A recent MrBeast gaming video drew criticism after several female participants outlined serious moderation failures. The video framed the competition as a "girls vs. boys" challenge, but players said the reality felt chaotic and unfair.
As reactions spread on X, some participants pushed back on the narrative shown in the final cut. Although the video suggested that the girls’ side collapsed on its own, players said structural issues drove many of the problems.
Participants described widespread abuse and poor moderation
One participant, @ZavvyGamer, posted a long thread on X about her experience during the event.
ZavvyGamer wrote that she joined the event and had limited daily server time, which shaped how little control players had. However, she said the problems went far beyond scheduling. She quoted the video’s claim that "The girls' side fell apart for SOME REASON," then explained what that "reason" actually looked like.
First, she said Russian men used AI images and deepfakes to enter the girls’ side and kill participants for days. In addition, she said, "These guys also left signs around our side of the map with swastikas and sexist messages."
At the same time, reporting tools were missing, forcing femme players to mass-ping moderators in the Discord server before they added reporting features. One player, Makio, independently made it her mission to track down fake accounts and alert moderators.
Meanwhile, confusion spread about who belonged on the team. ZavvyGamer said that, allegedly, some women sold accounts to men, although she hadn't seen it confirmed. Because of these rumors, trans women were wrongly targeted by others who assumed they were infiltrators.
She also said traps set by fake women's (meaning, men who identify as men pretending to be women) accounts killed many femme players. Staff eventually reversed those deaths, but the delay left little time to recover. By then, the event had nearly ended, and alliances never formed.
ZavvyGamer added that the event was marketed as a civilization-style game, not PvP. However, she said many women had little Minecraft experience, while the men’s team had top players. "MrBeast and his team knew that if that wall came down, boys would win," she wrote.
Other contestants echoed the concerns
Other participants backed her accounting of the Minecraft event. @UtibaCore replied, "Hello, as a contestant of the event on the girls' side, I can confirm all claims are true."
Similarly, @ItsToxumi agreed and said, "also wish they would've showed when the girls [were] killing it in the bridge battle! We were lowkey cooking until the flank :>"
Another player, @MystHeartz, pointed to structural issues. They wrote that nonbinary players were placed on the girls’ team due to low numbers. They also said some trans women failed verification despite being experienced players.
Finally, @LuztsofLuv criticized the scale of the event. "I was part of it too," she wrote. "Hated how the event let in more than 500 girls despite initially being low on girls. Why even approve of it when you're just going to make it a first-come, first-served thing? Me and a lot of the girls were disappointed bc our plans were just trashed like that."
Update: 1/2/26: ZavvyGamer speaks to the Daily Dot
ZavvyGamer spoke with us about her experiences after going public, saying, “The majority of the reactions I’ve received have been extremely transphobic, sexist, vulgar, and honestly just not worth my time to entertain. Bigots are existentially irrelevant to me.” She added that many men from the event dismissed her concerns entirely: “It didn’t happen on our side, stop whining,” she recalled, saying those responses “aren’t really adding much to the conversation.”
She said the backlash was outweighed by the response from other women who came forward afterward. “All of that has been worth seeing other girls come forward to talk about their experiences as well, and to see them get proper support,” she said. ZavvyGamer explained she initially believed she would be alone, noting that participants were kept in a Discord server and told they might be invited back to future events. “I imagined the rest of the girls were keeping quiet not to hurt their chances,” she said. “I had been VERY vocal about my dissatisfaction during the entire thing… so I didn’t consider it much of a sacrifice if it meant speaking out for girls who had been silenced.”
Addressing the organizers, ZavvyGamer said she has heard “through the grapevine” that staff regret not including key context, but emphasized that silence is the larger issue. “If they truly did think that, then they should make a public statement admitting to it and apologizing,” she said. “By remaining silent, they can escape any social repercussions and instead leave the brunt of the backlash on the girls.” She added, “I don’t think MrBeast and his staff are bad people. I just think it sucks that they have the privilege of being able to remain silent… Even so, I hope they do better in future events.”
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