The disappearance of Rich Campbell
The muted mic of a once incessant influencer
It’s been almost five months since Rich Campbell, who was then a Twitch partner and co-founder of the gaming organisation OTK, was accused by Azalia Lexi of sexual assault in a Tweet, followed shortly by a Twitlonger post, where she described a shockingly painful experience of a night with the widely followed streamer.
It was hard news to read and it sent shockwaves throughout the gaming community at the time. The allegation triggered Rich’s resignation from OTK, following which the talkative streamer made one final Tweet, vowing to share his side of the story before halting all identifiable online activity and content generation. He hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
What am I to make of the radio silence?
At times I’ve been tempted to try to make something out of it. Like many, I’ve felt a desire for a conclusion in place of the void that we were left with. Searching for closure, I found myself looking back through content, older and newer videos, searching for answers or themes. Ultimately, I found that pointless. I could come up with ideas that supported one theory or another but at the end of the day, I’m just another directionless ex-viewer of Rich’s streams, who read the allegation, watched the buzz around it and then heard nothing more. How uncomfortable.
I’m writing this story as a form of catharsis for my own mix of feelings about a streamer who I followed, who no longer appears on the screen. Given the serious and disturbing nature of the allegation, those who may find it difficult to read such a story may be best advised to discontinue reading at this point.
I think that the allegation and the community’s reactions to it are the last substantial references to Rich that are publicly available. At least currently. For me this created a lens through which I might find myself viewing his previous content although I can also remember it without that lens. Is that lens clarifying or distorting? I’m not sure.
What I do know is that I’m not alone in my reflection on the streamer’s absence. His Reddit is continually visited by users, some withholding judgement, others taking one side or another. Some say that the lengthy silence must be an indication of guilt, whereas others say that it’s simply legal counsel advising quietness.
I miss watching the Rich that I remember. To me he seemed to have an admirable balance of being hardworking and playful. He was a great caster and a natural entertainer. A skilled gamer, and knowledgeable too. He was flamboyant and brought an unmatched level of energy on camera.
Occasionally, I’ll watch some old content. Like an episode of Allcraft. The Scuffed Wendy’s stream was my favourite. Just two guys hanging out, being friends.
I remember hearing of Blizzard’s decision in 2019 to stop letting Rich cast the Arena World Championships. Watching the video that he put together about it and thinking how talented he was. He brought a lot of enthusiasm and livened up the tournaments.
I felt jealous when Rich announced that he was becoming a full-time streamer. I’d lost my own job a year or two beforehand and the closest things I had to a stream to fall back on were my blog, this Medium account and my book that remains unpublished, none of which were monetised or even read by more than a handful of people. Most of my stories were terrible, whereas Rich had put a lot of effort into his stream and it was popping off. “Welcome to the Rich Kids” he’d say when someone subscribed. I have a memory of watching him play Project 60, which I think was like an informal collective preparation for Classic WoW shortly after going fulltime on Twitch, where he ordered a cheeseburger. I wanted a cheeseburger.
That said, I remember Rich’s room looking freezing cold at the time. I wondered if maybe he didn’t want to spend money on heating his apartment given that he’d just lost his job. That was only my speculation though.
I think being an independent streamer gave Rich a platform for his creative spirit. I guess it might have let him be himself more. I’m sure his friendship with Asmongold was of some help to his stream although he had already become known within the community for his casting. I would often tune into Allcraft too.
It might be that part of my reminiscence of watching Rich comes from that time in general. I’d only recently discovered Asmon and Staysafe. And started playing WoW again. I got a new job, some simple temp work. I’d leave the office at 5pm and watch the intro to Asmon’s stream on the train home. Chat went nuts typing “asmonsmash” to Lempo, Jambi and Bohemian Rhapsody. Twitch had many skilled entertainers but Asmon was on a different level. An utter rockstar.
I watched Asmon show support for his friend after a sacking that I think a lot of organisations might have dished out following the public “Ants in Bobby Kotick’s maze” rant. When he spoke about Rich’s outburst, Asmon explained “None of us hate the game and because of that, it’s important to understand that while we might criticize it, while we might be frustrated about it we, deep down inside, care about it. We love the game.” Asmon cared about his friend too.
As far as I could tell, getting sacked from Blizzard hardly put a dent in Rich’s career, and it wasn’t long before OTK was announced. “I truly feel like my entire journey has led to this moment” wrote Rich on Twitter “And I get to do it all with my best friends”.
I think the Rich that I remember valued friendship. To me it seemed like a theme that ran through his content like a mithril seam. Even In Azalia’s Twitlonger she acknowledged “I always had a deep love for rich as person and friend as the beginning of our friendship he was there for me like not a lot of people are”.
