The well-known Twitch streamer Kevin “Papaplatte” Teller (27) recently received a donation worth €600 through Twitch’s new hype chat feature. What this is all about and why he is returning it without hesitation is explained to you by MeinMMO.
What kind of donation was that? The popular Twitch streamer Papaplatte caused confusion with an unexpectedly large donation of €600. He himself emphasized in a statement that he values the trust of his viewers and that transparency in such incidents is extremely important.
Papaplatte received the donation through a new Twitch feature, the hype chat. Viewers can use the feature to highlight messages in the chat: The more you donate, the longer the message stays pinned in the chat. However, the amount seemed suspicious to the Twitch streamer.
Papaplatte reacts exemplary to donation
How did Papaplatte react to the donation? The Twitch streamer was initially speechless in the face of the generous donation. He thanked the viewer and sent them “much love”.
However, doubts quickly arose about whether the donation of this amount was intended. The streamer’s chat suspected that the fan probably only wanted to donate €6. For this reason, Papaplatte asked the viewer multiple times whether the huge hype chat donation was intentional.
What did the viewer say? The generous donor did respond in the chat, but his answer proved to be of little help in clarifying the situation. The apparently hastily typed chat message “wh<tra???” leaves room for interpretation.
The Twitch streamer then explained that he did not have the impression that it was an intended donation and offered the fan to withdraw the donation. However, his viewers informed him that this was not possible.
How did Papaplatte behave? He decided to refund the entire amount, even though this meant that he had to pay about €180 out of his own pocket. This also compensated for the difference deducted by Twitch, as part of the income from the hype chat goes to the streaming platform.
We have embedded the clip for you here:
How was the action received? Viewers found Papaplatte’s behavior exemplary. On TikTok and YouTube, where a recording of the incident was uploaded, numerous users praise the Twitch streamer. Papaplatte is a true “honorary man”.
New feature on Twitch causes criticism
Why is hype chat so prone to erroneous donations? The incident highlights the problems and error-proneness of the hype chat feature on Twitch, which enables viewers to express their support for their favorite streamers through donations with a highlighted message.
When the feature was first introduced, there were already early signs of potential problems. A viewer wanted to support a streamer with just €1.20 at the time, but due to a typo when entering the amount, €120 ended up in the donation bucket unintentionally.
The use of period and comma as separators for sums of money led to misunderstandings and unintentionally large donations. However, Twitch reacted and announced on June 23, 2023, that the error had been fixed (via Twitter).
How the viewer could still make such a mistake remains unclear.
MontanaBlack says: “Whoever uses this is to blame”
How do streamers react to this feature? Even though the error has already been fixed, the current event with Papaplatte might strengthen some streamers’ skepticism about the hype chat feature. Many of them have already addressed and criticized the hype chat in their streams before.
The fear of inadvertently large donations and possible chargebacks has led some streamers to urge their viewers to use the hype chat feature only very rarely or even to avoid it altogether.
What does MontanaBlack88 say about this? The well-known Twitch streamer Marcel “MontanaBlack88” Eris (35) has already spoken out against hype chat and announced that he does not want to support it. He even goes so far as to explain to his viewers that he simply would not read the messages highlighted through the hype chat feature. Anyone who still uses the feature is to blame.
