EPTExcept that everything they have done since SC2 beta has begun has been the exact opposite of what they have preached and promised for Starcraft 2. And they are making the same mistakes that EA did with command and conquer 3, as well as other huge glaring ones that are questionable business-wise and maybe ethics-wise?
Before beta started, I was always 100% cynical about SC2 being a good game, on Brood War's level. I am happy to say I was completely 180'd - SC2's gameplay rivals that of Brood War and is the only RTS in the last few years, and in the next coming ones that will be able to stake that claim - being Brood War's successor and rival with great gameplay.
But I was also a cynic about blizzard and all of the promises and grandeur e-sports things they were talking about. Many of us here on teamliquid already knew about Kespa aka dogspa and how they handle korean e-sports, as well as how they are one of the organizations that began e-sports.
We also know that blizzard and them have been having at each other's throats, because it's blizzard's game in the first place, but e-sports is very much kespa/korea's doing, not blizzard's doing - and that is something that blizzard is not respecting right now.
It is time to man up, both Kespa, and Blizzard. Instead of vying for control of "e-sports" what both of these organizations and SUPPORTERS and growers of e-sports should be doing is working together right now, acknowledging that they both shared an equally pivotal part in what we now know today as "e-sports."
This is not possible if Kespa is unwilling to acknowledge that they would not exist without Blizzard's great game, and they do in fact owe a lot to Blizzard, possibly monetarily, but more so principally. No SC = Kespa would not have come to fruition like it had.
But now the ball is in Blizzard's court, and they are fucking it all up. Yes, Blizzard created the game, but no, Blizzard did not create or perpetuate e-sports.
The fans, korea, and the entire international brood war community are responsible for starcraft "e-sports" coming to fruition, and Blizzard is overstepping their bounds in trying to take control of everything related that is "e-sports."
Do they have the right to do that? Yes, they do in the sense that it is their game, and the intellectual property rights and other rights of the makers need to be respected.
But does that make it right to attempt to take 100% control of e-sports for themselves? No, it does not.
Blizzard knows and understands that they have complete say in what goes on from this moment on, but they are making a horrible decision, an arrogant one, to think that they themselves can re-create e-sports or more importantly, continue the further development of e-sports without Kespa's help.
Yes, Blizzard has signed deals with GOMTV, but all of these dealings and going ons where Kespa and Blizzard are confronting each other are only doing one thing - hurting and hindering the potential success of starcraft 2 as a professional sport.
These two entities need to work together, and learn to do it fast, before they end up fucking up the growth of e-sports. This means Kespa needs to own up and recognize that they do not own jack shit - it's blizzard's so they need to suck up their korean pride or whatever the hell it is and work with blizzard.
And Blizzard needs to suck it up and do the right thing and re-open negotiations with Kespa and work out something that is fair for both parties that will allow development of e-sports, rather than hinder it with all of this total control stuff that Blizzard is trying to do right now.
Blizzard seems to be arrogant enough now to think that this is "blizzard sports" and not "e-sports." Their new terms of service allowing only them total control of "e-sports" events and such shows that this is exactly the direction they are going.
No one fool yourself - blizzard right now is beginning the process of hindering e-sports development internationally, not progressing it.
Here is an anecdote/analogy, whatever you want to call it (excuse any minor inaccuracies, it is the core of the anecdote that matters).
In the early days of the United States when it was first being formed, the constitution was set up, the war with Britain had ended, and George Washington was triumphant for the new colonies. And what were some people saying and wanting?
They wanted George Washington to be "King" or the new ruler of the United States. George Washington at that moment can potentially become very powerful, being the new King, a ruler.
He decline. Why? Because it was the right thing to do. If he became a king or that type of ruler, he would be undermining the entire United States constitution and the principles that the United States were being founded on.
Blizzard can right now choose to hinder e-sports and make it "blizzard e-sports" or they can work with Kespa, and GOMTV, and be one of the co-founders of e-sports, and make the success of e-sports more likely.
Or they can continue down the road they are going right now.
Just some thoughts.
