Summary
- Asmongold has called for DrLupo to be banned from Twitch for cheating.
- DrLupo was disqualified from a chess tournament for cheating.
- Twitch enforces sanctions on streamers who cheat in online games.
Twitch streamer Zack "Asmongold" Hoyt expressed that the streaming platform should ban DrLupo after he admitted to cheating during an online amateur chess tournament. DrLupo, whose real name is Benjamin Lupo, is a Twitch streamer and YouTuber known for his gaming content and raising money for charity.
On April 30, DrLupo competed in Chess.com's PogChamps tournament, where content creators battle it out for a chance to win a whopping $100,000 prize pool. During his match against Wolf, DrLupo blundered and left his queen unprotected, but he was still able to play the rest of the game perfectly. Many people, including chess experts, immediately noticed that the streamer's movements were weird and accused him of cheating, which he initially denied. However, Chess.com later disqualified DrLupo from the tournament after it was found that he used a chess engine to cheat during his match. DrLupo admitted to his mistake on stream, apologizing to his viewers and fellow competitors for what he had done.
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Following DrLupo's disqualification, many people called for him to receive a harsher punishment. During a recent stream, Asmongold said that DrLupo should be banned from Twitch for cheating, emphasizing that he not only admitted to cheating in his chess game, but also broke the streaming platform's anti-cheating policy. Although Asmongold is known for making controversial comments on topics like tipping and social issues, he's right in pointing out that Twitch does enforce sanctions on streamers who cheat in online games.
What Do Twitch's Community Guidelines Say About Cheating in Games?
According to Twitch's Community Guidelines, streamers who engage in any kind of cheating or hacking to get an unfair advantage in any online game could either get suspended or have their content and monetization tools removed, depending on the severity of the violation. As of writing, DrLupo's channel is still up, so it's unknown if Twitch will be punishing him for cheating during the PogChamps tournament. Twitch made changes to its ban system recently, where it added expiration dates for violations and allowed reinstatement requests. If DrLupo were to be suspended from the platform, it's likely that he would be gone for only 90 days, as cheating in online games is considered a low-severity violation.
This wouldn't be the first time that Twitch would enact bans or suspensions on people who use cheats on streams. Back in 2016, Twitch warned Pokemon GO streamers that they would be punished if they're caught using third-party apps to hack the game during broadcast. A number of FPS streamers have also been banned for using aimbot in games, so the streaming platform is definitely strict about enforcing its rules.