In World of Warcraft, the esports organization Method was the first choice for many years. They were also successful in WoW Classic. However, the past is now catching up with them. After accusations arose against one of their WoW raiders, streamers, partners, and sponsors are now leaving the organization.
This was the trigger: On June 24, a woman named Alex published a report on Twitter about the raid healer “Josh” from Method.
In the report, Alex states (via twitter) that when she was 16, Josh approached her. He tried to charm her with his fame as a WoW raider. The girl emphasized that she was only 16 and that he had no chance, but he apparently did not give up and ultimately managed to persuade her to engage in virtual sexual acts, which she described as disgusting.
Here in the Imgur gallery, you can see screenshots of their first contact.
Alex now says: The player manipulated her and exploited her naivety and depression for his own sexual gratification. She finds it disgusting that the player still represents Method – a brand that allegedly loves its community so much.
Following this report, further accusations against the player emerged, some of which vividly depict what happened (via twitter).
This is the worst accusation: In June 2019, the streamer MethodJosh was permanently banned from Twitch (via dotesports). At that time, no specific reason for the permanent ban was known.
The esports site Dotesports speculated that it was related to his relationship with the Twitch streamer PooperNoodle. She had visited him at home but abruptly ended her stay. Something may have happened there.
The streamer has now released a report in which she does not name him. However, it is clear that it must be about Josh.
In the graphic and harrowing report, she describes how she was raped by the man and how she has suffered since then from what happened during her visit back then.
This is how Method responded: Method fired the player involved on June 24.
The guild is said to have known about it but did nothing
This is the accusation against Method: The accusation against Method is that they knew about the player’s misconduct and were urged to address the issue, but they swept it under the rug and tolerated it.
In an article from 2019, the site Kotaku reported accusations against Josh Method (via kotaku). He allegedly attempted to flirt with a 17-year-old when he was 23. However, the public accusations at the time apparently did not lead to his dismissal.
A former marketing lead at Blizzard stated that Method had assured its old team at Blizzard two years ago that they would solve the problem. Method was aware of the player’s behavior, but they failed to protect their community and organization by enabling such behavior.
Even Twitch streamer Preach Gaming stated that he had addressed Method about the issues, but nothing happened (via twitter).
Many are withdrawing from Method
This is now the consequence: In light of these accusations, some well-known streamers have distanced themselves from Method. Method has also lost sponsor deals and partnerships.
- The streamers Esfand, TipsOut, and Payo have distanced themselves from Method – Esfand is one of the largest WoW streamers on Twitch with 434,000 followers
- The large WoW fan site Wowhead announced that they would not extend their partnership with Method
- The hardware manufacturer Corsair has withdrawn its sponsorship
- The Path of Exile team from Method has completely removed all references to the “Method” brand from their accounts
Even the General Manager is resigning
Update June 26, 4:00 PM: By now, even the General Manager of Method, Shanna “Darrie” Roberts, has resigned.
She was the one who had responded to the initial accusations on behalf of Method.
This is what is special about Method: Method has long been a top raid guild in WoW. These are the people who spend days in new raids and kill bosses to achieve “World First Kills” .
Method pioneered the monetization of raiding and turned it into a business. They are considered pioneers in “PvE esports.” The organization stages their raids as events and streams them live on Twitch.
They thus act not only as a “WoW guild” but also as an esports organization, professionally marketing their members and providing them with an income.
The accusations against Method came in the wake of a wave of accusations against men in the gaming industry.
This wave was triggered on June 20. At that time, a woman said that the Destiny 2 streamer “SayNoToRage” had inappropriately touched her. Subsequently, more and more women came forward with accusations against the streamer and other men in the gaming industry:
Bungie will never work with one of the biggest Twitch streamers for Destiny 2 again
