After a match against a prominent FIFA-20 streamer, professional René Nußbaumer’s phone suddenly wouldn’t stop buzzing. For days, hate messages flooded in for the 23-year-old. In an interview with MeinMMO, the player shares how he dealt with it.
What happened? René Nußbaumer is from Austria and plays FIFA professionally for the Paranoia Team of L4K eSports. At the end of April, he unknowingly faced FIFA streamer Krasi in the Weekend League. The match ended in a 1:0 victory for Nußbaumer – but there was a fallout.
The streamer cut a 40-second clip from the video that caused a stir. It shows Nußbaumer playing defensively to keep Krasi away from the ball. The clip was shared on Twitter and reddit, among other platforms.
On Twitter, the streamer wrote: “People like Nussi 1513 shouldn’t be allowed to play FUT Champs. He did this non-stop for 90 minutes. He took advantage of the obvious connection benefit because he is German to keep the ball since he scored the 1:0 in the 15th minute. Enjoy the win, ‘German Pro.'”
The video apparently reached a lot of people.
According to Nußbaumer, Krasi announced the clip: “He sent me a Twitter DM telling me to better stay away from social media,” says the 23-year-old: “A few hours later, the messages, insults, and abuse started pouring in. It was directed towards me and my style of play. It escalated to the point where there were even threats.”
“I have never experienced anything like this”
As Nußbaumer recounts, the match took place at night: “I didn’t know it was being streamed. It was three in the morning, I had to finish my games,” he explains. For him, it was a Weekend League match that felt like any other: “I didn’t even know I was playing against him until half-time.”
He didn’t expect such a backlash on all channels – and was understandably shocked: “It started on Twitter, where Krasi is very active. I thought I’d just turn off Twitter for a few hours. Then it picked up on Facebook, where I’m in several FIFA groups. Continued with Instagram messages, it was chaotic on all social media platforms. But it wasn’t just for a few hours, it lasted three to four days,” Nußbaumer shares, who suddenly found himself confronted with a flood of insults: “I was called a ‘rat’ and received rat pictures.” A Twitter post about the specific Weekend League also received very harsh comments.
Cyberbullying in eSports can have serious consequences
Nußbaumer’s coach, Ugur Dertli, described attacks that were very personal: “They became very personal. They dug up his private photos and edited them. They said things like ‘go kill yourself, go hang yourself, look at how you look.'” That raised alarm bells for the coach, who also received some extreme messages in the process: “Cyberbullying can lead to severe consequences, and it’s not impossible in eSports either.”
How did Nußbaumer deal with it? At the beginning, it was very difficult for him to handle the sudden situation, the player explains: “It’s the very first time; this has never happened before. I have never been hated like this.” Ultimately, it was the sheer volume of messages that shocked him, rather than their content.
He was left with no choice but to ignore the messages: “I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire.”
Nußbaumer, like several other professional players, is under contract with the agency “L4K eSports”. They supported the player during this time and also took action against the comments, explains CEO Teoman Arslan: “We also spoke with the other players about the incident. They found it terrible but said they should stay out of it.”
Why play so defensively?
What was the problem? Anyone who watches the clip sees a player who plays the ball defensively for most of the time. At least for 40 seconds, Arslan emphasizes: “Only part of the match is shown. Krasi had six shots on goal during the game.”
On Nußbaumer’s side, there were five. So it truly wasn’t an offensive fireworks display, as Nußbaumer admits: “I play for safety and ball possession. I’m not someone who has 20 shots on goal but rather five or so. Those are also dangerous chances,” he explains. That’s how he always plays – not just against professionals.
The priority for him as a professional here is the success, explains coach Dertli: “The most important thing is that we keep a clean sheet. That’s the motto. One will always get scoring chances,” he explains the tactic: It’s also about staying clear of the opponent’s pressing: “Of course, nobody plays for time on purpose; nobody does that intentionally.”
The match against Krasi was very challenging – no wonder, as Krasi is an established professional. According to Dertli, Nußbaumer also had five shots on goal, but they didn’t go in: “If all the chances had gone in, it would have been 5:0. Then he would have been playing offensively too, and it wouldn’t have mattered if we conceded another goal. But it was a match where nothing went in – and of course you are aiming for success.”
One must not let the lead slip away, which against players like Krasi is almost impossible: “Especially when one realizes that the game is heading in a strange direction. Then you must change your style of play. That distinguishes a casual player from a competitive player.”
However, no one expected such a backlash, especially since such a style of play isn’t necessarily unusual in the professional realm: “René made it to the qualification for the eBundesliga with this style of play. Tactical ball possession is not exploiting gameplay errors,” says Arslan. The completely opposite reaction to this style has also been experienced: “I played against a professional who I beat 30-0 in the last match. He did exactly the opposite, messaged me with ‘GG.'”
Now, the comments have died down, Nußbaumer shares. But it hasn’t been an easy experience.
