Summary
Cheating in video games is never a good thing,and typically there are severe consequences if you’re caught doing it. Except, if you happen to be doing it while streaming onTwitch. In fact, the consequences are pretty tame.
As first spotted by Insider Gaming, Twitchrecently updated its Terms of Service, specifically how it handles infractionsthat happen on the streaming platform.According to the post, Twitch is allowing certain violations to expire and be dropped off from a user’s account, including cheating.
Via its new enforcement policies, cheating is considered a “Low Severity” offense that carries a one-day ban if you’re caught. If you’re caught cheating again, then a three-day ban will be handed down.
That’s well and good, but the real problem lies within the fact that after 90 days have eclipsed, the account will be returned to “Good Standing,” as if nothing happened in the first place. In other words, so long as a cheater behaves within those 90 days, then their account will be wiped clean, giving them free pass to act out once again.
Cheating Is As Prevalent As Ever
Twitch’s updated policies come at a time in which cheating is as active as ever in some of the world’s most popular video games, with companies working hard to stop it at its root. Take, for example,Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which,in November, reported that it had banned over 19,000 accounts since ranked play at launch.
Elsewhere,it was reported that Rockstar’s Red Dead online has been overrun by cheaters. Meanwhile,Marvel Rivals is working to actively block cheaters by terminating games mid-match if one is detected. And recently,Fortnite named, shamed, sued and banned a player who was cheating at the competitive level. While the penalties for getting caught within the game are pretty severe, it seems the same level of enforcement doesn’t exist for those actively boasting about their exploits via streaming. Only time will tell if Twitch amends those policies.
