Alinity thinks new Twitch category could end infamous ‘hot tub meta’
Twitch / AlinityPopular Twitch streamer Natalia ‘Alinity’ Mogollon has shared her thoughts on Twitch’s implementation of a ‘hot tub’ category, suggesting it could even end the meta on the streaming platform.
We’ve seen trends come and go over the years on Twitch, but the recent ‘hot tub meta’ has to be up there with the most controversial. Content creators simply stream from a hot tub – often indoors, primarily because it allows them to wear a swimsuit in the context.
The trend was amassing thousands of viewers on Twitch, but also criticism from some who said it was simply being used to exploit Twitch’s contextual exceptions to their sexually suggestive content policies.
On May 21, nearly two months after hot tub streams really took off, Twitch confirmed the addition of a new ‘pools, hot tubs and beaches’ category, meaning hot tub streamers will no longer dominate the ‘Just Chatting’ section of the platform.
Unsplash/TwitchAlinity supports new category
The news largely received positive feedback from the community. Alinity, streaming on May 21, joined those praises and described it as a “smart” thing for Twitch to do. However, she also suggested that it could end the meta entirely.
“That is actually really good. That’s actually a really good thing you guys. It’s very smart of them [Twitch] to do that,” she said. “Do you guys want the opinion of a person that’s been on Twitch for 8 years?
“Because I can give you my personal opinion on it: it’s gonna stop the meta. The reason why people do it is because of browser placement. Browser placement on a channel with 25,000 viewers is not high enough for it to be worth streaming on. It’s a good thing.”
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Alinity is essentially arguing that the category and its placement on the Twitch home page will affect the popularity of the streams inside it, with Just Chatting and other titles almost certain to feature more obviously.
Whether it does affect the popularity of hot tub streams remains to be seen, but they’re now available all in one place on the streaming platform.