Bad Weekend For Streamers
The streaming world encountered some serious issues over the past weekend, with high-profile streamers like Ninja and Bugha in the middle of upsetting stories.
Bugha, who rose to fame after his victory in the first Fortnite World Cup, was swatted in the middle of streaming a game. Swatting is, unfortunately, becoming a more common occurrence, and it's highly dangerous. One widely-reported instance involved the death of the man whose house was targeted, and the perpetrator behind that attack was issued a lengthy prison sentence. The frequency of these incidents is alarming, but thankfully Bugha nor his family were harmed. In the middle of the stream, you can see Bugha leave his computer. A worrisome act, and one that will hopefully have increasingly heightened consequences for those that orchestrate it.
Ninja was also caught up in the middle of a controversy, and it involved his old Twitch account. The streamer made news recently when he signed an exclusive deal with Mixer, and he left the streaming platform that kickstarted his career. However, his dormant channel on Twitch has not been idle. Over the weekend, the channel was recommending other streams, following a new policy that Twitch has implemented. The only problem, though, is that hardcore pornography was among the content being suggested. Some of Ninja's audience remain on Twitch, and, given the young age of his viewers, it's disturbing that Twitch's filters and moderation system didn't flag this. Ninja was understandably disgusted by the events, and he was not pleased with his former platform.
Both events have been resolved, but they showcase the immaturity of the streaming world and the vulnerabilities that can affect both the streamers capturing their gameplay and the audiences engaging in the content.