Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek might be one of the best FPS players we’ve ever seen, but he went on a big rant about stream snipers after one of them ruined his Valorant ranked match and made it impossible to play.
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Stream snipers have been a major problem for a while now, across almost every online multiplayer game. If there’s a way for viewers to target and eliminate their favorite content creators, it seems they’ll do it.
While most developers have created ways for streamers to stay anonymous — namely, in the form of a Streamer Mode — it never quite has the desired effect.
This is something that became painstakingly true for shroud, as he came up against a legitimately good player that just so happened to find him and kill him constantly throughout the game.
In a rare moment on stream, shroud finally reached the end of his tether and raged at what had happened and ultimately cost him the match.
“What a little f**king b**ch, bro,” the Twitch streamer said of his opponent. “That was the most obvious bulls**t of my life.”
Noting that he knows he gets stream sniped in most matches, shroud added: “When it’s an actual good player… Don’t get me wrong, that guy was good. That guy didn’t need to stream snipe. When it’s a good player, it’s impossible, it feels like I don’t stand a chance.”
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Shroud ended the stream shortly after this match ended, clearly happy to draw a line under his evening there, but took to Twitter to vent his frustrations after.
“Can we get a streamer (anon) mode that doesn’t let everyone in the lobby know you’re in STREAMER (anon) MODE,” he demanded, clearly wanting a system that lets streamers lay low even more.
Can we get a streamer (anon) mode that doesn't let everyone in the lobby know your in STREAMER (anon) MODE. FOR ONCE. thank you that is all.
— Michael Grzesiek (@shroud) February 18, 2021
Whether changes do come to Valorant’s streamer mode is impossible to tell. There are always ways for these things to improve, and maybe shroud’s message will reach the developers and make some meaningful change.
Until then, we’ve got to trust that people won’t stream snipe — a level of trust that a number of people clearly can’t be given.