- Ralph Yarl shooting: Klint Ludwig, grandson of shooter Andrew Lester, speaks out after teen shot at wrong house in Kansas City, MO KABC-TV
- Kansas City man’s grandchildren speak out on Ralph Yarl shooting FOX4 News Kansas City
- Distraught neighbor recounts helping Ralph Yarl after teen was shot: ‘That’s somebody’s son’ New York Daily News
- Editorial: Elderly shooter was ‘radicalized’ by Fox, grandson says. He’s likely not alone. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- In the shooting of Ralph Yarl, a reminder of the racist ‘adultification’ of Black children The Philadelphia Inquirer
Tag Archives: Ludwig
Ralph Yarl shooting: Klint Ludwig, grandson of shooter Andrew Lester, speaks out after teen shot at wrong house in Kansas City, MO – KABC-TV
- Ralph Yarl shooting: Klint Ludwig, grandson of shooter Andrew Lester, speaks out after teen shot at wrong house in Kansas City, MO KABC-TV
- Kansas City man’s grandchildren speak out on Ralph Yarl shooting FOX4 News Kansas City
- Why wasn’t Andrew Lester charged with hate crime? Experts point to gap in Missouri law Yahoo News
- Editorial: Elderly shooter was ‘radicalized’ by Fox, grandson says. He’s likely not alone. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- In the shooting of Ralph Yarl, a reminder of the racist ‘adultification’ of Black children The Philadelphia Inquirer
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Pokimane, Twitch Streamers May Strike After $200k Gambling Scam
On Saturday, a Twitch streamer named Abraham Mohammed, better known to viewers as Sliker, admitted that he had scammed fans and other content creators out of at least $200,000 to fund his Counter-Strike: Global Offensive gambling addiction. In response, big-name streamers such as Imane “Pokimane” Anys, Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo, and Devin Nash have been coordinating a boycott of Twitch during the week of Christmas to protest the platform’s lax policies on gambling streams.
CS:GO contains weapon skins that have real-money value on Valve’s marketplace. Because the rarest skins can be worth thousands of dollars, third-party sites use them as “casino chips” for betting on the outcome of CS:GO matches. As of 2016, the skin-betting market had an estimated worth of $7 billion. Sliker received money from fans and other streamers under the false pretense that his bank account was locked and that he needed to borrow money to prevent his credit score from taking a hit. Streamer Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker was among those who gave Sliker cash after he reached out and asked for help, falsely saying that, among other financial woes and complications, his payments from Twitch hadn’t come through for that month. Piker later said, “I thought he was in need, I thought he legit needed money.” But in Saturday’s video, Sliker admitted that telling people he was simply hard up for cash had been a ruse.
In a tearful confession video, Sliker told his viewers that he’d started gambling with CS:GO skins, but eventually moved on to betting with real money. He initially used money from his first job and “all” of his Twitch income, but it wasn’t enough for him. He started borrowing money from other streamers, lying to them about why he needed the money and what the funds would be used for. In the video, he promised that he would eventually pay all his creditors back.
“I deserve punishment. Whatever happens, happens,” he said. “I don’t know what to say to the people I borrowed from…this is the epitome of gambling. I want to say don’t touch it.”
Popular streamers Pokimane, Mizkif, and Devin Nash have been discussing the responsibility of Twitch itself to take action against gambling streams, which some feel are manipulative to viewers and perhaps particularly harmful to young viewers. In a joint stream, they mentioned that some streamers made money from promoting gambling, and that gambling was one of Twitch’s most popular categories. Mizkif, attributing the idea to his acquaintance, the politics streamer Destiny, suggested that 10-20 content creators with large followings should send a joint statement to Twitch. Either the platform should take a stance against gambling streams and sponsorships, or they will go on strike during the week of Christmas. Kotaku reached out to Twitch, but did not receive a comment in time for publication. While some streamers await an answer, others are already mobilizing. Top creators like xQc and Ludwig say they’re going to pay back some of the people who were scammed, provided they have proof their money was taken. “Some of the stories are terrible,” xqc tweeted. “There’s no way we we’re gonna sit there and watch/listen. I’m done tweeting about the optics of this. I don’t give no fuck about what people think about it.”
