Yet again November has been an eventful month for Twitch. After October saw unfair bans, inappropriate comments, stalkers, and violence, many thought that November couldn't get any worse. It seems they were wrong, at least in regards to questionable decisions made by the moderation team.
Thankfully the worst of October's incidents, which involved terrorism being live-streamed on the platform, has not been repeated. However, Twitch is still trapped in a cycle of bad and inconsistent decisions, wardrobe malfunctions, and big streamers fleeing the sinking ship. Here's what went down in November.
6. Treelon Musk Was Born
While technically #teamtrees was started by YouTubers, streamers have also got involved, allowing us to sneak it into this line-up. Plus we need all the good news we can get so we're counting it.
The campaign was launched by MrBeast and Mark Rober who are working alongside the Arbor Day Foundation. Every dollar donated sees one tree planted before December 2022, in order to help combat deforestation.
After a heartwarming Twitter thread, Elon Musk donated $1,000,000 to the campaign, earning himself the puntastic nickname, Treelon Musk.
5. xQc's Social Anxiety Strikes A Chord With Viewers
Félix "xQc" Lengyel recently struggled with social anxiety during an IRL stream in Toronto. Upon entering an upmarket looking bar, the streamer choked and fled, panicking after he felt uncomfortable in the establishment.
His chat was very supportive, with many relating to the incident. Later on, the streamer pushed himself back out and had much better results in a bar with a more relaxed atmosphere, giving viewers hope that anxiety can be overcome.
4. More Streamers Begin To Bail on Twitch
As we headed further into the month, the rumors of streamers leaving Twitch began to intensify. First Imane "Pokimane" Anys teased a huge announcement, leading many to speculate that she was about to make a move. However, this later turned out to be the news that she's partnering with LG Ultragear and Twitch to lead an all-female esports stream.
Next to face the speculation was TimTheTatman, who is not only a popular Twitch streamer but also a good friend of Ninja, making him a likely target to be approached by Microsoft. While he said he was going to "mix it up" in a secret meeting, no official announcement has been forthcoming at this time, so he may just be trolling.
One person who wasn't trolling was FaZe Ewok, the first female member of the gaming clan, who is heading over to Microsoft's Mixer platform, following Ninja and Shroud.
Jack "CouRageJD" Dunlop has also left Twitch but interestingly he has moved to YouTube to continue streaming. His announcement video is top-notch, even if many question his platform choice.
One other streamer who certainly didn't question a quirky platform choice was Jeremy "Disguised Toast" Wang, who moved to the even more unusual Facebook Gaming.
3. Bans Galore
After a short reprieve, the ban hammer was picked back up and waved around freely, creating chaos once more.
The first Twitch ban of the month went to Fortnite streamer Khanada, who received a 3 day ban for playing the game alongside Zayn, who is banned from Twitch. This was swiftly followed by a 7 day ban for Clix for doing exactly the same thing, although this was later reduced to match Zayn's 3 day ban. Twitch doesn't like it when you play with their enemies.
Twitch also doesn't like it when your accent makes the word "nerd" said fast sound like a hateful racial slur, as Viperous found out.
Reported for "using hateful slurs" she found herself suspended for 7 days with all her subs from the stream in question being refunded.
THump was also banned for 7 days for harassment after one of his subscribers spammed pixelated genitals into the chats of channels THump was watching as part of his stream.
2. Paymoney Wubby's Ban, Comeback And Exposé
The most controversial ban story of the month is of PaymoneyWubby. He was banned for 7 days for streaming in a restaurant, despite the fact that he had the permission of the manager and the knowledge of the hostess.
Despite Twitch admitting that the ban was unjustified, it took him 5 days to reclaim his channel, after which he made an explosive return. He also released an exposé video, in which he discussed his treatment by the moderation team and the effect of the incorrect ban on his channel and livelihood.
1. Pokémon Fever
Finally, in more positive news the month also saw some crazy Pokémon content. First up is DisguisedToast, who challenged himself to find a shiny Wooloo in his mammoth 15-hour stream.
He was so confident in his ability to beat the odds that he made a bet which saw him distribute $5000 to his fans, in the form of random gift subscriptions when he failed.
At the other end of the scale, streamer Hyoon managed to hatch a Shiny Ponyta after 801 attempts, much to her delight.
However, no Pokémon story beats that of TheNo1Alex who hatched not one but two shiny Impadimp's in a row.
This glorious moment came after a whopping 80 hours and 4051 attempts. Make sure to check out the video as his reaction is a pure joy to watch.
November Roundup
November was certainly an eventful month. Alongside all these incidents viewers also saw someone try to sell drugs to a streamer doing an IRL broadcast. Meanwhile, Pokimane risked a ban by doing some questionable Googling while live and most recently a streamer was warned by police after harassing a homeless woman while streaming.
The month also saw WoW Classic player and streamer Jokerd thrown out of Method for ninja looting on stream and YouTuber and streamer Hasan accused of exploiting an editor.
All things considered, November has been a mixed bag, to say the least, and that's unlikely to change as we move into December and await the next Twitch drama.