Strange things are happening on German Twitch: A few weeks ago, the biggest streamers in Germany distanced themselves from gambling, now they are pulling packs in FIFA 23 for hours on end. But at least they warn the viewers. Whether Twitch is really paying attention seems questionable.
Trigger warning: There is a quote from MontanaBlack in the article that describes a violent sexual act.
This is the situation:
- FIFA 23 is currently extremely popular on German-speaking Twitch.
- As Twitch streamer Staiy criticizes, FIFA is not being played, but only packs are being pulled – for many hours, Trymacs especially is pulling from the magical machine. For Staiy, this is a big problem: Everyone is just pulling cards, no one is playing with them – not even teams are being built (via YouTube). How is FIFA 23 even different from the disparaged category “Slots”?
- The eternal pack opening in the “FUT” mode is particularly bizarre because the streamers previously spoke out against gambling on Twitch and also criticized loot boxes in FIFA 23.
This is now a new scene: In a YouTube video by Trymacs, he summarizes the highlights of a Twitch stream. With several large YouTubers focusing on FIFA 23, Trymacs features in his channel.
They are having a “pack battle”: Whoever pulls the strongest card has to pay the other participants a cash prize in the form of Twitch subs.
Here’s how the pack battle goes:
- MontanaBlack pulls a very strong card early on: Benzema, a 91 rated card. This seems to decide the pack battle, it appears that the air has gone out of it.
- The others tease him – Trymacs, who can be seen, looks dejected, almost desperate. You can tell that ambition is gnawing at him.
- MontanaBlack celebrates himself, although he probably doesn’t need the money.
- But then, Trymacs surprisingly pulls Lionel Messi’s card, rated 91, which has a higher market value than Benzema. Trymacs skips the walkout, only realizing it later: “I got Messi and you lost!”
MontanaBlack curses:
This is ‘an absolute disgrace. You do a pack battle, pull Benzema. I actually considered playing a game while you were pulling, then Max comes from behind with his big club in his pants, dude, and pushes it dry into my ass.
MontanaBlack on Twitch
How does the video end? After almost 10 minutes of gambling in the YouTube video and an emotional rollercoaster, there is a cut in the video and Trymacs warns his viewers:
Hey guys, definitely don’t do this. I’m now at exactly €12,500. That’s stupid, Rohat €2,000, Medi €2,000, Monte €5,000, Eli €4,000. No one pulls anything. This is the biggest scam in the entire gaming market out there. Stay away from it.
Trymacs
Is Twitch really looking at streams like this more closely?
Isn’t that problematic? Yes, in the 10-minute summary, several things happen for which others have already gotten into serious trouble:
The sentence from MontanaBlack about the “big club in the pants” being “pushed dry into the ass” – one stands before that speechless. Of course, it’s not meant like that, but rather as a joke among friends. However, under somewhat strict interpretation of the rules, this would actually be a 3-day ban from Twitch. This brings up images of sexual violence as a humorous comparison. The Ukrainian CS:GO player s1mple was repeatedly banned for an obscene Russian word that he said to a friend – MontanaBlack can count himself lucky if this doesn’t affect him on German Twitch.
“Betting money” is something that has already caused trouble in kid-friendly Fortnite, but in FIFA, no one seems to care.
And of course, the entire process of the streams, to continuously pull new cards for money, is a perfect example of gambling or casino streams – exactly the behavior that Twitch wants to crack down on soon, and which both MontanaBlack and Trymacs have explicitly distanced themselves from.
To drop a warning 20 seconds after the action in the video: “Don’t do this,” is about as effective as the warnings on cigarette packs that the tobacco industry has to print on them.
Moreover, the statement: “No one pulls anything” simply does not match the stream in which things are constantly being pulled, maybe not the mega cards, but enough to put together the best team in the world.
In these FIFA streams, they are actually not playing, at least not FIFA 23, but rather slot:
FIFA 23: Twitch streamer Trymacs spends €13,500 on the best team in the world – loses first game
