Twitch co-founder optimistic about online community behaviour

Twitch co-founder and COO Kevin Lin has expressed optimism with regards to the behaviour of the online community, particularly within the streaming service. According to Lin, there are still plenty of respect happening in gaming circles despite the presence of toxicity in the community.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Lin pointed out that smaller streams on Twitch tend to have less toxic interaction among chatters. The idea is that the bigger the user convergence in a stream, the higher the chance of disorderly behaviour. Big streamers, however, have the option to manage their online community. “As that perpetuates through more and more broadcasters as they grow, the communities will self-police - we've seen that many times,” Lin said in the interview.

Twitch, however, has been able to add tools and features to combat toxicity. Select users can become moderators to keep watch over the chat. These mods have the right to delete messages or ban people who exhibit behaviour that is against community rules.

But Lin acknowledged that the mod system works better depending on the number of people involved. “That worked to some extent for the smaller channels, but for the larger channels it's very difficult.”

At the end of the interview, Lin reiterated the value of understanding “difficult cultures, backgrounds and upbringings,” highlighting the issue of racism in select online communities. “It's not great that's a common experience we all have on the internet, but we're doing what we can to reduce that.”

Of course, the issue is a two-sided coin. Seems like Twitch also needs to watch over the streamer themselves, and this has been proven after American gamer AJ Lester received a 24-hour ban for broadcasting a UFC pay-per-view event.