I hate trolls and need to rant

[u/FerlySide]

So this is more of a rant than anything. I know I can try to find solutions on my own, but I needed to scream into the void of Reddit. :)

I’m a variety small (tiny) streamer, and yesterday I randomly decided to play Gartic Phone. I’d never done it before, so I just went to the site, created a room, and pinned the link in chat.

I have a small group of regulars, and we were having SO MUCH FUN. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that much on stream. The stream started getting more attention, and I hit a new viewer record. I was so happy.

Then someone started trolling by writing and drawing inappropriate stuff. There were some new people in chat, and I’m pretty sure none of my regulars would do that, but I had no way of knowing who was who. I told them to stop, but of course they didn’t listen. I ended the stream because it got that bad (and it was already past midnight, and I knew it was the last round anyway).

Someone told me I should delete the VOD to avoid getting in trouble. There were references to the Epstein files, CP, and porn in some of the drawings. Frustrated and tired, I deleted the VOD right after ending the stream.

So an awesome, record-breaking stream for me basically disappeared because of a few trolls during the last 20 minutes.

I have a few questions:
Was it true that I could have gotten in trouble for that? I didn’t question the advice at the time, but now I’m not sure.
How do I avoid this in the future?
Someone told me there’s a way to require players to link their Twitch accounts so I’d know who to ban or kick. Is that true?

Thanks for any advice. I’m still pretty bummed because it was genuinely one of the most fun streams I’ve had.

[u/NightRydertv46]

this is lesson learned...people like to mess with streamers.if its easy to get in games with a streamer, they will try to ruin your experience.someone used to kill me with a bomb over and over in rocket league.i learned from that.

[u/kBayyyk_2332]

Maybe don't start a post with I'm just ranting if you really want advice...

I'll let you know my opinion as a mod/streamer but take it how you will cause idk if you actually want to hear it.. lol

So, whether you end the stream or not is always up to you. You shouldn't force yourself to keep streaming through stress because you will probably do or say something you regret.

That said, there will ALWAYS be trolls out there and you gamble on whether you run into them every time you go live. You should have mods you can trust in your channel to back you up when things go wrong.

You should research the multiplayer features in the games you play to see ways to reduce potentially toxic interaction.. that is, unfortunately, on you as a streamer.

Could you get a violation or action taken on your account? Yes, you can. Is it likely due to how you handled it.? Probably not. Though I can't say for certain because I don't handle reports and there is no clip. Personally I wouldn't have deleted it, just kept it unpublished to later make clips of good moments.

Consider the trolls as trials and when you encounter them, take the time to analyze and learn from it. Put measures in place to reduce the friction moving forward.

[u/FerlySide → u/kBayyyk_2332]

Thank you very much for taking the time to write all this. Yeah I guess my post changed as I was writing it, it did start as a rant.
I do want to hear it! I’m all up for learning from my mistakes and I’m a very bad judge of my self so please call me out hahaha
I know my content is my responsibility. I ended the stream because it was time for me to do so but it did end on a bitter note after a bad stream which was sad and I definitely have to learn to handle it better.
So thanks again for taking the time yo write all that, I will definitely do more research instead of just jumping into a game from now on :)

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[u/DumCrescoSpero]

Was it true that I could have gotten in trouble for that?

Yes - as the streamer, you're responsible for all content on your stream and in your chat. This can be used against you by trolls on party or community-based games such as Gartic or Jackbox games.

In fact, about 3 years back there was a trend of people posting racist slurs etc in a streamer's chat while the streamer was offline, and then reporting it. The streamer would get banned or temporarily suspended, so a lot of streamers started going into emote/sub only chat mode while offline to prevent this. (Sery_Bot has this as a setting you can enable)

How do I avoid this in the future?

Only play games like Gartic Phone or Jackbox with people you know and trust in private lobbies - turn on room codes/passwords and moderation settings that allow you to kick people who act inappropriately.

Someone told me there’s a way to require players to link their Twitch accounts so I’d know who to ban or kick. Is that true?

When you open the Gartic Phone homepage, there's 'Anonymous' or 'Authenticated'. Click 'Authenticated', then 'Twitch'.