Why Do League of Legends Streamers Hide Their Minimap?

League of Legends is one of the most popular categories of streams on Twitch. It’s certainly the video game with the most viewers on average and the highest numbers of streamers too. Streaming League of Legends has always had its cons as well as pros, especially if you’re a famous persona among the LoL community. And one thing that many popular LoL streamers have in common is that they hide their minimap.

Why do League streamers hide their minimap?

LoL streamers hide their minimap because of ghosting. Ghosting is when someone that’s playing against the streamer watches the stream and gathers information about his opponents’ positions. To prevent this, streamers hide their minimap so that their enemies can’t see where they are on Summoner’s Rift.

League streamers have had a problem with ghosting ever since League of Legends launched. It breaks the laws of the game because it reveals what should be hidden by the Fog of War. And it makes it so your enemies can’t make any mistakes because they always know your position on the map.

Ghosting is immoral, and it hurts the game’s health state. And hiding the minimap is the best way to combat it if you’re a LoL streamer.

But why is this the case? Isn’t ghosting bannable in LoL?

You can’t get banned for ghosting because it’s technically watching a public stream. Everyone has the equal right to tune in and watch a popular streamer play League of Legends. However, some people choose to abuse this right, so that’s why League streamers have to do things like hiding or completely covering their minimaps.

Also read: What are Control Mages?

How to Hide Your Minimap in League of Legends?

If you’re a streamer yourself and you experience suspicious behavior from your opponents, remember that they might be ghosting you. 

Of course, there’s really no way to know for sure. But I’d say that if the enemy jungler, for example, kills you 10 times in a row by waiting for you in different positions around the map while also not having any wards on the map, then he’s probably ghosting you. Always check the replay to get a better picture of what happened in the game.

But if you’re generally afraid of potential ghosting on your stream and want to stop it before it happens, here’s what you can do.

1. Put a minimap overlay on your actual in-game minimap.

If you’re streaming through OBS (Open Broadcaster Software), you can put different overlays around your stream. A minimap-like overlay is what most League streamers do, simply because it looks the most natural.

What do I mean by this?

If you tune in to Tyler1’s stream, for example, you’ll see that his minimap is actually not moving. It doesn’t display him, his allies, or his opponents. This is because he has a minimap overlay on top of his actual minimap that covers it almost completely. Tyler1 is a popular figure within the League of Legends community, and many players know his accounts. So, that’s what he does to combat the people that try to ghost his stream, which is also many.

You can easily find and download an LoL minimap overlay by searching Google.

1. Cover your minimap with a picture or your stream cam.

If you don’t want to use a minimap overlay, you can also move your stream cam in the corner of your stream, exactly where the minimap in LoL is. This way, your viewers will watch you instead of your in-game minimap. The same can be done with a custom picture, which can be anything you want. 

I’d definitely say using a minimap overlay is better overall. This is because the minimap plays a huge role in how we make decisions in League of Legends. And when you completely hide your minimap from your viewers, they often don’t know why you do certain things in the game.

However, hiding the minimap is the only option that League streamers can do against ghosting.