Is it just me or is being politically correct wherever you are going way too far lately?
Checking up on some posts on r/livestreamfail which is basically clips and highlights from Twitch which don't necessarily have to be fails as the name of the subreddit, I stumbled upon this, screenshot:
For those unaware, that's the famous Canadian DJ and music producer Deadmau5 who not long ago started streaming on Twitch. I believe he streams when he's composing new music but also some gaming here and there. Now as I was reading his apology which if you've followed him for some time may seem like its not even coming from him, probably his PR team trying to do damage control. Either way I'm reading and getting more and more curious as to what lead up to this, what could he possibly have done that required such an apology to Twitch, his viewers, friends and family? wut?
As it turns out things had gotten pretty heated in a game and he had raged onto another gamer calling him a "fag", gotten banned from Twitch for that and then been pissed off at Twitch cause it was a heated argument which didn't necessarily mean he was using the word in its literal definition. After having received more negativity and backlash for his half-assed apology and blaming Twitch to have been too fast to judge the situation and ban him it seems now that he's stepping back a few more steps with this apology.
Now, I realize Twitch has their own Terms of Service and they can't allow this kind of language because their advertisers will get mad about it, but holy shit this is some ridiculous bullshit if you think about it.
I don't want to defend Deadmau5 and I don't want to defend people lashing out in games or that its the "heat of the moment" that makes people do these things, but banning someone for saying a few bad words? Like, what? This whole thing seems so backwards and ripe for going down in a deathspiral sooner than most expect. Even though Twitch has been growing as a platform over the years it just seems more and more obvious to me that they will never get rid of the reach of the advertisers, cause those are the ones providing the revenue and being the ones in control. In a way Twitch would be nothing without advertisement revenue.
Think about it. Literally everyone hates ads. Ads are the only thing keeping this alive. I'm not the best at math but there is something that just doesn't compute in that equation.
It's going to be interesting to see dapps and projects relying on a rewardpool instead of adrevenue to grow. I realize it may take longer but I can't even begin to imagine the difference that will entail. I can't help but feel sorry for content creators who are literally living in fear cause all of their work they've put into their streaming career is in the hands of Twitch admins that can just flick a switch and end it cause you called someone a word you shouldn't have. I may be oldschool but I can't imagine a world where you have to constantly watch out what you say while you're doing things like gaming which obviously is quite intense and can get the worst out of you in the heat of the moment. I find it odd how content creators are just accepting this if I didn't know any better that there currently aren't any other solutions that are just as big and popular as Twitch and Youtube. It's the same thing on all of them, though. If there is no ad revenue to be made there is no revenue except donations.
Even donations lose a big percentage to these middlemen, how fucked up isn't that?
I don't know, I just get really frustrated at these things. So much power in one company that has a history of taking sides and being biased towards users and genders.
It seems as though over time these rules and implications will drive streamers to just change themselves which could potentially change the whole way they operate. Imagine if you had to play intense ranked games in your favorite first person shooters but had to constantly stop yourself or watch yourself for what the next words are you are about to say. Readers and viewers are going down the path of being politically correct and haters probably just sit there and wait for you to do one mistake so they can end your online career. It's kind of crazy.
Again I'm not trying to defend Deadmau5 here, I'm guessing he will get a special treatment due to who he is and get unbanned sooner or later but imagine all the newcomer, low viewer streamers that may share the same fate and not get a comeback.
I don't like the road it has paved for future streamers and I can't wait for decentralized services that won't give a shit what their advertisers think about the way streamers behave that they are pasting their ads on. If people get so offended by some streamers using certain language or being certain people than just stop watching them and move on. This whole thing about apologizing twice because you realize you're not in control is just ridiculous. I doubt Deadmau5 is apologizing because he needs that adrevenue, it's probably because he has started to enjoy streaming and the community and doesn't want that to abruptly end.
Oh well, what can you do. It feels like more and more centralized services are digging their grave more and more as blockchain projects are growing day by day. It's going to be an interesting next few years for people involved in the space.
What are your thoughts on this whole ordeal?
I realize that this may also be due to ToS that kids may be watching your streams thus "bad words" are not allowed, but come on. Every kid learns most of the swearwords due to curiosity before they even hit puberty.
