Fortnite pro player Jarvis Kaye recently found himself on the receiving end of a lifetime ban from Epic's battle royale. The streamer and FaZe member was hit with the severe punishment for using an aimbot, which allowed him to quickly, accurately, and unfairly auto-focus his weapons on enemies.
Kaye explained in an emotional six-minute video uploaded to YouTube that he never used the aimbot in competitive play. Instead, he claims the cheat was only ever used in aid of recording video content in casual solos and playground mode, for his followers on Twitch and YouTube.
Despite this, Epic made its stance clear in a statement released to press. "We have a zero tolerance policy for the usage of cheat software," the developer said. "When people use aimbots or other cheat technologies to gain an unfair advantage, they ruin games for people who are playing fairly."
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Needless to say, it's been an emotional time for the 17 year old. In light of Kaye's ban, and the vitriolic backlash he's faced, his mum has now spoken up to condemn the gaming community.
Speaking to The Mail Online, Barbara Khattri said that Jarvis had "made an error." She also thinks that the way internet commenters responded to her son's video and ban was out of order. She believes the gaming community should '"re-think how it treats people".
"Jarvis made an error and he admits that. But the gaming community needs to re-think how it treats people," she explained.
"He's broken. He loves that game. He doesn't have a devious bone in his body and what I really know is that for any mistake that doesn't physically harm a person there should be the chance to make amends."
In an earlier Facebook post which has since been deleted, Mrs Khattri shared her thoughts on the matter in greater detail:
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"It's my turn at the moment to be feeling that abject pain, despair and helplessness today," she wrote. "My youngest son Jarvis made a genuine, naive error of judgement and is currently banned for life from something he loves."
"As not only a parent and a boss but mostly as just a person," she continued, "I know first hand how so often the lesson is so much better learned when there is the opportunity to take full responsibility, and actually in whatever way fix or right the wrong!"
As Mrs Khattri mentions, the Fortnite community does seem to be split on the way Epic punished Kaye. There are those who think it was an honest (if stupid) mistake, and that it's a little harsh to hand a lifetime ban to the teenager. Conversely, some side with Epic and believe that cheating is cheating, and the punishment is exactly as it should be.
"I'm going to take accountability for my actions and I understand completely why this has happened," Jarvis wrote on Twitter in the wake of his ban.
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"I just wish I had known how severe the consequences were at the time and I would have never thought about doing it. I love all of you who still support me, this is not the end."
Topics: epic games, Fortnite, Battle Royale
