What Is Stream Sniping 2022?
Among gamers, streamers enjoy a celebrity reputation. As a result, other players want to play with and against them. Unfortunately, for a small segment of the game population, turning off the streamer while playing is a perverse sign of pride – so much so that some players resort to using stream snipers to make it happen.
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Sniper streaming is when the player uses the streamer’s video stream to use them. This can range from figuring out where they are in the game to simply observe their strategy and using the perfect counter-strategy against them. While this crime can sometimes be prohibited, it doesn’t stop some people from trying to do it.
What Is Stream Sniping?
Have you ever played split screen multiplayer with a friend? In games like Halo, being able to look at your friends’ screen and find out where they are will give you an edge. You can lie in wait or launch a surprise attack. Of course, they can find out your position as well.
Sniper shooting is similar in concept. By viewing the video stream of streamers, you can determine where they are currently in the game. If you play the same game with them, you can use this information against them.
For example, Fortnite streamers are often well known. If you come across one of them in your game, you can hide and stream it to gain an advantage.
This is even more true in card games or strategy games that do not rely on instant decision making. If you know the game well enough to understand what strategy your opponent is using, you can start working on a counter strategy to defeat him.
Keep in mind that none of this is great sportsmanship. This does not stop some players from using this method to give them an edge.
How To Stop or Prevent Stream Sniping
While sniper streaming is prohibited on platforms like Twitch, it is next to impossible to prove someone is sniping. As a result, many people get away with it. While many well-known streamers have come up with solutions (including the popular Twitch gamers Ninja and Sypher), there is no surefire way to stop sniper streaming. However, there are steps you can take.
Take advantage of streamer mode
More and more gamers are adopting the so-called “Streamer Mode”. This is in contrast to the Discord streamer mode, which protects your personal information. Games like Fortnite, Call of Duty and others have an additional mode that randomizes your username in the game. This makes it much more difficult for the player in the game to recognize you and track your flow.
Use latency in your stream
While broadcast latency will not prevent you from being recognizable in the game, it can make it difficult to determine your current position in the game. Your stream will show content with a time delay instead of real time.
Some services, like Twitch, automatically put your stream into delay mode, but you can increase (or decrease) the latency with a tool like OBS.
Open OBS and choose File> Preferences.
Select “Advanced”.
Select the Stream Delay heading and select Enable. Then you can choose how long you want to postpone the broadcast.
It will not completely protect you, but it will help in first person shooters and card games.
Please select a different username
Choosing a gamertag other than your Twitch username can affect your visibility and how many people are watching you. At the same time, it can reduce the number of people sniping you. This is not an ideal solution, but should be considered if you find yourself targeted by multiple snipers.
Use an overlay
Let’s say you’re playing a game that uses a minimap, such as League of Legends or just about any first person shooter. In this case, stream snipers often track your map to estimate and approximate your location. If you block the minimap with an overlay, people will still be able to watch the broadcast, but will not know where you are on the map.
You can easily add a simple overlay to OBS.
Open OBS. In the Scenes box, click the + sign.
Name the scene and click OK.
Then click the + sign in the Sources field and select Images.
Name the image and click OK, then select Browse and select the image you want to use from your files. Select “OK”.
Resize the image and place on the screen where the minimap will be. Whenever you want to use this overlay, select the eye symbol from the Sources field in OBS. It will appear on the screen and lock your minimap.
Make Stream Sniping As Difficult as Possible
Unfortunately, there is no really effective solution for streaming snipers. It is best to make the process as difficult and frustrating as possible, thus discouraging and hopefully forcing them to choose an easier target.
Any of these four methods listed above can slow down snipers and make you a harder target. But, in the end, we ignore the trolls. Streaming is all about entertainment and content creation for your audience, and you can’t let a couple of bad guys ruin the experience for you.
What Is Stream Sniping 2022
What Is Stream Sniping 2022