A Twitch streamer who goes by the name Mr DeadMoth has been charged with assaulting his partner during one of his live streams of Fortnite. The Australian streamer has since been apprehended by the police as an investigation continues into the incident after a viewer online got concerned and reported it.
The incident occurred during one of the regular Fortnite streams Mr DeadMoth used to host on the streaming platform Twitch. Towards the middle of the stream, a woman’s voice can be heard asking the streamer to close his computer and come out to which he replies: “I’ll be out soon” repeatedly.
She then hurls various objects at the man. After a point, the streamer is seen getting up and approaching her during which a sound resembling a slap can be heard. The woman cries out “Woman basher” and says “you hit me in the face” to him while sounds of a child crying are also heard. The two clips involving the incident were shared through a tweet by Australian content creator Jack but have been removed by Twitter possibly because of their sensitive nature.
The woman has been identified by Australian media as a 21-year-old but her relationship with the streamer has not been confirmed.
Initial reports by popular Youtuber Keemstar suggested that both Mr Moth and the woman were apprehended by the police, but the claims have been contradicted by a self-called cybersecurity expert called Clynt who revealed his statement through Twitter.
Ever since the entire incident the streamer’s Twitch and Twitter account have been suspended while his YouTube channel remains active for now.
The streamer has received an intense amount of criticism in the last few hours with many people expressing happiness over his arrest.
New South Wales Police have released an official statement confirming that the woman has not been seriously injured but is shaken and distressed by the incident.
The game Mr DeadMoth was playing is Battle Royale game Fortnite which is made by the developer Epic Games. The first-person shooter has become immensely popular ever since it was released in July 2017. The player count now stands at over 200 million gamers worldwide out of which 75 million new players have been added in the last 6 months alone. Epic games have reportedly earned over $1.2bn through Fortnite even though the game is free to play. The game has a strong user base in The UK with over 50 million gamers logging on every day.
The news also brings into light the long-standing argument that shooter games like Fornite trigger aggression. The Scientific American recently released an article which concluded that video games indeed inspire anger and cause people to act out. The topic has been widely debated ever since popular shooter games like Rainbow Six Siege and Players Unknown Battlegrounds took hold of the gamer scene.
Whether or not Mr DeadMoth’s actions were motivated by the graphic violence in the game he was playing or his lack of self-control remains unknown.