Skip to main content

Trihex got banned from GDQ. He gets no sympathy from me.

I have written before about why have I stopped watching, following and supporting the Games Done Quick charity marathons, for several reasons, most prominently because they have since many years ago stopped being the grassroots hobbyist community that they started as, and become completely soulless corporate trash with an iron grip tyrannical zero-tolerance policies that punish and ban participants with harsh punishments for the most minor of infractions (and sometimes even without a shred of proof). It also doesn't exactly help that the events are quite clearly run and supported by regressive leftist ideologues, and that can be seen (both in their presentation, and their rules and enforcement of those rules).

Since almost the beginning, one of the most famous, prominent and beloved speedrunners is a guy who goes by the nickname Trihex, who has participated in almost every one of the marathons. He has the distinction of being an almost perfect speedrunner both from the perspective of the grassroots speedrunning hobbyist community, as well as being extraordinarily corporate-friendly. Thus he quickly became one of the "faces" of GDQ, one of the most beloved, liked and followed speedrunners of the event. He seems to be a very down-to-earth guy who is nice and sympathetic, and who doesn't really care about all the drama and just wants to speedrun for a good cause, and has a good public presence during the events, and the public loves him.

Well, what do you know, the infamous and relentless GDQ ban-hammer stroke once again, and recently banned him from all GDQ events for a year and a half. Why? Because someone noticed that something like a year or so ago he said the word "fag" in the heat of the moment during a Twitch stream session. That's it. That one word, and he was banned from GDQ for a year and a half. And on top of that, he got a 30-day suspension from Twitch.

Mind you, this is one of the nicest persons out there, beloved by the community, and one of the public faces of GDQ. The word was uttered in the heat of the moment. But nope. No leniency. No understanding. No mercy. He must be harshly punished for that one word.

But he gets no sympathy from me. Why? Well, that's a bit long to explain, so bear with me.

The punishment he got is completely out of proportions and unjustified, given the severity of the "crime". The GDQ organizers could have simply ignored it and attributed it to thoughtlessness uttered in the heat of the moment. At most they could have rebuked him officially, but otherwise left it at that (even that would be too much in my personal opinion, but if it just had been that, I wouldn't really have too much of a problem with it). But no, they had to give him one of the harshest punishments, because of that one single utterance of that word. And even Twitch.tv themselves joined the jury-judge-executioner crowd and gave him a 30-day ban.

This completely disproportionate overblown punishment is a symptom of the underlying ideology and agenda running both GDQ and Twitch: An oppressive tyrannical system that seeks to forcefully impose their ideology and their rules onto people. Giving harsh disproportionate punishments to people for the most minor of infractions of an endless set of arbitrary rules is what totalitarian tyrants do. They want to rule by fear. They want to scare people into submission, and to make them afraid of going against the system. They want people to be constantly walking on eggshells, constantly afraid of breaking the rules.

Such harsh punishments serve a dual purpose: Not only does it entice the person himself to become submissive and repentant, and to start obeying the rules of the oppressors, but it also acts as a warning and example to others: Don't do this, or you'll get punished as well.

So what did Trihex do when he received this unjust disproportionate punishment for a completely minor "crime"? Well, not only did he acknowledge the validity of the punishment and profusely apologize, but moreover he started trying to make amends and to "learn" about "trans rights", "hate speech" and whatnot.

In other words, the punishment worked 100% with him: He became completely submissive, apologetic, and willing to submit to the tyrannical oppressors, and to try to change himself into a "better" person, from the tyrants' point of view.

This is the coward's way. It does not take courage to submit to the tyranny. It does not take courage to accept your punishment, acknowledge that it was justified, and to profusely apologize for your "crime". That's the easy way.

What does take courage is to stand up against the oppressors. What does take courage is to say: "No, I will not accept your judgment of me. What I said might have been inappropriate, but your punishment for it is absolutely disproportionate and an injustice. This is not justice. This is oppression. I will not apologize to you, nor acknowledge the validity of your claims against me. My "crime" does not deserve this. The only thing you are trying to do is to try to make me fearful and to submit to your rule. I will not do that."

That would require real courage. But no. He chose the coward's way. He chose to submit.

Thus, he gets no sympathy from me. I will not defend him if he doesn't want to defend himself. If he wants to submit to the oppressors and the tyrants, then he deserves all the punishment that those oppressors bestow on him. I might feel a bit of pity for him, but no sympathy. He's on his own. He chose his path, he chose to support the oppressors, so he should bear the consequences.

Comments