Tragic Details That Will Change The Way You Look At These Twitch Streamers
Streaming might seem like an ideal career at a glance. There are a select few people out there who get paid an insane amount of money to play video games on camera all day. Sounds like a dream, right? However, it takes a certain kind of personality to be able to pull off a job like that. A pro streamer has to be confident enough to put themselves on screen knowing that hundreds or even thousands of people are watching them, and entertaining enough to hold their attention. None of that means these streamers' lives are easy, though. A career being watched by thousands of people every day is bound to add some unique stressors in addition to the normal problems anyone might have in day-to-day life.
It's important to remember that even though live streaming is less curated than most other of digital media, viewers still are watching a performance. Every so often though, streamers allow their viewers to see through the cracks and witness the person underneath, sharing the tragic details that shaped them and their careers. These intimate revelations can be painful, but are also incredibly humanizing, allowing viewers to feel closer to their favorite performers. Here are a few that stand out among the rest.
The loss of Asmongold's mother changed him
Asmongold is likely the most popular "World of Warcraft" streamer on Twitch, taking the number one spot on TwitchMetrics nearly every time he streams the game. Viewers won't see him on there for a while, however. The MMORPG streamer decided to take a break after a terrifying incident occurred with his mother. Asmongold heard a crashing sound which, prompted him to rush into her room, where he discovered her unconscious. Her cigarette had lit the room on fire, and the flames were quickly spreading up the tube of her oxygen tank. He managed to get her out and prevent the tank from exploding, but his mother later died in the hospital.
Asmongold made a few sporadic YouTube videos after his mother's death, but has yet to return to streaming full time. In one of his videos posted in November, he revealed that he still had no idea when he would be back to streaming on his main channel, but that he would do some "just chatting" streams on his secondary channel and would let his fans know when he was ready to fully come back. He closed out the video by reflecting on his mother's kindness and promised to be kinder in turn. "She was the most genuine and pure hearted and kind person that I've ever known," he said. "And I think that from now on I'm going to try to be a little bit less of an a**hole. ... I'm just going to try to be a little bit more relaxed and more okay."
Someone might have tried to drug Maya Higa at Twitch Rivals
Twitch is pretty hands off most of the time, but the platform does host a series of competitions called Twitch Rivals where streamers from all over come together to compete against each other for prizes and glory. Twitch Rivals does have a bit of a shady side, but variety streamer Maya Higa had a truly terrifying experience that really puts the rest of the competition in perspective. After a brief hiatus from streaming in the wake of a public breakup, Maya was invited to compete at Twitch Rivals. Her team did well in the competition and she won some money, but things got dark afterward.
She revealed in a stream that she believes someone tried to drug her drink during one of the afterparties. "I was trying to focus on the lock on the door and it kept hitting the ceiling — and then time was skipping a lot — and that's what it felt like when I was roofied in college, so I dumped the rest of my beer in the toilet," she said. She then recounted finding her friends QTCinderalla and Myth and asking them to stay with her the entire night to make sure she was okay, but it's clear from the video that the experience still shook her up — an understandable feeling given the situation.
Reckful died at age 31
Byron "Reckful" Bernstein started out as a successful esports gamer before becoming one of the first truly successful Twitch streamers on the platform, garnering almost a million followers. The prominent "Hearthstone," "Asheron's Call" and "World of Warcraft" streamer's success didn't mean he was without troubles, however. He regularly discussed his struggles with depression both on stream and on Twitter.
Bernstein died on July 2, 2020 at the age of 31. Details of his death weren't revealed right away, but they seem to have come into focus as many people close to Bernstein tweeted about it. His ex-girlfriend, Blue Madrigal, tweeted "someone I love killed themselves. I wish I could have said something to prevent it." This left some of her followers confused since she didn't mention Bernstein by name, although many suspected the truth given his mental health history and a series of upsetting tweets he had made that very same day, one hour after proposing to his girlfriend on Twitter. Madrigal later tweeted a video of them together, stating "Byron, I wish I could have helped you. We all do. I'm so sorry I couldn't. Thank you for being a part of my life. Love you always." Fellow "WoW" streamer Asmongold — who was live when the news broke – talked about how this should be a wake-up call to the community about how they treat mental illness.
Memorials for Reckful were made inside "WoW" and an NPC was named after him in tribute to his passing.
Imjasmine was sexually assaulted on stream
Canadian Twitch streamer imjasmine has built a sizable fanbase of over 250,000 followers on Twitch, largely livestreaming her travels around the world. It was on one of these trips when she went to Osaka, Japan where she was sexually assaulted by a stranger when she sat down on the steps in front of a building to eat, drink some coffee and chat with her viewers.
Videos of the encounter were posted in September, 2020. The assailant stopped on the sidewalk when he saw imjasmine talking to her chat. He then sat down next to her and began touching her in a manner that made her uncomfortable without her permission. The streamer repeatedly told the man not to touch her and let him know that she was live-streaming, seemingly thinking that he would cease the unwanted behavior when he realized she had an audience. She repeatedly asked him to leave, also displaying clear body language that he was making her uncomfortable. Her chat kept telling her to stand up and leave, which she eventually did when it became clear the man wasn't going to leave her alone. He then reached out and touched her chest as she was attempting to leave and then followed her back to her building, only leaving when she walked inside.
Later, imjasmine explained that this sort of thing happens a lot more than people realize and that she was grateful to have her viewers as witnesses.
People have harassed Hasan Piker's family
Streamer Hasan Piker transitioned to Twitch from a career as a political commentator for "The Young Turks," a YouTube-based news commentary program. Although he now live-streams games, he still likes discussing current events and politics on his channel. Unfortunately, he's had to endure more than his fair share of harassment. It got to the point that the steamer was actually considering leaving Twitch. During one of his streams, he told his fans that he was thinking about giving it up. When asked why, he pointed to one of the messages in his chat that mocked him for being too rich to need to stream, but that wasn't the whole story.
Hassan grew more and more agitated as the video went on, explaining that his mental health has been suffering as a result of people picking away at every minor detail of his life. In the middle of it, he stated that he'd been doxed and swatted as well, and that these people have even gone as far as to harass his family. "There, I said it. I openly said it," he said.
Piker ended up taking a few days off and came back claiming to feel much better. He has been consistently streaming since, but it was still an upsetting revelation to learn all the harassment he's dealt with.