Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys is one of Twitch’s most popular broadcasters, boasting a fanbase of over 3.9 million followers on the site — but some of these fans have taken their enthusiasm to the next level.
Role-playing is a popular pastime in online communities, with users taking on the guise of fictional characters to create an imaginary scenario with fellow players.
However, these games aren’t limited to fictitious personas; sometimes, role-players will act like actual people, such as movie stars, musicians, and even top YouTubers or Twitch streamers.
Pokimane has apparently just discovered this internet subculture — and it doesn’t look like she’s incredibly jazzed about the idea of people role-playing as her for their own imaginary storylines.
The streamer addressed the matter in a March 2 tweet, appearing to be wholly flummoxed by the community of people who role-play as YouTube stars.
“Holy s**t, I just found out there are accounts that role-play, but they pretend to be me,” she wrote. “While role-playing… with other people… pretending to be other YouTubers?? Y’all too wild on Twitter fr.”
holy shit i just found out there are accounts that roleplay but they pretend to be me.. while roleplaying.. with other people.. pretending to be other youtubers??
y'all too wild on twitter fr 😩
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) March 3, 2020
That’s not all: Pokimane appeared to have discovered a rather risque corner of this role-playing world, as evidenced by her reply to a fan’s comment on the post.
“The worst are the HORNY role-play ones,” the fan said.
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“Unfortunately, that’s what I was referring to,” the star streamer replied.
unfortunately that's what i was referring to
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) March 3, 2020
She’s not the only top YouTuber dealing with such inappropriate role-players, either; fellow content creator Sean ‘Jacksepticeye’ McLoughlin likewise claimed to have dealt with such fans and even had to directly address the issue after it got out of hand.
“It gets really weird!” he said of his experiences. “Had to confront it a few times over the years.”
can’t even imagine what confronting it would entail.. 😳
— pokimane (@pokimanelol) March 3, 2020
Even imPaulsive’s Mike Majlak weighed in on the subject, calling such role-players “f**king insane (while jokingly asking that they not kill off his character in their scenarios).”
not insane in a bad way fan-fickers please don’t roleplay kill my fan-fic character
— Mike Majlak (@mikemajlak) March 3, 2020
Although being an internet celebrity can seem all sunshine and roses, many online stars have little in the way of personal privacy, with fans taking their enthusiasm to new levels at the cost of their favorite streamers’ personal boundaries.