A Twitch-ban is always annoying for streamers, as they lose important income during this time – in the case of a permanent ban perhaps even forever. Such was the case for the Twitch streamer “Skumnut,” as he made an ill-considered joke.
What kind of content creator is this? Skumnut refers to himself as a “Souls guy” and has spent hundreds of hours playing games like Elden Ring, Dark Souls, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (via TwitchTracker). However, another game turned out to be his downfall: God of War.
The streamer told a friend he would kick him to death
Why was Skumnut banned? The YouTuber suspects that a joke he posted in the chat of a friend who is also a streamer was the reason for the ban. Skumnut had written to his friend Mega: “I will kick you to death.”
What was behind the message? Skumnut had just completed a “Kick Only” run in the action-adventure God of War Ragnarök, defeating all enemies exclusively with kicks. For this special challenge, he had streamed almost 10 hours a day for a week.
For the Souls veteran, this was probably quite cool: he had never played any of the “God of War” games before, and this was also his first run ever. Moreover, he was the first to complete a “Kick Only” run on the highest difficulty level.
Apparently, he had been alluding to his success with the message.
The other streamer seemed to be in the know and even commented on the run. Nonetheless, Twitch saw the comment as a violation of their guidelines and suspended Skumnut indefinitely. A drastic step, as this was the first ban for the streamer.
Why did Twitch impose the ban? The streaming platform has a “zero-tolerance policy” regarding violence. Accounts that violate this policy are suspended indefinitely, even if it is their first offense. There are no “3 strikes” like with other violations.
According to the Twitch Community Guidelines, acts of violence include: “Attempts or threats to physically harm or kill others.” Skumnut’s joke was thus construed as a threat.
Skumnut cannot understand the ban
How did the streamer react? On YouTube, where Skumnut moved after his ban, he posted two videos explaining his perspective on the situation.
In the videos, he makes accusations against Twitch: he received an email in which the officials had coldly lied to him. It mentioned previous violations of which the streamer said he had already been notified in the past.
Skumnut claims to have been unaware of any previous violations and shows a screenshot of his email inbox. The image is meant to display all the emails he received from Twitch. Among the shown messages, there is no warning or suspension up to his permanent ban on November 16.
You can watch the video here in the original English:
Is Skumnut now banned forever?
Why is this a topic now? Skumnut has been banned since November, but the case has now been highlighted by journalist Jake Lucky and published on Twitter. Because the ban on the streamer reveals a problem with Twitch.
As Jake Lucky explains, the statement, taken without context, is “quite harsh.” With context, however, it is clear that it was an allusion to the “Kick Only” run and not a threat.
What is the problem? A “suspension indefinite” does not automatically mean a notorious perma-ban: After six months, an appeal can be filed.
That’s exactly what Skumnut did, explaining the situation. His buddy also contacted Twitch and confirmed that it was a joke he was privy to, according to the YouTuber. Nevertheless, the streaming platform did not lift the suspension (via Twitter).
What happens now? Mathematically speaking, Skumnut can attempt to have his suspension lifted again in May. Whether he intends to do that is unclear, as the former Twitch streamer has been doing quite well on YouTube since his ban, where he has 200,000 subscribers – on Twitch, only 10,000 people had followed him.
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