Many contents from WoW Classic currently come from streamers. This does not sit well with some fans of the MMORPG at all. When a Twitch streamer like Sodapoppin makes controversial statements, it can lead to fierce disputes.
Which streamer is being talked about? The discussion is about the streamer sodapoppin. Sodapoppin is one of the largest WoW streamers in the world and even attracted more concurrent viewers last week than the WoW legend Asmongold (via sullygnome, as of June 8 at 10:40 AM).
Sodapoppin ranks 15th among the Twitch streamers with the most followers in the world, giving him considerable influence. As a result, his statements can make significant waves when he makes them in front of tens of thousands of viewers.
This annoys the WoW Classic Community
What did Sodapoppin say? It specifically concerns a statement about streamer privileges and sodapoppin’s view of social justice in WoW Classic. In one of his streams, he talks about wanting to play WoW like an “anonymous player.”
He wishes that players would not distinguish between streamers and non-streamers but just play. He does not want any advantages or disadvantages just because he shows his game on Twitch.
He apparently feels that players are specifically waiting to ambush and hunt him. He wants to put a stop to that.
Sodapoppin is therefore taking a step further and explained his idea of a kind of “Social DKP.”
This is the idea: He intends to punish stream-snipers, meaning players who specifically hunt streamers. Since every player knows where the streamer is due to streaming, they can be tracked more easily and eliminated in PvP.
Sodapoppin now intends to keep a blacklist. Anyone who specifically hunts streamers will have their name recorded by the biggest guilds of their faction. They will be excluded from all important activities in the game: raids, dungeons, and world events.
As a result, the sniper will find it impossible to acquire the best gear, while streamers like sodapoppin can equip themselves to defend against the snipers.
How Classic fans are reacting: This statement has met with extreme incomprehension among many fans and has caused anger. The community is angry that streamers take it upon themselves to determine how others play and have fun in Classic.
Over the days, this has escalated to the point that in a now widely read and highly rated thread on reddit, a counter-idea has emerged:
Down with Soda and down with anyone who believes they should dictate who can have fun in the game. […]
I propose a super-guild, “The Blacklist,” with the explicit purpose of mastering game content as efficiently as possible. The goal is to hunt down those who exploit their streamer privileges to dictate what others are allowed to do. Everyone is welcome, and those we put on the list shall be hunted mercilessly.
The dissatisfaction with streamers has been evident in the community for some time. Statements like those from sodapoppin seem to only cause more unrest. However, some other streamers continue to provide good entertainment for the Classic fans:
