Author: Iyanna Armwood

Twitch, founded in June 2011,  is one the world’s leading community for gamers. About one million people log on to talk about video games and watch the two million streamers play video games every day. Some streamers actually make a living off streaming on Twitch and people watch either for entertainment or influences on whether to buy the game.  Twitch banned the stealth game “Yandere Simulator,” from being streamed on its website last year, and YandereDev, the game developer of “Yandere Simulator,” has yet to hear back as to why that is.

“Yandere Simulator,” is a stealth game with the objective to eliminate all love rivals without the love interest knowing within the 10 week time period or game over (or in Yandere Simulator’s case “heartbroken”). YandereDev made two youtube videos going over possible reasons why “Yandere Simulator” could have been banned then dismissing them based on other games that are not banned from Twitch. The first video, “Yandere Simulator” is banned from Twitch, was posted on January 22, 2016, and a second video, “A Warning To All Game Developers,” was posted on the one year anniversary of the first video. In them he contemplates both the nudity and violence rules.

YandereDev claims in both videos that he would be willing to modify the game to meet the rules if he knew what was wrong. He questioned if the nudity rule was broken which states nudity is only allowed if it is not the core focus of the came. He offered to increase the steam clouds around the private areas when characters are naked or put a towel around them. Also, since the first video, he changed the titan easter egg from naked titans to skinless titans. Regarding the rule regarding violence, YandereDev explains that although violence is an aspect of the game it is not the center focus. It is very possible to win the game using non lethal methods or causing death at all. Unfortunately, the videos, countless emails, and tweets to them haven’t evoked any response out of Twitch.

There are games that are not banned from Twitch that break the rules YandereDev explains. For example, “God of War: Ascension,” goes against the no nudity rule. The game even has a cut scene where there are girls with their breasts exposed and  provocatively suggesting that the main character sex with them. “The Mortal Kombat,” franchise definitely violates the no violence and gore rule which states, “Content that exclusively focuses on extreme or gratuitous gore and violence is prohibited.” The whole franchise’s focus is gore and violence. Even the game “Witches,” has a full on sex scene.

After a year, “Yandere Simulator” still remains on the banned list without any explanation and now fans rage about it and at Twitch on twitter. Even the competency of Twitch’s employees has been questioned and past incidents such as the misunderstanding with streamer Soujiseta is a point of concern. Soujiseta was streaming “Metal Gear Solid 4,” a year ago and a Twitch employee demanded that he stop streaming unless he could prove that the stream was not a movie. It was proven not to be and the Twitch employee quickly disappeared. Also, the game “Senran Kagura Festival,” was banned 2 years ago for being an adult visual novel, but[ after it was explained to Twitch that the game contains no actual nudity nor is it a visual novel Twitch made arrangements for the unbanning of the game. There seems to be no such luck for “Yandere Simulator,” at this time.