The War is Over... Finally

Being the old man I am, I'm often out of the loop on all things internet. One of those things was the apparent “Streamer War” that erupted on my beloved ARC Raiders. The whole thing started between TheBurntPeanut and HutchMF, two streamers. I’m not sure of the details, nor do I really care. What I do care about is that the dispute bled into the Solo queue, where people who were largely friendly suddenly started shooting on sight. It became bonkers.

Now, apparently, the “war” has come to a close, as BurntPeanut called it a win for his side.

I was pretty damned annoyed during this so-called “war.” It completely changed the vibe of solo queues. On one hand, it was interesting to see how much impact streamers can have on a game — how the culture can shift in a second. On the other hand, it was incredibly annoying. These guys play games for a living. Mad props to them. But for those of us who play as an escape, it was frustrating to hear that a couple of random dudes I’ve never heard of could affect the vibe of my beloved game this much.

I was also annoyed that I had to avoid wearing certain colors. If you wore the wrong outfit, you could be shot on sight.

REALLY?

Again, as someone who doesn’t do this for a living, getting a few matches in is a treat. But then, not being able to wear certain cosmetics because of a disagreement between strangers? Come on.

So hearing that this war is over — good riddance!

I couldn’t be happier.

While I’ve yet to see how this will affect the game (people still seem to be killing the hell out of one another in Solo), there might be some silver lining. I was playing a match earlier and got swarmed by ARCs. Out of nowhere, another raider came to my rescue. I can’t tell you how vulnerable I was — dude could’ve shot me at any time. But he didn’t.

He used most of his ammo just to save me, and he was super pleasant. Didn’t want anything in return.

So who knows — maybe there’s hope!

Star frosty, friends.