Polygon: Tyler "Ninja" Blevins explains why he doesn't stream with women

Shark · Aug 11, 2018

spman2099 said:
I don't sympathize with sexists. I don't think his excuse is reasonable at all. If not sympathizing with sexists makes me shitty then I guess I am super fucking shitty. Fuck that guy.

I'm thinking more about his wife and family.

There's a reason a lot of female streamers have publicly agreed with Ninja's policy. Why? They have first hand knowledge of this situation that most everyone else in here doesn't have. When your entire life is fodder for rumor, speculation and things that can harm others you may want to take steps to insulate them from that harm. Refusing to recognize that half of the situation doesn't strengthen your argument.

I'm never impressed with a lack of empathy nor casting blanket labels on to someone because they aren't leading a cause. I think Ninja is missing a real opportunity here and is inadvertently harming some people in the process and I hope he takes steps in the future to handle this better. I still understand why one would do this and calling him a 'sexist piece of shit' over and over on a video game forum is doing nothing and likely turning some off from coming to understand this (and mine) stance.

Deleted member 887 · Aug 11, 2018

Ænima said:
Clearly alot of ppl here has no idea of the amout of drama ppl create around famous streamers using out of context words to make up stories for the views. If this dude is doing it to protect his wife from possible drama, i completely understand.

It's the only reason why I'm not holding his feet to the fire. All this youtube, streaming shit etc is rife with drama. A lot of people here don't seem to think it's a big deal because "who cares what people say about you?"

A lot of the time it goes well beyond YOU. It reaches your families etc. A lot of other popular streamers both male and female seem to understand this. And if he's trying to mitigate that. Then so be it.

Mark Dagician · Aug 11, 2018

All of you guys calling him a sexist need to take a break from resetera, he gave a fair reason. The ourage culture here is getting out of hand. And yeah, I can already see my warning coming for playing down a grave case of sexism.

Shark · Aug 11, 2018

TyrantGuardian said:
Btw can any of you smartasses explain to me how Day9 magically has had ZERO of these issues in anything he has been involved with? Is he a magical unicorn who casts a spell upon his followers to make them not be sexist pieces of shit thanks to his sheer presence?

Is Day9 married or even dating? Isn't that specifically why Ninja is making the decision he is?

When you refuse to recognize the person on the other end of this you start to lose the plot.

Stixitnu · Aug 11, 2018

No problem with that. Dude just doesn't want to take the chance of something being taken out of context. Seems like a responsible thing to do.

spman2099 · Aug 11, 2018

Stixitnu said:
No problem with that. Dude just doesn't want to take the chance of something being taken out of context. Seems like a responsible thing to do.

You people make me feel like I am taking crazy pills... How is excluding an entire gender a reasonable thing to do? What is wrong with you? How is that remotely "responsible"?

Whatever. Clearly, there is nothing more to be said here. This thread is making me feel genuinely sick. Fuck.

enkaisu · Aug 11, 2018

Just reinforcing a shitty stigma that women are bad and cause drama. Don't you just love that every male gamer with a big following ends up being shitty?

D i Z · Aug 11, 2018

Boke18 said:
This is my thoughts on it all summed up in a tweet from someone.

Who the fuck is she, and why should we care?

DigitalOp · Aug 11, 2018

Ænima said:
Clearly alot of ppl here has no idea of the amout of drama ppl create around famous streamers using out of context words to make up clickbait stories for the views. If this dude is doing it to protect his wife from possible drama, i completely understand.

Mark _Dagician said:
All of you guys calling him a sexist need to take a break from resetera, he gave a fair reason. The ourage culture here is getting out of hand. And yeah, I can already see my warning coming for playing down a grave case of sexism.

Stixitnu said:
No problem with that. Dude just doesn't want to take the chance of something being taken out of context. Seems like a responsible thing to do.

