
'Disabled' Gamer Banned from Twitch.tv After Standing Up Mid Stream - JDGM
http://www.gameskinny.com/yca32/disabled-gamer-banned-from-twitchtv-after-standing-up-mid-stream
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jareds
As someone who’s blind and who has a friend that was recently paralyzed I have
no problem with the ban and have nothing but contempt for this person. I’ve
been fortunate that I have never needed to fundraise to obtain assistive
technology. I have no issue with people that chose to do so though. A
wheelchair accessible van with hand controls can cost upwards of $50000 and in
order for that independence you need to get the money somehow. I don’t think
Twitch should be required to refund donations since there was no specific
contract stating what the donations were going to be used for. I think there
doing the right thing by refunding everyone’s donations though.

~~~
p6v53as
Maybe you are streaming at twitch too for donations? I bet many would
subscribe to a blind gamer. Just be sure not to react to stuff on the screen
or you will be banned.

~~~
duskwuff
Or… [http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/04/internet-heroes-help-
blind...](http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/04/internet-heroes-help-blind-gamer-
beat-zelda-ocarina-of-time/)

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irremediable
I don't know the details of this. But I want to emphasise that a lot of
disabled people may need to use wheelchairs for most movement, yet still be
capable of standing. I hate that people automatically assumed he was a
fraudster.

~~~
andrewflnr
According the article, he specifically claimed he was "paralyzed", which
precludes any sort of standing up, unless there's some huge gap in my
definitions.

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JDGM
I submitted this thinking "I wonder what the posters on HN have to say?", as
there are always good insights here and I don't really know what I make of it
myself, other than (possibly in poor taste) finding it hilarious, a la
Krusty's portrayal of FDR from that Simpson's episode
<http://youtu.be/5kJ3v_fKygE>.

I'm a huge fan of Twitch but hadn't come across this guy at all. It irritates
me that the original Eurogamer article[1] wrote "As with any Twitch account,
Hamilton used the service to earn money via donations" since only about half
the channels I watch even have donations set up, and even fewer do the "here's
an ad, remember to donate, thanks to these people who donated, etc." spiel. I
see donations as a legitimate form of money-making though, and view them as
essentially a way for people to say "I like this and want it to keep going". I
suppose that may be more appropriately expressed with the (paid) subscription
system (which Twitch also offers).

To use the platform for personal charity fundraising where the "charity" money
goes directly to the streamer seems like a minefield to me, and something that
I would imagine puts Twitch in a complex situation it may rather not be in,
versus the simple "pay me if you like my stream" or "donate to this registered
charity" model.

And I suppose that's where I am with this case, that I broadly would think the
donations were from people who enjoyed the channel and wanted it to keep going
- I mean, what, they were only watching and enjoying it because he was in a
wheelchair? Without having seen the stream and especially not participated in
the chat (which is always a great eye-opener as to the nature of a channel) I
just don't know. Either way, I'm interested if it leads to a policy change at
Twitch - this one seems a grey area they should want to get out of as quickly
a possible.

[1] [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-04-15-wheelchair-
boun...](http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-04-15-wheelchair-bound-gamer-
banned-from-twitch-tv-after-accusations-he-faked-disability) \- I submitted
this link first but it appeared to be insta-deaded, which I now learn is a
sign that Eurogamer could be on the HN banned submissions list (thanks for
explaining that, Jacques Mattheij's "Unofficial" HN FAQ!).

~~~
zalew
> finding it hilarious, a la Krusty's portrayal of FDR from that Simpson's
> episode <http://youtu.be/5kJ3v_fKygE>.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7NcT1Q6QxU>

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revelation
Are there not plenty of people in wheelchairs that can stand up, but have to
remain in the chair because they can't balance themselves or their leg muscles
simply can't keep it up?

That said, for being paralysed waist-down, he would have had to use his arms
to lift himselves out of the chair, not just stand up completely normal..

~~~
duskwuff
I'm sure there are. But the video shows this guy just standing right up and
walking off like it's nothing. If he had any sort of disability that required
him to get around the house in a wheelchair, like he did upon entering (let
alone if he was "paralyzed from the waist down"!), I would expect him to take
a lot longer, and exhibit a lot more effort, than he did.

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FramesPerSushi
I have no idea who this guys is, but I remember hearing about this a week ago.
Someone even put this up with all the details: <http://www.diablowned.com/>

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sergiotapia
This happened weeks ago; interesting read nonetheless! It's funny how his
girlfriend noticed his screw up and started ranting about a story that did not
make sense _at all_ to try and divert attention.

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dfc
For a real disabled gamer check out n0mad:

<http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/N0M4D>

A lot of shooters have a n0mad stick/button layout because of him.

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oxide
watch the video if you haven't seen it. the funniest thing in the world was
his lame excuse. also hearing his girlfriend say Oh my god and tries to play
it off and signal him in code.

