Written by Yasmin Aboelsaud
March 9th, 2022
“There are still stereotypes that need to be challenged constantly.”
Online gaming. When we see those two words, we don’t typically think of grandmothers. And that’s what Haughty Chicken is trying to change.
The 60-year-old Australian is a mother, a grandmother, an academic, and an avid gamer. Based in Melbourne, Haughty is one of 53% Baby Boomer gamers who are women.
According to insights by Newzoo released late last year, 42% of Baby Boomers are gamers. Their stats looked at 20 markets, and defined Baby Boomer as someone aged 56-65.
With over 50% of Baby Boomers who game identifying as women, the data states this is the highest share of any generation.
So Haughty, which is the name she uses online, is not alone.
Having been gaming for over 40 years, Haughty began her journey as a gamer during her teens.
“I was a bit of an introverted teenager, so it was just my happy place,” she said. “I didn’t stop gaming as I got older, I bought my own PC when I left home and I continued to play games as a form of entertainment.”
When she got married and had children, she introduced gaming to her kids. And gaming became a full on family affair. “ It was a normal part of our every day. And it hasn’t changed, I am still surrounded by family who play, my mom plays and she’s 80 this year.”
She says that people are often surprised at their intergenerational gaming family, but she thinks it is more common than people think.
“Generations of people play, families play,” she said, although admits she hasn’t been able to get her twin sister into gaming yet.
Online, Haughty’s Twitch community includes over 16,000 people, and she is part of the Twitch Women’s Alliance.
“It's a pilot program through Twitch as a platform and a team of women and players who identify as women to get together officially,” explained Haughty. “And I didn’t actually join any teams until I saw that one I thought I’ll give this one a go.”
She described the space as supportive, and one where ideas are shared, and where she could get information as a streamer.
And being a streamer has been one of her proudest accomplishments.
“I never ever thought I would stream, I didn’t really know what Twitch was. I thought it was some place where people played Fortnite. I thought it was an aggressive, toxic kind of place so I didn’t venture there,” said Haughty. She began streaming in April 2020, during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After watching a friend stream, she looked online to find other older streamers but couldn’t find any.
“I was trying to find some chill places where people might just chat and casually play and I couldn’t find any of those. I looked for about a week, then turned to my husband and said ‘I’m going to stream’,” she said. His response? “He was a bit shocked,” she laughed.
She didn’t think anyone would come by, but she was wrong. And within three months, she had made partner at Twitch, and the community kept growing.
Within six months, AMD had contacted her to sponsor her. And Razer in Australia recently sent her a chair. “I thanked them for seeing me, for seeing me as an older gamer, for seeing me as a woman who plays games in my age bracket,” she said.
Do you know what I thought as I was taking shots for the #RAZER earbud clip yesterday? That it was nice to see grey hair and an older gamer promoting a brand.💚Thank you for seeing me @RazerANZ pic.twitter.com/av0AZ8Wt2o
— Haughty Chicken ❤️ Warlocks, Dragons & Demons (@haughtychicken) August 11, 2021
Since she started, she has found streamers older than her, and has created a community with a diverse range of ages and identities.
“People are saying ‘I am so glad to see someone older like me’,” she said. “They may not be my age, but they’re not the stereotypical 18-year-old guy in his mom and dad’s basement.”
Haughty’s mother has also made a couple of guest appearances on her streams, which were a bit hit. “People love the fact that she’s a gamer.”
It’s that age bias that Haughty is actively working to change.
“I think representation needs to increase in terms of the industry, brands, and even in the games themselves,” she said. “Can we have some older characters that have some depth?”
“We talk about diversity, we talk about representation, people talk about gender and race, but people often forget age. That would be a nice change in terms of representation.”
As she works on getting her PHD in her academic life, Haughty is spending about 80 hours a month streaming. But she said that not many people in her working life know she is a gamer. “I still have my own biases and my own challenges sharing what I do. I ask myself why am I not sharing that?”
This goes back to her youth as well, when she didn’t share with her friends at school that she played video games.
“There are still stereotypes that need to be challenged constantly,” said Haughty, adding that she wasn’t used to be public. “It’s not an easy space, it’s not a matter of sitting down and playing a video game. There is a lot of work and it can be quite emotionally taxing as well.”
It’s why Haughty has also become an advocate for mental health online.
“I advocate for that in this space and professionally. I think being able to normalize mental health and talking about that in the gaming and content creation space is very important.”
Haughty and her family have considered video games as part of their everyday entertainment, just like watching television. It’s why her children, and own mother, play video games.
“It’s a form of self-care, really, for some people it’s a nice way to unwind and can be part of your mental wellness, everything in moderation of course,” she said.
As part of mental health and awareness, Haughty wants people to be aware of their own biases, “because I know I have my own. I think it’s good to challenge yourself if you’re thinking a certain way, like me not sharing that I stream with other people.”
For a moment, Haughty Chicken is silent.
“I need to reflect, why am I not sharing that?” she asked.
“Sometimes we have biases ourselves, and I think we need to challenge those."
