I'm not really sure why looking at a stream would be cheating, I know it's a huge advantage but the streamer can add a delay to the stream if they want to avoid that kind of thing, so it's their own fault if someone watches their live stream.

@ghark there are some different issues with it. One is that you can "stream snipe", which means timing your finding match to the streamer, increasing the chances of getting matched up against him. that in itself isn't necessarily so bad, but it is essentially griefing.

The other is that if you add delay to your stream, you lose fundamental ability to interact with your viewers, which makes the stream much less entertaining for both parties.

A huge part of Starcraft is scouting what your opponent is doing and reacting to that, and being able to see the whole map negates that and gives you an extremely unfair advantage. It's like looking over the shoulder of someone else you're playing against, or looking into the cards of a poker player you're playing against.

>> ^ghark:

I'm not really sure why looking at a stream would be cheating, I know it's a huge advantage but the streamer can add a delay to the stream if they want to avoid that kind of thing, so it's their own fault if someone watches their live stream.

I've not had experience streaming lately, but a year or so ago it was pretty expensive to add a meaningful delay. Either way, you can't really blame Sheth. I'm sure he realises he risks getting sniped, but then there are also a couple hundred people or sometimes more watching his stream for entertainment. Why should he let one kid with a desperate need for attention shit all over that.

@gwiz665 & @Jinx ahh interesting info, cheers guys - didn't realise about the extra expense etc.