Playing the (Streaming) Fame Game: (Re)presentations of success, challenges, and demand in streaming simulation games

This paper explores and analyzes content in streaming simulation games. In these games, players assume the role of a live streamer, largely motivated by a desire for economic success, and faced with situations drawn from the current practice of streaming on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. How do these games differ (or adhere) relative to the actual experience of streaming with respect to labor and production? How is toxic and problematic streaming content addressed? Applying demand theory as an analytical lens, we explore how these games attempt to simulate the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional demands of successful streamers, or the attempt to become one. By examining in-game characters in various games as they relate to the experiences of actual streamers through mediated gameplay by the player, it is possible to consider how demand is performed, represented, and actualized in a larger context. Additionally, these games are further reflections of the dominant, and toxic, discourse of gamer culture.