Twitch is the world’s largest game streaming service. The company made an announcement that the players will be able to add a transgender label to their videos. This move will definitely aid inclusion among its 30 million daily gamers.
Twitch always lets users to broadcast themselves playing video games. As per this the company has introduced “transgender”, “bisexual”, “Black” and “disabled”. These are among more than the 350 new tags which labels that users can add to their videos. Amazon-owned Twitch said in a blog that this has been one of the most popular requests they have heard, and also stated that the simple truth is that they should have done this sooner.
Tech firms have come under great pressure to make their products more inclusive of trans people. As an example, Instagram and LinkedIn allowing users to add their pronouns to profiles. This is amid fierce debate over what it means to be male or female. According to advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, a raft of U.S. states wants to bar young, trans Americans from playing school sports or getting medical help. This is with a record of 18 “anti-LGBTQ” state bills signed into law this year.
Casey, who streams under the username Casey Explosion told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that adding that trans tag it makes it very easy for them to find each other and to connect with each other. That’s something that is vital because for a lot of gaming spaces, if you’re LGBT, there’s a sort of unspoken, don’t ask, don’t tell.
Laura Dale, who streams herself playing Pokemon and Zelda games as LauraKBuzz says that the existing ‘LGBTQIA’ tag was not specific enough to help trans people to easily connect. This is mainly used by many people who considered themselves allies of the community. She also stated that LGBT is a pretty broad range of identities.
70% of Twitch users are aged 13 to 34. According to unofficial data site Twitch Tracker, collectively they watch 68 million to 73 million hours of game play each day.
