  Research suggests there is a perception that females and underrepresented
racial/ethnic minorities have worse gameplay skills and produce less engaging
video game streaming content. This bias might impact streamers' audience size,
viewers' financial patronage of a streamer, streamers' sponsorship offers, etc.
However, few studies on this topic use experimental methods. To fill this gap,
we conducted a between-subjects survey experiment to examine if viewers are
biased against video game streamers based on the streamer's gender or
race/ethnicity. 200 survey participants rated the gameplay skill and viewer
engagement of an identical gameplay recording. The only change between
experimental conditions was the streamer's name who purportedly created the
recording. The Dunnett's test found no statistically significant differences in
viewer engagement ratings when comparing White male streamers to either White
female (p = 0.37), Latino male (p = 0.66), or Asian male (p = 0.09) streamers.
Similarly, there were no statistically significant differences in gameplay
skill ratings when comparing White male streamers to either White female (p =
0.10), Latino male (p = 1.00), or Asian male (p = 0.59) streamers. Potential
contributors to statistically non-significant results and counter-intuitive
results (i.e., White females received non-significantly higher ratings than
White males) are discussed.
