TSM’s ImperialHal calls on competitive players to stream their games

The competitive scene of any esport is rather particular about its approach to streaming. Pro players usually refrain from streaming their tourney games, citing a wide variety of reasons. These reasons range from maintaining internet bandwidth to not revealing strategies to competitors. There has been plenty of discourse around this topic for a while now, with many pro players weighing in with their opinions.

TSMFTX's ImperialHal recently created a thread on Twitter, calling on other pro players and teams to stream their games. The thread sparked a fresh wave of debate among competitive players as well as their streaming audience. ImperialHal stood his ground in the replies and doubled down on his stance, calling it a "shitty mentality" that streaming games will make a player worse.

Over the last year, discourse around competitive players streaming their perspective during tournaments has popped up quite a few times. Most pro-players offer a myriad of reasons as to why they don't stream their games. Ultimately, it seems to boil down to personal preference. Here are a few of the most commonly cited reasons pro players don't stream their games.

Among the most common reasons pro players don't stream their tourney games is to ensure their internet bandwidth doesn't waver. They're perfectionists and in order to compete and perform well in tournaments, there should be a minimal risk of technical hitches. Streaming makes use of a percentage of their internet bandwidth which puts them at risk of lagging or stutters. This might not necessarily be the case with top players that can afford stronger internet connections, but the risk exists nonetheless.

This is more or less the same reason they prefer advanced gaming monitors with low response times and high DPI gaming mice. Casual gamers get alone fine on 1080p monitors with 60hz displays and budget mice.

Competitive players that are simply starting off and competing in low-level tournaments with smaller payoffs likely cannot afford high-end internet connections.

A few players think they'll play worse if they stream their professional games while playing. They believe the pressure to perform with the streaming audience viewing and scrutinizing their approach would be too much to handle. Either that or simply the fact that they might feel the need to engage with the streaming audience while playing.

Hal counters this argument by saying TSM streams every game of theirs and still win. However, it's easy to say that when you're at the top of your game. Every player is different and ultimately, they're competing to win, not to entertain an audience. So while streaming a tournament game makes for great viewing, their comfort is a major contributing factor in terms of performance and so they're entitled to their decision when it comes to streaming.

A lot of pro teams don't stream all players' perspectives during tournaments because they're concerned with maintaining secrecy around their gameplay strategies. ImperialHal argues that strategies are limited in a Battle Royale (BR) like Apex Legends or PUBG anyway. Players are forced to improvise and adapt to situations in BR games, as opposed to structured shooters like Valorant or CS. Another commonly argued point against this logic is that mainstream sports are widely televised, and still remain competitive.

It's interesting to see how a Twitter thread by a top player has once again sparked discourse around this topic. There seems to be a lot of mixed sentiment around pro players streaming their tournament games. Ultimately, it seems to boil down to personal preference. Hal has called on competitive players to cut out their reluctance to stream and make their plays available to the masses.