The One Thing Pokimane Can't Stand From Her Viewers
Imane "Pokimane" Anys has a massive following on Twitch and social media, with a big part of her appeal being the rapport she has with her fans. However, it turns out there is something that her fans do rather frequently that makes her slightly uncomfortable. If you frequent Pokimane's Twitch streams, do the superstar streamer a favor and don't refer to her by her real name.
It turns out that this is actually a common complaint shared by quite a few other people in the gaming and streaming world, as viewers of the OfflineTV Podcast recently learned. During Pokimane's most recent appearance on the podcast, the panelists got on the topic of nicknames and screen names. Co-host Scarra discussed with Pokimane the fact that only people who have known him for "a really long time" are typically allowed to call Scarra by his real name. Otherwise, it just doesn't feel right. Pokimane asked the other panelists if it felt "invasive" for someone they didn't know in real life to use their real names.
This led to Scarra mentioning that he had seen multiple viewers in Pokimane's stream calling her "Imane." At the time, he said his gut reaction was, "You can't call her that."
Though this got a laugh from everyone in the podcast, Pokimane seemed a bit uncomfortable even thinking about it. She even mentioned that she thought that it was "so cringe" for someone she didn't know to do that. Shortly after this is when she explained why she prefers to be called by her online handle when interacting with fans.
Pokimane said that she feels like people started doing it mostly after she streamed with Twitch psychiatrist Dr. K. During that session, she urged him to call her by her first name, since this was more of a therapy session than a typical stream for her. Unfortunately for Pokimane, there's a chance that people saw that and expected that they could have the same familiarity with her. According to Pokimane, she worried that she accidentally set an expectation for viewers that they can know her on a more personal level if they use her real name.
The other panelists got a big kick out of this, with Ryan Higa saying, "You set yourself up."
As the rest of the group continued to cringe and laugh, Pokimane tried to explain the difference between someone in her personal life and someone on Twitch using her real name. She likened it to going on a date in her personal life and having them call her "Poki." As she attempted to hammer home for the viewers, "It depends on the context."
While this was clearly an amusing topic for the group to discuss, it does seem like they were serious about this preference. It's also interesting to see that most of them have dealt with this very issue, but seem unsure of how to tell their fans that they don't love being called by their real names. That's likely a tricky line to walk, especially if they don't want to come across as rude to their fans.
It's also worth noting that everyone in this podcast seemingly made a point to mostly refer to one another by their online handles. The only time real names started to enter the conversation was when they were specifically discussing the topic of viewers using their real names. This should give you an idea of how seriously they take this preference in their personal lives.
Pokimane has seemingly been making a concerted effort to be more open and honest this year when it comes to her growing Twitch empire. In a recent video on personal finance YouTuber Graham Stephan's channel, she discussed the origins of her YouTube career and explained all of the work and money that goes into running her operation. However, she is still happy with the lifestyle afforded to her by her Twitch channel.
In fact, aside from the occasional issues with fans acting a little too familiar with her or dealing with gender biases and streamer scandals, it seems like Pokimane wouldn't trade her current business for anything in the world. During an appearance on The Misfits Podcast a few months back, Pokimane was very candid about the fact that she had been offered a "life-changing" amount of money to move from Twitch to Mixer. However, she stayed with Twitch to continue cultivating her strong fanbase.
In other words, Pokimane has a lot of love for her fans, but she would appreciate it if they gave her the courtesy of not using her real name in the chat.