The text is a detailed account of a hoax perpetrated by a YouTube gamer known as SketchX. SketchX, a popular Team Fortress 2 professional, announced in June 2015 that he was terminally ill and would be leaving YouTube and the game. This announcement was met with widespread grief and tribute videos from the Team Fortress 2 community.
However, SketchX's account remained active, with him continuing to play Team Fortress 2 and trade items. In May 2017, a Reddit comment questioned whether SketchX was actually dead. This was followed by a series of cryptic messages and activities that suggested SketchX might not be dead.
In January 2019, a video surfaced showing a player named Sketchek on the leaderboard, who had the same profile picture as SketchX. This led to a series of cryptic messages and activities, including a password to a private video, a Twitter account named in Japanese, and a frozen watermelon image.
In April 2019, SketchX announced his return to YouTube and revealed that he had faked his death. He explained that he had been in Japan and decided to end his YouTube channel and Team Fortress 2 career, but decided to fake his death to draw attention. Despite the backlash, SketchX returned to YouTube and continued to play Team Fortress 2, with his viewership surprisingly remaining strong.
1. The YouTube account, Sketchup, registered on July 5th, 2011. The owner was a Team Fortress 2 professional who was considered one of the best players in the game's 15-year history.
2. The owner of the Sketchup account, known as Sketch X, passed away unexpectedly in 2015. His death devastated his audience and the entire Team Fortress 2 community.
3. In June 2015, Sketch X uploaded a video explaining that he had been dealing with an unspecified long-term illness.
4. Despite the video, Sketch X continued to grow his channel and was well-known within the Team Fortress 2 community. At the time of his death, he had 12,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel.
5. After his death, the Team Fortress 2 developers added a weapon attribute to the game in memory of Sketch X.
6. Sketch X's death was met with a high level of support from the community, with many sharing their experiences of how his content influenced their playstyle.
7. The video announcing Sketch X's illness was shared to Reddit, where it received over 1,400 upvotes.
8. Sketch X's sickness was met with skepticism by some members of the community.
9. Sketch X announced his illness shortly after becoming so sick that he was unable to make videos or play Team Fortress 2 at all.
10. Sketch X's YouTube channel and social media presence ceased entirely after his announcement of illness.
11. Sketch X's death was confirmed when he released a PSA stating he had a terminal illness and would not resume making videos.
12. Tribute videos began to appear on YouTube in memory of Sketch X, with one video titled "At Sketche Wannabe" receiving over 60,000 views.
13. The developers of Team Fortress 2 added an attribute called "Sketch X Bequest" to one of Sketch X's signature weapons in his memory.
14. In 2017, the community started questioning whether Sketch X was actually dead.
15. In January 2019, a video titled "Sketch X Illness Video Set to Private" shattered previous assumptions about Sketch X's death.
16. The video showed a player named Sketchek with the same profile picture as Sketch X on the Team Fortress 2 leaderboard.
17. Sketch X confirmed his return to YouTube and Team Fortress 2 in a video titled "TXT" posted on his channel.
18. Sketch X revealed that he had faked his own death as a prank, stating that he had been in Japan for an extended period and decided to end his YouTube channel but wanted to go out with a bang.
19. Sketch X's return to the channel was not welcomed by all, with some of his audience expressing disappointment and others creating petitions on the Steam forum to remove the "Sketch X Bequest" attribute from the game.
20. Despite the controversy, Sketch X's viewership on YouTube remained strong, with his videos receiving as many views as when he disappeared.