Wikipedia

Tyler1

This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 9 December 2024.

Tyler Steinkamp (born March 7, 1995[2]), better known as Tyler1, is an American online streamer and League of Legends player.

Tyler1
Steinkamp in 2021
Personal information
Born
Tyler Steinkamp

(1995-03-07) March 7, 1995 (age 29)
Missouri, U.S.
Other names
  • loltyler1
  • T1
Occupations
  • Twitch streamer
  • YouTuber
Websitewww.loltyler1.com
Twitch information
Channel
Years active2016–present
GenreGaming
GameLeague of Legends
Followers5.3 million
YouTube information
Channel
Subscribers2.73 million Edit this at Wikidata[1]
(March 2024)
Total views579.8 million[1]
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers
Last updated: April 5, 2024

Steinkamp first gained notoriety when he was indefinitely banned from League of Legends in April 2016 for his toxic and disruptive behavior toward other players, earning him the nickname "The Most Toxic Player in North America."[3] He was unbanned in 2018 after an appeal. His first stream after reinstatement peaked at over 382,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch, which broke a non-tournament record on the site.[4]

As of 2021, Steinkamp is currently one of the most popular online streamers.[5]

Career

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2014–2016: Initial popularity and ban

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In 2014, Steinkamp achieved Challenger (the highest rank in League of Legends) and 13th overall on the North American ladder. He was infamous among other high ranking players for his skill in playing the character Draven, but also for his toxic behavior. He verbally abused teammates and intentionally lost the game after perceived slights from his teammates.[6] This behavior eventually led to permanent bans on 22 unique accounts over several years.[7]

Steinkamp later increased his toxic behavior in order to draw in more viewers. In April 2016 he produced a video compilation of his toxic behavior with a promise to reform. The video received over 2 million views on YouTube.[3] His Twitch channel increased from around 5,700 followers to over 92,000 followers by the end of the month. His improved behavior quickly lapsed but his following continued to grow, prompting high profile and professional players such as Meteos and Doublelift to publicly condemn his behavior.[8]

On April 30, 2016, Riot Games employee "Riot Socrates" announced that due to "a well-documented history" of verbal abuse and player harassment, Steinkamp would no longer be allowed to own a League of Legends account, adding, "this dragged on too long, but we want you to know when the rare player comes along who's a genuine jerk, we've still got your back."[9] Going forward, Riot would ban any account he played on, even if he had not yet broken any rules.[3]

2016–2018: Variety content

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After becoming banned, Steinkamp continued to try to play League of Legends, but as soon as he publicly streamed himself playing, Riot Games would quickly discover it and ban his account.[6] He also tried playing in his free time, repeatedly creating new accounts and climbing the competitive ladder before those too were discovered and banned.[3] Unable to play League of Legends, Steinkamp was forced to branch out to other games to entertain his viewers, such as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.[10] He also hosted non-gaming streams such as cosplaying as Bob Ross[11] and teaching his viewers how to cook.[6] Despite the ban, Steinkamp's following continued to grow, and he withdrew from university to focus on online content creation full time.[3]

In November 2017, Steinkamp hosted an online League of Legends tournament called the Tyler1 Championship Series (TCS). A parody of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS), Steinkamp streamed in front of a green screen to images of LCS stadiums and a commentators' desk. The tournament peaked at over 200,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch and was viewed by professional players and LCS casters. The winning team was awarded $10,000, funded from Steinkamp directly and without any sponsors.[12]

2018: Unban

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In August 2017, Riot Games community manager Phreak announced that Steinkamp would not be unbanned as some of his recent accounts had been penalized for verbal abuse.[13] However, in October Riot Games employee Aaron "Sanjuro" Rutledge made insulting remarks about Steinkamp in the official r/LeagueOfLegends Subreddit's Discord server, saying Steinkamp looked like a "homunculus" and that he would die "from a coke overdose or testicular cancer from all the steroids." The company responded saying "what was said is NOT okay, and we take it extremely seriously", apologizing to Steinkamp and to the League of Legends community. Steinkamp responded to the incident saying, "It really sucks that some people still hold a grudge... and refuse to acknowledge I've changed." A few days later, investigative esports journalist Richard Lewis reported that Rutledge no longer worked at Riot Games.[14]

