Fan toxicity and online abuse are two of the most serious and damaging aspects of gaming today, be it esports, streaming, or anything else. Many creators have spoken out about the negative impact it has on them — but last night, Twitch streamers Asmongold and nmplol took to Twitter in defense of fans harassing a fellow creator over a tweet he made containing...a Star Trek quote.

The situation came about after Jake "chocoTaco" Throop, a Twitch streamer with fewer followers than any of the other names in this tale, replied to a tweet from Twitter drama-monger Jake Lucky. The tweet was regarding infamous content creator and Twitch slot gambler Tyler “Trainwrecks” Faraz Niknam, highlighting the fact he had gifted former CSGO pro Chris “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund an in-game skin. 

chocoTaco replied with a Star Trek quote pointing out that Trainwrecks’ "good deeds" could well act as cover for his onstream behavior, where he has been accused of being a marketing tool for Stake.com, a Curacao-based online casino, by gambling on stream and encouraging his viewers to do the same. This led to a furious outburst from Trainwrecks, leading to multiple tweets written in all-caps, as well as a few insults. 

Unfortunately, this led to chocoTaco receiving abuse and harassment from Trainwrecks' community on Twitter and Twitch. chocoTaco called out the behavior only to have nmplol and Asmongold enter the conversation and defend Trainwrecks and his fans. Their logic was that if you choose to talk about a bigger creator, you bring the abuse on yourself, explaining that choco was being "sanctimonious."

Added nmplol: "I cannot stand when small streamers say shit to bigger streamers and the bigger streamer responds and they start crying about harassment from viewers."

Controversial gambling streams 

For those who don’t know, Trainwrecks has become a controversial figure due to being a prominent gambler on Twitch, getting called out by many others on the platform as a result. Reports said he is being paid $1m a month or more by Stake.com to use their services on stream have appeared. It was revealed last month that Felix “xQc” Lengyel, another streamer with a similar deal, has already generated well in excess of $100m in wagers for Stake through his own audience.

This would be worrying at the best of times, but with Twitch’s lax age restrictions and the ease with which players can gamble on Stake without fully verifying themselves, it has led to a lot of concern about the ethics of these streams. This is why many in the streaming community are shocked that Asmongold would accuse chocoTaco of "attacking" Train, especially since many of the streamer's follow-up tweets are about protecting audiences from gambling. 

That context is important when understanding that chocoTaco was not trying to harass a fellow user, but adding his voice to a long line of creators who have spoken out about this potentially harmful practice — something he would not be doing if Train were streaming non-gambling content. Likewise, anyone defending Train would know this and that is especially true of Asmongold and nmplol, Twitch streamer who would be very familiar with the way gambling has affected the platform. 

We reached out to some of those involved for comment, and will update the story should they respond.