When the former biggest speedrunner Narcissa “NarcissaWright” Wright was banned from Twitch, she threatened on March 22 to shoot people at the livestream platform’s headquarters. After she spammed Twitter wildly and showed remorse, Twitch decided to lift the permanent ban and unban her after 22 days. “Classic double standards from Twitch,” say other content creators who find the handling unfair.
Warning: This article addresses the topics of mass shootings and suicidal thoughts. If such topics are uncomfortable for you, you should avoid this article.
This is the situation: After NarcissaWright was banned and threatened on Twitter to kill other people and herself, she wrote at least 40 more tweets, expressing her thoughts and stating that she urgently wanted to talk to Twitch about the “incident.”
Apparently she was successful and shared on Twitter that she was grateful. Below is a screenshot from the email from Twitch, which informed her that the ban would end after 22 days since Narcissa expressed clear remorse:
Her streamer colleagues and YouTuber Optimus find this “special treatment” anything but fair and believe that Twitch clearly has favorites on their platform.
“Twitch shows its double standards once again”
What do her streamer colleagues say about it? Streamer JiDion expressed that he wishes the streaming service would apply the same rules for all users on the platform. There are too many “special cases” that almost make the guidelines on Twitch unnecessary.
“Sometimes they follow their guidelines for one and sometimes they don’t for another,” JiDion said (via YouTube).
He himself was also permanently banned from Twitch and remains so to this day. JiDion was banned for sending a hate raid to streamer Pokimane and instructing his viewers to spam “L + Ratio” in her chat. The message was thus a form of “booing.” In the meantime, the two have even reconciled, but this did not change JiDion’s permanent ban.
This is what the big Twitch streamer Mizkif says: Mizkif could hardly believe that the tweet along with the screenshot of the email from NarcissaWright was real (via Twitch). “This can’t be real,” he said in disbelief, comparing her ban to the permanent ban of streamer Destiny, who was apparently banned due to an inappropriate statement about a transgender streamer.
Mizkif further argues that Destiny has never said anything as bad as Wright. It is simply unfair. He compared the banning decisions at Twitch to darts: One would simply throw a dart at a dartboard at Twitch and the hit field would decide the ban.
What does opinion YouTuber Optimus say? In his YouTube video titled “Twitch shows its double standards once again,” he criticizes that many streamers are treated completely differently. He cited a past permanent ban where a streamer was banned because a weapon was visible while he was being robbed in his car.
The streamer had no control over the violation of the guidelines prohibiting weapons from being shown in livestreams, yet he was permanently banished from the platform.
Furthermore, he mentions the double standards between men and women on Twitch. According to Optimus, women are treated differently on Twitch and their penalties are not as severe as those for men.
He claims: “My butt would be in jail, I would lose my career and be permanently banned from Twitch” and continued: “Someone they like – a woman – did this, so that’s okay.”
What does the community say about the change in NarcissaWright’s ban?
Under the tweet from Wright, many users are gathering who cannot comprehend Twitch’s decision. They write:
- iFantomeN says: “Imagine threatening to shoot people and getting off with a light punishment. @TwitchSupport you should keep her permanently banned and take legal action due to the death threats.”
- vvvvvictoria_ says: “Absolutely disgusting that they let you back on the platform.”
- Sley addresses the double standards: “Terrible decision from Twitch. Nothing personal against you, but they have obviously acted biased.”
- verne finds it unfair: “Meanwhile, my account that I created in 2013 is still banned because the username is ‘offensive.'”
Few voices support NarcissaWright’s unbanning and state that she acted out of impulse. Some say she deserves to express her opinion freely.
If Twitch’s decision does not change, NarcissaWright may go live again from April 12.
