A famous Fortnite player has received a life ban for violating the user license agreement.
The game developer of Fortnite, Epic Games, has passed down a permament ban to 17-year old Jarvis Khattri. The British player violated their user license agreement when he downloaded and used modification software, giving him an unfair advantage when he was playing.
Jarvis is a popular Fortnite player, amassing over two million subscribers on YouTube. He is also part of the gaming esports organization FaZe Clan.
What did he do?
Jarvis filmed a video of him using aimbot software, which is deemed as cheating in the eyes of Epic Games. It is a software program that rewrites the game’s code. Using aimbot, Jarvis was able to see his opponents on the map. He also enjoyed one hundred percent accuracy with every shot he fired.
Under Section 2 – License Conditions of the Fortnite user license agreement, it is stated: “in the event that Cheats are identified, you agree that Epic may exercise any or all of its rights under this Agreement.”
The Fortnite user license agreement allows gamers to play Fortnite, but “(they) may only make use of the License if (they) comply with all applicable terms.”
By Jarvis using a software program deemed as a cheating modification, Epic Games gave him a hardware and internet provider ban, signifying a permanent ban.
Here is the video of Jarvis announcing the ban to his YouTube subscribers. At the time of this article, this is the number 6 trending video on YouTube:
Barbara Khattri, Jarvis’ mom, was interviewed by Mail Online. She told them, “(Jarvis is) broken. He loves that game. He doesn’t have a devious bone in his body, and what I really know is that for any mistake that doesn’t physically harm a person, there should be the chance to make amends.”
A #FreeJarvis hashtag has been popping up all over social media since the ban was announced. A lot of people argue that this was a one-time event with Jarvis, and he wasn’t using the mod during a legitimate competition. Jarvis was making a video for his subscribers, and his fans are calling for a warning, not a permanent ban.
Other Fortnite players and fans have pointed out a level unfairness when it comes to Epic Games’ choice to ban Jarvis. Earlier this year, professional Fortnite players were caught colluding with each other to raise their scores for the qualifying rounds of the World Cup. XXiF and Ronaldo both received 14-day bans after they were caught being fed kills by other players during the qualifiers.
People contrast the two different cheating events: XXiF and Ronaldo only received a 14-day ban, and they were competing in a tournament worth millions of dollars. Jarvis was cheating to make a fun video for his fans to watch.
It will be interesting if Epic Games takes the other example of cheating into consideration or if they will stick with their decision to make an example out of Jarvis.
