Asmongold lists everything he thinks is wrong with Twitch culture, calls it "corrosive"

Zack "Asmongold" is going viral after claiming that Twitch culture has become "corrosive" in his latest broadcast. The popular content creator previously expressed disdain for some aspects of the streaming community, and this time, he revealed a long list of things he disliked about the purple platform.

After reacting to social media comments about his previous statements on the matter, Asmongold announced he now has notes on the subject:

"I saw that I got a lot of pushback on this, and I actually wrote out a lot of the things that I thought were corrosive and bad about Twitch culture."

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Everything wrong with Twitch streaming culture, according to Asmongold

Asmongold is not only known for his MMO and RPG gameplay but also for his outspoken views. The streamer frequently gives his take on either video game developers or other content creators on the internet. As a veteran content creator who has been streaming on Twitch since 2011, he has seen the industry grow a lot. However, not everything is to his liking.

The OTK co-founder had a bone to pick with how the Amazon-owned platform's capitalization of parasocial relationships harms the community:

"Twitch is built off of capitalizing on parasocial relationships. Because of this, viewers feel close to the streamer in a way of relatability. Because viewers view streamers as the same as them, except they have a camera looking at your b****. Viewers grow resentful when streamers grow successful financially because it widens the gap in reliability."

According to him, while viewers are the reason streamers get rich, the wealth gap decreases relatability:

"This was magnified during the COVID (pandemic) when we saw streamers' success skyrocket and viewers who were previous fans of the streamers now angry at them or resentful because the streamer has a degree of success that makes them less relatable and it makes the viewer feel worthless."

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He elaborated that successful streamers are subject to bad behavior:

"Viewers feel entitled to degrade and belittle streamers because streamers are getting paid and thus should not complain whenever they are being abused. Constantly trying to get streamers banned. Cat and mouse game. Clipping out of context on purpose to make the streamer squirm. Viewer power fantasy. Pleb culture- streamers view viewers as beneath them and behave accordingly."

Asmongold also talked about how collaborations are viewed by the community and how women streamers are subject to different standards:

"All interactions between streamers are viewed through view count. If you try to collab with someone bigger than you, you are leeching. If someone smaller collabs with you, they are leeching. The culture around girls are usually unhealthy and abusive. Anytime a guy streamer dates a girl streamer, the girl is accused of leeching. Marco Polo chat interaction."

Clips of Asmongold's speech have gone viral on the streamer-focused subreddit r/LivestreamFail. Here are a couple of reactions from users:

Comment byu/blackseriesat25 from discussion inLivestreamFail

Comment byu/blackseriesat25 from discussion inLivestreamFail

Comment byu/blackseriesat25 from discussion inLivestreamFail

Comment byu/blackseriesat25 from discussion inLivestreamFail

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Asmongold has always been vocal about issues surrounding streamers and Twitch. He was one of the biggest critics of the platform when changes were made to branded content policies, even threatening to leave in protest.