Stream Sniping

About

Stream Sniping, sometimes referred to as Ghosting, are internet slang terms referring to the practice of viewing a video game player's livestream to gain an advantage or discover them in game in order to prank, harass or kill them.

Origin

The exact origin of the term "stream sniping" is unknown. On November 13th, 2011, a post titled "What Is Stream Sniping?" was submitted to the Battle.net Forums.^[5] In response, user Harharwa defined the term as the practice of viewing an opponent's livestream in order to gain an advantage in a multiplayer video game.

Spread

On January 1st, 2014, Urban Dictionary^[1] user TheGIR submitted an entry for "stream sniping," defining it as the practice of using a video game streamer's livestream in order "to find and harass them" (shown below).

On May 26th, 2016, YouTuber Vertiigo Gaming released a video titled "Raw Rust: Stream Sniping the Stream Snipers," in which he discussed stream snipers raiding his base in the game Rust (shown below).

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds

On July 26th, 2017, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/playerunknowns-battlegrounds (PUBG) streamers Shroud accused streamer Lotoe of stream sniping him in the game, leading to Lotoe being banned from the game. Lotoe subsequently disputed the ban, leading others to question how PUBG can prove that stream sniping had occurred.

On July 28th, Sammie Kang, the lead community manager for PUBG, published a forum post noting that stream sniping was against the game's official rules of conduct, but noting that it was difficult to prove.^[2] That day, YouTuber TotalBiscuit tweeted thoughts about the stream sniping controversy, arguing that streamers should play with a delay to solve the problem (shown below).^[3]

On September 4th, YouTuber Cr1tikal uploaded a video titled "PUBG Stream Sniping," in which he showed clips of stream sniping in the game against video of streamer Forsen sniped by people mic spamming references to ZULUL Who Killed Captain Alex? in the game (shown below).

Tyler "Ninja" Blevins Controversy

On November 10th, 2018, Blevins was eliminated by player IcyFive during a Fortnite match and accused him of stream sniping after they performed a dance emote while being spectated after Blevins' teammate Dr. Lupo said "watch for the emote" (shown below). Blevins then reported the player, claiming the emote was evidence that the player was reacting to Dr. Lupo's comment.

Blevins: "I'm going out of my way to get this guy banned."

Following the incident, Blevins argued with viewers in his stream who disagree with him (shown below).

Shortly after, a clip of the incident reached the front page of the /r/FortNiteBR^[6] subreddit, which referred to Blevins' behavior as "toxic."

On November 11th, Blevins tweeted to IcyFive that he was sorry while simultaneously accusing him of "milking it" and "playing the victim" (shown below).

Search Interest

External References