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For those of you that read this whole entry I would appreciate your feed back very much. Check out some of my other entries if you like this one.
With the NASL starting up I am thinking often about how they are attempting to get more people into E-Sports. The production quality is amazing, clips of interviews, the tours of the maps they give before they start the matches, I love everything they are doing. What I payed attention to the most were the application videos. One of the questions was "who are your biggest rivals?". This I think is meant to spice up games and make certain match ups draw in a bigger crowd, and it does, many people come to watch HuK and IdrA play because of the BM between them.
However what I think will draw even more people in are celebrities. If you watch all of the application videos you see these quiet players with bad webcams answering questions in single sentences. The more popular videos were by players who can connect with the crowd and can talk to a camera without being nervous. The most popular players usually have Facebook fan groups, or streams, or do something that involves them with the community and this in turn makes them even more popular. It gives their fans a way to share the love the have for the player with other people.
I think that if players started connecting with the community that loves them people will start to watch more of their games. If we get to know the players more we can start seeing them as role models and we will want to watch and support our idols. People like TLO, or Day9 have such a big fan base not only because they are amazing players but because they interact with the community so much. It is very different when you start to see the real person behind the games. When I found out what HuK was really like I stopped watching many of his games but I started rooting for other players that I think are awesome people.
Q: If you had to introduce yourself to our fans who never met you, how would you describe yourself? Write a few sentences about your personality.
Personality should be irrelevant. This is a computer game tournament, not a dating show.
This was part of an interview with IdrA. Many people like IdrA because of the way he is. Bad tempered, not afraid to show his emotion, his personality is one of the main reasons he is so popular. He reminds me of the character Hancock played by Will Smith. Some people liked him because he got the job done but many did not like his attitude. Once Hancock started interacting with his community in a bit more positive way he became a hero, a role model.
Another example is Cliff Blesinski, the design director for the game development company Epic Games who made Gears of War. Most people with his position are very shy but he acts like a movie star! He appears on talk shows all the time, he knows how to please a crowd and has the right attitude. The way he interacts with the public is the only reason I know his name.
So in my opinion if we had players that we can relate to and see more as role models I think that would bring in a whole new crowd.
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Jinro has been quite popular in Sweden, going on TV and being mentioned in many Swedish media outlets. In fact, he gave some profound statements in his TV interviews.
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On April 14 2011 20:58 eviltomahawk wrote:
Jinro has been quite popular in Sweden, going on TV and being mentioned in many Swedish media outlets. In fact, he gave some profound statements in his TV interviews.
We need more like him 
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Oh I agree. I can't believe I forgot to mention Jinro in this! : P
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People like TLO, or Day9 have such a big fan base not only because they are amazing players but because they interact with the community so much.
![[image loading]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_l18tUxIjzws/TU9sNyYf7WI/AAAAAAAAAAk/gkb_afQDcIw/s1600/mlpfim-character-pinkie-pie-large-570x402.jpg)
so does this pony.
as an afterthought. Many sports have players you cant relate to. Does not mean they dont have a fanbase.
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On April 14 2011 21:29 Madkipz wrote:Show nested quote +People like TLO, or Day9 have such a big fan base not only because they are amazing players but because they interact with the community so much. [img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_l18tUxIjzws/TU9sNyYf7WI/AAAAAAAAAAk/gkb_afQDcIw/s1600/mlpfim-character-pinkie-pie-large-570x402.jpg[/img so does this pony. as an afterthought. Many sports have players you cant relate to. Does not mean they dont have a fanbase.
That's why this is ESPORTS
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+ Show Spoiler +On April 14 2011 21:29 Madkipz wrote:Show nested quote +People like TLO, or Day9 have such a big fan base not only because they are amazing players but because they interact with the community so much. so does this pony. as an afterthought. Many sports have players you cant relate to. Does not mean they dont have a fanbase.
My point is that interacting with the community increases a fan base.
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On April 14 2011 21:38 acenapster wrote:+ Show Spoiler +On April 14 2011 21:29 Madkipz wrote:Show nested quote +People like TLO, or Day9 have such a big fan base not only because they are amazing players but because they interact with the community so much. so does this pony. as an afterthought. Many sports have players you cant relate to. Does not mean they dont have a fanbase. My point is that interacting with the community increases a fan base.
Does it, though? Aren't you interacting with a community that's already there?
At most, you'd just end up keeping fans that might otherwise drift away if there wasn't a day9 type person to latch onto.
And really, the main draw should be about the competition and the games, not about personalities, I think.
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I disagree, the idea you have for ESPORTS seems super idealic but in reality its not possible.
Every player shouldn't have to interact with the community, I mean you don't see Federer, Alonso or Tiger sitting around having a beer with their groupies. It just aint feasible and frankly people follow ESPORTS because its entertaining, not because of the 'celebrity' interactions.
