If you’re streaming a game on Twitch, not only do you have to focus on putting on a good show, but also keeping your audience in check. The last thing you want is a toxic community brewing on your channel. But how do you keep things clean if the people trolling your chat are talking in a language you don’t even speak?
Twitch has the answer: Broadcaster Language Mode. It’s a new tool for broadcasters to use, which gates your channel to viewers whose language is the same as yours. If you choose to turn it on, and have your language settings set to English, only people with their settings set to English will be able to join your chat.
“Broadcaster Language Mode is an opportunity for foreign language broadcasters to create communities inclusive of their native language for a more cohesive chat experience. This helps create vibrant foreign language communities that can easily engage with one another,” say Twitch.
But turning the Language Mode on doesn’t actually solve the problem. It just adds a gate to your channel. When people have access to your chat, there’s nothing to stop them filling the chat with bad behaviour in any language they feel like. “It’s up to the broadcaster and their moderators to decide how exclusive their channel is. Therefore, all messages will be sent since we don’t moderate for what language is being used in a chat with Broadcaster Language Mode enabled. A broadcaster may like that they have viewers with a different language participating in chat, or they may have viewers who use English colloquialisms. We don’t want to force any of that out on our side.”
A good decision by Twitch, or a pointless new setting in the menu? How do you feel about the streaming company’s attempts to kerb foreign lingo trolling?
Thanks, Engadget.