Olivia R. May 31, 2019
Disturbing and illegal streams under the Dota 2 card game Artifact's category have caused Twitch to change the platform's streaming requirements.
Twitch's struggling Artifact section was recently taken over by trolls. At first the streams, filed under Artifact, were showing copywrighted movies and anime. That already violated Twitch's terms of service, but the trolls decided to take it one step further. When the streams started showing beheadings, mass shootings, and more, Twitch suspended new accounts from streaming.
"We became aware of a number of accounts targeting the Artifact game directory to share content that grossly violates our terms of service,” Twitch said.
Meanwhile, Twitch also removed the content and suspended "all accounts engaged in this behavior."
"Tthe majority of accounts that shared and viewed the content were automated,” Twitch said, explaining that the newly created channels, and the audience, were all programmed by bots.
This started a week-long crusade against the new troll accounts in the Artifact category. But as Twitch staff banned one channel, the user would just create a new one. Others seemed to be testing how quickly they could get banned, as they continued to stream illegal content even after Twitch's announcement. There was even a Discord community that openly admitted that they were dedicated to bringing disturbing content to the Artifact category on Twitch.
Because of the unrelenting trolls, Twitch recently announced that two-factor authentication is now required if new streamers want to have the ability to stream. Now, new streamers must have a unique device or phone number for reach account they create, which blocks most trolls from creating multiple accounts so easily.
Interestingly enough, the meme and troll accounts had given Artifact the most Twitch activity the game had seen in months.
Since its launch, the Dota 2 card game has continued to see a decline in players since it launched in November 2018. When WIN.GG spoke with developer Richard Garfield about the shaky future of Artifact, he stated that he believes the game has struggled bcause of the revenue model being poorly received, too few community tools and missions, and unfair reviews.
Fellow developer Skaff Ellas admitted that the game may have been "more expensive" to play than some players initially anticipated.