Veronica Ripley | |
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![]() Nikatine at TwitchCon 2022 | |
Born | |
Nationality | American |
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Occupation | |
Years active | 2016-Present |
Twitch information | |
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Games | |
Website | nikatine |
Veronica Carmen Ripley [1] (born November 22, 1990), better known by her online alias Nikatine, is an American streamer and Internet personality. She founded Transmission Gaming, a Discord community for transgender gamers, and currently owns tabletop game publisher Fablescraps.
In 2019, Ripley was inducted into the official Twitch Ambassador program. [2]
Veronica Ripley was born on November 22, 1990, to a Latina mother and an American father. [2] Born in the Monterey Bay area, she grew up attending theater classes and participating in community theater productions. [3] As a child, Ripley often played Starcraft with her father. [4] She persued a career in acting, working in casting for a few years, before leaving Hollywood and returning home around early 2013. It was during this time she began her gender transition. [2] [3] After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Music from CSUMB, she began to play games professionally on the livestreaming platform Twitch. [3]
Ripley is transgender and a lesbian [5] . She has cited video games as an escape and as a method of expression for her identity. [2]
Ripley began streaming with Overwatch's release in 2016. She quickly shifted focus toward simulation games such as Kerbal Space Program and Cities: Skylines , and eventually began streaming Grand Theft Auto roleplay. [6] She also does "Just Chatting" streams, where she discusses politics. [2]
In 2016, she founded Transmission Gaming, a community on the instant messaging Discord for transgender gamers to meet and play games together. [7] It has since grown to include a 68 member group of Twitch streamers. [2]
In addition to streaming, Ripley also owns the tabletop game publisher Fablescraps. [8]
Ripley has been an outspoken critic of Twitch's content tag system, calling for the creation of a transgender tag. [9] [10] According to TechRadar, Ripley was quoted as saying: "I hear this argument a lot, that trans doesn't deserve to be a tag because tags are reserved for content not for identity. But I would posit to you that if I had a podcast, and my podcast was focused on trans issues, wouldn't that make it trans content?" To circumvent this issue, she encouraged other transgender streamers to use a keycap making tag, in an attempt to create a safe space. [11] In May 2021, Twitch introduced the "Trans" tag. [12]
Ripley has done several charity streams, both independently and with Transmission Gaming, raising thousands of dollars for LGBTQ charities. [4] [13]
Ripley founded Transmission Gaming in 2016 after experiences with online bullies who mocked her voice; almost 2,500 members belong to its Discord channel, where players can meet and organize tournaments.