Fans began bringing "#FreeTyler1" signs to LCS games, which Riot Games later prohibited in the summer finals.[11] Soon after, Steinkamp announced on stream that he received an email from Riot Games that his ban would be lifted at the end of the year if the accounts he played in the last month were "clean" of abusive behavior.[10]

In January 2018, Steinkamp was unbanned.[15][10] Tyler's first stream after he became unbanned in January 2018 peaked at over 382,000 viewers, breaking the record for the most concurrent viewers for an individual streamer on Twitch set by Faker in 2017.[16] This record was broken a month later by Dr Disrespect's first stream after returning from a 2-month hiatus, although due to conflicting media reporting and technical issues with Twitch, sources disagree whether the record was actually broken.[17]

2018–present: Return to League of Legends

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Today, Steinkamp is one of the most popular online streamers. He estimates he earns more than $300,000 each year from merch alone, and estimates he has earned over $5 million in total during his streaming career.[5] He has won the "Best League of Legends Streamer" award at The Streamer Awards in 2022[18] and 2023.[19]

On April Fools' Day 2018, Steinkamp produced "A Day in the Life of Tyler1," a parody of his life in front of a green screen.[20]

In June 2018, during an angry rant about recent changes to the game, Steinkamp admitted he was addicted to League of Legends, prompting other members of the community to share their addiction stories and share advice from Riot Games employees.[21]

In September 2018, Riot Games invited Steinkamp to play in a "Streamer Showmatch" at the Oakland Arena with Imaqtpie and other content creators.[22] He was also invited to commentate with Mark "MarkZ" Zimmerman on the analyst desk for the 2018 NA LCS Summer Finals.[11]

The TCS returned in November 2018 with an increased prize pool of $50,000, funded again by Steinkamp directly.[23] Polygon's Austen Goslin praised particularly its improvement in quality compared to the previous tournament, saying, "What started out as a meme... has morphed into something resembling a real online third-party tournament."[24] In December 2019 the TCS returned for a third time. Former Echo Fox team owner Rick Fox joined Steinkamp to commentate the first match. The tournament peaked at over 90,000 concurrent viewers.[25]

In 2020, to prove a point, Steinkamp began a "Jungle Challenge" to achieve Challenger (the game's highest competitive rank) in the jungle role. He briefly took a break from streaming to focus on the goal full time. He achieved that goal in May 2020 after 1,800 games played.[26] He accomplished the same goal in the top lane role in June 2021 after 1,741 games played[27] and the mid lane role in September 2021 after 1,800 games played.[28] In February 2022 he reached Challenger on the final role of support after 450 games, an achievement few players have done in all five roles in League of Legends.[29] Riot Games celebrated his accomplishment on Twitter and sent Steinkamp a custom-made gift of five medals, one for each role he reached Challenger in.[30]

In October 2020, Steinkamp was signed by South Korean esports team T1 as a content creator.[31] The organization produced a video with Steinkamp and T1 player Faker at the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas.[32] The organization parted ways with Steinkamp in 2022.[33]

In 2023, Steinkamp developed an interest for online chess. He played 2,435 games in 76 days, an average of 32 games per day.[34] Later that year he was invited to compete in the amateur chess tournament PogChamps.[35] In February 2024, he won "Best Chess Streamer" at The Streamer Awards.[36] In March 2024, Steinkamp reached 1705 Elo on Chess.com, a rating that is in the top 1.5% of all players on the site.[37] He achieved a peak Elo of 1960 two months later, placing him in the top 0.6%.[38]