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On April 14 2011 22:30 goiflin wrote:Show nested quote +On April 14 2011 21:38 acenapster wrote:+ Show Spoiler +On April 14 2011 21:29 Madkipz wrote:Show nested quote +People like TLO, or Day9 have such a big fan base not only because they are amazing players but because they interact with the community so much. so does this pony. as an afterthought. Many sports have players you cant relate to. Does not mean they dont have a fanbase. My point is that interacting with the community increases a fan base. Does it, though? Aren't you interacting with a community that's already there? At most, you'd just end up keeping fans that might otherwise drift away if there wasn't a day9 type person to latch onto. And really, the main draw should be about the competition and the games, not about personalities, I think.
People like Husky are amazing at bringing in new fans on a daily basis. I wasn't a big fan of Starcraft before I saw Day9. Sometimes it takes someone else to show you the value of the game.
Yes the main draw is the competition but being able to cheer for your side is much better then just watching a game.
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United States13896 Posts
It seems like you're making an appeal for players/casters to show more personality rather than being "more accessible." Most of the SC2 players out there are incredibly accessible already, so many players stream, interact with people there, show at live events and always welcome anyone to come up and say hi, and are active on some kind of community forum where you can read their thoughts and correspond with them.
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On April 14 2011 22:39 bmml wrote:
I disagree, the idea you have for ESPORTS sounds like WWF, which frankly is horrendous.
Since when does WWF have role models?
I am talking about getting to know the players better. Being able to say I like HuK because he plays for fun or I like White.Ra because he is an older player and he can still be competitive despite having a wife.
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On April 14 2011 22:43 acenapster wrote:Show nested quote +On April 14 2011 22:39 bmml wrote:
I disagree, the idea you have for ESPORTS sounds like WWF, which frankly is horrendous. Since when does WWF have role models? I am talking about getting to know the players better. Being able to say I like HuK because he plays for fun or I like White.Ra because he is an older player and he can still be competitive despite having a wife.
I didn't read the post fully and rushed into a retarded reply, I have since edited it.
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On April 14 2011 22:44 bmml wrote:Show nested quote +On April 14 2011 22:43 acenapster wrote:On April 14 2011 22:39 bmml wrote:
I disagree, the idea you have for ESPORTS sounds like WWF, which frankly is horrendous. Since when does WWF have role models? I am talking about getting to know the players better. Being able to say I like HuK because he plays for fun or I like White.Ra because he is an older player and he can still be competitive despite having a wife. I didn't read the post fully and rushed into a retarded reply, I have since edited it.
Thanks for reading on. I'm just saying that if we all knew players alittle better we could cheer on our favorites not only because they are a good player but because you like them as a person. I think that it brings more meaning to the games they play for the fans and I think that if more players were like this esports would be easier for other people to get into.
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On April 14 2011 22:43 acenapster wrote:Show nested quote +On April 14 2011 22:39 bmml wrote:
I disagree, the idea you have for ESPORTS sounds like WWF, which frankly is horrendous. Since when does WWF have role models? I am talking about getting to know the players better. Being able to say I like HuK because he plays for fun or I like White.Ra because he is an older player and he can still be competitive despite having a wife.
And how come you don't know them well already? Idra is forever being interviewed about his games. Day9 is telling you snippets about his home life about 5 days a week on average, some of which clearly falls under the 'Too Much Information' category! White Ra has volumes of stuff on his website. A lot of progamers have accessible twitter and facebook accounts. A large crossection of Starcraft progamers have active accounts on tl.net, including all four of the gamers you mentioned in the OP (every one of them has posted in the last week). Make a bad zero-content post here, and there's even a chance your two-day ban will come from none other than Liquid`Jinro himself! To the right of here, there's a list of featured streams, and chances are, at any time of day, you can sit and watch what one of those progamers is doing, on the computer, in his (or, maybe one day, her) own home, while practicing. Hell, if you get your skills up, you might even end up randomly playing a progamer on battle.net sometime. You're not ever going to get the chance to play against Roger Federer or act alongside Robert De Niro. You want to be an esports reporter? Go get a webcam, turn up at a LAN, and point the camera at you, point a mic at Idra, and start asking pertinent questions that nobody's thought to ask already! Good luck trying to get an interview with Tiger Woods without a reputable-as-hell press pass from a big name journal of record.
How on earth do you feel you're not already SPOILED for community interaction? What fans of 'celebrities' and 'movie stars', your role models, is much more limited and controlled than what progamers do, day in, day out on the internet, as part of their normal mundane existence.
