Note: I'm discussing Moon vs. Huk Dreamhack, but won't be spoiling any results.
So I'm watching the VODs of HuK vs. Moon right now (had to work this morning, missed the stream) and I started to feel my allegiances split as I watched and I was wondering if this happens to other people too sometimes.
Here's the dilemma. I'm a Zerg player, and love to see Zergs win (especially vs. P! ^^) but I also love HuK, with me being both a Canadian and a lover of his awesome personality. I went into VOD #1 100% behind HuK (even though he is the hated Protoss!). By VOD #3 however, I caught myself hoping that Moon (Representing the Swarm!) could pull out the game and was subconsciously cheering for all of his attacks, hoping they would break through.
I caught myself and was like "WTF why am I cheering against Huk? Is my allegiance to my race really that strong??"
So I thought I would post a blog about it asking who you cheer for when you watch SC2 games and why. Does anybody else feel this player vs. race split of allegiances? (Especially when the player you love happens to play a race you hate!! :D)
Risky topic mate. HuK is TeamLiquid Canadian(w/e at least partially) and Protoss! He is an easy choice for me. I also find myself very inclined to cheer for protoss vs people like Jinro who i actually want to win. I think this is just our instincts as honed destroyers. We are used to wanting certain units to succeed in battles.
I used to race cheer at closer to release but I've grown further and further from that, I think at the beginning it was just some feelings of desperation to see my race do well while being a noob to the whole scene. Now I'm at the point where I have players I love to watch win, regardless of race. I love watching Boxer win, just because he is so good mannered and professional, as well as his age and SC1 history. I love watching anyone from teamliquid win just because of how much I <3 this site, I want them to be successful. I love watching anyone win if they are using some new/innovative strategy. I also love watching idra lose despite him playing the same race as me because he is so BM and doesn't think people deserve to win.
Zergs have a lot of racial pride in my experience, at least all the Zergs I know tend root heavily for other zergs. I never really see the same from the other races.
It really depends, personally almost all of my favourite players are Protosses. Really the only exception is IdrA, for whom I cheer for unless he is going up against some of my other favourites.
While i cheer for zergs most of the time, if i really like a protoss or a terran i will cheer for them. And if its korean vs non korean i will be cheering for non korean no matter what. Foreigners all the ways man. Like I had to follow dreamhack on twitter and when i saw huk was the only Foreigner left in I so wanted him to win, + Show Spoiler +
I was jumping for joy when a Foreigner, even a toss Foreigner won.
I cheer for the best players, but frankly from the ''foreigners''(This is such an odd word to use these days) I only support the Teamliquid people(Huk,Jinro, Ret etc) and Thorzain.
Race I don't really care, if its Idra its autoroot against Idra regardless of his race but if its July its autoroot for July. The more you get to know the players behind the races, the less you will care about the race they play and more about the player and his play itself.
It really depends. I do not follow the scene so closely to really know all players in the matches I watch.
But quite often, I find myself cheering for the underdog.(For some reason that I am not willing to discuss on this server, it's not often the Protoss.) I really can't imagine how could anyone not cheer for Thorzain in TSL3, regardless of the race. It was such a story! And MC played so well, but ....
Also sometimes I fall in love with someone's play after watching a single game. I have honestly never heard much of MMA before Columbus, but I fully understood the crowd shouting his name after the matches. His play was just so amazing!
On the other hand, where there is a lack anything else, I may be brought to side with the Protoss player, when I see him struggling with things I have problems with.
I cheer for players all the time and i am zerg player I prefer watching ZvX tho. But i may root for other player like in huk vs moon i would root for huk.
Back when I was first getting into watching pro BW games, I would just root for Zerg every game because I wasn't familiar with any of the players. But as I got more familiar with it all, I started to get favorite players that I would root for regardless of race, and that's how it is with SC2 now as well. Though if it's a match between two players I've never heard of, I'll automatically root for the Z player if there is one. Otherwise I'll root for T. And if it's PvP I just throw my computer out the window.
Edit: also with BW there was proleague, so there was the team aspect as well, which for me was more important than race or player, unless it was yellow or reach.
Based on the finals of DH alone, I'd say cheer for the player but I have to agree with Korinai. I almost always cheer for my race, even if it's against BoxeR or NaDa. Honestly I think there's just too much bile related to terran (as a Zerg player) to cheer for them.. Cheering for Huk was easier. He's on TL, he's a funny and charming player and he's very good. Moon has a history of all inning. So while (jeeze I'm rambling) most of the time I'd cheer for zerg, there are exceptions. Like if the zerg in question has a history of cheesy play or if I particularly like his opponent.
I cheer for my race because I usually watch also with interest on picking up things for my own play. Therefore I want to see my race win, winning is fun yo
For me it kinda depends on the player. I'll support Terran by default, Zerg over Toss (this because I hate the entirety of BW Protoss. I play at school w/my buds and there are like 15 methods of cheese exclusive to toss)
But certain players, like sAviOr or Jaedong, I will support even over T. I support FlaSh vs Jaedong, Jaedong vs most anyone else. The only Toss I support is Reach, the one I really hate is Stork.
It's kinda true about you wanting to see a certain unit winning - when I see siege tanks vs dragoons or hydras, I just feel good inside when their opponents explode into pools of multicolored blood. Like even if it's Jaedong or something, I kinda wouldn't mind if the vulture harrass killed a bunch of shit.
Usually, I cheer for foreigners when they are fighting against Koreans. Since I play Random, I don't give a hollering hoot about race. I also cheer for stronger players playing against weaker players, since I always like witnessing the formation of a bonjwa.
Otherwise, I cheer based on my Liquidbet. It's quite an effective tool, especially when I know nothing about either player.
Depends, if it's two players I know barely anything about then I will cheer for my race. On the other hand if I knew about both of the players I will pick my favourite out of the two and cheer for them, race doesn't matter.
EPT
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I prefer watching ZvX tho. But i may root for other player like in huk vs moon i would root for huk.
