One of the most well-known World of Warcraft streamers, Sodapoppin, received a 24-hour ban on his Battle.net account a few hours ago. This isn't the first time, but the reason for this one might surprise you.
It was supposed to be a normal World of Warcraft stream for the American streamer Sodapoppin. He logs in and starts playing, until suddenly the connection drops. “Account suspended,” the error message says – all of it live on stream.
Violation Of The Code Of Conduct
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Sodapoppin has been banned. This time, however, the reason is at least somewhat questionable. He didn’t buy gold or insult people in-game, but see for yourself.
At first, the reason for the suspension remains unclear. “For what?!”, Sodapoppin asks his chat and doesn’t understand himself what just happened. Apparently, the ban is supposed to last 24 hours. His first guess for the origin of the ban is the character name Sodapoppin had chosen for his Tauren druid.
Was it my name? Gaykitty?
In WoW, there is an option to report players for offensive names. Normally, however, Blizzard doesn’t become aware of this on its own. The streamer is visibly down. Playing WoW was originally the only plan for the day, and then something like this happens right at the start of the stream.
Looking into his Battle.net account should shed some light on the situation, but it reveals a rather unpleasant detail. There, the reason for the ban is explained in more detail, and the measures Blizzard has taken are listed.
Your fellow players have reported you multiple times for repeatedly violating the code of conduct. As a result, we have modified Gaykitty.
He suspects that he became the victim of mass reports, an ever-present risk for streamers. His chat also seems to share the same opinion, believing this to be a huge wave of reports against the streamer.
Do you think Gaykitty is too harsh? I didn’t think the name was actually bad. Am I crazy?
At the end of the day, there’s nothing Sodapoppin can do but wait out the 24 hours, and in the future he will probably resort to randomly generated names. Contacting Blizzard directly doesn’t seem to help him.
What do you think about this? A legitimate reason for a ban, or a bit over the top? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments!