Watching a streamer playing a game that you love is entertaining, especially if that streamer is funny or entertaining. Streamers are now playing a lot of different games like Valorant, League of Legends, VR games, and mobile games.
If you are watching a streamer on Twitch, Facebook Live, or another streaming platform, you might notice these streamers often cover their minimap. But you know what, there is a reason why streamers cover their minimap. This isn’t just a design or some norm that they get used to. So, why do streamers cover their minimap?
Why Do Streamers Hide Their Minimap?
The reason why streamers hide their minimap is to prevent stream snipers from getting some information on their position or the positions of their teammates. These stream snipers can tell the streamer’s enemy in the game about where the streamer or streamer’s teammates are and what are their strategies.
Stream sniping is a huge problem for all streamers who play competitive games like Valorant, CS:GO, League of Legends, or Dota 2. To prevent their strategy from getting destroyed, streamers tend to cover their minimap while streaming.
If the game is a tournament or a game where money is on the table, streamers who want to stream will most likely cover their minimap. Of course, if money is on the table or if it’s a highly competitive tournament, you don’t want to give your enemies some advantage. Some viewers in their stream might rat them out to their enemies.
Some streamers do not use a camera while streaming. They might be shy or just hiding their identity. However, these streamers that do not use a camera while streaming still find a way to cover their minimap while streaming. They can use some funny images or some banner of their sponsor to cover their minimap.
The games where streamers usually hide their minimap are:
- League of Legends
- Valorant
- Dota 2
- CS:GO
- Fortnite
- Call Of Duty Warzone
- Fortnite
How To Hide Your Minimap While Streaming?
If you are a streamer, then you probably want to prevent stream snipers from ratting you out. So, how can you hide your minimap while streaming? Here are some ways that you can do to cover your minimap:
- Use your face cam and place it on the location of your minimap
- Use your sponsor’s banner or any picture to cover up your minimap
Streamers will use their facecam to cover their minimap while streaming. This is easy to do. All you need to do is to drag it over to your minimap using OBS software.
If you are a kind of streamer who is shy or just want to hide your identity but still want to cover your minimap, you can use some illustration or picture to hide your minimap.
Some streamers do not show their face and will add their stream logo, a picture of themselves, an art, or even a simple black box to hide their minimap.
However, if you have a sponsor already, you can ask your sponsors to provide some banners for you, which you can use to cover up your minimap.
What Is Stream Sniping?
I already mentioned stream sniping above but let me discuss it with you more so that you will understand what stream sniping is. So, what is stream sniping?
Stream sniping is the act of using your enemy’s stream to get an advantage in a competitive game. This means that you are spying on your enemy’s stream to get some information.
When a stream sniper suspects that someone on the enemy team is streaming, they will try to find their stream and use it to get some information. They might get the exact location of the streamer or the streamer’s teammates or hear their strategies.
This is very dangerous for streamers because their strategies will get leaked and it can be countered easily. Stream sniping is cheating and it is an extremely disgusting way to win a competitive game.
What Are The Other Ways To Avoid Stream Sniping?
Aside from covering up the minimap, there are other ways streamers can avoid stream sniping. Here, let me tell you other things you can do to avoid these stream snipers.
First, you can use a stream delay. A stream delay can be easily set up on Twitch, Facebook Live, or other platforms. This is a good strategy to prevent stream snipers. You can set how much delay you want your stream to be. Some streamers that are playing competitively use 15-30 seconds delay on their stream.
Delaying your stream is very helpful because stream snipers will not be able to be updated on your stream. Stream snipers will not be able to get the latest information about your wherebeings or the strategy of your team.
The other thing that streamers use to avoid stream snipers is to hide their usernames. You can do this in games like League of Legends, Valorant, and any other games by turning on “streamer mode”. When streamer mode is turned on, your username will be hidden. This will make it harder for stream snipers to find your stream.
What Will Happen If Streamers Don’t Cover Their Minimap?
If streamers don’t cover their minimap while streaming, it can give them some consequences. The minimap is the most important thing in a game because this gives you a lot of information. If streamers don’t cover their minimap, stream snipers can track the streamer’s or streamer’s teammates’ movements.
If streamers do not cover their minimap, this can give them a huge disadvantage in a competitive game. That is why streamers must cover their minimap, delay their stream, or hide their username to prevent these stream snipers from getting information and using it against streamers.
Final Verdict
In conclusion, the main reason why these streamers cover their minimap is to avoid stream snipers getting some information. Aside from that, streamers will delay their stream or hide their username to prevent these stream snipers from getting information and using it to their advantage.
