is that I really like it when the streamer makes constant commentary on their strategy and the state of the game. When I have looked through random streams it's always been easier to find guys who are actively commenting on the game, and I've wondered why that is, but I've recently become aware of a factor that surprised me. Twitch chat tends to become vocally upset when female streamers talk too much, and talk with too much authority about the game they're playing. Despite the claims that viewers don't want an "e-thot" who just looks good and doesn't know about games, it's pretty clear there are a lot of vocal assholes who don't want female streamers to be experts, either. This makes it much harder for female streamers to engage with their audience in the same way that male streamers can.

Twitch chat, in general, is one of the reasons I don't watch much on Twitch. For any popular streamer, chat becomes extremely toxic, but even for valuable chat interactions, a lot of streamers have no freaking clue how to handle commenting about they've just read in chat. Streamers need to stop assuming that their viewers are going to be able to know what chat comment they're replying to. Like public speakers responding to an audience comment/question, streamers need to learn how to repeat/rephrase what they're replying to, so that their audience only ever has to know what the person "on stage" has said.

As with so many things in life, I find it frustrating that the mass of consumers who want a significantly different product than I do, end up dictating what is readily available for me.
 
Toxic masculinity and misogyny are the reasons there aren't as many female gamers, period. If a woman wants to operate in the gaming world (or world in general) they have to put up with twice the number of asshats as anyone else, and a lot simply decide it isn't worth the trouble. Add to that the fact that if anyone deems what they are wearing is too revealing they immediately get called a slut on top of it, and instantly deemed "not a real gamer."

The sad state of the world is that female streamers have it twice as hard, and for many that's a deal breaker.
 
The really ridiculous one that I saw happening when I was consistently watching Hafu for a bit was that every time she wasn't feeling well in the morning her chat would explode with "maybe you're pregnant!"

Just silly shit that a dude streamer would never ever have to even think about or deal with.
 
The really ridiculous one that I saw happening when I was consistently watching Hafu for a bit was that every time she wasn't feeling well in the morning her chat would explode with "maybe you're pregnant!"

Just silly shit that a dude streamer would never ever have to even think about or deal with.
This is any woman any time she is nauseous.
 
The only solo female streamer I watch with any regularity is Kate Stark. And that is because I am a fan of LoadingReadyRun (already mentioned by @Wahad above). Kate is the sister of one of their founders, Graham, and had worked with them in the past on various streams and skits and such. Both she and LRR do a great job of weeding their communities so that there are very few asshats in the chat (there is a lot of overlap in the audiences as well).

LRR itself has several women who do streams and such for them as well. But, just as many others have said, the gender of a particular streamer doesn't really affect my choice to watch them. It is mostly the game being played and the personality of the person. I can be really interested in a game, but if you are a dick then I am turning you off.
 
The only solo female streamer I watch with any regularity is Kate Stark. And that is because I am a fan of LoadingReadyRun (already mentioned by @Wahad above). Kate is the sister of one of their founders, Graham, and had worked with them in the past on various streams and skits and such. Both she and LRR do a great job of weeding their communities so that there are very few asshats in the chat (there is a lot of overlap in the audiences as well).

LRR itself has several women who do streams and such for them as well. But, just as many others have said, the gender of a particular streamer doesn't really affect my choice to watch them. It is mostly the game being played and the personality of the person. I can be really interested in a game, but if you are a dick then I am turning you off.
wait - Kate Stark steams??? Sweet! More LRR-adjacent content for me!
 
wait - Kate Stark steams??? Sweet! More LRR-adjacent content for me!
Yup, I believe her twitch handle is just @Kate (sorry to the forum user with that name as well, it seems I can't not tag you with that, but your last post was in 2015, so if you are still around and see this... Hi?)

She lives in Vancouver now and so does not really do a lot with LRR anymore, not even Desert Bus, but is still friendly and has a great chat. She frequently does "Community Day" streams where she chats and plays Jackbox, Golf with Friends, and sometimes Marbles on Stream with the chat peoples.

Edit: I would be remiss if I also did not mention that she has a youtube presence as well
 
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