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Of course, not all streamers engaged in the conversation share the point of view that gambling is an issue on the platform. Tyler Faraz “Trainwreck” Niknam, himself a slots streamer, tweeted that “the real problem” was the people blaming slots, blackjack, and roulette rather than the individual. He argued that sports betting is normalized, but conceded that the practice of streamers conducting giveaways by using codes that require viewers to engage in gambling is “predatory,” as is highlighting gambling wins while hiding losses on stream. However, he pulls in significant amounts of money with his own lucrative gambling streams and sponsorships. Trainwreck had previously lent Sliker $100,000.
Meanwhile, some content creators, seeing the mobilization from influential streamers around gambling, are disappointed that some of Twitch’s biggest names have been much more silent on other issues. “Where was this energy during hate raids?” asked Tanya DePass (Cypheroftyr), a content creator and activist. “Where is it for the constant racism, homophobia, transphobia & misogyny on the platform?”
Indeed, content creators seem to be much quicker to attribute the misfortune to systemic problems this time. “[Gambling] is a platform problem, not a people problem,” tweeted Devin Nash. “Create the environment for [unaccountable streamers] to thrive and they will appear.”
Update 9/20/22 7:28 p.m ET.: Twitch announced that in October, the platform will enact rules pertaining to gambling streams that ban major sites like Stake.com, with more details to follow.
Ludwig urges Twitch to ban all sponsored gambling streams amid xQc controversy
Gambling has made a return to the top of Twitch after xQc began streaming the activity despite apologizing and telling fans he wouldn’t do it again 10 months ago.
This sparked YouTube Gaming streamer Ludwig to chime in and calling upon Twitch to stop allowing sponsored gambling streams on the platform.
In a video uploaded earlier today to Ludwig’s Mogul Mail YouTube channel titled “Twitch Needs to Stop Gambling Streamers,” the former Twitch star said he believes the platform needs to crack down on these types of broadcasts.
Many fans and streamers alike have condemned xQc for his actions, but rather than blaming the Twitch star, Ludwig believes the fault lies with the Amazon-owned platform for allowing sponsored gambling streams in the first place.
“It’s a problem, but I don’t think the onus of whether you gamble or do not gamble should ever be on the streamer,” Ludwig said. “I have a theory where I just think that we shouldn’t rely on humans to have the morality that we are looking for. They should not be the ethical person. It should be the platform. The platform is the one that should dictate what is OK and not OK.”
Ludwig also outlined a straightforward guideline that he thinks would “solve” gambling on Twitch: the platform should simply stop allowing sponsored gambling streams on its site. Ludwig says that it’s too easy to gamble on stream when the money you’re using is from sponsors, but if it’s the streamer’s own money on the line, they would be far less likely to do it.
Ten months ago, xQc got into hot water and faced waves of backlash for broadcasting himself playing slots and exposing the addictive activity to his young audience. Because of this, he told fans he would never live stream gambling again and apologized for his actions. But on May 17, it seemed like the star went back on his word, returning to gambling with a paid sponsorship and saying, “I love gambling, so I’m just going to gamble.”
Twitch has yet to release an official statement about the new wave of gambling on its own site. And the platform’s biggest creator shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. XQc played slots for a second time on stream for five hours yesterday and maintained a steady viewership of over 100,000 concurrent watchers, according to TwitchTracker.
Record-breaking Twitch streamer Ludwig Ahgren is moving to YouTube
YouTube Gaming has been aggressively luring Twitch creators to its platform, and the latest to defect is “Ludwig” Ahgren. Ludwig is perhaps best known for his marathon streaming session that allowed him to break the Twitch all-time subscriber record held by Ninja, eventually hitting 283,066 all-time active subs.
Ludwig broke the news in an amusing Twitter video that showed him driving with his manager “Slime” in a purple car that eventually explodes after they get out. He then jumps into a red model, driving home the point that he’s leaving team purple for team red. “It’s pretty much the same one,” says Slime. “Yeah, it’s just like a different color,” Ludwig replies. (“We actually blew up a car and one-take-jaked it,” Slime tweeted separately.)
