Streams have become so common, and many people like to watch their favourite creators' content and support them enthusiastically. If you are gaming and are a streamer, then you probably know what stream snipping is.

Streaming and streaming platforms

Gaming is becoming popular and so is the passion related to it. Many e-athletes are coming to the spotlight from gaming tournaments. These gamers have adopted streaming as a mean to earn from popular platforms like YouTube and Twitch.

Streaming can be defined as playing a video game and broadcasting it on internet-mostly on popular video sharing platforms. Due to increasing competition in the gaming world streamers (people who broadcast their gameplay) are subject to several forms of cheating from fellow streamers or from the audience. Stream snipping is one such form of cheating.

What is stream snipping?

For the beginners, we can describe stream snipping merely as the form of cheating that many players use to locate other players in the game by watching their stream. Nowadays, anyone who has a webcam, gaming consoles, and computer are capable of streaming, and by doing so, they are being watched by thousands or hundreds of people online. Some of the people giving their live information become the target of stream snipers.

Stream snipers are the ones who observe their target by watching their live stream and then use the information according to their benefit; instead, it is in gaming or other aspects. In gaming, a viewer tries to directly insert themselves in the broadcast and getting and competitive edge. Stream snipping provides an advantage for the potential sniper over the other player.

So, stream snipping is a form of cheating that online gamers use to target a player’s character by watching his/her stream. Stream snipping gives the stream snipper a competitive edge over the opponent as the snipper already knows other players location and gameplay behaviour.

Different forms of stream snipping

Due to the rise of different online games and streaming tools, it has become quite common to do stream snipping. There are various ways where a player can stream snipe the other in the game. Players can spectate their enemy and tell the movement to their friend to defeat the other in the games like PUBG or other Battle Royale games. Stream snipers often start the game simultaneously to the same matchmaking lobby as the potential streamer target. 

In some of the games like hearthstone or PUBG, it might be challenging to use the rank system for the matchmaking, so the stream sniper can't be in the same game as the target if they are in the lower rank. The victims of this technique are the live game streamers, as their gaming reputation can be destroyed or sabotaged by this kind of malicious activity.

In Fortnite, the streamer named NINJA become the prominent target of the stream sniper as he killed him in multiple games and then danced to show his win. Epic Games, the developers of Fortnite, have prohibited this action as this is an unfair and uncompetitive behaviour that can ruin the game's image and ban these players when reported.

In COD Warzone, many measurements are taken to keep these kinds of tactics from happening as the game skyrocketed from the gaming experiences it provided to the gamers. Many streamers started streaming form this platform too and got to face these issues. Famous COD streamer also faced this misfortune on his 2v2 tournament as he was unexpectedly ambushed which led to the result that he was snipped illegally.

Public opinions

Different people have different opinions on the issue regarding this technique as they say that streamers choose to leak their information themselves by live-streaming their game. Still, the gaming corporations have clearly stated that they don't provide any special treatment to any of the players, and stream snipping is not supported.

If observed from another point of view, stream sniping isn't considered cheating as streamers are live streaming their game, giving others the intent to watch them. Sometimes it provides an edge to the opponent who is also watching the stream. Many streamers use this technique themselves to defeat or harm the reputation of the opponent streamer by queuing in the same matchmaking as them and watching their game at the same time.

How to stop Stream Snipping?

If the question comes as to how the stream sniping stopped? Then we can say that there are not many effective ways to stop it. Some games have upgraded their systems for check and balance, and some have no policy against snipping, like League of legends.

Many platforms like Facebook or twitch assess their streamers to ban the account or person they suspect to be stream snipping. But there are still issues remaining that can't be solved permanently. Many streamers can use different icons to hide the essential informative icons that can’t be shown in the streams or delay their stream on choosing the server for their game; this can prevent the stream snipers from the same matchmaking the streamer.

In conclusion, there isn't a permanent way to stop this malicious activity that ruins the game's beauty and enjoyment. But it isn't as significant to get tensed. All the cheating activities which include botting, stream sniping, tempering or hacking that puts the opponent to a disadvantage and exploits the gaming experience is prohibited by the creators and game developers.

Stream Snipping is ethically wrong and is discouraged by the developers as well as streaming platforms. If you are suffering from cheating by stream snipers, track the accounts and report them to both the game developers as well as a streaming platform. Hopefully, they will take action against the cheaters and get rid of them.