RuneScape 3 Twitch streamer Aus Swag had both his Twitch account and RuneScape accounts permanently banned today.
This comes after he made a comment during his stream where he contacted a girl who had admitted she had experienced suicidal thoughts and told her to “I think you should just kill yourself.”
The comment was followed by a worrying amount of laughter and one of his friends saying “You’re getting banned.”. Turns out, he was right.
Twitch rules state under the harassment section that “Telling someone to hurt or kill themselves,” is a bannable offense. Aus Swag was also a partnered Twitch streamer so it’s no surprise Twitch wanted to distance themselves as soon as possible.
RuneScape developers followed suit with an arguably even harder punishment. Aus Swag has had his max account along with all his other accounts permanently banned for this behavior. For context, a max account effectively involves completing and maxing all content available in the game. Considering RuneScape is an 18-year-old game, that’s a lot of content to get through. Getting a max account would take thousands of hours of investment.
Jagex made the following formal comment on the matter;
“This morning we became aware that over the weekend a RuneScape player had live-streamed himself calling a vulnerable individual who had admitted they were having suicidal thoughts, telling that person to kill themselves. The RuneScape player is not someone with whom Jagex has – or ever had – a business relationship but given the incredibly serious nature of the incident, we have taken measures that make it clear such behavior will not be tolerated.
As a result, the individual has had their RuneScape account permanently banned with immediate effect. Jagex is incredibly passionate about mental health and wellbeing, and we will continue to do all we can to help those in our community – and beyond – receive the support they need to overcome the mental health challenges they face in their day-to-day lives.”
Aus Swag made the above apology via his Twitter after his ban was received. The streamer highlights how when he made the comment his microphone was actually muted and has attempted to make up for his actions by donating $200 to Beyond Blue. Beyond Blue is an incredible charity based in Australia who offer support for those with anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.
Both Jagex and Twitch have taken the appropriate action by banning him and Aus Swag likely deserves all the criticism he gets. His attempts to make up for his mistake are admirable but with both his initial comments and his equally bad comments made on another stream later on in the day, the damage was already dealt. Mental health is not something to take lightly and attempts to mock potentially serious issues like this do not help anyone.
