On Oct. 7, Twitch released changes to its Community Guidelines that clarified and updated rules on what streamers can wear. Twitch made it clear that its Attire policy, which prohibits streamers from being “fully or partially nude, including exposing genitals or buttocks” or showing “hips, female-presented nipples, and underbust,” does apply to virtual avatars known as vtubers.
Though Twitch first implemented these rules in 2020, the platform didn’t explicitly state that these digital performers fell under the same rules until now.
Vtubing has exploded in popularity on Twitch over the past few years, with thousands of creators using the anonymity it grants to build new audiences for new versions of themselves. They perform in sold-out arenas as holograms and have exclusive collaborations with top video games. Last week, vtuber Ironmouse became the most subscribed channel on the entire platform, with 314,000 subscribers.
Many of these virtual cats, demons, and assorted anime girls require advanced model makers and expensive hardware to bring them to life. Their complicated rigging and nuanced designs can sometimes cost thousands of dollars to build and maintain.
“Vtubers get the bad end of the stick constantly,” 7,700-follower Twitch streamer and vtuber Neon Harper told Passionfruit. “A lot of people generally don’t understand what it is, and that’s fine, but as a streaming service, Twitch definitely should. They treat vtubers as inherently sexual when there is plenty of wholesome and nonsexual content out there.”
While streaming on Oct. 7, Harper received a sexual content warning for streaming with her busty model. In 2023, Twitch added the Sexual Content theme label so streamers could create 18+ spaces. Harper is unsure what about her model earned her stream this label.
“It could be something I said, it could be my outfit, it could be the starting soon screen I used that night,” Harper said. “A lot of us want to respect the rules, but when they are this unclear and refuse to give feedback, what do they honestly expect?”
Harper claims that she reached out to Twitch and “specifically asked for any kind of information” she could use to fix the issue, but never received an answer or what specific rule her costume broke.
In a tweet showing her conversation with the platform, what seems like an automated chatbot told her, “Our team cannot tell you if your content is appropriate to broadcast.”
In response to these rule changes, some creators have decided to go medieval and create cover-ups to add to most virtual models. 2,000 follower succubus Cutiepierin designed a mod that added Spongebob’s iconic square pants.
“I feel bad for those who now need to save up for model art and rigging for changes,” they told Passionfruit. “It costs money, and not everyone can drop 200 to 500 for a new outfit or design.”
Fellow succubus LithiaVey, who has 800 Twitch followers, also created a chastity belt for vtubers.
They told Passionfruit, “It’s not so easy [for vtubers] to just change their design since it requires a lot of time and money, and I couldn’t find many assets on the market that help with this.”
The mod “was the perfect way to make a cheeky response” to the rules around hips, which they believe are “a bit ridiculous.”
Though these rules aren’t new, their implementation was “confusing,” these streamers said, and even a bit hypocritical. One of the clarifications added to the Community Guidelines circled around “VRChat,” a video game where users can import virtual models and explore fan-made worlds.
“These guidelines apply to vtuber models but not video game characters, including those uploaded into games such as VRChat,” the guidelines say.
“I can literally take the model I use every day, do whatever I want with it to hyper sexualize it, and track myself in ‘VRchat’ and be completely fine,” Harper said.
At TwitchCon 2024, CEO of Twitch Dan Clancy shared in the opening ceremony that the platform wanted to clarify when streamers were breaking the site’s rules and what caused any bans.
These new vtuber attire rules could be Twitch’s attempt to clarify punishments for vtubers. But the result of this growing pain has been an uproar among these virtual actors, who already feel a stigma since many models are hyper-sexualized.
“I don’t think it’s a hard situation for them to get through. I just think it’s an incredibly frustrating one because people have poured a lot of time, effort, and love into their model’s designs, which can’t be seen anymore,” LithiaVey said. “It’s especially aggravating for those who made a special effort to have their design be Twitch-safe, only for this to happen.”
