After several years of success, Runescape content creator A Friend has been banned!

Dovydas, better known by his YouTube handle ‘A Friend‘ is something of an icon in the Old School Runescape community. He held the record for the fastest progression from a fresh account to level 99 in all skills, he was the first player to complete many tasks in the game’s Hardcore Ironman mode, where the death of the player’s avatar was permanent, and he was one of the most prolific content creators in the game’s history, raking in donations from other players, sponsorship from companies, and churning out quality videos constantly.

The decision comes after he took a payment of 1 Billion in-game gold as well as a real-life cash settlement to promote a gambling website which uses in-game items as gambling chips (which we will not name).

As of yesterday, all of that has come to an end. Dovydas released a short video discussing the ban, which includes not only his primary account but all accounts he’d been seen using. He expressed concern that any future accounts he created would be automatically banned, which would prevent him from continuing what had, at this point, become his full-time job.

Judging his contrition would be difficult even under the best of circumstances, but it is fair to point out that his statements echo similar thoughts from other content creators caught in drama that jeopardizes their income. A Friend may well mean every word he said, and he certainly hasn’t attempted to obfuscate the issue (unlike the response other content creators have had when caught in the crossfire) but faking contrition to save face is the oldest trick in the book.

Dovydas is a human being, and for many, he was a pillar of the community, even when his content was questionable. For his sake, and for the sake of the community, we must hope that he means it when he says he’s sorry.