You might have read the story about the disabled CS:GO player Adam "Loop" Bahriz who was bullied in a competitive match before being kicked from the server. The story was heart breaking, and became the most popular topic of discussion among the CS:GO community for more than 48 hours after the incident.
In an effort to answer the large number of questions that fellow players had for Loop, he decided to host an AMA on the CS:GO subreddit just hours ago. The questions were wide reaching, with most focusing on what happened after news broke that he was kicked only seven rounds into a match, and how it has changed his life.
Loop most remembers being upset before a surge of viewers hit his stream. The thousands of people who would visit were linked on forums and through media coverage, but most notably on a top-ranking subreddit post that earned more than 8,000 upvotes. Although he normally only has about 10 to 40 viewers at any given time, it quickly jumped to over 2,000, and later 5,000. This set a new record for his stream, and gave him the long-awaited opportunity to showcase his skills to a large audience.
Loop recalled, "I felt like crying the whole time, and I did, because getting to where I am now has been an absolutely massive grind, so to see all my work pay off (improving as a player, stream quality, interacting with chat etc…I swear I worked so damn hard for this and it finally payed off."
He added, "I felt like I was doing something right this time, because previously when I blew up on
reddit, I got 700 viewers which was great but my numbers were steadily dropping because I wasn't nearly as consistent as I am now. But this time, I just started fragging like I usually do and my viewercount kept going up up up and up…that's why I was crying."
His family learned about what happened just hours later, and although his Mom initially cried when she saw the videos, his parents are happy with how everything turned out.
Loop noted that this was the first time he had been bullied and kicked so quickly. "I've had a lot of situations with people mocking my voice for an entire game", he said, "telling me to kill myself, calling me a troll even when I link my twitch etc. It's kinda annoying but I just block them".
Loop says that the best moment of all was when he delivered an incredibly impressive 1v5 clutch in front of more than 5,000 viewers.
The outpouring of support has been equally welcomed and surprising, with Loop stating, "I have saved FAR more than that actually, could probably pay for college courses/textbooks with the money that remains after I get surgery."
The surgery he mentions is to repair his nose since it has been severely damaged over the years as a result of his HSAN type 2 disease.
Professional eSports organization EnvyUs has since offered Loop a contract as a full-time streamer to represent its brand, and Loop is waiting to sign the contract which could help give him a more reliable income stream.
You can watch Loop in action by visiting his Twitch channel here.