Twitch recently posted an update to its terms of service, outlining changes to the platform’s enforcement system. In this update, it was confirmed that violations will now ‘expire’, and the less severe the violation, the faster it’ll disappear from your account history. The most abhorrent violations will remain on your account for up to two years.
However, the policy update penned by Twitch Support also confirmed that the platform believes cheating in video games is an example of a ‘low severity violation’. As such, it will remove any trace of these incidents from your record, if you’ve faced punitive action, in as little as 90 days.
Getting Away With It
Twitch’s enforcement update came with a graphic that shows how things work on the platform.
Every account starts in ‘good standing’ with zero violations. If you’re caught cheating in a game, you’ll get a one-day suspension and the record will be marked against your account for 90 days. If you’re caught cheating again, you’ll get a three-day suspension and that 90-day threshold will reset and be pushed further out.
Following that 90-day window, you’ll be returned to ‘good standing’.
That means that you can be caught cheating multiple times, and as long as you serve your suspension, you’ll only have to wait three months before Twitch views you as a model citizen once again.
Cheating is one of the most disruptive acts in modern gaming – and it has been a growing issue for years. Some games are borderline unplayable at times because of cheaters ruining everyone’s fun, and publishers and developers have taken ‘cheat makers’ to court and sought out damages in the tens of millions of dollars.
And many have been successful in their pursuits of justice.
In South Korea and China, you can face a fine or even jail time for manufacturing or using cheats in a game – but Twitch is banned in China and around a year ago, the company withdrew from South Korea.
As a lover of all things multiplayer, I find it bizarre that you can publicly cheat in a game on Twitch and a) face just a one-day suspension, and b) have your record scrubbed in 90 days.
What about those cheating in professional tournaments to win cash prizes? Should that just face a one-day suspension?
At the least, you’re standing firm as a testament to the slacking policies of the platform, but in the worst-case scenario, you’re letting others know where and how to cheat in popular multiplayer games. Many cheaters will use their streams to actively promote the sale of cheats, with some dastardly operators securing referral bonuses for pointing malicious gamers to cheating sites.
Do you think Twitch should come down harder on those caught cheating in games? Let us know in the comments or on the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Sony is being sued for boosting prices in the PS Store
Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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