Twitch.tv streamer Brian ‘PoShYbRiD’ Vigneault has been found dead after a 24-hour streaming session for Charity on Twitch. It’s speculated that he died due to heart complications from severe sleep deprivation.
Here’s the known information about the incident so far, via a mod, posting in PoShY’s Twitch chat:
Known info so far: Around 3:30AM CST Poshy said he was going for smokes and left the stream running, He never returned. around 11AM CST we were all still here assuming he had fallen asleep. around 19:00 Sorelor sees him online in discord and messages him. The person who responded identified himself as a detective and asked Sore to call him. Sore spoke wiht him, Called the Virginia Beach police department to confirm the detectives identity. The detective confirmed Brian had passed.
Poshy was very well known for chain-smoking and drinking on stream, and was a popular streamer of World of Tanks. The WoT community was informed just 18 hours ago, and many in the community have sent their condolences.
This is far from the first time that someone has died after playing video games for an extended period of time. There were a few notable cases of folks dying in PC bangs in South Korea and Taiwan – but they weren’t live streaming when it occurred.
As a word of caution, any streamer (experienced or not) should not attempt a 24-hour live stream (or more) without seeing a physician first to be sure that their body can handle it.
It’s also worth pointing out that while this is an extreme example, much of Twitch’s community feel like they have to always be streaming in an effort to grow their fanbases. Kotaku recently did an interview with a variety of streamers about the pressures they feel to keep the momentum going – well worth the read to learn a thing or two about the folks who sacrifice their personal lives to keep us entertained.
Update: The Virginia Beach Police Department confirmed Poshy’s death to Kotaku, but has not yet pinned down the exact cause of death.
The moderators of Poshy’s Twitch stream have turned his channel into a memorial, where users have been sending their condolences.
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