Dude is protecting his family, we get that. Think about this:

Why does Ninja have to "protect" his family from his fanbase of all things? Aint that a whole new level of fucked up? What does that say about his "fans" and the "Gaming Community"

Ninja aint become a streamer with a gun to his head. He chose to stream and aggregate a shitty community around him and now he chooses to run from them instead of taking them head on. He's not a victim, he chose this because he saw the bread.

Instead of coming up with something target the issue, it was easier for Ninja to turn his back on women as a whole in regards to his "profession". People have a right to criticize that since his reasoning directly perpetuates Sexism in Gaming at the expense of women streamers.

Deleted member 4494 · Aug 11, 2018

I think we should be able to agree on two things with this.

1) It's sexist.
2) Given the circumstance, it's understandable.

If those two things co-existing seem paradoxical, I guess I'd just remind people how pervasive harassment in the online world actually is, how it seeps deeply into people's personal lives, puts them in emotional duress and sometimes even physical danger. Harassment is unchecked. People that are harassing *do* re-phrase and restructure "reality" -- remember how James Gunn went from making rape jokes to "being" an actual rapist? Harassers don't stop at the truth about someone or something, they embellish, they track you down, doxx you, do whatever they can to make your life a living hell.

In fact, had Ninja's wife actually *asked* him to do this, and he said it was her idea, they'd be harassing her instead of him. It's a no-win situation, and sometimes to best thing to do is not play.

Does it make it not sexist? Nope, it's still a sexist thing. Does it make it understandable considering the circumstances Ninja finds himself in with his success and toxic fanbase? Kinda, yeah. I wouldn't do what he is doing, but do I get why he thinks it's the best thing to do? Sure.

Also, Ninja said the N word on stream. Why do I bring it up? Because it bears repeating because I 1) Don't like Ninja at all, and 2) Think he's an ass. A sexist, probably racist ass, just like his racist buddy Tfue, so I take literally 0 pleasure in defending his choice at all. But there it is.

D i Z · Aug 11, 2018

DigitalOp said:
Dude is protecting his family, we get that. Think about this:

Why does Ninja have to "protect" his family from his fanbase of all things? Aint that a whole new level of fucked up? What does that say about his "fans" and the "Gaming Community"

Ninja aint become a streamer with a gun to his head. He chose to stream and aggregate a shitty community around him and now he chooses to run from them instead of taking them head on. He's not a victim, he chose this because he saw the bread.

Instead of coming up with something target the issue, it was easier for Ninja to turn his back on women as a whole in regards to his "profession". People have a right to criticize that since his reasoning directly perpetuates Sexism in Gaming at the expense of women streamers.

Bottom fuckin' line.

Ploid 6.0 · Aug 11, 2018

I only watched a little bit of Ninja's streams. When he's playing games with Timthetatman it seems like they are buddies, in a "let's see if Tim, and BuddyBro_That my wife is cool with me talking to everyday 10101 are up for a game" kind of way. Does he pick people to do this type of thing as a guest like a talk show or something? Does he then refuse to invite women because of the reason stated, but go on to invite John who he doesn't know, but he needs a new guest so they play Fortnite to promote his new youtube video?

Shark · Aug 11, 2018

D i Z said:
Who the fuck is she, and why should we care?

A female Youtuber (465k subs) and Twitch streamer that just might have a perspective and experience with the issue some in this thread don't have.

Falcon511 · Aug 11, 2018

I can understand his choice in the matter. Twitch culture is toxic as fuck. Ninjas audience is young kids. Gossip among this crowd and the internet in general can affect relationships. I cant imagine having thousands of people a day tweeting at me let alone tweeting at me about a relationship that I am in and possibly how me or my partner is cheating on me. That can harm a marriage and Ninja wants to keep his personal life healthy. Especially if he wants to have kids, which he has mentioned a bit here and there.

I dont think he is being sexist. I think the internet at large is and it creates issues. When you are an internet celeb, its best to keep your sanity as this is a self employed job and could also leads to issues in marriage.

Also Valkyrea had some thoughts on this as well.

Dreams-Visions · Aug 11, 2018

sabrina said:
It's not coming from her. Blevins explicitly stated this was all his decision. He views shielding her from making her own decisions as protecting her.

