Maximilian “Trymacs” Stemmler has achieved great success with his Pay2Win content on Twitch and YouTube. Now comes the surprising change of heart: He no longer wants to support gambling in games and intends to boycott FIFA – apparently, his brother talked him into it.
Who is Trymacs? Trymacs is one of the biggest German Twitch streamers. He is known for spending a lot of money on games, yet he always warned his fans against it. It’s all a scam; he, on the other hand, would do it for content and get the money back that way.
Nevertheless, he has already received a lot of criticism for promoting loot boxes in his streams – both from his own viewers and from Jan Böhmermann from the ZDF Magazin Royale.
Trymacs also immediately dove into the current FIFA 23 – and has already invested €21,000 in the “best team in the world”. However, during the weekend of October 14, he seemed to lose interest in the game after being targeted by stream snipers.
If your enthusiasm for FIFA has not yet faded, this video can help you play even better.
What led to this change of heart? On October 16, Trymacs reacted to a YouTube video by his younger brother Nicolas. He publishes psychology videos under the name “How To Be Human” and examined how players are manipulated into spending money.
In the video, Trymacs’ brother discusses various psychological aspects that are supposed to encourage people to spend money on games – especially in the form of so-called loot boxes. He also highlights how this is comparable to gambling.
According to him, the games FIFA and Madden fulfill the definition of gambling; they only differ in one point: There is no way to get your money back or cash out real money – that is exactly what is important for the legal interpretation of the term “gambling”. Loot boxes and similar do not count as gambling in Germany.
To further substantiate his arguments, Nicolas cites various studies showing the influence of gambling, especially on children and adolescents, who would be negatively affected in the long run.
You can watch the complete video including Trymacs’ reaction here:
All this seems to have made Trymacs think quite a bit. While he has always distinguished himself from other streamers with his disclaimers, he now asked himself: How many people has he actually prevented from spending money on FIFA and how many has he encouraged to do so?
Trymacs asked his viewers directly and seemed shocked that 25% of his fans were more motivated to spend money on FIFA.
Additionally, Trymacs points out that viewers would simply switch to other streamers should he stop playing FIFA. And there, they would not even be warned about the negative consequences because he is the only one who would criticize EA so openly.
Finally, Trymacs allowed his chat to vote. The result: 77% of his viewers urged him to take the first step. Still in the stream, he uninstalled the game and stated that he intended to boycott it in the future. Next year he also wants to convince other streamers to join the boycott.
How is the action being received? His viewers are celebrating Trymacs for the boycott and are impressed by Trymacs’ brother. His fans appreciate the insight and find it good that he acknowledges past mistakes and does not want to repeat them (via YouTube).
Some comments note that the decision would have been better before the release of FIFA 23. But most are satisfied that Trymacs is now drawing a line.
For Clash of Clans, in whose latest update Trymacs has just invested €2,000, the boycott does not apply, by the way. That’s something completely different because you know what you get, according to the streamer.
What do you think about this? Strong action from Trymacs, or is the timing suspicious? Which games do you think should also be on his gambling boycott list? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion.
Big discussion about advertising in streams: “Twitch pays streamers to kill their channels”
