Why are such a high proportion of streamers such hideous people?
Generally, I believe it's due to the ego. This doesn't really apply to this person who has basically no audience but I think there's an observable phenomenon overall.
Being a popular content creator or streamer can feed into someone's narcissistic tendencies. Your job is to just be you (or a performed version of you) on camera for thousands of people who like to watch that content just because you're
you. You are the product. You are what everyone likes. This kind of validation for someone with a narcissistic personality or an inflated ego can be very reassuring that they can do no wrong. As they become popular and powerful the abuse of that popularity and power is simply inevitable.
But just imagine the reassurance you must feel to have thousands of people who tune in every day to watch you play video games. Imagine the sense of authority you'd feel knowing you had so many people who looked upon you with such dedication and reverence. All you're doing is playing video games and people come to watch you do it. The confidence and entitlement that can stem from that is going to alter your behavior dramatically.
There is also the detachment phenomenon where you begin to mold your personality around channel metrics. The development of your personality and ideology is reinforced entirely by what gets you more views. More views means means more support and more support means you're "doing the right thing." When your entire value system revolves around what gets more people to pay attention to you then your values no longer have any basis in morality. This created a really antisocial way of relating to others - including your audience. They belong to you. Why shouldn't you do what you want with them?
Naturally this is not the case for every streamer or creator so don't think I'm saying that. But whenever we see a YouTuber or a streamer turn out to be a total freak this is what I think about. You saw this kind of dynamic a lot with creators like Onision, who provides the model for this type of behavior.
But I am not a psychologist. This is just what I think after watching this sort of thing happen over and over and over again for a long time. Even "good creators" that I like have exhibited some of these traits over time. I find it really worrying. It cannot be healthy to have to maintain a daily relationship with thousands or even tens of thousands of people that you will never meet but think you are their personal friend. This can challenge good people and bring out the worst in bad ones, I think.
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