The excitement around the Twitch streamer Jason “Thor” Hall does not die down. He made a mistake in WoW and was criticized for it. But even weeks after the incident, Pirate Software is struggling with the aftereffects. Now he has temporarily had an indie game removed from Steam. The developer says he misused copyright.
What was the mistake? The Twitch streamer Pirate Software, a former employee of Blizzard, let his group down during a pull in World of Warcraft Hardcore. In WoW Hardcore, characters that die while playing are permanently lost.
The group had fallen back on a pull, but then resumed the fight. While the others were fighting, Pirate Software ran to the exit with his mage. He said he couldn’t help because he had no mana for the necessary spells. However, he had options to restore mana, as he was later accused of. Two of the guild members died in the pull. They lost their characters in which they had invested hours.
As a result, Pirate Software was criticized for acting like a cockroach and for not taking responsibility for his escape. He was kicked from the guild OnlyFangs and subsequently ended his streaming of WoW.
Indie game features the streamer as a cockroach
Here’s what happened: In the game “Idle Streaming Bonanza,” which is set to be released on Steam, well-known streamers are parodied. Characters like CQX (xQc), Mokpane (Pokimane), or Asmonsilver (Asmongold) appear in it. The streamers are portrayed in connection with scandals or well-known behavioral patterns: In Pokimane, it’s about her cookies, and in DrDisrespect, it’s about allegations of communicating with a minor via Twitch chat.
The developer of Idle Streaming Bonanza himself posted a clip on reddit in January, showing Pirate Software as a new character in the game: Hall takes the form of a cockroach in the game, a clear allusion to his escape from WoW. In the scene, Pirate Software’s voice can also be heard.
Pirate Software subsequently issued a DMCA strike, a copyright strike, against the game, and it was removed from Steam for a short time.
Pirate Software justifies the strike by saying that the developer cannot simply use his voice in the game without consent. However, the developer has filed an objection against the DMCA strike and the game is back on Steam.
Pirate Software plans to take the developer to court
Here’s the current status: Pirate Software says: “The developer has filed a counterclaim against me. We will take it to court. They will lose. You cannot use someone’s likeness or voice in a game without their permission. That’s really a stupid thing to do.”
The developer says he only shared a “possible build” of his game on Reddit. That’s on his PC and not in the game. There is no build with Pirate Software on Steam.
Videos against Pirate Software are also being restricted
What’s also notable: In recent days, two critical videos about Pirate Software have appeared, but they have apparently vanished from YouTube or have been otherwise restricted.
A major video came from Quin69 (via sportskeeda). He said, however, that the restriction of the video was not the result of a copyright strike, but apparently came from the community. Quin69 suspects that his critical video may have been reported en masse by fans of Pirate Software.
Pirate Software states that he has done nothing against the video. That has nothing to do with him. It’s a strike due to a violation of YouTube’s community guidelines, not copyright.
An even more critical video than that of Quin69 was made by Jokerd. He says his video was restricted due to cyberbullying and harassment
. He has never experienced anything like this.
Pirate Software says: YouTube takes down the videos, not him
Also here Pirate Software (via arazu.io) says he has done nothing, but YouTube sanctioned Jokerd’s video on its own. It is misleading on reddit to say that he issued a strike against Jokerd’s video. People should inform themselves before blaming him for everything.
In recent weeks, Pirate Software, who had strong growth on YouTube and Twitch for a year, has suddenly been criticized for his behavior on all fronts: Successful streamer damages his reputation due to misbehavior in MMORPGs