I'd really like to hear her take.

Falcon511 said:
I can understand his choice in the matter. Twitch culture is toxic as fuck. Ninjas audience is young kids. Gossip among this crowd and the internet in general can affect relationships. I cant imagine having thousands of people a day tweeting at me let alone tweeting at me about a relationship that I am in and possibly how me or my partner is cheating on me. That can harm a marriage and Ninja wants to keep his personal life healthy. Especially if he wants to have kids, which he has mentioned a bit here and there.

I dont think he is being sexist. I think the internet at large is and it creates issues. When you are an internet celeb, its best to keep your sanity as this is a self employed job and could also leads to issues in marriage.

Also Valkyrea had some thoughts on this as well.

Again, Ninja has as much control over his chat as I've seen anyone exert. It's 100% in subs-only mode and if he doesn't like a vein of conversation, he ends it swiftly. He's not subject to non-sub chat spam and harassment. Not in his chat, anyway. It's run with an iron fist. He would certainly not have to deal with much exposure to such talk at all if he didn't want it.

Now, the people he streams with...that's different. But he didn't say he was doing it for their best interests.

D i Z · Aug 11, 2018

Spoo said:
I think we should be able to agree on two things with this.

1) It's sexist.
2) Given the circumstance, it's understandable.

If those two things co-existing seem paradoxical, I guess I'd just remind people how pervasive harassment in the online world actually is, how it seeps deeply into people's personal lives, puts them in emotional duress and sometimes even physical danger. Harassment is unchecked. People that are harassing *do* re-phrase and restructure "reality" -- remember how James Gunn went from making rape jokes to "being" an actual rapist? Harassers don't stop at the truth about someone or something, they embellish, they track you down, doxx you, do whatever they can to make your life a living hell.

In fact, had Ninja's wife actually *asked* him to do this, and he said it was her idea, they'd be harassing her instead of him. It's a no-win situation, and sometimes to best thing to do is not play.

Does it make it not sexist? Nope, it's still a sexist thing. Does it make it understandable considering the circumstances Ninja finds himself in with his success and toxic fanbase? Kinda, yeah. I wouldn't do what he is doing, but do I get why he thinks it's the best thing to do? Sure.

Also, Ninja said the N word on stream. Why do I bring it up? Because it bears repeating because I 1) Don't like Ninja at all, and 2) Think he's an ass. A sexist, probably racist ass, just like his racist buddy Tfue, so I take literally 0 pleasure in defending his choice at all. But there it is.

Gonna have to disagree, no it's not understandable. It's bitchmade.

Deleted member 887 · Aug 11, 2018

D i Z said:
Who the fuck is she, and why should we care?

A gaming youtuber who may have some perspective on the situation.

Ryan. · Aug 11, 2018

DigitalOp said:
Dude is protecting his family, we get that. Think about this:

Why does Ninja have to "protect" his family from his fanbase of all things? Aint that a whole new level of fucked up? What does that say about his "fans" and the "Gaming Community"

Ninja aint become a streamer with a gun to his head. He chose to stream and aggregate a shitty community around him and now he chooses to run from them instead of taking them head on. He's not a victim, he chose this because he saw the bread.

Instead of coming up with something target the issue, it was easier for Ninja to turn his back on women as a whole in regards to his "profession". People have a right to criticize that since his reasoning directly perpetuates Sexism in Gaming at the expense of women streamers.

Ninja was a Halo streamer before he blew up. There wasn't much "bread" to begin with when he started this.

D i Z · Aug 11, 2018

Shark said:
A female Youtuber (465k subs) and Twitch streamer that just might have a perspective and experience with the issue some in this thread don't have.

I can see that she's a youtuber. But she's not a guy who is saying that she isn't bothered by problems at home (because the wife isn't a part of this decision), but problems with the money. So how is she relevant to this conversation?

Always gotta trot out that "one" about their money and not the people....

