Former Fortnite Twitch star Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, along with several other streamers, has a new hobby: opening loot boxes in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO). Even at a wedding he opens the paid loot boxes in the suit via steam deck. This is viewed critically. It’s gambling addiction.
What’s the trend?
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Image shows Ninja opening loot boxes at Nadeshot’s wedding
This picture went viral: Former YouTube Gaming boss Ryan Wyatt shared a photo via Twitter on July 21 showing Ninja opening loot boxes via the Steam Deck.
The photo is from the wedding of esports team boss Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag. He owns the fashion-oriented team 100 Thieves and was a former Call of Duty pro.
Ninja stands there in a suit in a situation where he should be having fun, blocking out everything around him and preferring to open loot boxes in CS:GO. His friend Cloakzy stands in amazement in front of it.
The photo has already received over 1 million views:
“Even worse than gambling”
How is this discussed? Mostly negative. The photo and the practice of case opening in the live stream are discussed critically because loot boxes are basically like gambling and actual gambling has been banned in certain casinos on Twitch.
Simultaneously with the ban on classic gambling on one-armed bandits, there was a trend towards opening loot boxes, for example in Pokémon, in FIFA or now in CS:GO. The comments say:
A user says. This is a gambling addiction. They could buy any skin they want on the market, instead they do it.
Twitch streamers flaunt their wealth, teasing unlucky DrDisrespect
How do streamers react to this? The criticism does not seem to care much.
TimTheTatman posts a video of him, Ninja, and Cloakzy sitting in a private jet using the Steam Deck to open loot boxes and writing, “Our hobby travels with us.”
Ninja even shares the photo of himself with the amazed Cloakzy. Ninja seems particularly proud of having found so many valuable “knives” in CS:GO, while DrDisrespect seems to despair: he finds nothing.
DrDisrespect snaps back when Ninja rubs his success in his face: he should have a few more drinks and keep streaming. A nod to the embarrassing incident that happened the other day.
It is noteworthy that DrDisresepct opens loot boxes at all. Actually, he is considered an “old-school gamer” who rejects such things. In 2019 he was still upset about FIFA streamers who don’t play, just open boxes.
In Germany, Jan Böhmermann once dealt extensively with the problem of “loot boxes and gambling in gaming:”
But even then, the criticism of Twitch streamers did not go down well with them. Trymacs, who was even shown opening loot boxes in the post, was certain: In the video, Böhmermann shoots at Twitch streamers who advertise gambling, but not at him:
Trymacs watches Böhmermann rant against FIFA 22 and Twitch streamers like him: “He doesn’t mean me!”