Kotaku - Why I'm Not Streaming On Twitch Today

[John Kowalski]

Kotaku's Heather Alexandra has posted an article explaining why she is refraining from streaming today.

Today is Prime Day, the Amazon-invented international shopping holiday that involves offering extensive deals on the digital storefront’s products. Amazon workers across facilities in Europe are celebrating this artificial holiday with a multi-day strike, and I’ve decided to join them in my own way.

I stream video games on Kotaku’s Twitch channel multiple times a week. That can mean playing Monster Hunter: World with readers or sitting down for a full playthrough of Metal Gear Solid. Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014 for $970 million, and as workers in Europe strike for better working conditions, I have chosen not to stream tonight.

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Given the field I work in, it’s not practical to avoid using Twitch altogether, but today, I can’t shrug and do nothing. On a day when workers are risking their livelihoods, I believe it is important to stand with them, in one of the few visible ways that I can, as a person who doesn’t work at a facility herself. Canceling a stream and avoiding Amazon is the bare minimum of what I believe that I owe in solidarity with workers who deserve better.

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Why I'm Not Streaming On Twitch Today

She goes on to detail her thinking and Amazon's current situation in the article. This is a very positive stance and i'm glad this is being a point of discourse.

 

[Soundtrack2chaos]

I’m sure someone will find a way to have a problem with this, but this is a nice gesture.

 

[Calibro]

Just a reminder that while Bezos is the richest man on earth his employees worldwide piss in bottles to make it through the work day and not be penalized.

 

[Hella]

Excellent piece. I think even small gestures matter in the end, if things are ever going to change. Awareness is key.

There's already some solidarity within games journalism--Austin Walker tweeted that Waypoint's avoiding streams today for the same reason:

 

[Myrrhodd]

I am also not streaming on Amazon today, but for different reasons... I don't have time today :-/

 

[Mass_Pincup]

It’s a good gesture, but I’m sure not shopping at Amazon would be more viable and impactful depending on her spending habit.

 

[Deleted member 14002]

I’m sure someone will find a way to have a problem with this, but this is a nice gesture.

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I will.

Openly acknowledging problematic aspects of a platform and not using platform for one day to "protest" does nothing.

If you're actually serious about being disgusted about Amazon taking advantage of workers rights switch over to a different platform, or hell donate all proceeds from your stream to fight against Amazon/pro union stuff.

 

[OldMuffin]

Amazon needs a wake up call (well a lot of big companies do). Hope all these little gestures add up and they take notice.

 

[Hanbei]

If you're actually serious about being disgusted about Amazon taking advantage of workers rights switch over to a different platform, or hell donate all proceeds from your stream to fight against Amazon/pro union stuff.

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This. That's what I decided a while ago, never regretted it.

 

[Brass Body Dave]

Can someone talk some sense into Dan Ryckert please

 

[Vicious17]

Whenever I think of Amazon, I think of that Comcast episide of South Park. Yes, they're terrible, but where else are you gonna go?

Can someone talk some sense into Dan Ryckert please

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The same Dan who on the latest Beastcast said he thought refrigerators uncooked food? The guy who said "I didn't know pirates STOLE stuff!"?

 

[Your Cousin Vinny]

While Amazon is apparently hell on Earth to work for, this is an eye-rollingly empty gesture.

 

[Jobbs]

Can someone talk some sense into Dan Ryckert please

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If you want to make a gesture in solidarity with Amazon employees that's nice, but shaming people for going about their lives seems like a bad idea.

 

[John Kowalski]

I will.

Openly acknowledging problematic aspects of a platform and not using platform for one day to "protest" does nothing.

If you're actually serious about being disgusted about Amazon taking advantage of workers rights switch over to a different platform, or hell donate all proceeds from your stream to fight against Amazon/pro union stuff.

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She acknowledges this in the comment section:

Yeah, I unfortunately have zero control over any of that but the tension is not lost to me. (I acknowledge it in the piece after all.) I can’t control what advertisers or corporate does but I can write this article and call attention to the situation.

