Fortnite pro Wavyjacob banned mid-tournament for in-game name

In the middle of a tournament, Fortnite pro player Jacob ‘wavyjacob’ Ghaith has been banned for an in-game name that made him look like a hacker. 

If there’s one thing that any gamer hates, it’s hackers and bots. Often easily identified by their in-game names, which are normally a random string of letters and numbers, both devs and players alike are continually seeking to crack down on rule breakers.

For Fortnite FNCS pro wavyjacob, the ban hammer appears to have hit him by accident, as he was banned mid-tournament over an issue with his in-game name.

After a series of tweets venting his frustrations, some of Fortnite’s most famous faces have rallied behind him and get him unbanned.

Fortnite pro wavyjacob banned

Midway through an ongoing tournament, the FNCS pro received a shock ban for ‘exploiting.’ Hit with a 6 month ban (182 days), the player is not only out of the tournament, but out of action entirely.

Writing “just got banned mid tourney?” and attaching a screenshot of the ban, he seems pretty baffled by the whole situation.

In response, a lot of users have commented on the fact that his name looked like either a bot or hacker’s randomly generated name. Playing under the guise of ‘r23ln1664W4v7,’ it appears that Fornite’s punishment algorithm has assumed that he’s breaking the rules.

As well, fans have speculated that he could have been banned due to a rule within the Epic Games code of conduct, which notes that all names must appear family-friendly to their audience.

While he notes that he understand the ban itself, it’s the lengthy time spell that has irritated him. “Yeah I know, but they could have put user-3978939 bulls**t or reduce the ban.” Concluding “181 days because of the name but you got people who cheat and get banned for 2 months,” it seems that the situation is far from over.

This was followed up by a standalone tweet, promoting the hashtag “freewavy.”

A recent comment on Reddit claims that the ban has now been reduced to 2 weeks instead of the controversial 6 months.

Fortnite pros rally

In response to wavyjacob’s unfortunate ban, a whole collection of Fortnite’s most famous faces have rallied in his defense.

FaZe Clan’s Josue ‘Sway’ Burgos responded to the original screenshot with a simple “what,” before posting “#freewavy” to his own account.

TSM FTX’s Josh ‘Commandment’ Roach posted the same hashtag.

As any new developments arise, we’ll make sure we update this article to keep you in the loop.