Over the last few years, Twitch has become a way to reach celebrity status. The platform has helped many launch their own companies or products, including Pokimane who announced her role as co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of RTS last month. In a recent stream, the highly successful Twitch streamer also addressed the issue of parasocial fans after an obsessive fan made a new account to continue asking questions about her personal life after being banned several times.
This isn't the first time Imane Anys, AKA Pokimane, has faced the issue of fans prying into her personal life or trying to manage what she does with her streams. Overbearing fans seem to be common on Twitch and a problem many streamers face, as Twitch has become a more popular medium to gain stardom. Some fans have even taken it to the extreme to get the attention of their idols. Just last month, Japanese Twitch streamer Meowko spoke out about a stalker, making her fear for her life.
In one of her Just Chatting Twitch streams, Pokimane gave a ferociously honest message to show fans her frustration with fans preying on her personal life and friends. The particular fan has been pestering the steamer for some time, even creating new accounts when one is banned. Pokimane addressed the fan, showing messages they had been sending before the ban, exposing obsessive, smothering, and "micro-managing" behavior. The messages are repeated on why she isn't friends with various other popular streamers, telling her she needs to add others or asking if she has met people.
She mentions the date the account was created, November 9th, evidence that it is the same user she blocked before, just using a new account to send the messages. "You've made so many accounts just to ask me the most weird and random questions about my friends," Poki said to her fans, showing the various questions asked by the account. She continues by saying, "It's weird, and it's obnoxious. Like, I love all of my friends dearly, but please stop trying to psychoanalyze or mico-manage my friendships or relationships with others. Or asking so many weird, repetitive, obsessive questions. I live my private life off-stream, okay." This isn't the first time Poki has spoken out about her feelings to fans. Just a few months ago, Poki fired back at some who claimed that she boosted her rank in Valorant.
With nearly 2 billion hours viewed on Twitch in October, it's the reigning champion of streaming for gaming. However, at this time, the platform doesn't have an effective way to keep obsessive and toxic parasocial behavior under control, other than heavy constant moderation. This problem will continue to be an issue for the streamers as parasocial fans continue to push the boundaries between themselves and popular streamers.
Source: Twitch