2020 has been an eventful year for the gaming scene for a variety of reasons. This is especially true on theTwitchstreaming side of things where multiple newsworthy bans from temporary to lifetime have taken place.
There are a variety of reasons concerning these bans with some involving criminal allegations with others remaining a complete mystery to viewers and fans alike. Considering the current pace ofTwitchbans, more are sure to come as the year continues as well. As of now, these are some of the biggest Twitch bans to hit streamers during 2020.
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Dr Disrespect
Most people don’t think about 2020 Twitch bans without thinking aboutDr Disrespect’s mysterious banfrom the streaming site back in June. The reasons behind it still remain murky with even Dr Disrespect reported to not know the reason for the ban.
What makes this ban even more mysterious is that it is a lifetime ban from the platform, which most people would expect to get some sort of reason for. However, Twitch and its representatives have still remains quiet about the reason, prompting a lot ofspeculation about Dr. Disrespect breaking the law online, among other things, from fans and onlookers alike. Dr Disrespect of course isn’t the first or only streamer to be banned from Twitch while being completely left in the dark over the reasoning for the ban.
Fans may not get any concretenews about Dr Disrespect’s banfor a long time considering that the streamer has apparent plans to take legal action against Twitch for the ban. Considering legal action would require certain details to remain private, Dr Disrespect likely has information that his lawyers have advised him against from telling the internet publicly.
Amouranth
One Twitch streamer that is no stranger to bans and controversy is Amouranth. She has received three separate Twitch bans during her career with two of them occurring in 2020. Her first ban of 2020 occurred back in March, but there was no confirmed reason for it. It only lasted 24 hours, leading to some assuming thatAmouranth appealed the banor Twitch didn’t view the apparent cause as too major compared to other rule breaks.
Many theorize that the March ban was due to an IRL stream where Amouranth streamed herself working out in a gym where other people were also exercising. Due to the positioning of the stream’s camera, the reflections of other gym patrons could also be seen on the stream, possibly violating their privacy. An employee of the gym at one point even confronted the streamer about how other patrons were complaining about the camera only to be mostly ignored.
The second ban of 2020 happened in May when Amouranth accidentally showed a viewer’s profile picture that had content that wentagainst Twitch’s terms of service. While this image was only shown for around a second on the stream, the streamer still received a 24 hour ban once more.
ZeRo
On the far more upsetting side of Twitch bans is the ban ofcompetitiveSmash Bros.player, ZeRo. After being accused of sexual misconduct involving minors alongside otherSmash Bros.players, ZeRo admitted that the allegations were true. According toZeRo’s confession, he had sent explicit messages to minors while he was 19 and while some of the minors were young as 14. After his confession, he personally banned himself from all futureSmash Bros.events and quit streaming and YouTube video creation entirely.
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Despite the clear cut nature of this case, it took Twitch 18 days before a proper lifetime ban was given to ZeRo in response to the truth coming out. However, the ban is indeed active at this time, with manySmash Bros.fansstill unsettled about the current and future state of the community.
SoaR Carl
Back in March of this year,SoaR Carl received a indefinite banfrom Twitch as well as being forced to drop from the SoaR gaming team. This ban wasn’t due to any actions taken off stream; rather, it was due to an action that occurred while Carl was streaming under the influence.
While SoaR Carl was streaming, he pulled out a handgun before it discharged and shot through his monitor, wall, and acanister of G-Fuel. While it was an accident, drunkenly shooting a gun during a Twitch stream wasn’t looked upon fondly by the Twitch staff, prompting a ban for the streamer. SoaR Carl himself is very understanding of the ban and dropping, as he admits that it was a very irresponsible thing to do, especially while in front of a live audience. He has since put out an apology for his actions.
DarkSydePhil
One streamer that has seemed to garner controversy since he first started to create a presence on the internet is DarkSydePhil. Some may know him from oldStreet Fightertournaments, YouTube Let’s Plays, or a very unfortunate meme that spread regarding him back in 2016. However, his presence has lately been delegated Twitch streams.
Continuing in this gamer’s string of causing said controversy is in his recent Twitch ban that occurred back in July. There is no concrete reason given by either Twitch or Phil for this ban with Phil even claiming that he doesn’t know the reason himself. However, he has been given the opportunity to appeal to this ban with it likely not being a permanent ban.
Many theorize this ban being because ofDarkSydePhil’s historyinvolving telling offensive jokes while also getting very defensive when criticized over anything including his sense of humor. It could be possible that Phil does know the reason behind his ban, but many do agree that Twitch is very poor with communicating with its users over the reasoning for bans as can be seen with some of the previous bans already mentioned. Nonetheless, his return seems very likely with his gaming antics continuing down the years with no end in sight.
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