Twitch VTuber Silvervale was left in tears after her protective measures to prevent harassment during a Hogwarts Legacy stream resulted in backlash.
Hogwarts Legacy has become one of the biggest games of all time and the biggest ever on Twitch by dethroning Cyberpunk 2077.
It’s been an uphill battle, though. Boycotters have opposed the game due to its connection to Harry Potter creator JK Rowling. The series creator has been accused of making “transphobic” comments – something she and others have denied.
After fellow streamers were harassed and abused for streaming the game, Silvervale decided to implement Twitch’s automod to help combat hate raids and bullying, but that seems to have only made things worse.
Silvervale blasts “hate mob” over Hogwarts Legacy stream
In a post on Discord and a supplemental explainer streamer afterward, Silvervale revealed that the word “trans” gets held by automod for review and that she didn’t ban the word.
In an emotional broadcast, the streamer explained how wanting to play Hogwarts Legacy meant a lot to her and in order to be comfortable, measures had to be taken to stop hate raids and harassment.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
“Those terms were basic terms used for harassment such as ‘transphobe’ and other really negative things that would never be used in my chat in a positive way,” she said. “But apparently people think I banned the word trans in my chat, which I did not.”
According to Silvervale, words like “trans” and “gay” fall under the level 2 moderation filter, because they’re regularly used to incite harassment on Twitch.
“I had no idea, my mods didn’t know! None of us knew!” she cried, noting how people posted on Twitter that she blocked the word. “They felt it necessary to post on Twitter before telling me or my mods, because they did it purely for hatred!”
Although Silvervale fixed the problem and now allows the word “trans,” the damage had been done with the streamer saying she had been “slandered.”
The streamer ended her discussion by calling the Hogwarts Legacy boycotters a “hate mob” and encouraged them to use their energy on something more positive, an opinion that has been shared by Asmongold and others.