Pixieking · Aug 11, 2018

DigitalOp · Aug 11, 2018

RyanW said:
Ninja was a Halo streamer before he blew up. There wasn't much "bread" to begin with when he started this.

He's currently on Fortnite making big dough. This issue is relevant to his Fortnite career or am I lost?

Deleted member 887 · Aug 11, 2018

RyanW said:
Ninja was a Halo streamer before he blew up. There wasn't much "bread" to begin with when he started this.

Fam got lucky with Fortnite.

D i Z · Aug 11, 2018

Pixieking said:
nm

I thought it was insightful. Put it back up.

Ænima · Aug 11, 2018

D i Z said:
Who the fuck is she, and why should we care?

Shes a Fortnite streamer too with 400k subscribers.

Dreams-Visions · Aug 11, 2018

Boke18 said:
Fam got lucky with Fortnite.

Everyone knows that and he acknowledges it, sure.

Everyone that got on the Fortnite train early and are good at the game blew up. He more than anyone, but quite a few streamers increased their sub base multiple times over.

Ænima said:
Shes a Fortnite streamer too with 400k subscribers.

400k YouTube subs. Unless YouTube is paying out $3/sub per month, there remains value in the distinction. IIRC, YouTube subs are the equivalent of Followers on Twitch.

Pixieking · Aug 11, 2018

D i Z said:
I thought it was insightful. Put it back up.

Deleted it, rather than Ctrl-X'd it to clipboard. :( I might rewrite it later. :)

excelsiorlef · Aug 11, 2018

I kinda like that we've had several women in here saying yo this shit is sexist but someone finds one woman streamer that says it isn't while arguing that he has the right to do whatever he wants , which apparently including declaring publicly he won't stream with women, and not be questioned... and now all of a sudden a woman's opinion ought to be listened to.

Uno Venova · Aug 11, 2018

Not mad at him for that decision.

Poodlestrike · Aug 11, 2018

This is pretty much exactly the kind of shitpigeon decision that made the gaming community the cesspool it is. Constant, unending deference to the assholes of the world.

Fuckin' PUSH BACK man.

Deleted member 1589 · Aug 11, 2018

DigitalOp said:
Dude is protecting his family, we get that. Think about this:

Why does Ninja have to "protect" his family from his fanbase of all things? Aint that a whole new level of fucked up? What does that say about his "fans" and the "Gaming Community"

Ninja aint become a streamer with a gun to his head. He chose to stream and aggregate a shitty community around him and now he chooses to run from them instead of taking them head on. He's not a victim, he chose this because he saw the bread.

Instead of coming up with something target the issue, it was easier for Ninja to turn his back on women as a whole in regards to his "profession". People have a right to criticize that since his reasoning directly perpetuates Sexism in Gaming at the expense of women streamers.

I am not sure about how he turned his back on women for choosing not to stream with them is sexist.

and of course you'll see other streamers, even female streamers agree with him. Twitch culture is toxic as hell. Gaming culture can be toxic as hell.

excelsiorlef · Aug 11, 2018

The logical and rational defense really comes down to sexist gamer dudes pay his bills so it;s only "logical and rational" to exclude women to avoid setting them off.

tommy7154 · Aug 11, 2018

spman2099 said:
You people make me feel like I am taking crazy pills... How is excluding an entire gender a reasonable thing to do? What is wrong with you? How is that remotely "responsible"?

Whatever. Clearly, there is nothing more to be said here. This thread is making me feel genuinely sick. Fuck.

I think a distinction that's not being made is that to be sexist most(?) people would think of it as an unfair treatment strictly because they are women. Like, if he were to say something to the effect that he doesn't stream with women because they annoy him...that's clearly sexist.

Here it's not strictly because they are a woman, it's that by streaming with a woman rumors may come from it. So it's the rumors that (to him) are a potential issue, not women in general.

Qudi · Aug 11, 2018

I can't blame him. The internet is filled with idiots.

Squaresoft · Aug 11, 2018

He should do whatever he wants

Ryan. · Aug 11, 2018

DigitalOp said:
He's currently on Fortnite making big dough. This issue is relevant to his Fortnite career or am I lost?

