AOC Streaming Among Us Works Because It's Genuine

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made her Twitch debut streaming Among Us the other night with big-name streamers like Hasan Piker, Pokimane, Dr. Lupo, Jacksepticeye, and Hbomberguy, as well as her colleague, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. It's made headlines across gaming and non-gaming media, so you're probably familiar with what went down already, given the widespread coverage. I was one of the over 400,000 people watching Ocasio-Cortez's personal stream, enjoying the hell out of her and others legitimately having a good time in-game. Count me in the crowd of "never stan a politician" for simply taking part in a common hobby, but for AOC, the context is quite different.

Before I became an editor and video host here at GameSpot, I worked in politics--behind the scenes, managing campaigns in California, local, and statewide--and often managed the public-facing content of our clients and candidates on the internet. At the time, we were a young agency with a certain tech savvy that many of our clients did not have (they'd tend to be a generation or two apart from us). We'd ask for personal details that could connect them to their constituencies; photos, stories, interests, and experiences that we could share in blogs, official sites, tweets, and posts on various platforms. These would be delivered in addition to communicating actual policy visions.

Despite this, much of what I did felt so buttoned-up. Maybe it's because I was still green in that line of work and playing it safe. But when watchful endorsers and backers can lash out at the littlest thing you say that might be off-kilter, and with the resulting internal concern that could cause, creating online content was a tedious process that would have to go through more hoops than necessary. All I wanted to do was reach potential voters in a casual manner. So, the thought popped into my head while watching AOC's stream: What if my breakthrough as a political consultant was to get clients to stream? (And I thought of what kind of new hell that could spawn for the rest of us.)