Toward a multidimensional streaming: A thematic case study of two Twitch channels

Abstract

The number of views and streamers of streaming channels is constantly growing, and Twitch seems to be the streaming platform par excellence to confirm this. Thus, using a constructivist approach, the main purpose of this article was to outline a thematic case study based on two streaming channels. Using qualitative content analysis of live chat comments (n = 215), and also semi-structured interviews (n = 31), findings indicate four major themes: (1) environment for the self-esteem shows that both the streamer and the viewers resort to various attempts to improve the other’s self-esteem when necessary; (2) systemic gender discrimination shows that while forms of discrimination on live chats are rather subtle and “regulatory,” there are also rare but overt forms of aggression; (3) ambiguous collective writing establishes that the differences between spamming and trolling are predominantly contextual; while (4) situational feedback for the streamer is mainly characterized by either irony or advice to the streamer.