Was just pointing something out.

Boke18 said:
Fam got lucky with Fortnite.

He had already started doing well after he left Halo with H1Z1 and then PUBG. It's just with how big Fortnite got after he started playing it just propelled his career tremendously compared to the other games he's played.

Shark · Aug 11, 2018

D i Z said:
I can see that she's a youtuber. But she's not a guy who is saying that she isn't bothered by problems at home (because the wife isn't a part of this decision), but problems with the money. So how is she relevant to this conversation?

You don't have to be a man to be 'relevant' to a discussion on how people on YouTube and Twitch can harm your relationship and family when you are just innocuously interacting with the opposite sex. She's likely dealt with it firsthand many, many times over and that might have shaped her views on the subject.

People in the same situation as Ninja do offer a valuable perspective for this thread even if it doesn't fit your militant stance on the issue.

Poodlestrike · Aug 11, 2018

Qudi said:
I can't blame him. The internet is filled with idiots.

I can blame him. He's a big boy, he can take a couple lumps to do something worthwhile.

Squaresoft said:
He should do whatever he wants

Why tho.

excelsiorlef · Aug 11, 2018

Gaming is sexist but really we should only admit that when we can use it to justify excluding women when it's used to argue why we should include more women it should be deemed not gaming's problem.

Like the sick thing about this thread is that it's probably the rare thread where most actually do agree gaming is sexist but it's really only because it's being used to defend a dude excluding women, the next time we talk it'll be back to sexism is a society problem not a gaming problem.

Jersey_Tom · Aug 11, 2018

DigitalOp said:
Dude is protecting his family, we get that. Think about this:

Why does Ninja have to "protect" his family from his fanbase of all things? Aint that a whole new level of fucked up? What does that say about his "fans" and the "Gaming Community"

Ninja aint become a streamer with a gun to his head. He chose to stream and aggregate a shitty community around him and now he chooses to run from them instead of taking them head on. He's not a victim, he chose this because he saw the bread.

Instead of coming up with something target the issue, it was easier for Ninja to turn his back on women as a whole in regards to his "profession". People have a right to criticize that since his reasoning directly perpetuates Sexism in Gaming at the expense of women streamers.

Pretty much this. The dude is hot shit in the gaming world and he knows it. He's certainly not shying away from his celebrity, nor is he backing away from engaging with other celebrities and bringing more recognition to his brand.

There are tons of people everyday who work in front of cameras with people who aren't their spouses. At various networks I work at, we typically pair male and female anchors together. This is a fact of life. People of different genders exist next to each other, despite what some lunatic is going to say about the potential that both of them may be flirting with each other. This is part of the deal when you become a public figure. People will say stupid shit about you or those around you. You have to be above that. As mentioned previously in the thread, he has mods and can generally control his chat at the very least. That's a lot more control than a lot of people have.

It's not surprising but it's certainly disappointing that a guy like Ninja who has the kind of recognition that he has is choosing to step aside to the prospect of maybe someone taking his interactions with a girl gamer out of context. The fact that he's that worried about his fanbase or the community as a whole negatively reacting to him co-oping with a person of the opposite sex is cowardice. The shine that Ninja can give to other streamers is not insignificant. He's essentially telling an entire demographic of streamers "sorry, not sorry" regardless of their skill level/following he will never interact with them directly in game for fear of internet trolling. At best, as pointed out in the quote, he may be making a legitimate argument but it sure as hell says a lot about his fanbase/the community as a whole if people like Ninja will essentially say "look, it's out of my hands. We can't have nice things because y'all are too toxic, but I'm gonna keep doing my thing though, so I'm good. Be sure to Like and Subscribe!"

I think whether or not you understand or "get" his reasoning, this is certainly not a good look for him or the community as a whole if this is the position he's looking to take. If he's so concerned about "protecting" his family maybe the public life isn't for him.

