Twitch is one of the biggest streaming services on the internet, and with that position come a lot of challenges. Maintaining a distinct and clear set of rules on what streamers can do, for example, is a problem that Twitch has been called out on repeatedly by streamers, as some encounter Twitch bans for seemingly inoffensive reasons, while others seem to skate by unscathed.
To top these problems off, Twitch also has to find ways to help its streamers to moderate and control what their viewers do. In an effort to do so, it looks like a new tool may be reaching streamers in the near future.
Twitch is experimenting with a new feature for streamers, and with it, it may have revealed an upcoming effort to help keep problematic users from causing issues. The new feature is being called 'Guest Star', which as the name implies, lets streamers invite users or other streamers to appear in their stream. Obviously, adding a user's video feed to one's Twitch stream could come with some significant issues, and a shared ban list appears to be getting introduced as a way to help mitigate this risk.
The demonstration revealed a few different warnings about potential Guest Star users. In the shared image, it can be seen that users have been flagged as 'Possible ban evader,' 'Suspicious user,' 'Shared ban,' and 'Serial harasser.' The warnings should, in theory, allow streamers to avoid inviting any users who have prior offenses on the platform, whether or not they've interacted with them on their own channel. However, it's unclear what each user would have to do in order to qualify for one of these flags. While serial harasser and shared ban are fairly straightforward, for example, being flagged as a possible ban evader or suspicious user seems a little less straightforward, as the terminology makes it sound like Twitch isn't entirely sure if the Twitch user is actually deserving of a ban or not.
At this time, it remains to be seen if this feature will roll out to all streamers, and if it will be utilized outside of the Guest Star function. It's also not clear if users who are tagged as being problematic will be alerted to their status, and whether there will be a way to restore one's Twitch account to good standing after an offense. The efficacy of these efforts remain to be seen, but having an additional tool to help avoid trolling and other unwanted user behavior is likely going to be welcomed by Twitch streamers.