Since his unban, Steinkamp remained notorious for verbal toxicity. During an October 2022 stream sponsored by Blizzard Entertainment shortly after its release of Overwatch 2, it was revealed he had already been banned from the game's chat; a roll-over from his 10 year ban in Overwatch 1.[39] In July 2022, after losing a match, he accused one of his teammates of wintrading a player on the opposing team. It was revealed they were players of the amateur team Team Ambition and were removed from the team after an investigation.[40] In 2024, Steinkamp made hostile remarks about professional player CoreJJ after a poor performance in his game, calling him a "paycheck-stealing LCS [player]."[41]

Personal life

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Steinkamp studied computer science at Central Methodist University before withdrawing to focus on his streaming career.[6] While at Central Methodist University, he played as a running back for the university's football team.[42][43]

In an interview with The Washington Post, Steinkamp said he pays his mother $70,000 per year to cook dinner for him.[5]

On December 17, 2023, Steinkamp announced on social media that his girlfriend Macaiyla was pregnant.[44] Their daughter was born on April 11, 2024.[45]

Awards and nominations

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Awards and nominations for Tyler1
Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.
2022 The Streamer Awards Best League of Legends Streamer Won [18]
2023 Won [19]
Feb 2024 Best Chess Streamer Won [36]
Dec 2024 Best MOBA Streamer Nominated [46][47]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "About loltyler1". YouTube.
  2. ^ Tsiaoussidis, Alex (June 30, 2022). "Who is Tyler1? History, Twitch earnings, age, setup, more". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e Friedman, Daniel (January 8, 2018). "The difficulty in banning the 'most toxic League of Legends player in North America'". Polygon. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  4. ^ Goslin, Austen (January 8, 2018). "Tyler1 breaks Twitch records in his first stream after his ban". The Rift Herald. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c Harwell, Drew (December 2, 2021). "Up all night with a Twitch millionaire: The loneliness and rage of the Internet's new rock stars". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d The Story of Tyler1. theScore esports. October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  7. ^ Bell, Brian (January 18, 2018). "The Most Toxic League of Legends Player Is Back, But Riot May Have Stunted His #Reformation". Paste. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  8. ^ Dator, James (April 30, 2016). "Popular toxic League of Legends streamer Tyler1 issued permanent ban". The Rift Herald. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  9. ^ "The indefinite banning of Tyler1". Riot Games. April 30, 2016. Archived from the original on March 14, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  10. ^ a b c Van Allen, Eric (January 4, 2018). "Riot Games Unbans Tyler1, A Player It Once Called A 'Genuine Jerk'". Kotaku. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  11. ^ a b c Erzberger, Tyler (October 1, 2018). "Tyler1's road to League of Legends redemption". ESPN. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  12. ^ Erzberger, Tyler (November 29, 2017). "League of Legends returns to grassroots with Tyler1 Championship Series". ESPN. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  13. ^ Friedman, Daniel (January 9, 2018). "How Riot may have made it impossible to keep 'the most toxic League of Legends player' banned". Polygon. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  14. ^ Goslin, Andrew (October 3, 2017). "Sanjuro has reportedly been fired from Riot following comments about Tyler1". The Rift Herald.
  15. ^ Goslin, Austen (January 4, 2018). "Tyler1 has officially been unbanned by Riot". The Rift Herald. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  16. ^ Chalk, Andy (January 8, 2018). "382,000 people tune in to watch the return of notoriously toxic LoL player". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  17. ^ Alexander, Julia (February 6, 2018). "Dr. DisRespect sets huge new Twitch streaming record, beating Tyler1". Polygon. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  18. ^ a b Polhamus, Blaine (March 13, 2022). "All 2022 Streamer Award Winners". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  19. ^ a b Snavely, Adam (March 11, 2023). "Streamer Awards 2023: All results and winners for every category". Dot Esports. Gamurs. Retrieved March 12, 2023.
