Popular streamers Brett “Dakotaz” Hoffman and Tyler “Ninja” Blevins have been arguing about the power that an influencer has in making a game like Fortnite die. Dakotaz directly called Ninja out during a recent stream, saying that he’s heard Ninja talk about how streamers shouldn’t just “complain about everything” because that’s how they cause a game to die.
Dakotaz refuted this to his audience. “That’s not how games die,” Dakotaz said. “Games die because the creators are trash. Period.” Dakotaz said that he believes that an audience can “think for themselves” and won’t just leave a game because a streamer complains about certain things regarding it.
He also said that there are “probably” people who will side with the opinion of the streamer, but that’s only because the streamer is telling “facts” at that point. Players will be able to look around and see what’s happening with a game themselves and that will lead to it dying. Ninja responded to Dakotaz’s comments on his own stream.
Ninja brought up how Dakotaz gets “punished” because Fortnite is always changing its meta. “That’s kinda the point,” Ninja said. “That’s why the game is so successful. That’s why the game is so popular and remains the number one game in the world.”
Ninja then closed out his stream by discussing the concept of complaining about a game like Fortnite and what it does to the game and the audience that you have.
“Every YouTuber, every streamer is an influencer,” Ninja said. “It is a responsibility to positively influence your audience. And, you know, use the power for good.”
Dakotaz followed up with a post on Twitter clarifying his stance on the matter. He said that he’s just a “regular gamer” who loves Fortnite.
“Maybe my opinions/remarks towards the game and some people come off toxic,” Dakotaz said. “But I promise you it comes from a place of love! Never ever stay silent, and never ever let people tell you how to be or act.”
This isn’t the first time that Dakotaz and Ninja have gone back and forth. Most recently, the two participated in a bit of friendly competition to see who could get better sniper kills on stream. But this particular debate seems to be much more serious since it revolves around the influencer community as a whole.
