Haughty Chicken is a Twitch streamer who defies the stereotype of what a Twitch streamer should be.
I had the pleasure of speaking with her for Friendly Fire Show 186 about all things gaming, including how women, particularly older women, are underrepresented in the gaming scene. We also talked about her work on Twitch and the necessity of providing a secure environment for users on the network.
According to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the population is aging. In 2017, 3.8 million Australians (about 15% of the population) were 65 or older. Looking ahead, studies predict that this number will continue to rise steadily in the following decades. What’s perhaps more remarkable about this increasing demographic is how many of them play video games. According to a 2019 study by the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association, 42% of Australians over 65 play video games. These figures demonstrate how diverse the age range of gamers in the United States is.
Furthermore, the epidemic has altered the dynamics of who is playing games around the world. According to the NPD Group’s 2020 Evolution of Entertainment study, persons over the age of 45 invested the most time in video games in the previous year. In addition, the report shows that adults aged 45 to 54 will spend 76 percent more on video games in 2020.
Many people associate Twitch streamers with younger men playing multiplayer games with their male pals, with lots of high-level energy and a chaotic scene. And when people think of female streamers, they usually think of a younger player. According to data released just last month regarding the streaming site, it is dominated by a large younger audience, one that is largely made up of male identifying gamers – 65 percent of Twitch users fit this description. When it comes to the ages of these male users, 72 percent of them are between the ages of 16 and 34.
While there are elderly gamers on the streaming scene, they aren’t in the majority. A step toward widening the streamer community and establishing a welcoming environment for various types of gameplay. Haughty Chicken demonstrates that you don’t have to be a young boy to stream and have a good time.
