Permanent bans onTwitchare a highly visible action, particularly when they’re tied to a public figure of particular notoriety. Such was the case ofTwitchstreamer NarcissaWright, an early figure in Twitch’s speedrunning community known for herThe Legend of Zelda: Wind Wakerworld records. Narcissa was banned recently, leading to an extreme post on Twitter in which she said she wanted to “kill myself and shoot people at the twitch HQ.” In an unexpected turn, Narcissa’s permanent ban has since been reversed, shrinking to a 22-day suspension.The circumstances revolving around NarcissaWright’s ban are complicated, to say the least. To start, Narcissa wasn’t permanently banned for her tweet. Rather, she was permanently banned for showing content on-stream that violatedTwitch’s Terms of Service. Narcissa had only returned to streaming on Twitch recently, and likely is unfamiliar with Twitch’s new serious stance regarding opening unacceptable content on-stream – even on accident. Regardless, Twitch permanently banned her for the accident.RELATED:Twitch Streamer Meowko BannedNarcissa’s threatening Twitter post followed the news that she waspermanently banned by Twitchfor an accident. She’d later describe to Dexerto that Twitch’s decision to permanently ban her for mistakenly showing a “gross image” was “a cruel response.” Further, she says that the permanent ban did make her “feel like self-harming” and that her post about shooting people was her “way of self-harming.” She also clarifies that her threat toward Twitch itself was entirely “non-credible” as she doesn’t own weapons.
Since then,NarcissaWrighthas confirmed on Twitter that Twitch approved her appeal of the ban. The message that Narcissa shared from Twitch explains that it decided to reduce her suspension due to the details of her case and the remorse that she expressed in her appeal. Narcissa shared the message on Twitter, saying, “remorse & mercy. I feel grateful; thank you.”
Understandably, there’s a lot of confusion surrounding the situation.Narcissa’s threat of violence against Twitch, credible or not, is obviously very serious. Past examples of similar threats have led to permanent bans. There have been some accusations on social media that Twitch isn’t being fair or taking the situation seriously. But much of that conversation is lacking nuance and ignores the context of Narcissa’s ban and mental health.
What Twitch appears to be doing is acknowledging that its initial permanent ban of Narcissa may have been egregious.
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