  20. ^ Alexander, Julia (April 2, 2018). "League of Legends' most notorious streamer hosts eccentric 45-minute movie on Twitch". Polygon. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  21. ^ Best, Matt (June 13, 2018). "Riot Responds to User With League Addiction". VPESPORTS. Archived from the original on August 6, 2020. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  22. ^ Patterson, Calum (September 9, 2018). "League of Legends Streamers Tyler1 and Imaqtpie Face Off in Showmatch at NA LCS Playoffs – Highlights". Dexerto. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  23. ^ Miceli, Max (November 29, 2018). "What Can We Expect From the Tyler1 Championship Series Finals on Twitch?". Esports Observer.
  24. ^ Goslin, Austen (November 30, 2018). "How to watch the Tyler1 Championship Series Finals". Rift Herald.
  25. ^ Erzberger, Tyler (December 20, 2019). "From permaban to poster boy, Tyler1's TCS is a League of Legends staple". ESPN. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  26. ^ Amos, Andrew (May 28, 2020). "Tyler1 declares he's "the GOAT" after finishing jungle-only LoL challenge". Dexerto. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  27. ^ Tsiaoussidis, Alex (June 1, 2021). "Tyler1 explodes after finally beating his LoL challenge in 1741 games". Dexerto. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  28. ^ Robson, Shay (September 23, 2021). "Tyler1 lays out his demands to Riot after reaching Challenger as mid-laner". Dexerto. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  29. ^ Scotti, Lawrence (February 19, 2022). "Tyler1 finally hits Challenger in every role & celebrates by trashing League Support players". Dexerto. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  30. ^ Polhamus, Blaine (February 23, 2022). "Tyler1 receives custom gift from Riot after reaching Challenger rank in all 5 League roles". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  31. ^ Lupasco, Cristian (October 17, 2020). "T1 signs Tyler1 as a content creator". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  32. ^ O'Brien, Joe (January 22, 2020). "Tyler1 spanked for not finishing 20,000 calorie burger on date with Faker". Dexerto. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  33. ^ Datuin, Sage (February 1, 2022). "Tyler1 parts ways with T1". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  34. ^ Martinello, Eva (October 9, 2023). "Tyler1 is only new to chess but it turns out he's surprisingly good". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  35. ^ "PogChamps 5 Lineup Revealed Feat. xQc, Tyler1, QTCinderella And More, Action Starts July 26". Chess.com. July 25, 2023. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  36. ^ a b Michael, Cale; Taifalos, Nicholas (February 18, 2024). "Streamer Awards 2024: All results and winners for every category". Dot Esports. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  37. ^ Gan, Jeremy (March 19, 2024). "Gothamchess amazed as Tyler1 becomes better than "99% of players" in 8 months". Dexerto. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
  38. ^ "BIG_TONKA_T Rapid Chess Stats". Chess.com. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
  39. ^ Amos, Andrew (October 14, 2022). "Twitch star Tyler1 is already chat-banned in Overwatch 2 for five years". Dexerto. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  40. ^ Oh, Terry (July 8, 2022). "Two amateur League of Legends players exiled after Tyler1 exposes wintrading". Dexerto. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  41. ^ Kelly, Michael (February 28, 2024). "Tyler1 slams 'paycheck-stealing LCS players' for allegedly 'openly griefing' LoL matches". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  42. ^ "Tyler Steinkamp". Central Methodist University. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  43. ^ Erzberger, Tyler (November 29, 2017). "League of Legends returns to grassroots with Tyler1 Championship Series". ESPN. Associated Press. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  44. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  45. ^ "X". X. April 18, 2024. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
  46. ^ "The 2024 Streamer Awards: All Nominations". Esports Illustrated On SI. November 12, 2024. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
  47. ^ DeSena, Gabby (December 8, 2024). "Recap: All 2024 Streamer Awards Winners". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
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