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[Conkerkid11]

What's so different about Amazon's warehouse jobs versus other warehouse jobs? Just curious, because I work a FedEx Ground warehouse job across the street from an Amazon warehouse that's opening in about two months. I make almost $19 an hour for manual labor that doesn't even require a high school diploma. I get really good medical, dental, and $1,500 a term for college tuition. The work isn't difficult, and most people don't even work up to par with the reasonable speeds they're supposed to with the only real repercussion being getting sent to do another job in the warehouse that's easier. They hire all sorts of people (a significant number of which are deaf). I'd rather work here than somewhere I'd have to deal with customers. The only other place I'd probably want to work is at a restaurant or something so I could abuse the ridiculous amount of money they make from tips.

I will.

Openly acknowledging problematic aspects of a platform and not using platform for one day to "protest" does nothing.

If you're actually serious about being disgusted about Amazon taking advantage of workers rights switch over to a different platform, or hell donate all proceeds from your stream to fight against Amazon/pro union stuff.

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Yeah, this. If you've got beef with how Amazon treats its warehouse workers, then maybe you shouldn't be using their services at all.

 

[Your Cousin Vinny]

The work isn't difficult, and most people don't even work up to par with the reasonable speeds they're supposed to with the only real repercussion being getting sent to do another job in the warehouse that's easier.

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Pretty sure this is where the similarities stop.

 

[Xita]

It’s a nice gesture but since it’s only for one day it feels kind of pointless to me? Like it’s one step above complaining on social media about them but doing nothing about it. One day is not going to do anything. If she’s really committed she’d just switch to a different platform altogether.

 

[SCB360]

Whenever I think of Amazon, I think of that Comcast episide of South Park. Yes, they're terrible, but where else are you gonna go?



The same Dan who on the latest Beastcast said he thought refrigerators uncooked food? The guy who said "I didn't know pirates STOLE stuff!"?

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The best one, the man who thought Egg Whites were the cooked shells of the egg

 

[John Kowalski]

It’s a nice gesture but since it’s only for one day it feels kind of pointless to me? Like it’s one step above complaining on social media about them but doing nothing about it. One day is not going to do anything. If she’s really committed she’d just switch to a different platform altogether.

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Again, she acknowledges that this is beyond her control. Schreier also commented on this:

There’s nothing wrong with that. It’d be a problem if that divide wasn’t here. Activision advertises on Kotaku all the time, and that’ll never stop us from criticizing Destiny, because there’s a strong wall between editorial and advertisement. We should all thank goodness for that, because there aren’t a lot of totally independent game sites around anymore.

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[Vicious17]

The best one, the man who thought Egg Whites were the cooked shells of the egg

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Oh gosh I forgot about that! God, I love Dan.

 

[saenima]

The same Dan who on the latest Beastcast said he thought refrigerators uncooked food? The guy who said "I didn't know pirates STOLE stuff!"?

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I don't know this fella and my first thought was 'no one can be this stupid'. Then my second thought was 'yes, yes they can'.

 

[paulc]

Couldn’t they just switch to using YouTube permanently and avoid Twitch altogether or is this just a token gesture?

 

[jackissocool]

Minimal but good. Fuck Amazon. Really only the workers' willpower and solidarity can fix this. Showing support helps motivate striking workers a lot, so this is great.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Feels good but it's ultimately pointless. Actively working towards political change would be better.

 

[Goron2000]

This feels inconsequential. People claiming that they cannot do their job without a service are the problem and taking one day off isn't solidarity. I'm not against action, just empty gestures.

If you are actually against the practises of Amazon then stop using their services altogether. Make an article when you make a real change. Stop patting yourself on the back for making minimum effort to change the situation.

 

[Soundtrack2chaos]

I will.

Openly acknowledging problematic aspects of a platform and not using platform for one day to "protest" does nothing.

If you're actually serious about being disgusted about Amazon taking advantage of workers rights switch over to a different platform, or hell donate all proceeds from your stream to fight against Amazon/pro union stuff.