I'd far rather have Artosis shakicam interviews, and the tl.net 'Featured Stream' section, and all the forum posts that us Starcraft fans get now, than a million more yards of paparazzi footage and staged press conferences and whatever it is that we get from those supposed 'celebrities'. You want to enjoy what's happening now while it lasts. If esports really takes off, the community interaction we have now is going to get worse, not better.
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On April 14 2011 20:41 acenapster wrote:
This was part of an interview with IdrA. Many people like IdrA because of the way he is. Bad tempered, not afraid to show his emotion, his personality is one of the main reasons he is so popular. He reminds me of the character Hancock played by Will Smith. Some people liked him because he got the job done but many did not like his attitude. Once Hancock started interacting with his community in a bit more positive way he became a hero, a role model.
I'm sorry, but IdrA doesn't show his emotions. I think Huk is more like Hancock, IdrA has the bad boy thing going on, and Hancock never did since he would help out after all, albeit in his own way; whereas Huk has a very potty mouth (mainly for entertainment) but is good natured guy.
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On April 14 2011 23:40 thoraxe wrote:Show nested quote +On April 14 2011 20:41 acenapster wrote:
This was part of an interview with IdrA. Many people like IdrA because of the way he is. Bad tempered, not afraid to show his emotion, his personality is one of the main reasons he is so popular. He reminds me of the character Hancock played by Will Smith. Some people liked him because he got the job done but many did not like his attitude. Once Hancock started interacting with his community in a bit more positive way he became a hero, a role model.
I'm sorry, but IdrA doesn't show his emotions. I think Huk is more like Hancock, IdrA has the bad boy thing going on, and Hancock never did since he would help out after all, albeit in his own way; whereas Huk has a very potty mouth (mainly for entertainment) but is good natured guy.
Well they are very different people. IdrA shows his emotion in the way he plays as well as his little outrages at the end of games. HuK to me is a drama starter. He didn't have to tell IdrA he used hallucinations while they were just starting the next game.
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Netherlands45349 Posts
I think you mean personality and hype around a player rather then accessiblity, for example Idra is known to be a BM guy while there is little to nothing known about some other random players. These facts and personalities will come with the time I believe.
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On April 14 2011 23:46 acenapster wrote:Show nested quote +On April 14 2011 23:40 thoraxe wrote:On April 14 2011 20:41 acenapster wrote:
This was part of an interview with IdrA. Many people like IdrA because of the way he is. Bad tempered, not afraid to show his emotion, his personality is one of the main reasons he is so popular. He reminds me of the character Hancock played by Will Smith. Some people liked him because he got the job done but many did not like his attitude. Once Hancock started interacting with his community in a bit more positive way he became a hero, a role model.
I'm sorry, but IdrA doesn't show his emotions. I think Huk is more like Hancock, IdrA has the bad boy thing going on, and Hancock never did since he would help out after all, albeit in his own way; whereas Huk has a very potty mouth (mainly for entertainment) but is good natured guy. Well they are very different people. IdrA shows his emotion in the way he plays as well as his little outrages at the end of games. HuK to me is a drama starter. He didn't have to tell IdrA he used hallucinations while they were just starting the next game.
That's like winning a huge pot in poker by scaring the guy off of it and flashing 28os with nothing paired after. It's a pretty calculated decision, against someone like idra who will obviously get mad
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On April 14 2011 22:51 acenapster wrote:Show nested quote +On April 14 2011 22:44 bmml wrote:On April 14 2011 22:43 acenapster wrote:On April 14 2011 22:39 bmml wrote:
I disagree, the idea you have for ESPORTS sounds like WWF, which frankly is horrendous. Since when does WWF have role models? I am talking about getting to know the players better. Being able to say I like HuK because he plays for fun or I like White.Ra because he is an older player and he can still be competitive despite having a wife. I didn't read the post fully and rushed into a retarded reply, I have since edited it. Thanks for reading on. I'm just saying that if we all knew players alittle better we could cheer on our favorites not only because they are a good player but because you like them as a person. I think that it brings more meaning to the games they play for the fans and I think that if more players were like this esports would be easier for other people to get into.
There are places for this though, interviews and shows like SotG give offerings into the players world. I don't think they need to become 'celebrities'.
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Players need to earn "celebrity" status through their skill, or at least signature playstyles, not their personalities. This is true for all sports.
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You guys are beyond spoiled as is.
There is more than enough fan interaction already. Next you will be asking them for their phone numbers and addresses.
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On the contrary, I find SC2 progamers to one of the most accessible 'celebrities' in any sport. Many pros post on TL (liquid members, incontrol, cloud, etc). We have tons of interviews, even for players who don't speak English. I've never attended an offline tourney, but from everything I've heard the pros are very receptive and appreciative of fans who approach them and give them words of encouragement. In what other sport does this level of interaction occur? I can't think of any.
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Well, this is all wrong and you'd know so if you had been to the Dreamhack event ^^
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EPT
