World of Warcraft Community Magazine Issue 9 | Page 23

World of Warcraft Community Magazine // 23

The mentality satirized by St.
Vincent in their song “Digital
Witness” does seem to be in full
effect here: “If I can’t show it, you
can’t see me... what’s the point
of doing anything?” One third of
Twitch users are under 20; around
80% are under 30. If streamer
demographics are generally the
same as user demographics,
then we have hundreds of young
adults screaming into the digital
void, sharing their experiences
with maybe everyone and actually
no one. Perhaps this is no

media site: you will have your

gold or running Hellfire Citadel

different than any other social

popular channels, dueling for

on the Public Test Realm, and
your suburbanites, playing the
game for their enjoyment in
case anyone cares to stop by.
I am stuck thinking, however,
about the mindset of some
millennial seeing a zero by their
active viewers night after night.
Their faces are cast in the harsh
white-blue of their monitor
screen, the rooms behind them
contain shadowy suggestions
of furniture. I wonder if they put
effort into commentating their
actions, their gameplay decisions.
What might they feel if one day
that zero turned to a one?

By Ian Kernohan
The GameOn Magazine