Recently I was included in a post on the Overwatch subreddit giving recognition to positive Overwatch streamers. To my shock and disappointment (in myself), there were many comments disagreeing with the person who included me as a “positive” Overwatch streamer.

Probably an unpopular opinion but any time I watch Anne she is upset at her team. She is constantly deflecting blame at other people and grumbling under her breath. I find it hard to watch her because there is this air of negativity almost like she doesn’t really even want to be playing a lot of the time.

- /u/SeanceForPancakes

Not an unpopular opinion, it turns out.

I was disappointed to read that about myself, not because I disagree with them, but because I don’t want that to be my legacy on Twitch or in relation to Overwatch. I read and understood the criticisms, knowing that I have always had a short temper and that it’s one of my biggest weaknesses as a person and as a streamer. Even if there are many people who enjoy me playing Overwatch, the fact that so many people agreed with the sentiment of the person I quoted above is unacceptable to me.

Before we get into the meat of it, I wanted to thank those people for their honest criticisms of my attitude and my stream. A few of them said that they enjoy my stream when I’m not playing Overwatch, but that something about me playing that game brings out the worst in me. Thank you for being direct and offering constructive advice and I’m sorry that I have let you down as a member and face in the Overwatch community.

So I started thinking, “What can I do about this? How can I be a better and more positive Overwatch streamer?”

I had taken a long hiatus from Overwatch this year and had come back with a genuine desire to be less “salty” at the game. Not to pat myself on the back but I think I had come back with a better attitude in general. However, I believe I can still do much better and I hope I haven’t burned too many bridges with Overwatch viewers in the meantime.

The Naughty or Nice Challenge

I’m going to challenge myself to be a more positive Overwatch streamer. Starting as soon as I can get back to streaming (I had to evacuate due to the fires in southern California), we’re going to run a special challenge that will ultimately benefit charity, hopefully enforce better habits in me, and bring some more positivity to the Overwatch community.

After each game of Overwatch I play, the chat will use an on-screen StreamLabs poll to vote on whether my attitude the previous game was “naughty”/toxic or “nice”/positive. The result of the vote determines how much I add to a pool for charity.

What constitutes “naughty”/toxic?

If I blame my teammates (even so they can’t hear me) or don’t take the blame for my own mistakes, that kind of thing is toxic. If I say “Ah, I thought McCree was going to ult there so I used my defense matrix,” that isn’t really toxic unless I say it in a rude way. This will basically be up to chat’s determination, I hope that you will be honest in your judgment and let me know if I need to rein in my attitude.

What constitutes “nice”/positive?

I don’t want to be dishonest with my positivity so, while I genuinely want to be more positive or at least not toxic, I don’t want to go overboard so as to appear disingenuous. If I’m sarcastically positive while actually being rude to teammates, that’s toxic not positive. But if I’m taking blame for my mistakes and not lashing out at teammates, if I’m trying to adjust my own behavior to better help my team, that goes in the “nice” column.

How does this benefit charity?

We’ll start with a base donation of $500. Based on the results of each poll, I will add $10 per “nice” game and $5 per “naughty” game to a sum of money to be donated to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Obviously the name is a seasonal joke but it’ll just have to start whenever I can regularly stream again (hopefully within the next day or two) and I’d like to run the challenge for a couple weeks.

Here’s where I’d like some feedback — if I make it $10 per nice and $5 per naughty, does it seem less charitable or less of a punishment for me to donate less if I’m toxic? But, if I switch them and give more for being “naughty”, does it seem like I’m encouraging myself to be toxic which is basically the opposite intent of this challenge? I feel like it’s better for it to be a bigger donation for good behavior as encouragement and reward for being good. I think either way could be seen differently than my intention — let me know if you have thoughts or ideas about this. I can’t stream today anyway so we have time to adjust the specifics.

Other thoughts:

If someone quits early and the match gets cancelled, there won’t be a vote. Only if the game actually goes all the way to the “victory/defeat/draw” screen.

The vote will be open to anyone who has access to the extension we’ll use to vote. I think that means only desktop users but I’m not positive. However, there won’t be any restrictions in terms of subs/non-subs — all viewers will get to vote.

Thanks for reading and let me know if you think there are ways to improve the challenge or if you have questions!