Looks like they peaked at about , viewers, and it was at about , or so when they wrapped. How many people usually watch Twitch streams? Well, the record is about , when Drake was streaming with well-known streamer Ninja on Fortnite, but those are megastar numbers.
Is this the first time politicians have been using video games to try to encourage people to vote for them? I seem to recall multiple politicians, Hillary Clinton included , trying to get in on virtual MMO Second Life back when that was the next big thing, but that was mostly unofficial. Certainly this is the first I recall a politician even knowing how to play a video game at all, let alone exhibit some competence in it and seem genuine while doing so.
Most gamers tend to see politicians, who are generally older and less tech-savvy, coming into their space as at least a little suspicious. Breakout hits like Among Us are increasingly the cultural touch-points around which people congregate -- and politicians must become comfortable with reaching the public through them.
Older readers will recall how odd it seemed when politicians started naming popular bands and artists, rather than "high culture" touchstones, as their favourite music in interviews back in the s.
These days nobody raises an eyebrow when a politician mentions their favourite band in an effort at humanising themselves, unless it's something especially incongruous -- there's a certain constituency of white conservatives who seem to have managed to become passionate Rage Against the Machine fans without ever listening to a single word of their lyrics, for example.
In the field of political communication, I think AOC's Twitch stream will eventually be seen as a milestone. Now it's video games' turn. Just as rock music took a generation to move from panic and outcry over satanic lyrics and anarchist punks to David Cameron giving Johnny Marr an apoplexy by pronouncing his love of The Smiths, games are now swept along in an inexorable societal trend towards being popular enough across a broad enough range of demographics that people in all walks of life discuss them as comfortably as we discuss books, films and music.
In House of Cards, scheming politician Francis Underwood plays Xbox games to unwind at night, but it's not something he'd ever discuss openly.
We're moving well beyond that now, towards an inevitable reality where politicians humanise themselves by pointing out that they play games like all the rest of us, just as in the past they've talked about their favourite music or movies in an attempt to seem more down-to-earth.
It won't happen overnight, of course. It would be fascinating to know what the demographics for AOC's Twitch stream were. I'd guess it skews a little older than most Twitch streams, since younger teens won't be terribly interested in the political aspects, but still vastly younger than the audiences for almost any other kind of political content.
There are still plenty of older voters with a jaundiced view of video games, which should at least spare us the indignity of watching elderly politicos earnestly declare their love for League of Legends while holding a controller upside-down, but the direction of travel is clear.
For political entrepreneurs who are specifically targeting a younger voting demographic, the lure of the community and platform that's developed around game streaming will prove impossible to resist.
With all that's happened in , politically and otherwise, it's hard to imagine which of the year's events will ultimately be considered significant milestones -- but in the field of political communication, at least, I think AOC's Twitch stream will eventually be seen as such.
Politicians engage with new media as they seek to engage with their voters in the places they congregate and the content they consume -- from radio to television to the internet, marking milestones along the way like the televising of the Kennedy-Nixon debate in and the Obama campaign's groundbreaking social media engagement in There's a whole generation for whom the place they congregate and the media they consume are heavily weighted towards game streaming.
This week, we saw the blueprint established for how politicians will seek to engage on that new frontier. Statement from state-backed gaming association suggests firms will use facial recognition to identify minors. Players encouraged to identify games that don't require real name registration or implement time and spending limits. And whenever possible, she was sure to plug health care policy and stump for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
And Ocasio-Cortez, whose landmark congressional campaign and win in established her as a political rising star , has already amassed many a young and, likely, more Twitch-aware fan over her short tenure. Her Twitch stream is also a peak example of her political savvy, proving that she knows how to reach a young audience better than most politicians.
In the final weeks before the election, Democrats have been pushing extra-hard to encourage people of all ages to go vote. Ocasio-Cortez has used her substantial social media platform to do the same, posting Instagram videos and tweeting often about the importance of this particular presidential election. The game is easy to pick up and play, and built on a familiar conceit.
The popularity of Among Us on Twitch can be attributed to its simple, goofy gameplay as well as its high fun viewing potential.
Players can speculate and react loudly to whatever happens, like if they are killed or kill someone else. Players posted screenshots of her hanging out on their Animal Crossing islands, complimenting their creative town designs. It was a genuinely fun watch, with a side of civic engagement. Ocasio-Cortez proved herself a winning Twitch personality, ranking alongside the best of them; she laughed, she yelled, she gasped, and viewers did the same alongside her, all while she engaged with people on important issues.
The combination of her willingness to get on Twitch and hang out, her smart choice to play a popular and accessible video game, and her savvy in assembling a game-playing crew full of familiar Twitch names helped cement her stream as a shining example of how and where politicians can meet the hugely important younger voting body.
But on Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez went much further than that. She dived right in and met many younger voters on their own turf. She even murdered some of them in-game. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding.
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