As the lines between the real world and the digital world blur nearly to the point of erasure, a digital generation has grown up inhabiting virtual realms where extreme violence casually and even comfortably resides. Within this new normal, live broadcasting has found a wildly successful forum on the gaming website Twitch. The games reflect a cultural moment in which violent imagery is routine, having lost shock value. One of the most heavily trafficked websites in the world, Twitch is a locus of performance, interaction and spectatorship for an enormous bloc of internet users, most of them males who are well under 30 years old.

The millennials here are steeped in an illusion of intimate presence that is in fact characterized by distance and absence. A deep-trance soundtrack by the mindfulness entrepreneur Dan Jones is heard in various parts of the film, suggesting an interior consciousness as the protagonists negotiate one deadly encounter after another. The casual cinematic violence of live-stream video games hums along, while simultaneous live-chatting and social connection percolate visibly amid the mayhem.