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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 11, 2023

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It's not only a gaming platform, that's why.

Thanks--today I learned!

...is that sarcasm? I have to assume you are at least aware that Twitch isn't only for gaming, right? I know you said you don't watch it, but the idea that Twitch or even live-streaming in general is just about gaming is trivially demonstrated as false.

I have to assume you are at least aware that Twitch isn't only for gaming, right?

Count me in as another ignoramus because I had only ever heard about it in the context of streaming games. Does anyone know if there's any kind of poll about "what do you know about Twitch/use Twitch for"?

And Googling "What is Twitch for?" gets me these results:

Mostly gaming

Gaming

Gaming

Used to be mostly gaming but other stuff as well now

FWIW I thought it was just for game streaming, so I actually did learn from your comment. I think I might have watched some pirated NFL stream on there a decade or more ago, maybe. When I hear "Twitch" I usually think of the LoL rat before I think of the streaming site. There are some of us who are really that out of touch.

Tbf, I’ve used Twitch for non-gaming purposes (FIRST uses it for kickoff), and I still think of it as a gaming service.

I have to assume you are at least aware that Twitch isn't only for gaming, right?

I was also unaware. My understanding was that Twitch is gaming streaming platform with some presence of soft/semideniable pornography.

(I do not care about Twitch at all and never used it)

It can appear that way because individual games often get their own category, but there is a substantial non-gaming presence on the platform.

Note that I never was on Twitch website.

...is that sarcasm?

Nope.

I have to assume you are at least aware that Twitch isn't only for gaming, right?

I was previously unaware.

I know you said you don't watch it, but the idea that Twitch ... is just about gaming is trivially demonstrated as false.

Yep. No one had ever demonstrated that to me.

or even live-streaming in general

I understand that many things are live-streamed, though I basically never watch live-streams outside of oral arguments before appellate courts. But I always thought Twitch was a gaming service. I even have a login through Amazon that I sometimes use to get gaming bonuses, and I never saw anything there that wasn't someone else playing a video game.

I understand that the question is relatively simple to answer, but I'm pointing out that the question itself never even occurred to me. I've never had any reason at all to suppose Twitch was anything but a video game streaming service.

I've used twitch for non-gaming purposes and I thought it was a repurposing of intended use, so you aren't the only one.

I see. I seem to have fallen for xkcd's "how much the experts people who engage with the topic" issue.

My mental model now has a Twitch "Lounge section" for non-gaming stuff.

Edit: And when I go to https://www.twitch.tv, it looks like Youtube For Games.