Pride is a time to honor the LGBT individuals who paved the way for future and current generations of LGBT communities. It’s about celebrating the joy of being in the LGBTQIA+ community and remembering how far the community has come, but also how much work is left to be done. In the spirit of Pride, Game Rant conducted a series of interviews to highlight LGBTQIA+ streamers on Twitch. Jude Valentin, better known online as MermaidRoyal, is an LGBTQ+ variety streamer who has built their community up since November 2019.
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Inspiration Behind the MermaidRoyal Brand
While MermaidRoyal is Jude’s current moniker, she did originally have a different username across various platforms. MermaidQueenJude was the name used at the start of their Twitch journey, having been the same username that their old YouTube channel had. All the videos have now been unlisted, but carrying the username from YouTube to Twitch helped Jude not have to start entirely from scratch on the new platform. When asked about the inspiration for her Twitch brand, Jude said:
As for the rebranding from MermaidQueenJude to MermaidRoyal, Jude remarked:
MermaidRoyal on Body Positivity and Body Liberation
Jude has been creating content on the internet for a long time now. They started when they were seventeen, originally doing social justice work like body liberation and body positivity on YouTube. Those videos may be gone, but her dedication to body liberation still remains on her Twitch channel and is ingrained in her community, whether it’s on Twitch or Discord. Jude pointed out how fatphobic society is, but also how ingrained fatphobic behavior is for some people without even realizing how alienating that can be for some streamers’ viewers.
They talked about characters like Final Fantasy 7’s Wedge, who was the only fat character and whose punchlines revolved around food. Another example was Hades in the breakout hit Hades because he’s the only plus size character in the game and also the villain—another common anti-fat trope is often making the villains fat because it’s seen as “undesirable” or “bad.” Jude enjoyed both of these games, especially Hades, but it was also important to them to point out the fatphobia and anti-fat bias that can come with the media we consume.
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How MermaidRoyal Navigates Twitch and Social Media
For Jude, the best part about being a streamer is the community they’ve created and gathered together. To them, Twitch is unique because streamers are “encouraged to hang out with other people who play the games that you do.” Twitch raids are crucial, in her opinion, for helping streamers connect as well as co-mingling different communities together. In addition to streaming, Jude also does video editing commissions to help other streamers have channel trailers and raid videos. According to them, these videos are crucial to helping viewers catch the vibe of a streamer, especially when the streamer is offline.
As for the haters and trolls who inevitably make their way onto Jude’s pages, they make sure to utilize the tools Twitch has to limit the harassment as much as possible. Jude has fantastic mods who she appreciates, especially because she knows being a mod for her isn’t exactly easy. They run a tighter ship than a lot of other Twitch streamers, but so far it’s worked to make an inclusive, safe environment for both Jude and their community.
When it comes to the most difficult part of being a streamer, Jude remarked that discoverability on Twitch was one of their biggest difficulties, but hopefully, the new Twitch tags will help alleviate some of that and “allow us to find the people that are searching for those spaces.” Additionally, “while Twitch is a platform that rewards go-go-go mentality, you can’t do anything if you’re burned out and tired and stressed.” So Jude is still working on their fear of taking a break, but they know it’s important to have balance in order to continue producing content.
What MermaidRoyal Does on Twitch
Jude is a variety streamer, but they tend to fluctuate between two distinct types of games: online ones they can play with their friends, and then cute story-driven games. Online, she’ll play games like Fortnite, Dead by Daylight, and Apex Legends with her friends. Recently, she streamed a playthrough of Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. As long as it’s a game she can vibe with and have a good time, odds are it’ll be streamed on her Twitch channel.
In their downtime, Jude likes to play on their Switch, curled up in bed while watching Dimension 20. Games like Pokemon Snap and Cozy Grove are games she gravitates towards in those moments, as they don’t require a lot of brainpower and aren’t too action-heavy. Jude has also discovered a love for TTRPGs and has had a blast participating in different campaigns streamed on their Twitch channel.
Jude can be found on Twitch, Twitter, and TikTok under the username MermaidRoyal. If viewers are looking for an inclusive space to vibe and enjoy some occasional Fire-sign chaos, the Mermaid Kingdom is always looking for new additions—as long as they pass the vibe check.
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