In the early days, when my curiosity guided the course of new streamers to follow, I would occasionally click into streams where the host didn’t even speak English. Italian, French, Spanish, and in this case Dutch, language barriers did not prevent me from watching gameplay. It was kind of enlightening to be able to sit in with people outside my country and experience the same joy that gaming provides to anyone.

If the mood struck me, I would go to Google Translate and convert a little greeting from English to whatever language applicable, just to let them know I was around. With this particular streamer, something surprising occurred: she started speaking English after I made it apparent that I spoke it. Even more, she spent the entire rest of the stream speaking English so that I could understand. Such consideration was not necessary, yet she took the time to ensure everyone was included.

Introducing namesmelanie. (← Link to her Twitch channel.)

Continue reading “Twitch Streamer Shoutout: An Ode to namesmelanie” →