Ex-professional explains why streamers stop with CoD Warzone – the risk of injury is too great
Nicholas “Nickmercs” Kolcheff has long been the biggest Twitch streamer in the Call of Duty: Warzone cosmos. For more than a year he has only played the Battle Royale occasionally, and recently did a round again. He explained his impression of why Warzone had lost many streamers – it was too “demanding”.
Who is Nickmercs?
- The streamer is one of the big ones on Twitch. During his last streams, he attracted an average of over 25,000 viewers to his channel, mainly playing Apex Legends (via twitchtracker.com). He is closely connected to “FaZe Clan”.
- Nickmercs is a strong shooter player, especially with the controller. Years ago he was considered the best in the world with the controller in Fortnite. In addition to pro gameplay, he possesses an easy-going sense of humor and positive disposition, which earns him many fans.
- With Warzone, he rose to become a top streamer and was even able to collect over 350,000 simultaneous viewers in one stream. Now he only plays CoD occasionally and explains why other streamers feel the same way.
By the way, the new Modern Warfare 2 will be released soon. Here is a short trailer for the campaign:
Nickmercs thinks Warzone would go on bones
On September 12th, Nickmercs released a YouTube video featuring one of his rounds of Warzone. He was traveling with TimTheTatman, FaZe player Booya and former CoD World Champion TeeP.
In the middle of the match, he apparently notices the work Warzone demands from its players. Compared to the competition, Warzone would be significantly “more demanding”, but not in terms of difficulty, but in terms of movement:
I’ll tell you what, bro. Apex, CoD, Fortnite [im Vergleich] … This damn game [Warzone] is so demanding. You have to crouch, slide, spam buttons all the time.
Former league pro TeeP agrees: “Yeah, seriously”. We embed the corresponding English video with the title “Why Streamer leave Warzone” here:
The problem with the constant inputs and the demanding movement is actually injuries. Warzone requires a lot of input from players through actions such as “Slide Cancel” or “Bunny Hopping”.
Injuries occur again and again, which can be observed particularly in the professional area of Call of Duty. At the beginning of 2021, the professional “ZooMaa” ended his career because his thumb and wrist could no longer cope with the stress. ZooMaa retired at the age of 25 after 8 years of daily training.
Stress is a serious issue for esports athletes. Due to the often young age of these players, the effects of constant stress on the bones, joints and muscles are underestimated. MOBAs like League of Legends also demand a lot from their players.
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In an interview with the Washington Post, Chuck Tholl, a research associate at the German Sport University in Cologne, explained that professional players make up to 400 entries a minute.
He says, “Gamers perform micro-movements and fine motor skills that, if left unchecked, can be very damaging to their bodies” (via washingtoinpost.com).
While there are already many teams in the professional sector that rely on such preventive measures, it looks different with streamers. According to Nickmercs, at some point the point would be reached where you would notice and have to say goodbye.
Especially the “Slide Cancel” in Call of Duty puts pressure on the joints. You can do it almost constantly, in CoD: Warzone you are even a little faster with the trick and protect yourself from headshots and targeted hits.
Exactly this mechanic could be missing in the new Modern Warfare however. There are rumors that the trick is disappearing completely. The developers therefore have the option of activating the “Slide Cancel” or removing it from the game. But these are just leaks at the moment.
We’ll know by Friday at the latest, because that’s when the Modern Warfare 2 beta starts and many players are doing their first rounds in the latest CoD.
If you have an opinion on the topic, write a comment.
Reference-mein-mmo.de