Well here’s an unusual job requirement: A Craigslist call for a “Lady Video Game Streamer” asks for applicants who are OK with wearing bikinis on camera.
“The ideal candidate will have experience working with computers and social networking websites,” reads the advertisement, which was posted earlier this week on Craigslist’s job listings for the DC area.
And here’s the kicker, which says a lot about what people think brings in the bucks in game streaming these days: “Video game experience is preferred, but not required. As the majority of our audience is males 18-35, streamers should also be comfortable wearing a bikini top.”
The job offers $US30,000 ($40,332) a year and promises annual performance raises. I reached out to the Craigslist poster on a dummy email just to make sure this was a real advertisement, and the poster responded with a friendly message introducing himself and asking if I’d be down for a quick Skype interview. Needless to say, I don’t think I look good enough in a bikini top.
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Comments
24 responses to “Unexpected Job Requirement For Video Game Streamers: ‘Be Comfortable Wearing A Bikini Top’”
Cue the pearl clutching…
How monstrous that an employer should be upfront with a job requirement!
Oh wait, Jason was doing a stealth article on objectification, wasn’t he… silly me.
Hey, you can’t just objectify fans of Hearthstone, DOTA and CS as drooling manbaby idiots like that.
That was what you meant right.
Exactly. You don’t need to be a manbaby to enjoy looking at a lady in a bikini. It’s a universally enjoyed pastime!
😉
Watching streamed video games is for me, and a hell of a lot of others, a social experience, usually with people of the opposite sex and of widely varying ages and levels of maturity.
It’d be nice to not have to explain why it’s actually *not* amateur porn.
You know, for once.
I think streaming is generally holding its own. Didn’t Twitch introduce new rules to try to prevent unscrupulous operators from turning it into a sex show? In terms of public image do you think that people equate streaming to sexy times? I guess I’ve been a bit sheltered – I usually only check out streams on PS4, which might be more policed?
Least they’re honest…. well, seemingly so.
For a job like that I’d be holding out for a percentage of revenue and shares in the business.
At least their honest. Go to Twitch and you’ll find a female with a good bra or good genetics (or a good surgeon) playing just about any video game. Most times showing cleavage of herself in a big screen filling window with the game in a tiny spot in the corner while the donations fly in. I’ve seen streamers like this get $5000-$10000 in on session while male streamers are lucky if they get $500 in the same time period while expertly playing the game.
I’ve never understood that. If you want porn, there’s free stuff everywhere. If you want girls in bikinis, there’s even more free stuff everywhere. Why do people pay money for this? Is it because of the ‘connection’ they get to the streamer?
It’s the connection thing “this hot girl likes what I like, maybe if I donate a lot she’ll say something just for me ”
It’s really the same as Webcam girls.
There really good girl streamers tend to be (non offence) non sexual appealing during the streams and their personalities are what sells the streams
people are dumb?
That’s umpossible!
Sex sells
They’ve identified their target audience and how to part said audience with their hard earned cash.
I don’t necessarily agree to it on moral grounds, but its business and as long as simple supply and demand exists so will practices like these.
http://i.imgur.com/K4ZoQeX.png
I would be suitable for this job because I have to wear a bikini anyway, because I breathe through my skin.
Yeah the ad is upfront (pun intended) but idk about this. I watch twitch for gaming and watch porn for… well you know. I just dont see the point of watching a stream thats puts gameplay as a secondary priority to a girl in a bikini top. I could just go to the beach, enjoy the view then come home and play games badly myself, thus saving precious data for something else. Plus the ad fails to mention the vile shit that twitch viewers sling at streamers, particularly female and/or talentless ones. If i was her id seriously want more than $30k US to put up with those cretins while being near-nekkid.
Or you could take your Vita to the beach. Win/win!
To be fair this is what Twitch does. It’s not always sexual but it is all about putting someone agreeable in front of the camera to build a relationship with the viewers. The same way any cam sex show goes. I mean just look at the format of a Twitch stream next to a sex show and it’s clear that they’ve just broadened their methods for satisfying viewers. In both cases it’s about getting the viewer to want your attention enough that they’ll pay you to make the one way connection into a two way one, even if only for a moment.
I mean the ad is super sleazy and stupid, and the guy is obviously just trying to wedge himself into what he thinks is a mountains of cash formula that doesn’t actually need his involvement, but it shouldn’t be shocking that a guy posting a Craigslist notice for a job streaming on Twitch has this in mind.
Are we sure this is even a genuine job offer? Reeks of one of those casting couch kind of situations. Get girls on Skype, more than likely in their bikini tops for an “audition”. I dunno, I don’t use Craigslist but doesn’t it seem like an odd choice for a job advert for a video game streamer? I guess I don’t know how people do hiring in that industry. But if they can afford a salary, they should be able to hire an employment agency.
Yeah, if you were a prospective employee you’d approach this with a healthy dose of scepticism. It’s much worse though when you hear stories of interviewees who have ‘the bikini requirement’ sprung on them during the interview.
Maybe they reckon that the only type of person that would be interested in this job is also the kind of person who actually reads Craigslist ads.
Yep – first thought was the “some perv putting a dodgy ad in the classifieds” tradition is finally catching up with the digital age.
yaaaaay. Adding to the “fake gamer girls only pretending to like games to get boys’ attention” trope.
I know some of the twitch girls also try to get into the sexual webcam stuff as well so i doubt they will have a shortage of applicants.
God I hope they hire a 200kg pasty white guy in a bikini. If anything is going to get you attention…
I love how it’s just a totally shameless cash grab expedition.
Wait, you want to be a video game streamer and you actually know stuff about video games?!! pfff be off with you! none of that rubbish here! you’re overqualified!
I dont get it, whats the problem? Theres thousands of jobs that advertise for a whole bunch of factors. Just because it wasnt called “great presentation” or something along those lines. What about jobs that ask for highly intelligent, quick learner, experience required, physically fit/capable, insert whatever inherent skill someone might have here?