EPTThe third qualifier was originally scheduled for March 12th. Unbeknown to me at the time was this is one of the days that PAX East will be taking place in Boston. I'm not competing with attention for that, so the tournament will be held the week after in Haverhill, MA. Though, after speaking with the LAN center recently, it looks like they may be moving so they can utilize an "entertainment license". No news on computers there, so it is still BYOC.
Getting back to PAX East, I will be headed there and should be seeing quite a few fellow leaguers there as well. I have my business cards ready so I can try to get more funding/sponsorship for the league at PAX as well as saving shirts for some celebrities. (if Day9, JP, or InControl read this, PM your size and I'll save you one)
There has been recent progress with getting SC2 on television in the US, specifically, a leaguer that works at the Haverhill Public Broadcast station brought up the idea, so there may be a monthly "game of the month" done in a video game show produced there. Also, there is the possibility of having the league tournament replays played in the same manner. Now, to do this, we need licensing from Blizzard, of which, I applied for months ago.
The licensing process is really a pain, but I consider it well worth it. Anyone can apply for the licensing, and everyone is given the same basic licensing upon application. This basic licensing allows someone, or someplace, to run a tournament but with certain conditions: no door fee, no viewing fee, no live television, etc... If you want to see the list, simply apply for a basic license and you will see what the restrictions are. Once you read through the legal mumbo jumbo, you can still run a successful tournament.
Now, to get more than a basic license, you go through a sort of application process. Someone from Blizzard will contact you via e-mail asking you to clarify certain parts of your application. Normally, it will be parts that aren't authorized by a normal license, such as the televised replays listed above. After this, is dead silence. I think what Blizzard is doing is monitoring tournaments or groups that throw tournaments to see if the licensing is even needed/warranted for such an event. I have been through the process twice up to this stage for different groups; one of which is dead, the other is fully functioning. I never received anything past the first questionnaire for the first group. However, only a day or so ago I received an additional email from Blizzard asking me to clarify 2 points. In the quoted reply text, I could see my previous answers to their questions, which means yes, Blizzard is watching (ominious feeling mwahahaha). The two questions pertained to established prize pools and televised broadcast. I made sure to point out the league and the television are non-profit (they both are) and sent the email away. Now we wait again.
So in the past month, a lot has happened and a lot will be happening; The league is sponsoring a Z33k tournament series, we have our first hB->G tournament coming up, PAX looks to be a great opportunity, T-shirts are almost done, and Blizzard may be granting us a license. Things are good!
BTW, MLG isn't evil... But I wish MLGSundance would get back to me XD
See you on the stream Saturday!