In a reply on Twitter, Twitch said “You’re a mogul in every sense, Ludwig. Best of luck and keep doing big things out there. However, the site has been bleeding talent to its rival of late. Ludwig’s departure follows recent moves to YouTube Gaming by Benjamin Lupo (“DrLupo”) and TimTheTatMan (Tim Betar), along with previous defections by big-name streamers Lannan “LazarBeam” Eacott, Elliott “Muselk” Watkins and Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter. Jack “CouRage” Dunlop also jumped ship in 2019.
In a separate video explaining the move, Ludwig said that he first spoke to YouTube gaming as “leverage” but planned to stay with Twitch “because I’m a Twitch guy.” However, he later realized that YouTube made more sense, in part because he wants to produce content like Mogul Money on top of game react videos.
He also noted that if he had stayed with Twitch, “I would have to be grinding hours,” and that “I loved Twitch, but it wasn’t necessarily a two-way street.” Finally, he said that while the change wasn’t necessarily about money, “YouTube offered me more money. Straight up.”
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Popular Streamer Ludwig Ahgren leaves Twitch For YouTube Gaming
Twitch streamer Ludwig Ahgren, who in April set a world record for the highest number of subscribers—at over 270,000—has left the platform and will now be streaming exclusively at YouTube Gaming.
Ludwig achieved the feat at the conclusion of a marathon 31-day streaming event, which began on March 14 and ran for too damn long. In the process, he beat the previous record, held by Tyler “Ninja” Blevins.
The move was announced earlier today by Ryan Wyatt, head of YouTube Gaming, who wrote:
I’m excited to announce @LudwigAhgren will now be streaming exclusively on @YouTubeGaming.
Our focus is building a world class VOD, short form, and live platform.
And I have to reiterate; we still aren’t done yet! Welcome to the family, Ludwig!
Ludwigs own announcement was a little less diplomatic, posting a video where the purple car (Twitch) he’s driving explodes, and he jumps in a red car (YouTube) to get home again, talking some shit about music streaming rights as the clip draws to a close.
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Harsh, perhaps, given he built his entire thing on Twitch, but given the platform’s recent woes—especially when it comes to copyright—also understandable.
He probably wouldn’t make the jump out of charity; YouTube has long thrown serious money at creators to sign them to exclusivity deals, hoping that by drawing big names they can chip away at Twitch’s dominance in the streaming space. Indeed it was only a few months ago that two other huge streaming stars, DrLupo and TimTheTatman, made the same move:
Lupo told The Washington Post this week that, as a result of his deal with YouTube, he’s now “secure for life.” He also said the deal will give him more flexibility to spend time with his family. Betar, meanwhile, didn’t explicitly comment on specific financials, but noted in an interview with Insider that streaming on YouTube will allow him, like Lupo, to spend more time with family.
Ludwig Ahgren: The Twitch Livestream Subathon
On Sunday afternoon around 2 p.m., Ludwig Ahgren, a Twitch streamer in Los Angeles, turned his camera on and began streaming. He hasn’t stopped.
Over the past five days Mr. Ahgren has maintained a near constant livestream of his life. He plays video games, chats, cooks, eats and sleeps, all on stream. In the evenings, he hosts movie nights with his viewers. Mr. Ahgren lives with five roommates and his girlfriend, and some of them also play a role on camera, helping him cook or working out together.
He even streamed himself in the shower (with shorts on).
All of this is part of what is known on Twitch as a “subathon.” A subathon is a short period of time when a streamer will engage in certain activities or stunts to accrue paid subscriptions to his or her channel. Some streamers set numeric goals. For instance, if they reach 2,000 new subs, they’ll eat something spicy on camera or play a particular game for fans.
Mr. Ahgren, 25, structured his subathon so that every new subscription adds an additional 10 seconds to a clock that dictates how long he’ll stream. When Mr. Ahgren set things up this way, he imagined that he’d be streaming for 24 hours max, maybe 48. Five days later, his subathon stream has blown up and become the top stream on Twitch, driving tens of thousands of new subscriptions daily as fans pay to see how long he can go. He has gained more than 40,000 new subscriptions since he began streaming.
