FiNessi streams on Twitch and raises awareness on topics that matter to her. At TwitchCon Europe, MeinMMO spoke with the streamer.
Nessi, also known as “FiNessi”, is openly trans and has been raising awareness on topics like sexual and gender diversity, ableism, and environmental protection on Twitch for 4 years. During this time, she has achieved a lot: she has built a loyal community of almost 9,000 followers and was awarded a Youlius Award for “Current Journalism” in 2023.
Recently, FiNessi was also declared a Twitch Ambassador: these are content creators who contribute positively to the Twitch community and also work on innovations on the streaming platform.
At TwitchCon Europe, MeinMMO spoke with FiNessi on June 30, 2024, about her journey to becoming a Twitch streamer, her new role as an Ambassador, and explains why her stream is not a “Safe Space”.
The fact that Twitch is no longer just for gaming is also shown by Sandra Friedrichs, who addresses topics like mental health on the streaming platform as “anormaldisaster”.
The interview has been edited and shortened for better understanding.
From activist to Twitch streamer
MeinMMO: On your Twitter profile, you describe yourself as a moderator, as an activist – do you see yourself as a Twitch streamer using your platform for education, or do you see yourself as an activist using Twitch as a tool?
FiNessi: That’s a super difficult question. I think it has changed. I come from the activist field, and I am still that too. I feel like it has two sides.
At first, it was just my means because I experienced a lot of discrimination and then said I wanted to speak out and also express myself online. That’s how it started. I would say that Twitch was definitely just a means.
Now I see it a bit differently because I feel very comfortable on Twitch, and that is also a bit of my home, my online presence home, that’s where it all started. So, I would also see myself as a Twitch streamer, yes.
MeinMMO: What was the moment for you when you realized: This is no longer just a hobby, this is now my profession, I can make a career out of it?
FiNessi: That happened by accident, so a lot of things happened by accident for me. I started doing this on the side, first alongside school, which I eventually had to drop out of for psychological reasons after landing in the hospital because of it. That didn’t work anymore.
Then I had a social worker who helped me with counseling, where I went through every support system that exists in Germany, every safety net. That means I didn’t receive any money, no state funding, nothing. So, I was not psychologically capable of working, and at the same time, there was no safety net.
That meant I had nothing: no money, nothing. And then I thought: Hey, I’m streaming on Twitch, I’ll just do that for now. That was born out of necessity, I thought maybe a little money might come from it.
And then I did it full-time, meaning very, very early on, when it wasn’t even really possible to do it full-time, I started it, and now I can live well from it.
MeinMMO: After all I’ve seen, your parents have been very supportive of your coming out – what was it like when you told them: “I am now an influencer”?
FiNessi: I think my mother still doesn’t understand it today. But that’s okay, my mother is fully supportive of it. I sometimes share things, she doesn’t fully understand, but she finds it great and is happy.
And I believe that it has to become clear to many people that this is not a big political statement, but it should be normal. You don’t have to make a huge political stream to create a Safer Space.
At TwitchCon, MeinMMO editor Lydia had the opportunity to interview the CEO of the platform, Dan Clancy, about the place of non-gaming content on Twitch as well as current events. You can find the conversation here: We asked the head of Twitch what he says about the scandals in Germany surrounding Anni The Duck and Unge
My father is also very proud, he understands it a bit better, so that’s no problem at all. My grandfather keeps asking questions because he doesn’t understand why anyone does this and what impact it has.
Appointment as Twitch Ambassador: “I thought I would be banned”
MeinMMO: Can you tell us about the process of how you became a Twitch Ambassador?
FiNessi: That’s super interesting. Basically, they have an application process. I applied for it about 3 years ago.
MeinMMO: You were still just starting back then, right?
FiNessi: Correct, I started streaming 4 years ago – [on July 1, 2020, note by the editor] and I had completely forgotten about it. Then my management received an email, not from my Twitch account, but really through my management email, they said they wanted to talk to me. There was nothing more written there.
And I thought: Am I getting banned? What did I do? Am I being reprimanded? And that’s why I was a bit nervous.
