Actually, the word “Naga” is a common term in World of Warcraft. However, on Twitch, one can get banned for using the word.
Yesterday, on Twitch, some smaller and medium-sized streamers were banned related to WoW Classic. The reason is that they used the word “Naga,” which actually refers to a race in World of Warcraft, excessively and in other contexts.
Twitch’s justification for the ban: “Involvement in hateful behavior and threats of violence against a person or group of people.”
What happened? The streamer Saviz was playing WoW Classic casually. During the stream, he killed a rare Rare-Naga and was pleased about it.
Some viewers and streamers took it as an opportunity to spam comments about Naga in the chat for hours afterward. They were permanently banned from Twitch for “hateful behavior” and felt unfairly treated.
The affected streamers express bewilderment and claim they do not understand the justification for their ban. After all, they were only referring to something that exists in World of Warcraft: Naga.
Why were they banned? Other streamers, such as the well-known Hearthstone expert Disguised Toast, saw the situation quite differently.
For him, it was extremely childish behavior that can easily be interpreted as racism. He points out that the accused did not quote the streamer Savix, as he had said “Shot that Naga” when he had taken down a Rare-Naga, clearly referring to an incident in the game.
However, the other streamers and viewers took it as an opportunity to rephrase the sentence and spam “Shoot some nagas” repeatedly.
According to Disguised Toast (and apparently the perception of the responsible people at Twitch), it is obvious that “Nagas” alludes to “Niggers” – a racist insult for Black people that is usually abbreviated as the “N-word.” So, they were essentially saying “Shoot some Niggers” disguised as something else.
Has this happened before? The fact is, however, that “Naga” has previously been used in World of Warcraft as a substitute for the insult.
Whether this is actually a “disguise” of racist statements or just a tasteless joke is a matter of debate. Guild names like <Naga stole my bike> and similar have not been uncommon in the past.
This is how the banned defend themselves: The affected individuals now argue that they never meant anything racist with it. It was a joke. Some also suggest that Twitch is inconsistent. If they are banned for “Shoot some nagas,” then Saviz should also be banned for “Shot that naga.”
What do you think about the banning of these individuals on Twitch? Is it justified because the intent was clear? Or was it just a silly joke that hurt no one?
Fortunately, there are also “lovelier” news about Naga:
