Earlier in the week, it emerged that Fortnite pro and FaZe member Jarvis Kaye had been permanently banned from Epic's battle royale game. According to the developer, Kaye had been using an aimbot, a cheat that allowed him an unfair advantage by quickly and accurately auto-focusing weapons on his enemies.
Kaye would later explain in an emotional six-minute video that he never used the aimbot in competitive play. Instead, he claims the cheat was only ever used in casual solos and playground mode. This, apparently, was in order to create video content for his followers on Twitch and YouTube.
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Regardless, Epic Games isn't backing down on its punishment. "We have a zero tolerance policy for the usage of cheat software," the developer said in a statement given to press. "When people use aimbots or other cheat technologies to gain an unfair advantage, they ruin games for people who are playing fairly."
An argument has since arisen around Kaye and whether or not Epic Games was too harsh in its punishment. Some believe that rules are rules, and that Kaye knew what he was doing. Others reckon that permanently banning a 17-year-old kid is a trifle harsh.
Falling into the latter camp we have none other than fellow Fortnite streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins. The Twitch-turned-Mixer man has defended Kaye and hit out at Epic. He suggests that the young player's standing as a well-liked and well-known content creator should be taken into consideration when it comes to handing out penalties.
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During a recent stream (via Daily Clips Central), Blevins reasoned that banning someone like Kaye for life is particularly harsh - especially given much of his income is presumably dependent on his ability to, you know, play Fortnite.
"There's a difference between a content creator who has millions of subscribers, hundreds of thousands of followers, who gets banned from what literally makes him money, and ... some kid who is just a piece of sh*t who has absolutely zero following, has zero money that comes from Fortnite, from gaming, and hacks," Ninja said.
"You ban that kid, nothing happens to him. Nothing happens. 'Oh no, he can't cheat anymore.' You ban Jarvis, it's different. The stakes are different, it should be handled a little bit differently."
One could argue, of course, that if a streamer's career is so reliant on a single game, then they should probably take more care to follow the same rules and guidelines as the rest of us.
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With that said, there is some reason in what Blevins argues - even if it initially comes across as him implying that streamers should be above normal rules. As he went on to say, Kaye is just 17, and seems to know that what he did was pretty dumnb
"He's young. There are people who have done worse things on the internet in different areas and haven't gotten banned. I use Logan Paul as a reference, the dude literally filmed someone hanging in a forest and [his] channel didn't get banned and he's been perfectly fine. He uploaded an apology video and he was set," Ninja said.
"There are lines, man. I think this is one where it's like, Jarvis, dude, you're an idiot, six month ban, maybe three months-first offense, young kid, come on man."
Topics: Twitch