I did the conversation alone because my management had no time. Then we sat there together with one employee from [?] and a US employee, and I was sitting there thinking: Okay, what is going to happen now?
They started to speak a bit mysteriously, and I still didn’t know what they wanted. Until they finally came to the point that they wanted me as an ambassador and then there was a huge PowerPoint presentation on what that entails and what I would have to do, and then they asked me if I wanted to become that.
MeinMMO: Is there currently anything you can point out that is a problem?
FiNessi: Wow, what are some bigger problems bothering me right now? Actually, it’s more about the fine details. I don’t think Twitch has a huge problem. I think a lot comes from the fact that Twitch doesn’t have much money in general right now.
I understand that very well. There are a few things; for example, I would like pronoun badges in Twitch chat, directly from Twitch itself. They have already announced that something like this will come.
One thing is that, and what I would generally wish for – I have already addressed this – is that when one is featured as a marginalized group on the main page, a lot of hate comes along. And yes, the moderation tools are really great on Twitch, I know no other website where they are that strong. I streamed once on YouTube and that was really not good regarding moderation tools.
But when it comes to smaller streamers, the mod team is still not big enough for the homepage, and I would wish for a bit of support from Twitch in that regard.
They say: We have moderators responsible for that and we assign them there. So that there is a bit of support. Not: You get placed there and then get hate. That is not in anyone’s interest.
Safer Spaces on Twitch: “Discrimination has no place here”
MeinMMO: I saw in your ambassador announcement that your stream was described as a “Safer Space” – what makes your stream specifically a “Safer Space”?
FiNessi: That’s a very interesting question because for a long time, I didn’t refer to it as that for good reason. There was a time when I started saying: Yes, this is a safe space. But that’s not true. I can’t say: This is a safe space because it can never be “safe”. People can always come in and write things that are not okay.
At the same time, I struggled a lot with the term because I said I address topics that are stressful, these are not nice topics, often involve discrimination and violence, and for me, it wasn’t a Safer Space, but a “This is uncomfortable:”
For a long time, I handled it that way; I am in a lot of contact with my community also because of this, and we talked a lot about it. The reason I reintroduce it and label it that way is that people, no matter how they were born, can feel safer with me and also be heard when it comes to difficult topics.
That means we address difficult topics, but no discrimination is tolerated in the chat, regardless of who it is directed against. That means people can talk about such topics securely. And because of that, I would label it as a “Safer Space”, “safer” being important, because it can never be entirely safe. We try to maintain that with my mod team, who are great.
MeinMMO: What should one pay attention to when trying to create a Safe Space – or a “Safer Space”?
FiNessi: There are many things, but also many small details. I think it starts with engaging with the topics of marginalization. So for me, of course, I am openly trans, but I also engage a lot with ableism because I think it is a very important field that often gets overlooked.
And I am not affected myself, so I have to inquire and educate myself about it. That is the first step towards creating a “Safer Space”, I believe, becoming aware of it, and then whether that’s with whom you are playing, being mindful of the language being used, being nice to people, and perhaps using terms that I don’t want to mention in everyday language that are ableist or queerphobic, so that one becomes a bit more sensitive.
At the same time, what’s also important for me is to reflect that in the chat, in that you drill the moderators: If you see any discrimination, it gets removed. And then simply say: Discrimination has no place here.
MeinMMO: So there’s real work behind it – you can’t just say: “I want everyone to feel good here”
FiNessi: Yes, I think that’s also something many stumble upon. They then say: This is a cozy space, and then something comes up, and there are frictions. Or one might not want to confront this topic, but in the end, it’s important, and it’s necessary to truly banish discrimination and say: No, you have no place here.
And I believe that it has to become clear to many people that this is not a big political statement, but it should be normal. You don’t have to make a huge political stream to create a Safer Space.
At TwitchCon, MeinMMO editor Lydia had the opportunity to interview the CEO of the platform, Dan Clancy, about the place of non-gaming content on Twitch as well as current events. You can find the conversation here: We asked the head of Twitch what he says about the scandals in Germany surrounding Anni The Duck and Unge
