Streaming has become a lucrative, full-time career for countless people across the globe. It’s even gone far enough as to become the basis of some companies, such as the internet-born-and-bred Critical Role that now has branched into multiple organizations.
Some streamers have turned to full esports stars, while others have found careers in other ways off of the platform. With Twitch being arguably the most popular place for streamers to inhabit, the platform has become one of the most popular by far.
Today, Pokimane turned heads with a good-natured move that limits the amount that fans can donate to her, a move that negatively affects nobody except for the streamer herself.
The new donation cap for Pokimane has been set to $5, with those that want to donate not able to go a cent over. This was a deliberate move that Pokimane herself worked to put into motion, explaining the move on Twitter earlier today.
“Thank you for supporting me to the point where I consider anything more than that unnecessary,” Pokimane stated on Twitter. “To anyone that was more generous – please support growing channels, charities, and treat yourselves.”
worked with @streamlabs to create a donation cap of $5 for my channel!
Thank you for supporting me to the point where I consider anything more than that unnecessary. To anyone that was more generous- please support growing channels, charities, and treat yourselves.❤️😊 pic.twitter.com/QhrusbDFxD
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) November 2, 2020
All in all, it’s an incredibly bold and kind move from the streamer, negatively affecting her own income for the simple reason of feeling as if she doesn’t need the extra cash. It would be simplicity itself for her to allow fans to donate without cap.
This has been met with a few memes, as well as a bit of critical feedback, as odd as the latter may sound. Some are saying that Pokimane should still be accepting the larger donations but donating the money herself so that she can be certain the donation gets to others as she claims to want.
This is more than a bit ridiculous as far as criticisms go, as no streamer can be blamed for what fans do with their own money. The fact that anyone would be willing to limit the amount they earn for the benefit of others is already something that few would expect.
Twitch has a bit of a history of donation abuse as well, though, such as a few years back when a troll was donating tens of thousands of dollars to streamers and then cancelling the transfer before it could go through.
Overall, it’s a wonderful thing to see, and a move that has no negative effect on anyone but Pokimane herself. It’ll be interesting to see how many other massive streamers follow suit, if any, to focus on the betterment of the platform and a diversity of up and coming streamers as a whole.
