![]() The pure wholesome energy of the otterstream almost makes it all worth it Twitch justified the creation of this category by stating that "Being found to be sexy by others is not against our rules" - this is the same company that in the past struck out against male streamers living in warm climates for broadcasting shirtless. The reasoning behind the creation of this new category is to build a space within Twitch where you'll know what you get - until now the hot tub streams were in the "Just Chatting" category - giving advertisers a way to filter out content creators who might not align with their standards. Some advertisers reportedly threatened to move away from Twitch entirely, or have already done so. One of the top hot tub streamers, Amouranth, who became something of a figurehead for the whole fiasco, had their advertising income zeroed out after advertisers decided to disassociate with this sort of sexual content. Splitting off the hot tub streams into the " Pools, Hot Tubs and Beaches" category was a recent move by Twitch in an attempt to resolve the ongoing controversy - but it says a lot that this move only came after money got involved. The hot tub meta works because of psychology, and how easy it is to prey on these simple reactions. Subscribe and the content creator spins a lucky wheel which might result in a dance, or them wearing cat ears, or changing their bikini. Drop enough cash and you'll appear on the screen, or get written onto the streamer's body. The hot tub meta works because when viewers donate, they're not 'buying' the content - they can get free content elsewhere, and the streams themselves require no payment from viewers - but they're buying attention. Adding a sexually charged element to this equation intensifies the psychological effect. The development of these Parasocial Relationships is part of the reason why many people are more readily drawn to livestreams instead of pre-recorded content, because viewing a livestream as it happens, chatting with other viewers and the content creator who might respond to messages on air fosters a sense of participation and interaction. ![]() Parasocial interaction is a major psychological concept in media, especially 'reality media', that's been a huge factor in the meteoric rise of content creators and influencers as a new caste of celebrity in the internet age wherein the viewer feels as though by consuming the content of a given creator they can become closer to them or even get to know them on a personal level. "But there isn't even any sex involved" you might say, and this is correct - so why would people watch this content and donate money to the content creators when there's actual porn out there on the internet, for free? Parasocial interaction! ![]() In the ages old wisdom of someone like Socrates or whoever, "sex sells", and the hot tub meta immediately skyrocketed to being the number one way to easily get droves of viewers on the streaming platform. There's a bit of a difference in between merely looking good on camera, as some people have defended these streams as, and gyrating on an inflatable banana while writing your top donators' names on your chest. Actual nudity as defined by the content rules of Twitch does not appear, but that's why it's softcore. No need to beat around the bush here - it's softcore porn. The hot tub meta revolves around a recent popular trend where content creators would stream themselves soaking in an in-door pool wearing the absolute bare minimum of clothing (in order to not violate Twitch policies) with various suggestive activities and "bonuses" for subscriptions and donations intended to be titillating. Sure, content diversification is great to a point, but I'd definitely not that thrilled to head down to my local veggie shop to see half the shelves stocked with motor oil - but we digress. There are still a lot of gaming streams and key functionality built into the site geared specifically towards gaming streams, but unfortunately that vision had been lost a while ago. Twitch, the streaming site that built its castle on the hill of video game streaming, had moved away from that for a long time now.
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