Exploring Gender and Racial/Ethnic Bias Against Video Game Streamers: Comparing Perceived Gameplay Skill and Viewer Engagement

Research suggests there is a perception that females and underrepresented racial/ethnic minorities have worse gameplay skills and produce less engaging video game streaming content. This bias might impact streamers' audience size, viewers' financial patronage of a streamer, streamers' sponsorship offers, etc. However, few studies on this topic use experimental methods. To fill this gap, we conducted a between-subjects survey experiment to examine if viewers are biased against video game streamers based on the streamer's gender or race/ethnicity. 200 survey participants rated the gameplay skill and viewer engagement of an identical gameplay recording. The only change between experimental conditions was the streamer's name who purportedly created the recording. The Dunnett's test found no statistically significant differences in viewer engagement ratings when comparing White male streamers to either White female (p = 0.37), Latino male (p = 0.66), or Asian male (p = 0.09) streamers. Similarly, there were no statistically significant differences in gameplay skill ratings when comparing White male streamers to either White female (p = 0.10), Latino male (p = 1.00), or Asian male (p = 0.59) streamers. Potential contributors to statistically non-significant results and counter-intuitive results (i.e., White females received non-significantly higher ratings than White males) are discussed.