The world of gaming can be a great one, it can open up doors for people and help others in ways you wouldn't think was possible. I personally watch streams and I enjoy them a lot whether the person chooses to interact with their audience or not the gameplay within a stream is what matters most to me as a viewer, there is a lot of pressure on streamers to interact and take on board what their audience wants but at times people can troll and take things too far with advice especially when someone has chosen not to speak or appear in a stream, they get a lot of hate for it. Some people online push the limits they go too far and forget these streamers are human too and what you do can affect them in many different ways. I have been trolled badly on Twitch before I have mentioned this a while back and it's why I left Twitch then decided I would make a new one a few years ago now. I know you're probably thinking this is such a negative post but I feel it needs to be addressed and is something people are going to far with when it comes to streaming, push aside the trolls who just name call and try and get people to spam other streamers chats and let's discuss the new trend of getting streamers swatted.
What is this trend? Well, it's where another person calls the police and will say anything along the lines of "this person has kidnapped someone/killed someone/drug running" anything that is so serious that a swat team is called in to shut this person down. Making prank calls can lead to getting in a lot of trouble anyways so to me I feel like these people need to think more carefully about the actions they take towards people and the consequences of their actions, they may think it's all fun and games but this actually recently lead to a streamer being shot and killed. Would you really want that on your conscious for the rest of your life?
I know a few streamers do tend to give theirs out for people to send them things, my advice for anyone even considering doing that is get a PO Box that way you took one step in people not getting hold of your details. Now back to a recent incident that happened at the end of December last year, a 28-year-old fell victim to someone swatting them because of an argument on Call of Duty, this hits home for me as he is around the same age as me and had so much more in life to experience and the person who called the swat team on him has no remorse over that had happened (from his tweets I can clearly see that) I don't want to name the victim in this post because it's not my place but I do want to address the fact that people take thing's too far over a small argument and it's really not worth all the pain/hurt and upset it causes those efected by the actions of an angry and silly gamer wanting to get revenge or troll someone. These pranks do come with a prison sentence, I've read about a fair few now and the law doesn't find this kind of thing likely so with this risk why do people continue to do it? Personally, I think it's because they don't think they will get caught even knowing that other people have to them it's just a bit of banter or fun.
There are a number of ways to protect yourself against swatted, I did a little research and came across this article by Digg, given it was published in 2015 but that doesn't make it any less relevant to today. As someone who is anxious enough about streaming online stuff like this really makes me feel panicked, I know it probably would never happen to me but seeing it happen to others is scary and shows just how far people are willing to make a person suffer. I like to think that my friends wouldn't do this nor Doxx (search and publish someones private information online for malicious intent) someone online so it happens to them. As someone who has recently found out another person has been trying to Dox me by getting my phone number I can tell you it's not a good feeling.
I personally would like the gaming world to become a little safer online but like with anything it's not as easy as that, this is why we need to take things into our own hands even if people don't like the fact that you choose to keep things private. As a blogger information about myself can be easy for people to get hold of especially with a domain name if you don't hide your private details when you buy one anyone can look your domain up on the site WHOIS and find where you live. I obviously have all that protected but I also don't tend to use my last name publicly on Twitter or Instagram anymore as I don't feel comfortable sharing it, I'm sure you could easily find out but I choose to share it with people when I want to. Please be mindful of how you treat others, your actions can lead to serious consequences.
Elle May
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