The Twitch community was torn when gambling was banned from the streaming platform, but slots and roulette are far from the only type of games not allowed on the platform.
Twitch actually has an entire list of banned games, and many of them have earned their place with shocking content. Games will get banned from Twitch if they fall under two categories. The first is an ESRB rating of Adults Only. The second is if the game violates Twitch’s community guidelines. Games that go against Twitch’s guidelines include sex and nudity, gore and extreme violence, and hate speech.
Streamers can get in big trouble for showcasing these titles, so here are all the games banned from Twitch.
While the “Adults Only” rating is quite straightforward, Twitch also bans games that it feels are against the Community Guidelines, which come to Twitch’s attention from reports. If there’s no adult rating, Twitch’s moderation team will determine if the game goes against the Community Guidelines, banning games that are “extreme” violations.
Here are the banned games in this category:
Most of these are pretty self-explanatory, but some may leave gamers a bit confused. For example, Second Life. This is a sim game where players create avatars for themselves and then interact with one another or user-created content. Back when it was first banned, Second Life players were a bit confused by this decision since the adult content can be easily avoided, with some arguing that this means Grand Theft Auto should be banned as well.
Witch Trainer is another title that sounds more fantasy than freaky, but it’s actually a game where the goal is to punish Hermoine Granger from the Harry Potter series. It looks like a cartoony RPG at first, but there’s a ton of nudity and sexual content that have landed it on the banned games list.
Yandere Simulator is probably the most popular title on the banned game list. Yandere Simulator has players attempt to appear innocent while stealthfully creeping on women, sometimes killing them. Still, the creator Alex Mahan voiced anger with Twitch’s ban on his demo, stating he would modify minor things but no core gameplay elements before calling Twitch “self-righteous.”
If a Twitch streamer gets caught playing a banned game on stream, they may receive a strike or a temporary suspension. Most are caught through reports with prohibited game as the selected reason. Twitch states that gamers can’t get around the system by using the mature content flag and will still get in trouble for streaming a banned game.
Players must be 21 years of age or older or reach the minimum age for gambling in their respective state and located in jurisdictions where online gambling is legal. Please play responsibly. Bet with your head, not over it. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, and wants help, call or visit: (a) the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey at 1-800-Gambler or www.800gambler.org; or (b) Gamblers Anonymous at 855-2-CALL-GA or www.gamblersanonymous.org.