A UK speedrunner has called on Twitch to better address the issue of viewer bots after it caused him to miss out on a potential speedrun world record.
DeepStackDave, who is based in Manchester according to his online profiles, said he was ‘beyond angry’ after being attacked by a string of viewer bots mid-run.
At just over 39 minutes into a speedrun of the original Resident Evil 2 game, he had a string of accounts follow him on Twitch, which caused his game to lag, ruining his world record attempt.
“This is the first time I have felt unsafe on your platform,” DeepStackDave said to Twitch in a thread on X (formerly Twitter). “This is an attack!”
DeepStackDave added: “The fact that this is allowed to happen to the hard working people on your platform is completely unacceptable and you need to implement something to ensure this doesn’t happen. I am beyond angry at what has happened to me and my community today.
“This has to be a targeted event. The fact this happens at this point of the run, on the pace that I am on, is just not a coincidence.
“I will find out who has done this and you will be outed. You will not stop me from achieving what I have worked three and a half years for. I WILL WIN.”
DeepStackDave
“I now need my follower count looking at and rectifying. The progress with this feels completely irrelevant now. 1,200 bots are now sat on my follower list and leave me suspect to followbotting myself when this is not true.
“[Twitch] could you please look into this.”
DeepStackDave currently has 4,500 followers on Twitch (including the bots) and usually speedruns classic Resident Evil survival horror games on stream.
From the archives: ‘Speedrunning is about love’ – BOWIEtheHERO
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
