Yes, we know – that headline could apply to almost any day of the year for Ali “Gross Gore” Larsen.
But that’s partly what makes the UK League of Legends streamer so unique – he tries new things. He’s a bit of a Marmite character, it seems some people either love him or hate him.
And his fanbase is a bit divided right now. Some of his fans on social media are being vocal about recent changes he’s made to his stream, while others are sticking up for him.
“Guys, I want the best for my streams, I really do,” he said in a Facebook update. “So I’m going to disable text to speech and the text on screen and media sharing. I will read out donations after the game.”
“Guys, I want the best for my streams, I really do. So I’m going to disable text to speech and the text on screen and media sharing. I will read out donations after the game.”
It’s a brave move, and Ali acknowledged it may sound like a bad idea, but said he feels that some negative donation messages ‘can ruin the atmosphere for the whole stream’ and bring him down.
During his time as a streamer, Gross Gore often gets troll donations, which people make to get offensive/racist jokes read out while he’s playing League of Legends. Ali tries to stop some of these from being read out but can’t always shut them off on time.
This change was not met that positively by some of his followers.
@GrossieGore This is a terrible idea. Hit me up if you want to chat man. Not a streamer or anything but I have some advice for you.
— NickSquirt (@NickSquirt) February 25, 2017
@GrossieGore that means that no one is going to donate, do you really think people come to you to watch high elo gameplay?
— approxd (@approxd) February 25, 2017
Jordan Weeb said on the Facebook post: “The only reason you get donations is for memes mate, big mistake, you’re wasting your free career and life we’ve given you.”
Matthew Guy added: “Your problem Gross Gore is you’re not listening to other professionals in this business. You change your mind every week about things. Get a plan, a good plan, stick to it.”
Moslim Mit responded to Matthew: “stfu he has actually been grinding real hard the past weeks, and this is a good choice because it shows he cares more then just the money now.”
If you don’t know.
This is how the streams have been the past couple of days & will remain like this forever.https://t.co/AgPFWmk3fA— Gross Gore (@GrossieGore) February 26, 2017
Shawn Arnold added: “Shitty decision. But not surprised since you are full of bad choices lately.”
But Ryan Harris hit back: “Shitty decision to turn off donation sounds? Lol get over it, it’s not the end of the world, the man just wants to focus on his League games.”
Earlier in the month, Ali posted on his Facebook page that he will be focusing more in-game, with more energetic reactions and a five-minute Q&A with his viewers after each game.
To be fair to Ali, he has stated several times what he does is for ‘entertainment purposes’, and he has been streaming every single day since the start of the year while trying to stay away from drama.
Time will tell whether he changes his mind and brings back text-to-speech donations, or if he’ll stick with it.
No drama all year.
Stream all the time/high elo.
Work out daily.
That is all I got planned for.
Gn world!
— Gross Gore (@GrossieGore) January 1, 2017
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
