Fortnite gamer charged after alleged assault is live-streamed

IT whiz kid Luke Munday has been suspended from his job as a Telstra network engineer after he was charged over an alleged domestic violence attack on his pregnant partner as he live streamed while playing Fortnite in Sydney’s west on Sunday.

• Should parents be worried about Fortnite
• How to wean your child off Fortnite

An IT whiz kid who routinely spends eight hours a day gaming allegedly live streamed a domestic violence attack on his pregnant partner.

Luke Munday, 26, whose online gaming profile is “MrDeadMoth” got into a verbal fight with the defacto partner and mum of his two-children at their Oran Park home after she complained he had been playing Fortnite for hours on Sunday night.

Luke Munday finished first in Australia for the CISCO Netriders skills competition in 2016 — where IT students across the world compete to showcase their skills.

The woman, 21, can be heard on the Twitch e-sports video stream begging him to stop playing the violent and hugely popular online game about 8.30pm before she can be heard screaming off camera after the sound of a slap is heard.

“Can you not? I said I’ll be out soon,” the man can be seen yelling on the player video display at the start of the incident.

“No computer, I’m sick of this shit,” his partner responds.

RELATED

OPINION: Fortnite is no child’s play

FORTNITE: Family fun for violent video drama

A mobile version of the wildly popular game Fortnite.

The angered gamer then steps away from the desk camera streaming his actions before a noise that sounds like a slap rings out and she wails and calls him a “f … ing woman basher”.

“Just go away, leave me alone. I’ll be out soon, how many times do I have to tell you?” the man says as he returns to the game.

The Western Sydney woman again is heard asking the man to quit the game and apologise to her.

“No, you say sorry now,” she says before the man is seen to leap out of his chair. What sounds like a loud whack is heard before more crying off-camera.

“Go away, f …, leave me alone,” the man yells as the woman can be heard saying “you bash women”.

The alleged assault was captured during a live stream. Picture: Supplied

Snippets of the disturbing live stream went viral on Twitter overnight.

Police arrested Munday at the home several hours after the attack.

He was charged with common assault and will face court on Thursday.

Police also took out an interim apprehended violence order for the woman, who police say was not seriously injured.

Cyber Crime Squad Detective Superintendent Matt Craft said the video evidence would be used by the prosecution.

“The electronic evidence is very strong and it is important that we gather it for the information of the court,” he said.

Munday has played 4031 matches of Fortnite and had won 389 of them, notching up 15,458 “kills”.

Munday with his partner expecting their third child. Picture: Facebook

Munday with his children. Picture: Facebook

Munday was profiled by the Macarthur Chronicle in 2016 for being the top-ranked Australian at the Cisco Networking Academy NetRiders Competition.

Cisco is one of the world’s leading multinational IT companies.

In an online profile with Cisco last year Munday talked about how after his father walked out on his family.

“When my partner fell pregnant with our first child, a lot changes and your responsibilities go through the roof,” he said. “I had that philosophy I wouldn’t let that happen to my own kids.”

Munday with his children. Picture: Facebook

Munday’s partner’s Facebook page photos show happier times for the young family, with photos from last year show him smiling and posing for photos with a newborn baby and toddler.

The father of two has been suspended from his position at Telstra where he works as a network engineer.

In a statement Telstra General Manager Media Steve Carey said the company was against violence.

“This behaviour goes against what we stand for as an organisation and the work we have done to assist women impacted by domestic violence,” Mr Carey said.

“We have suspended Luke’s employment pending a full investigation and will co-operate with any police investigation.”

“Domestic violence has no place in our community. It is totally unacceptable and needs to be eradicated.”

Luke Munday with his partner and one of his children. Picture: Facebook

Canadian reformed game addict turned entrepreneur Cam Adair says there’s a culture of misogyny in the male-dominated community.

“A lot of them feel disenfranchised and they feel misunderstood and they feel stigmatised,” he said.

In June the World Health Organisation named gaming addiction as an official mental health condition and Mr Adair says while most users don’t resort to violence the toxic internet environment can leads to outbursts and impulsivity.

Munday was using Twitch, a live-streaming video platform popular in the e-sports community where users can make money.

Examples of gamers who turned violent.

WHAT EXACTLY IS FORTNITE?

Fortnite is a Battle Royale Game which sees up to 100 players land on a remote island in a winner-takes-all showdown. It’s a game of kill or be killed, which ends as soon as your character dies — there are no second chances.

Players skydive from a flying bus and land on the island below where they try to locate weapons and supplies in distinct regions that will be used to kill others in the game.

To ensure fast gameplay, Fortnite eventually forces players into a shrinking play zone — if you’re outside of that area, your health begins to drain until you’re dead.

Unlike other Battle Royale games, Fortnite puts emphasis on a building mechanic, which is made possible from the game’s destructible environments.

Once you’ve collected enough resources to build something, you can begin assembling walls and ramps for protection, with the game also allowing players to create traps.

Available on PS4, Xbox One, PC and smartphone devices, the free video game has attracted more than 200 million players worldwide since being released more in March 2017.

HOW DOES THE GAME MAKE MONEY?

Although Fortnite is free to download on and play, developers Epic Games still manage to make a fortune from the title. Epic Games reportedly makes around US$3 million a day, just from mobile devices and is valued at over $15 billion.

Fortnite makes money from in-game cosmetic purchases, such as character outfits called skins. These purchases do not affect gameplay at all, and provide no competitive advantage.

Originally published as Fortnite gamer charged after alleged assault is live-streamed