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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1g1sk.jpg)
So, team liquid and reddit have been blowing up over the announcement of Gordon Hayward, professional basket ball player, and his entrance to the IPL. People are rushing to support him, and basketball bloggers are scorning him for his choice. All of this reminds me of the show hyung joon becomes a progamer.
A lot of people had doubts about hyung, and thought he was just doing it for attention, but he tried hard and really wanted to show his skills in Starcraft. I feel like this is what is going on with Gordon. He has slowly been coming onto the starcraft scene, with a featured TL stream and him laddering on occasion. Now that he si diving head on into competing, will the starcraft community rally to him?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/aDTOs.jpg)
The biggest variable right now is public opinion. Will a pro player of a extremely popular sport move Starcraft into the public eye? Or will people just see gordon throwing away time at a lame hobby. I think that the people who play games, but dont consider themselves hardcore, may actually start to get interested in Starcraft now that someone they know is moving into that scene.
I'm glad IGN sees the marketing potential in Gordon, and I hope they motivate him to stay involved in the scene as long as possible and promote Esports.
What do you think about the announcement? Publicity stunt, or a honest attempt at breaking into the scene?
About me: I'm Dean elazab, I am currently trying to get to masters league, and blog about sc2 and the esports scene. my full blog is here Almost Elite
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Hyungjoon's show was so good! Gordon Hayward needs a reality show too! ;D
Haha I have faith that he wont get completely owned, but he certainly wont go far. If he practices a lot over the next month he can definitely put up a good showing 
Anyways, mostly I think it's just a good PR thing for IGN. Everybody who already watches SC2 thinks this is awesome and will want to see how he does. And like you said it could bring other gamers into SC2 competitive gaming, and maybe even a few fans of him/the jazz. For the most part I think it's a good thing with only a little bit of negative stuff from people like that blogger that don't know anything.
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Sports players don't usually have the on-cam personalities of entertainers/pop stars.
Hyung Joon was made great thanks to the MBC teamhouse, the Shark friendship and the 'behind the scenes' feel.
Sadly the EG prohouse is the closest thing we have to showing behind the scenes stuff (in America) and frankly a realityshow with Gordon going to the gym with the boys and practicing with AxStrifeChine wouldn't seem very appealing to me.
We should let the scene mature before we show the off-cam reality to people from another scene.
As for the IGN initiative - i think it's great, excellent marketing and brand exposure. All parties involved will benefit from it.
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Yeah, an IGN sponsored show of him would be pretty awesome.
I also see him gaining fans, his facebook fan page was flooding earlier with supportive messages about him playing in the IPL. SC2 fans are so great, and can only help him in both of his endeavors.
And yeah, I agree with the magic of the hyungjoon show was the "behind the scenes of a proteam" feel. I feel like IGN has the best potential for spreading esports out of just the hardcore scene. They are technically the number one gaming site on the net, so if they start to post more to the main site, who knows what will happen.
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On September 09 2011 01:39 Thrill wrote:
Sports players don't usually have the on-cam personalities of entertainers/pop stars.
Hyung Joon was made great thanks to the MBC teamhouse, the Shark friendship and the 'behind the scenes' feel.
Yup, Hyung Joon is really charismatic, which is what made the charm of the show. I don't think many athletes have that kind of charisma, but I do think his charisma is what made the show possible.
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On September 09 2011 02:10 2WeaK wrote:Show nested quote +On September 09 2011 01:39 Thrill wrote:
Sports players don't usually have the on-cam personalities of entertainers/pop stars.
Hyung Joon was made great thanks to the MBC teamhouse, the Shark friendship and the 'behind the scenes' feel. Yup, Hyung Joon is really charismatic, which is what made the charm of the show. I don't think many athletes have that kind of charisma, but I do think his charisma is what made the show possible.
Definitely, it was his personality and charisma that made the show for me. That and also seeing the lifestyle of the players on Korean pro-teams. Nal_rA's Oldboy was also great, though I'd say the personality of the people the shows followed are noticeably different. Both of them were fantastic though.
If they made a show following Gordon Hayward it'd be neat, for sure. I'd imagine it would allow the community to connect to his personality more. It's not necessary, but it would be pretty popular if they decided to make one!
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Gordon becomes a progamer? I would watch that! Put him to the EG house!
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He's going to get owned, but I really think it's a great thing that he is doing. I was kind of embarrassed about spending a lot of time playing video games when I was in high school and middle school.. and like I was afraid if just people in my school found out. Here's an NBA player playing on the internet in front of a web cam saying he wants to pursue becoming a professional. It really spits in the face of any kind of negative stigma gaming has.. he just doesn't care! Really cool and I'm definitely a GH supporter!! fighting!!
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Exactly! He is showing that this is a competitive game, a competitive person can enjoy it. You dont have to be a nerd to enjoy this. Hopefully we start to gain casual watchers.
Day9 says a lot of his viewers don't even play. So we are slowly gaining a watching scene.
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EDIT: double post, stupid iphone app
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hayward is not even nearly as handsome as hyungjoon.
"nuff said".
jk.
I never watched hayward but I see where you are coming from, however hayward is actually not really trying to become a progamer, whereas hyungjoon really wanted to become one.
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Allow me to pitch a show idea to IGN:
Gordon Becomes a Professional Gamer
- Eight weeks
- Inside an apartment complex with ReIGN (Seeing as ReIGN are sponsored by IGN now)
- RGNSpades, VPPainuser (seeing as he's working as an official caster for IGN now) and RGNArtist coaching him.
- Featuring the whole of the ReIGN roster as practice partners, as well as a few players IGN has picked from other teams to voluntarily work with him.
- Gordon Hayward given temprary leave from NBA and his team (or done during an off-season time when his team doesn't have an important league to compete in.)
- After 8 weeks, Gordon Hayward is entered either into a major event's open bracket (like an upcoming IPL season, an MLG etc) or a Go4SC2 cup.
Then you can do a series 2 where IGN partners with a Korean team and sends Gordon to say... a Korean team house for another 8 weeks of pure SC2 where he prepares to take on the horros of the Korean ladder, the GSL qualifiers and a show match with SlayerS_MMA.
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Osaka27178 Posts
"Gordon Hayward given temprary leave from NBA and his team (or done during an off-season time when his team doesn't have an important league to compete in.)"
Yeah I am sure that taking a temporary leave of absence from the NBA to take part in a video game reality series is a wise career move. Move over Scott Boras, a new super-agent is in the house!
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United States17042 Posts
I think that a comparison to hyungjoon isn't that terrible of one.
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EPT