“Originally it was just really Rich and I” began Asmon in the OTK reveal video. “We came up with this idea of making an org and building the org around our friends”. And build it they did. As of May 2023 the organisation has ten prominent members, 303k Twitch followers and last year won Best Content Organization at The Streamer Awards.
I heard various explanations for why the organisation was named One True King. I’d always assumed that it came from the last line of the Wrath of the Lich King teaser trailer. Back when WoW was in its prime.
As Rich’s fame grew, he occasionally got carried away splurging out on in-game items in Genshin Impact. I got the feeling that he could afford it but he decided to talk to Dr. K about it. “I’m a relatively… … I’m an extremely impulsive person” he said in his meeting with the Healthy Gamer co-founder and they talked about some of Rich’s history. Dr. K noted that Rich was insightful and said he thought Rich “had the stats for it” when it came to walking the path of further learning about himself.
Interviews with Dr. K almost became a rite of passage for Twitch’s largest streamers, some of whom are no strangers themselves to the kinds of antics for which Rich might have become known, from spending thousands of dollars on Pokémon cards to furious venting about Blizzard.
Twitch is home to a variety of different characters and some of them made videos after the allegation came out. Like the allegation itself, they didn’t make for comfortable viewing and were delivered quite bluntly so this comes with a trigger warning.
She got played super hard by a **** boy” said Destiny in his analysis of the Twitlonger “and maybe r*ped?” he continued “the most important details are kind of kept a little bit ambiguous”. When asked if he had background knowledge on the case he replied “uhmm, I’ve heard like whisperings of like, Rich being kind of like creepy like, randomly floating through the ether but it’s like nothing solid”. “I believe her account of the events here cause they’re pretty consistent with the text messages” he also said.
Staysafe had released a more thorough video on the allegation, paving the way for some of Destiny’s blunt common sense advice on dealing with the persistent and manipulative behaviour described in the Twitlonger. “At this point you should just probably leave” he cautioned after reading how Rich had allegedly performed a sexual act on himself in front of Azalia and continually attempted to take her clothes off , to which she objected.
Staysafe cautioned viewers not to form their own conclusions about the alleged incident. “If the burden of proof is as low as you want it to be, what happens when someone comes for you with no proof?” he reasoned. He also spoke firmly on the question of whether OTK’s statement gave any indication of what had happened that night “It’s actually so braindead that people are taking this as a sign that Rich is guilty” he commented, “that’s like the dumbest take possible” he added, explaining that it was standard practice for businesses to treat serious allegations in this way, noting that OTK had corporate sponsors.
Asmon’s response seemed less analytical and more moving. “As soon as we pretty much found out and y’know, looked into it and saw what was… what was going on, uh, we had Rich resign from the org” the somber leader began. If OTK’s statement had been a business decision, Asmon’s tone seemed to me to convey a much deeper sadness. “Rich, like he said was, y’know, my friend [ ] and I wanna talk about it on a personal level”.
With a heavy heart, Asmon emphasised the seriousness of the allegation, telling viewers “I read everything. I also know a few other things as well. This is not drama. This is not getting cancelled. These are crimes”. He went on to plead with viewers not to discredit Lexi. “We are on their side” he said, seemingly referring to her and I think potentially any other girls that might come forward with stories “that’s why Rich is gone”. He also asked his audience not to take out any of their feelings on OTK’s other owners or employees, offering to “tank it” and encouraged any people who were “affected” by Rich to “seriously consider legal recourse”.
I visit Rich’s Reddit page from time to time to see what people are saying there. Once a week, I jump on the max level rogue alt that I named after him years ago and complete the weekly pickpocketing quest in Suramar. When the allegation came out, I thought about renaming the alt. I haven’t yet. I have seven other max level rogue alts, some of whom are named after other streamers. Is Rich now an ex-streamer? Will we ever hear from him again?
Will we hear his side?
Sources
Azalia Lexi Tweet, 15th December 2022 https://twitter.com/Azalialexi/status/1603499305045618689
Azalia Lexi Twitlonger, 16th December, 2022
https://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1ss6utn
ALLCRAFT S2E23 — Scuffed Wendy’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCZoqvT8l_g
The Story of RIchwCampbell | Genius, Homeless, Caster Extraordinaire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mrssKY9r7U
I Will No Longer Be Part of the World of Warcraft Championship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts3rkiCIGS0
Criticizing WoW = Getting FIRED! Asmongold Reacts To Host Rich Campbell “No More Commentating”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlBnGKmYtsg
The Asmongold announcement: OTK Reveal
https://youtu.be/Irx5lRUDul8
Why You’re Impulsive ft. Rich Campbell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfKSO0PplGA
Rich Campbell DMs Leak, Gets Fired From OTK Instantly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP3TnXgyK0w
StaysafeTV on the Rich Campbell Allegations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyWultW9_xI