“The weirdest thing is every time I wake up, it feels like it gets bigger and bigger,” Mr. Ahgren said. “Last night, I went to bed with 30,000 viewers and 60,000 subs. I woke up and I was at 70,000 viewers and 70,000 subs.”
That’s because as Mr. Ahgren sleeps, an army of fans works overtime to maximize his subscribers. They chat and play YouTube clips and videos for one another to keep the channel entertaining. Mr. Ahgren’s name has trended on Twitter twice in the past week, both times while he was asleep.
“At night, the rest of us do his content for him,” said a 21-year-old college student who goes by Happygate and acts as one of Mr. Ahgren’s moderators. “We try to keep everyone excited and highly motivated to see this go on as long as possible.”
“The sleep streams have been really interesting,” said Stephen Seaver, 15, a high school student in Georgia. “Basically what happens is his mods” — that’s short for moderators — “get on a Discord call and they’re calling and talking the entire time, shilling out of their mind for subs. The idea is that it’s funny, while he’s sleeping the timer is going up.”
Sleep streams have become popular throughout the pandemic on Twitch and TikTok, where fans say they enjoy the late-night pop-up communities that sleep streams facilitate. Creators like them because they’re able to make money literally while they sleep.
“I fell asleep on stream last night and became the most watched streamer on Twitch,” Mr. Ahgren tweeted on Monday. “What the hell is even that.” Later Monday evening, Twitch wished Mr. Ahgren “Goodnight” from its official Twitter account.
Twitch, which has been owned by Amazon since 2014, has seen a rapid surge in popularity over the past year. The site had already expanded from a place where gamers could broadcast their play of Fortnite and Call of Duty into a broader platform that included lifestyle, cooking and political streams. The coronavirus pandemic accelerated that growth as people stuck at home looked for online entertainment.
Erin Wayne, head of community and creator marketing at Twitch, said that streams like Mr. Ahgren’s were becoming more prevalent on the platform. “It’s the idea of multiplayer entertainment, where the community is able to impact the content that a creator makes, will continue to grow in popularity,” she said. “The person consuming the content is able to directly impact, and, in some cases, dictate what happens in the content they consume. It’s so inherently unique to Twitch. I think that’s why these types of marathons or subscriber streams are so popular.”
Mr. Ahgren’s stream can be seen as an extension of the trend of creators monetizing more and more parts of their lives, from daily decisions on what to eat or wear to who they should hang out with. Streams like his can generate a deeper connection with fans, who view the subathon as a collective community experience.
“No matter what time of day you tune in, his stream is up and running, and you’ll see many familiar faces in chat,” Nathan Grayson, a gaming reporter, wrote at Kotaku. “It’s only been running for three days, but it already feels like comfort food.”
It was this type of comfort and connection that Mr. Seaver said drew him in. “Even though the content of the stream might not be particularly special, it’s the fact that you’re all part of this community watching this really rare event,” he said. “You get to watch Ludwig’s entire life for days. It’s not great for him, but you get so much content out of it and you get that you as a community got together and were able to see this thing happen.”
As a result, more and more people have been able to earn a living through streaming on the platform full time, with a handful of the highest-earning streamers making more than $1 million a year, according to a September study by the online lender CashNetUS.
Twitch’s growth mirrors the overall boom in the gaming industry in 2020. Stay-at-home orders combined with the release of a new generation of video game consoles from Microsoft and Sony in November led to a financial bonanza; gamers spent a record $56.9 billion last year in the United States, up 27 percent from 2019, according to the NPD Group.
While Mr. Ahgren has already made six figures off his stream, he has encouraged his young fans to be responsible with their money. “I’ve been just telling them, ‘Hey, don’t use your stimulus check on me,’” he said. “Make sure your bread is right before giving it away.”
No one knows how long Mr. Ahgren can go. Other Twitch streamers have streamed relatively continuously for over 31 days, but Mr. Ahgren said he couldn’t imagine things would get to that point.
He does have a trip coming up to visit his girlfriend’s family in a week several hours north, so he’s hoping things will end before then. If it doesn’t, he’ll have to figure out a way to take his stream on the road. “I think this is a cool, once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Mr. Ahgren said of his stream. “I’m kind of excited every day to wake up because it’s never going to happen to me again.”
Kellen Browning contributed reporting.