DigitalOp · Aug 11, 2018

FlutterPuffs said:
I am not sure about how he turned his back on women for choosing not to stream with them is sexist.

and of course you'll see other streamers, even female streamers agree with him. Twitch culture is toxic as hell. Gaming culture can be toxic as hell.

And thats where Im kinda left scratching my head, Why am I pushing harder than female streamers in this realm? Makes no sense, Id like to see an open and mature gaming community where these women can get theirs, and they're arguing in approval of Ninja's actions....... So why should I give a damn then? They are the ones who are hurt by this mainly...

Im glad you said the bolded sentence. Because my mindset is that people agree fully, so what are we gonna do about it?

Ninja, Some Lady Streamers, and this thread is saying "Its too hard, just gonna have to worry about yourself" instead of actually taking a chance to improve things. Taking a moment to actually make the community better.

Thats why Ninja getting railed, He's #1. He has influence and a voice. He chose self-preservation in a toxic ass community he profits from. He fears the same ass toxic community he profits from.

How the fuck is this healthy in anyway? Why are we so okay to turn around and let gaming/streaming appeal to the dogs than try to make it better for everyone?

AcademicSaucer · Aug 11, 2018

A few years back I used to watch this dude's videos about how to start working out, one time he had this girl with him on video to help demonstrate and all the comments from then on were about how they are probably fucking

Pixieking · Aug 11, 2018

tommy7154 said:
I think a distinction that's not being made is that to be sexist most(?) people would think of it as an unfair treatment strictly because they are women. Like, if he were to say something to the effect that he doesn't stream with women because they annoy him...that's clearly sexist.

Here it's not strictly because they are a woman, it's that by streaming with a woman rumors may come from it. So it's the rumors that (to him) are a potential issue, not women in general.

I wonder if he's streamed with anyone openly LGBTQ, since the same reasoning could be used for not wanting to stream with someone who's gay.

In any event (and to rewrite my deleted post), the only way this will change is if a man (and it has to be a man) who the internet mob respects stands up and actually blames the internet mobs - explicitly says "I would like to stream with women, but some of you take it too far, and make me uncomfortable with what is said". And no, it's not going to change straight away, but to say

"If I have one conversation with one female streamer where we're playing with one another, and even if there's a hint of flirting, that is going to be taken and going to be put on every single video and be clickbait forever," Blevins told Polygon.

does nothing but kick the can down the road with a shrug and a "I'm not responsible!". It's like, you are responsible - you have a position of respect and followers, so why don't you stand the fuck up as an ally and say something. What, does he think it's going to be easier for the next guy? Easier for the next woman? It's going to be a long drawn-out process, but all this does is perpetuate the ideas that the internet mobs have, and it literally does nothing but make it harder for the next person.

Would it end up harming his career? Maybe. But y'know what - you're in a position of responsibility, so act like it.

Shark · Aug 11, 2018

Dreams-Visions said:
Again, Ninja has as much control over his chat as I've seen anyone exert. It's 100% in subs-only mode and if he doesn't like a vein of conversation, he ends it swiftly. He's not subject to non-sub chat spam and harassment. Not in his chat, anyway. It's run with an iron fist. He would certainly not have to deal with much exposure to such talk at all if he didn't want it.

Now, the people he streams with...that's different. But he didn't say he was doing it for their best interests.

We need to acknowledge this issue goes way, way beyond the people in his sub only chat. If he was just worried about controlling the dialogue in his Twitch chat this wouldn't be something he'd be interviewed about. Harassment of his loved ones or pervasive rumors and speculation don't start and stop in that chat. They will follow him everywhere. Ninja is the most public gaming personality since PewDiePie and in some ways even more known than Felix ever was with the public right now. Ninja was on the front-page of ESPN.com the other week. He needs to be compared to other celebrities because that is what he is. There's a reason a lot of celebrities, male and female, don't go out in public with other celebrities of the opposite sex when they are in a relationship. I see no difference with that and what Ninja is experiencing and trying to prevent from happening in the future. He's trying to maintain his marriage while navigating celebrity.

