Without a doubt Ninja's New Years Eve stream was a wild ride, but things only get better when stream snipers are mixed into the lot. And his Fortnite based New Years Eve stream hit a high point when he dispatched a sniper in action. Even better: it's all caught on tape.
If you have never heard of a stream sniper (or have thought they were just a salty Twitch-player's urban legend), it is a relatively new phenomenon like swatting. On any streaming service, there is a community of fans and critics that will watch a content creator's server, track them down in-game, and make a scene or kill them. Much like screen cheating in the days of yore, it's a distinct unfair advantage to the "stream sniper" and one that streaming software and providers look to mitigate with delays.
On New Years Eve, the target was the increasingly popular Twitch streamer Ninja, who was throwing his own version of a holiday bash. Twitch user boxdy and a group of unseen friends realized they were in the server and tracked down Ninja, full of excitement that they could end him impact his now-famous win record. However, as you can see in the video below (captured by Reddit user Alukarulz), the hype was for naut--he gets shut down:
When you try to stream snipe Ninja during NYE Stream but you fail. from r/FortNiteBR
On the opposite end of that hype, you can see Ninja barely even flinch as he dabs his way past boxdy and another Twitch user going for his head:
Even worse for boxdy, stream sniping is a pretty flagrant abuse of Twitch's terms of service. While there is virtually no way to stop viewers from taking part in the action, recording and publishing yourself stream sniping is tantamount to breaking a window at a police station. Twitch took immediate action by banning the account.
However, just because he was banned by Twitch doesn't mean he stopped playing Fortnite. A quick look at Fortnite tracker site shows that he is still active, winning 11 matches within the last day.
Obviously Ninja is a controversial personality -- on one hand he was the top-viewed streamer on Twitch this year, however critics bring in a bevy of controversies and awkwardness. But it is always fun to root for an underdog--even if he happens to be one of the best players in the world.
Fortnite is available as a free-to-play game on Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Editor’s Note: The featured screenshot was created by @D3monWo1f. Check out their Twitter page.