{"id":898,"date":"2020-11-04T23:09:45","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T23:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1326447"},"modified":"2020-11-04T23:09:45","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T23:09:45","slug":"why-pokimanes-twitch-donation-cap-is-a-big-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=898","title":{"rendered":"Why Pokimane\u2019s Twitch donation cap is a big deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Earlier this week, popular streamer Imane \u201cPokimane\u201d Anys announced she\u2019d put a $5 donation cap on her stream donations. In an on-site economy that frequently sees massive donations thrown around, it\u2019s a bold move \u2014 and it\u2019s likely to have a knock-on effect for other streamers.<\/p>\n

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worked with @streamlabs<\/a> to create a donation cap of $5 for my channel!<\/p>\n

Thank you for supporting me to the point where I consider anything more than that unnecessary. To anyone that was more generous- please support growing channels, charities, and treat yourselves.\u2764\ufe0f\ud83d\ude0a pic.twitter.com\/QhrusbDFxD<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 pokimane (@pokimanelol) November 2, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Twitch streamers have several ways they can make money. Sponsorships, advertisements, subscriptions\u2026 you get the idea. Donations, direct monetary tips from the viewer to the streamer, can be given either through Twitch\u2019s built-in Bits tipping system, or via third-party software. In Pokimane\u2019s case, she set the limit via a partnership with Streamlabs. In her tweet, she asks that anyone with more money to give donate it to charity or use it on themselves instead.<\/p>\n

Twitch donations are a thorny topic. In a perfect world, these donations would function the same as quarters dropped in the hat of a subway busker \u2014 an acknowledgement of good entertainment, nothing more. But it\u2019s often a little more complicated than that. Donations for Twitch streamers can often run into high three- or four-figure sums, and can create some uncomfortable power dynamics between streamer and viewers.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said before that the relationship between Twitch streamers and YouTubers and their viewers is one of imagined closeness. That\u2019s proven to be unseemly and possibly dangerous when exploited by the entertainers against their fans, as in the broad sexual misconduct and assault allegations<\/a> that swept Twitch earlier this year. But the opposite, from viewer to streamer, can be equally unhealthy \u2014 especially when a viewer donates huge sums of money to a streamer and subsequently believe it creates a relationship with the streamer that doesn\u2019t otherwise exist. I\u2019m not speaking of a stereotype \u2014 it\u2019s a dynamic I\u2019ve seen form in front of me.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the unsettling presumption among the critics of female streamers that they actively solicit such donations, \u201cpreying\u201d on men with their beauty and amiable personalities. Swing a dead cat within the general Twitch community, and you\u2019ll hit someone who will tell you that these women are somehow \u201cinvading\u201d spaces meant for gamers. Yes, I will continue to put scare quotes around these terms to denote my heavily implied skepticism at the claim. Pokimane herself dealt with such an accusation (among others) earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With all this in mind, it makes a great deal of sense that Pokimane would limit the amount of money a viewer can donate at any given time. It signals a relationship with the community not based around money, and allows her a greater measure of control over her relationship with that community.<\/p>\n

The question is, what effect, if any, this will have on other streamers. Will this have the effect she seems to hope it will, in that the money will go to smaller streamers? Other streamers less solvent than she can\u2019t afford to limit what others are willing to give them, but rumor has it some are already slamming other streamers for not following in her footsteps.<\/p>\n

Regardless, it\u2019s a commendable gesture from Pokimane, and I\u2019d be curious to see how many streamers, if any, follow her lead.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, popular streamer Imane \u201cPokimane\u201d Anys announced she\u2019d put a $5 donation cap on her stream donations. In an on-site economy that frequently sees massive donations thrown around, it\u2019s a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}