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Yea let me prevent myself from being able to pay this month's bills by switching over to Mixer and their 15 viewers, when a simple article has likely brought more attention to this issue from the gaming community than there would have been without it.

Genius.

 

[Apathy]

I get that they want to show solidarity but one day doesn't really do shit. When to go back to streaming you're going to give Amazon money again. If they felt so against Amazon's treatment of their workers why not go and do something of actual meaning and just move on to YouTube or mixer? Oh right, money.

 

[StraySheep]

Can someone talk some sense into Dan Ryckert please

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Ha nope, but even if I could that tweet isn't SO bad.

 

[paulc]

People going off on Dans Twitter like he is Bezos himself. Honestly I feel like they would get more support if they weren’t so bullish about it.

 

[Deleted member 9714]

Couldn’t they just switch to using YouTube permanently and avoid Twitch altogether or is this just a token gesture?

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Yes.

 

[Mobyduck]

I mean, couldn't they go to YouTube? If the reason they aren't abandoning the platform is because that's where the viewers are, then what's the point of the one-day strike? It feels empty and flawed.

 

[Rappy]

Yea let me prevent myself from being able to pay this month's bills by switching over to Mixer and their 15 viewers, when a simple article has likely brought more attention to this issue from the gaming community than there would have been without it.

Genius.

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Because when you think of Kotaku, you think of Twitch streams, amirite?

 

[paulc]

Because when you think of Kotaku, you think of Twitch streams, amirite?

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This, plus basically they are a big enough outlet to warrant their viewers following them to a different platform if it is really that popular. However as you pointed out, streaming is not their main source of income or their main focus.

 

[Niceguydan8]

Yea let me prevent myself from being able to pay this month's bills by switching over to Mixer and their 15 viewers, when a simple article has likely brought more attention to this issue from the gaming community than there would have been without it.

Genius.

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If the Kotaku article is opening people's eyes, why would a one day stream boycott be necessary?

For such a snarky comment, it seems very poorly thought out.

 

[Derrick01]

Couldn’t they just switch to using YouTube permanently and avoid Twitch altogether or is this just a token gesture?

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Yeah they could so it's definitely an empty gesture. They're doing it so they can keep telling themselves how progressive and awesome they are while simultaneously sacrificing nothing of value. So you didn't use twitch on 1 day, wow that must have been really hard.

 

[Rizific]

"not going to stream today to stand in solidarity with amazon workers...but ill get right back on afterwards" get the fuck outa here.

 

[subpar spatula]

I can't stand with people who go, "standing with Amazon workers today by not streaming or buying from Amazon today." Like, you'll be back the next day so this just feels like a slap in the face against those who are at risk when protesting against Amazon.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

I used a free 7-day trial to get tons of games from their Twitch Prime promo! So I actually cost Amazon money here.

Otherwise Amazon is useless in my country so I don't buy from it. The whole idea of having a subscription for faster shipping is fucking wild when I get things in a day from many stores in my country anyway.

 

[Bob Beat]

Just a reminder that while Bezos is the richest man on earth his employees worldwide piss in bottles to make it through the work day and not be penalized.

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I didn't know he was getting away with it in Europe. Wtf, Europe? If they are getting fucked over, us Americans have no chance.

 

[Timeaisis]

Wow a whole day.

 

[Cow Mengde]

This artificial holiday is probably an idea they borrowed from Alibaba. They came up with this artificial holiday to drum up sales on 11/11 in China.

 

[New002]

This just reads like a virtually empty gesture that allows the author/Kotaku to feel good without actually making any meaningful sacrifice to stand by this cause.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

A gesture is better than nothing at all, but it feels a little hollow if they're going right back to Twitch afterwards and it's business as usual.

 

[Deepwater]

reminder that all consumption under our particular system of capitalism is immoral but also inescapable. picking and choosing are nice for raising awareness but we should probably be realistic about our immediate avenues of action.

the internet would probably cease to function if people boycotted sites using AWS services.

