Poki admitted the whole issue should be a much longer conversation and there are many different reasons why viewers are choosing to support the top Twitch streamers, but that it\u2019s partly rooted in social issues.<\/p>
\u201cTwitch can\u2019t force people to subscribe to female streamers more, or to creators of color, or anything like that. That\u2019s on you guys,\u201d Pokimane said, pointing directly at her camera. <\/p>
Poki wasn\u2019t afraid to call out the Twitch community as a whole. She asked her chat why Twitch viewers don\u2019t subscribe as much to underrepresented groups.<\/p>
\u201cWhen you think about that, of course, there will be misogynistic things, or sexist issues that might go into it\u2026 and obviously racism,\u201d Poki said. She added that it\u2019s likely many in the Twitch community have been \u201cinfluenced or brainwashed in some capacity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>
Poki hopes the issue will get better with time but thinks that \u201cthe demographic of Twitch also needs to change\u201d for more female and other diverse creators to become more successful on Twitch. But Pokimane asserted her belief that viewers on Twitch, YouTube, and other content creation platforms prefer to watch creators they relate to the most.<\/p>
\u201cSo as long as the majority of the gaming community is white male, the majority of the top [earners] will also be white men,\u201d Poki said.\u00a0<\/p>
According to Poki, if people want to see change on Twitch, the gaming community needs to change. Gamers need to be more welcoming and inclusive to all types of people. Once this happens, the top Twitch earners will organically become a more diverse group over time.<\/p>
After speaking out about the lack of diversity among the top Twitch earners, Pokimane discussed Twitch content creation and working in the U.S. more generally. She thinks that the reason people care about Twitch streamers\u2019 high incomes is in part due to natural curiosity but also due to jealousy and national wealth inequality. <\/p>
\u201cPeople in the U.S. deserve a much better baseline quality of life and I think that would lead to a lot less frustration and anger at anyone who is making more,\u201d Poki said. In response to anyone who might be angry at the fact that a streamer can earn millions while others may be working harder jobs for lower pay, Poki said she did not blame those people for feeling that way. But she also took a moment to explain Twitch from a creator\u2019s point of view.<\/p>
\u201cMany of your top favorite streamers are putting their health and overall well-being on the back burner just to maximize the amount of hours that they stream and money that they make,\u201d she said. She added that over time, she’s confident it will lead to severe health issues for some streamers. \u201cWe have an obsession with numbers that is really, really unhealthy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>
