Depression Quest

The Challenges Female Streamers Face on Twitch and Their Strategies Within a Male-Dominated Gaming Environment

The document examines the pervasive challenges female streamers encounter on Twitch, a platform characterized by a significant gender disparity despite women constituting nearly half of all video game players.

• Harassment of women in gaming escalated into a coordinated campaign after the 2014 'Gamergate' episode, when developer Zoë Quinn was subjected to doxxing, threats and the publication of private photos, a pattern that spread to Brianna Wu, Anita Sarkeesian and other female industry figures.
• Twitch, launched in 2011 and bought by Amazon in 2014, saw its active channels rise from 3.75 million in February 2020 to 7.4 million in July 2020 during the pandemic, yet the platform remains closely tied to video games.
• Interviews with female streamers found that none considered Twitch's existing anti-harassment measures, including bots and AutoMod, effective in the long term, as harassers quickly learned to bypass them.