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A professional Fortnite player – Jarvis Kaye, known as FaZe Jarvis and a member of esports team FaZe Clan – has been banned from the game for life because he used cheat software (via Sky News).
Epic Games hit Jarvis with the strict sanction when he was found to be using an aimbot in a casual Solos match on an alternate account. Because aimbots provide an automated assist in the game, the player has an unmerited advantage against their competitors. The developer has communicated that cheat software is not tolerated in Fortnite and its use ‘can result in action against your account all the way up to a permanent ban.’
In an apology video, Jarvis expressed regret for his actions. ‘I’ve actually been banned on Fortnite for life,’ he revealed. ‘Recently, I’ve posted some videos of me using aimbot in solos and playground mode. All I was thinking about while I was making those videos was just how entertaining and interesting these videos would be for you guys to watch. It didn’t even cross my mind that I could be banned for life on Fortnite.’
I’m going to take accountability for my actions and I understand completely why this has happened, I just wish I had known how severe the consequences were at the time and I would have never thought about doing it. I love all of you who still support me, this is not the end.
— FaZe Jarvis (@liljarviss) November 3, 2019
‘We have a zero tolerance policy for the usage of cheat software,’ Epic Games said in a statement to Polygon. ‘When people use aimbots or other cheat technologies to gain an unfair advantage, they ruin games for people who are playing fairly.’ Nevertheless, a handful of fans are rallying around the pro player and citing instances of cheating where the punishment was dramatically different. For example, Fortnite players XXiF and Ronaldo were found to be cheating during the Fortnite World Cup online qualifiers. They were banned for only two weeks and they went on to qualify for the competition.
Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins weighed in on the conversation in his November 4 livestream. ‘He’s still super young, so I think he’s just a stupid kid making a stupid decision, and didn’t really think about it,’ he rationalised. ‘It wasn’t a tournament, wasn’t a Cash Cup, it should be maybe a six-month ban from competitive. Permanent though?’ He then added that this is Jarvis’ first offense and that he has a career which generates revenue for Fortnite.
‘There’s a difference between a content creator who has millions of subscribers, who then gets banned from what makes him money, and some kid who is just a piece of s*** who has zero followings, zero money from gaming,’ Ninja explained. ‘You ban that kid, nothing happens. You ban Jarvis, the stakes are different, it should be handled differently… let’s stop acting like there’s no favouritism in the world, there is.’
