Despite various gaming companies and platforms trying to end racism, the industry is still filled with familiar stories of people suffering from hate, such as the case of Twitch streamer Omega "Critical Bard" Jones, who was recently bombarded with racist comments and even death threats after being chosen as the PogChamp of the day.
PogChamp Emote Banned
The PogChamp emote had been a part of Twitch and is rather popular on the platform.
However, the streaming platform banned the emote last week after the face on it, Ryan "Gootecks" Gutierrez has tweeted a message of support to the US Capitol attackers.
According to The Verge, the emote has become the face of "further violence."
But soon after, Twitch users began suggesting to replace the face of the PogChamp emote and use the face of various other famous streamers on the platform each day, to which the streaming platform agreed and started using the face of Sean "Day[9]" Plott on the first day of the PogChamp rotation
Various streamers would be on the lineup and anyone who said or did anything negative would be immediately removed from the choices.
Rotation Led to Hatred
It was supposed to be a positive change for Twitch and the industry itself, with popular streamer Reversal saying that the experience was overall a positive one despite "minor trolling," plus it provided the platform a chance to show off diverse streamers.
But unfortunately, the PogChamp emote has yet again faced scrutiny after Omega "Critical Bard" Jones has received an incredibly negative reception when he was chosen to be the PogChamp face of the day.
In a report by PCGamer, Jones was initially very enthusiastic about the opportunity.
However, the streamer did say that he has prepared himself for the possibility of trollers, saying, "I did prep my Twitch and Discord moderators about what was probably going to happen, considering I'm a black man who is about to be the face of a global emote Twitch has loved for so long."
Still, the rush of racist comments and even death threats had surprised the streamer.
Hacking Attempts to Death Threats
In a Twitter post, the online personality shared his thoughts, saying that he was mad that the day was supposed to be exciting, but instead, it ended with him suffering from anxiety and panic attacks due to the all-out attack on him.
Regardless, I am alive and will be back to doing me real soon.
— OMEGA "QR0WN" JONES (@QR0WNTV) January 12, 2021
I’m just completely out of spell slots & a long rest is a bit too far away. I’m still holding on though.
Thank you so much for the kofis & the words you’ve said. It means a lot to me. ❤️
"What I was not personally expecting was the twisting of words to fit their agenda & the sudden all-out attack against me, my socials, and most of all-my character," Jones further said.
According to the online magazine, the "twisting of words" referred to people trying to take Jones' words out of context, specifically when he said that white lives don't matter because "'white lives' is not a thing," to which he showed the full clip of him playing "Overwatch" and the full extent of what he said to defend himself.
The streamer also confirmed that the incident not only included verbal abuse from Twitch users but also doxing and hacking attempts.
As of writing, the platform is yet to issue a response to Jones' experience.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by: Nhx Tingson