Again, I think he missed a real opportunity to do some good and be an example but I completely understand why he might have felt he couldn't do that for the sake of his family.

sabrina · Aug 11, 2018

Qudi said:
I can't blame him. The internet is filled with idiots.

Being an idiot doesn't excuse his sexism. Plenty of other idiots manage to not be sexist.

Lyon N. Laap · Aug 11, 2018

Shark said:
You don't have to be a man to be 'relevant' to a discussion on how people on YouTube and Twitch can harm your relationship and family when you are just innocuously interacting with the opposite sex. She's likely dealt with it firsthand many, many times over and that might have shaped her views on the subject.

People in the same situation as Ninja do offer a valuable perspective for this thread even if it doesn't fit your militant stance on the issue.

Yes, she offers a valuable perspective, but her statement doesn't really apply all that well with what is happening here. He didn't have to give an explanation, he chose to give one. Polygon didn't force him to give the explanation he did, he just felt like explaining why he does not stream with women.

It was his choice to publically air his opinion in a published article. So his right to be given the benefit of the doubt stops right there because his reason is all out in the open. His choice to disclude streaming with women. His justification to avoid a toxic culture. His participation in support of that toxic culture.

Given his own actions, none of this is entirely unfair.

Anas · Aug 11, 2018

Shao Kahn said:
"Can't sexually harass a woman if you're not around a woman."

Probably this the smartest move Ninja thought of

Squaresoft · Aug 11, 2018

Poodlestrike said:
I can blame him. He's a big boy, he can take a couple lumps to do something worthwhile.

Why tho.

If i dont want to do something with men
Or with women
Then whats the problem?

DigitalOp · Aug 11, 2018

Jersey_Tom said:
Pretty much this. The dude is hot shit in the gaming world and he knows it. He's certainly not shying away from his celebrity, nor is he backing away from engaging with other celebrities and bringing more recognition to his brand.

There are tons of people everyday who work in front of cameras with people who aren't their spouses. At various networks I work at, we typically pair male and female anchors together. This is a fact of life. People of different genders exist next to each other, despite what some lunatic is going to say about the potential that both of them may be flirting with each other. This is part of the deal when you become a public figure. People will say stupid shit about you or those around you. You have to be above that. As mentioned previously in the thread, he has mods and can generally control his chat at the very least. That's a lot more control than a lot of people have.

It's not surprising but it's certainly disappointing that a guy like Ninja who has the kind of recognition that he has is choosing to step aside to the prospect of maybe someone taking his interactions with a girl gamer out of context. The fact that he's that worried about his fanbase or the community as a whole negatively reacting to him co-oping with a person of the opposite sex is cowardice. The shine that Ninja can give to other streamers is not insignificant. He's essentially telling an entire demographic of streamers "sorry, not sorry" regardless of their skill level/following he will never interact with them directly in game for fear of internet trolling. At best, as pointed out in the quote, he may be making a legitimate argument but it sure as hell says a lot about his fanbase/the community as a whole if people like Ninja will essentially say "look, it's out of my hands. We can't have nice things because y'all are too toxic, but I'm gonna keep doing my thing though, so I'm good. Be sure to Like and Subscribe!"

I think whether or not you understand or "get" his reasoning, this is certainly not a good look for him or the community as a whole if this is the position he's looking to take. If he's so concerned about "protecting" his family maybe the public life isn't for him.

100 man, thank you. 100% agree.

What I see here is a full opportunity for a major player in the game to push against shitty "Boys Club" that plagues Gaming, but he folded because he was too scared to make a difference.

Jersey_Tom · Aug 11, 2018

Qudi said:
I can't blame him. The internet is filled with idiots.

If idiots control what you do, then what does that make you?

excelsiorlef · Aug 11, 2018

I think people should just be more honest and admit that why they think it's logical and rational to exclude women rather than take his sexist audience to task is because his sexist audience pays his bills.

Polygon: Tyler "Ninja" Blevins explains why he doesn't stream with women

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