After a cryptic tweet byLeague of LegendsTwitchstreamer SipOfCola that suggested self harm, fans were left worrying if their favorite streamer was okay. Out of concern, inquiring viewers took matters into their own hands. Mental health concerns from the streaming community is unfortunately not new, asstreamers have previously set up fundsand awareness for associated organizations.SipOfCola is a popularTwitchstreamer who took to Twitter saying that he would take his own life. The well-known streamer went onto Twitch shortly after, but was then suspended for violating terms of service. It is unclear what had happened during the stream, but one viewer on Twitter stated that he tried to get banned on purpose. Afterwards, SipOfCola ceased communication and went dark on his community, who was at that point worried about him.RELATED:Report Claims 99 of Top 100 Twitch and YouTube Streamers are MenConcerned viewers took action and discovered his location, and then notified the proper authorities. The police and paramedics had arrived in time thanks to updates by community members on Twitter. Further Twitter posts suggest that multiple members of the community had alerted the police, which shows the support of SipOfCola’s community. Photo updates communicate that paramedics transported the Twitch streamer to a hospital, and that he was in stable condition. SipOfCola has since been seen posting on Twitter, engaging with members of his community. In the past, there have been manystreamers who’ve taken breaks from streamingto prioritize their mental health.
There have been many times when the strength of a streaming community has shined through in how streamers have offered positive reinforcement to viewers, but in this case it was the viewers who showed their support for the streamer. While the reasons for SipOfCola’s situation are currently unclear, Twitch is filled with overworked content creators, as the company has been criticized for awarding unhealthy behaviors that do not take mental health and self-care into account. As a result, there arealternative streaming options available that prioritize mental health. According to a recent BBC report, Twitch has a forty eight-hour rule on how long players can stream for, although there has been data evidence of streamers who are able to bypass this rule by turning their stream off and then back on again.
A spokesperson for Twitch, the streaming platform owned by Amazon, went on record saying that: “Our Twitch Cares page provides mental health resources for any member of the community, and we’re developing targeted programming to support Twitch streamers with challenges like burnout, boundary-setting, and other pressures that come with a career in online content creation.” Viewers within the community and patrons who have never watched SipOfCola are relieved that the streamer’smental healthseems to be improving, as this event could have turned out worse if it was not for his community that was there for him in his time of need.
