Twitch streamer with ALS goes viral for playing games with eye tracker

Twitch streamer YvMHawking, who hails from Turkey and has ALS, is being showered with admiration by the internet after a clip of him playing games using an eye tracker went viral on social media.

Ben Gurkan is a 32-year-old diagnosed with this incurable neurological disease marked by nerve damage that facilitates movement. As such, the content creator cannot move his hands and legs, but that has not stopped him from streaming and even making games.

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Meet Ben "YvMHawking" Gurkan, the Twitch streamer with ALS who also makes games with an eye tracker

The clip entitled "Gurkan tahliye oluyor" portrays the streamer playing Knight Online, an MMORPG initially released in 2004 with the help of an eye tracker. The technology not only allows him to play but also interact with chat as he types to talk to his audience.

Twitch Tracker notes that the YvMHawking, short for Yerli ve Milli Hawking or Local and National Hawking, has been streaming on the purple platform since 2016 but only recently blew up at the end of January. The clip above was recently posted on the subreddit r/LivestreamFail, and since then, it has garnered almost 100K unique views.

As per YvMHawking's Twitch description, he is a postgraduate in Biology and explained that he has been suffering from ALS since he was 25. Most of his days are spent on the computer, so he started streaming.

"Selam! Ben Gürkan.32 yaşındayım. AIBU Biyoloji Yüksek Lisans Terkim. Kardeş sana ne oldu diyecek olursanız 25 yaşımdan beri ALS hastasıyım ve hiçbir uzvumu kontrol edemiyorum. PC'yi gözle kullanıyorum. Malumunuz günümün tamamı bilgisayar karşısında geçiyor. Ben de bir şeylerle uğraşırken bir yandan yayın açmak istedim."

A rough English translation reads:

"Hi! I am Gürkan. I am 32 years old. AIBU Biology Post Graduate. Brother, if you say what happened to you, I have been suffering from ALS since I was 25 years old and I cannot control any of my limbs. I'm using the PC by eye. As you know, my whole day is spent in front of the computer. I wanted to open a publication while I was dealing with something."

That's not all, as YvMHawking also partakes in game-making. As per his Twitch description and the official steam page of the game, he is developing a JRPG called the Ludicrous Uprising. The streamer also requests that people trying to support him should wishlist the game to be notified of its release:

"Kendi geliştirmekte olduğum Ludicrous Uprising isimli oyunumu istek listenize ekleyerek bana destek olabilir, oyun çıktığında haberdar olabilirsiniz."

Which reads:

"You can support me by adding my own game called Ludicrous Uprising to your wish list, and you can be notified when the game is released."

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Reddit reactions to the streamer

The fact that YvMHawking has overcome such obstacles, such as being unable to move any of his limbs and using his PC solely through eye trackers because of ALS, has made many people praise his determination. Here are some of the reactions commending the streamer on the r/LivestreamFail subreddit, with one person calling him a hidden gem.

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YvMHawking is partnered on Twitch with over 10K followers at the time of writing. With so much attention given to his achievements on social media, supporters hope the streamer can keep doing what he loves with passion.