 

[Rei no Otaku]

I will.

Openly acknowledging problematic aspects of a platform and not using platform for one day to "protest" does nothing.

If you're actually serious about being disgusted about Amazon taking advantage of workers rights switch over to a different platform, or hell donate all proceeds from your stream to fight against Amazon/pro union stuff.

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Exactly. Switch platforms if you feel so strongly about it. Could easily switch to Youtube if they were serious.

Can someone talk some sense into Dan Ryckert please

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Good luck. While I love GB and Dan, sometimes he does make annoy me with his tone deafness. The extravagant 4th of July stuff this year, the Walmart worship, and the support of WWE to name a few. At some point staying willfully ignorant isn't funny anymore.

What's so different about Amazon's warehouse jobs versus other warehouse jobs? Just curious, because I work a FedEx Ground warehouse job across the street from an Amazon warehouse that's opening in about two months. I make almost $19 an hour for manual labor that doesn't even require a high school diploma. I get really good medical, dental, and $1,500 a term for college tuition. The work isn't difficult, and most people don't even work up to par with the reasonable speeds they're supposed to with the only real repercussion being getting sent to do another job in the warehouse that's easier. They hire all sorts of people (a significant number of which are deaf). I'd rather work here than somewhere I'd have to deal with customers. The only other place I'd probably want to work is at a restaurant or something so I could abuse the ridiculous amount of money they make from tips.


Yeah, this. If you've got beef with how Amazon treats its warehouse workers, then maybe you shouldn't be using their services at all.

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This seems to be a Europe problem mainly. I worked in an Amazon warehouse for about 2 years, and my sister still works in one. Conditions were nothing like what was being reported in that undercover report from the UK. We could take as many bathroom breaks as we wanted, the warehouse was well air conditioned, rates were more than manageable, and pay and benefits were quite good for a job that doesn't even require a high school diploma.

That being said, the conditions over there seem absolutely unacceptable and I won't do business with Amazon until it is fixed.

 

[RPGam3r]

Can someone talk some sense into Dan Ryckert please

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I love Dan, and I'm right there with him, albeit this year I snagged around eight smart home devices.

I feel bad for anyone being treated poorly in the UK. But I know people that like working there, and to be blunt the savings and consistent service is too good to pass on.

 

[ElBoxy]

Yeah they could so it's definitely an empty gesture. They're doing it so they can keep telling themselves how progressive and awesome they are while simultaneously sacrificing nothing of value. So you didn't use twitch on 1 day, wow that must have been really hard.

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This is about Heather, not Kotaku. And really Twitch is as vital to staying relevant in the gaming space as Steam is to PC gaming. Sure, there are other services but they will get you nowhere. Personally, I'll take some action over nothing.

 

[breakfuss]

Amazon fulfillment centers actually operate under the pretense of “retail” in the US lol

 

[will0wis]

This is about Heather, not Kotaku. And really Twitch is as vital to staying relevant in the gaming space as Steam is to PC gaming. Sure, there are other services but they will get you nowhere. Personally, I'll take some action over nothing.

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Yeah, what I take from this is that the writer herself wanted to raise attention to this issue in any way she could.

She can't really change Kotaku's streams to another platform (she mentioned she streams on their account), neither does she seem to be representing Kotaku as a whole (to those suggesting that this is just Kotaku wanting to look like nice guys).

From my perspective she's doing what she can and it seems to be working because it caught the attention of quite a few people (this forum included).

 

[John Kowalski]

Yeah, what I take from this is that the writer herself wanted to raise attention to this issue in any way she could.

She can't really change Kotaku's streams to another platform (she mentioned she streams on their account), neither does she seem to be representing Kotaku as a whole (to those suggesting that this is just Kotaku wanting to look like nice guys).

From my perspective she's doing what she can and it seems to be working because it caught the attention of quite a few people (this forum included).

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By and large my opinion on this and this article.

Spoiler

and secretly proud of myself for making a serious thread