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I came across this post in the midst of all the drama:
On December 14 2011 23:12 Umpteen wrote:
...professional sport is not about pandering to one individual. In professional sport, everyone is in it together: players, spectators, organisers, officials - everyone. It only works if we all pull together.
[...]
Doing anything professionally carries obligations over and above those attached to a recreational activity, because it's no longer just about you. It's about you and the people paying you. You can cook? Great! You want to be a chef? Better start adhering to health and safety and hygiene standards, and getting food out on time and on budget. You can take nice photos? Great! Want to be a wedding photographer? Then you'll be wanting insurance and a network of other pros in case you're ill on the day. You'll be multiply-RAIDing your hard drives, scouting venues, honing your interpersonal and organisational skills so that the wedding party have a great time and great pictures to take away and don't have to spend all day away from their guests.
You can play SC2 well? Great! You want to be a pro-gamer? You want a sponsor to pay you and ferry you around from tournament to tournament? You want fans who'll tune in and maybe buy the products you endorse? Then you act like you give a shit, 100% of the time. That's part of the job.
This post brings up the core issue in eSports today: respect and professionalism.
I don't think a lot of people recognize the true role of a professional athelete is to entertain. The spectators/fans are the only justification for the enormous salaries for the players on professional sports teams, and the first people they thank first after winning a big match are the fans and sponsors.
Perhaps the most noble definition of a professional athelete is to represent the peak of human physical/mental achievements through competition and hard work, but this is not the reason that makes them popular among the masses. I bet there are more people who can name all the players on the Laker's team than all the scientists who won the Nobel prize this year. Can we reasonably justify that the Lakers are making more progress in the advancement of society than the people who are working to cure AIDS?
This brings me back to the point of entertainment. Entertainment is tied to huge profits and attracts corporate sponsors from all over the world. Becoming a professional in any sports means becoming a part of the entertainment industry. A professional athelete is different than an amateur athelete in that they not only compete on a higher level, but also need discipline and proper PR. If an athelete's only goal is to improve him/herself, there is no need to go pro. By going pro, an athelete actively chooses the path of discipline by putting him/herself in front of an audience who expects nothing but professionalism and respect. An athelete should never forget why he is being paid a thousand times more than some of the brightest inventors in the world. Some may say they work very hard that they earned it, but what about the millions of people working longer hours and making a tiny fraction of what pro atheletes make? At the end of the day, hardwork is neither the reason nor the justification for money or fame, the talent you are born with coupled with people who appreciate your talent are.
For many sports industries that involve competition, this is especially important. In many instances, it is ok for an athelete to dispute the ruling of referees. However, it is never acceptable to do anything that shows disrespect to either the audience, the officials, or the competing player. An athelete signs up for participation, not to judge/ridicule through his actions. One can always refuse to participate in any competition if he thinks the rules are unfair/redundant. If an athelte's only motivation in participating in any competition is to win the prize money, then he is not worthy to be called a professional by any standard. A match is never redundant if there are people cheering for it.
In the case of eSports, I would assume the same set of rules apply as it is a sport that provides entertainment for the masses. It is important to separate an athelete's actions from the discussion on whether the rules are fair and just.
P.S. I don't personally believe players like Naniwa is a disrespectful person. I think many of the foreign sc2 pros simply lack the maturity and experience with the gaming / sports industry and how it is structured. They are simply acting the way they always act when they are not on public display as no team is going to dedicate time to PR training when it can be spent improving the skills of its players.
 
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Its a Job. So like other real jobs, there are responsibilities.
It seems easy enough to understand right?
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Rubbish, going pro is because you are at the highest tier of skill in SC2. Comparisons to other sports are awful and you are not pro because of popularity. The original definition of a professional in sports is because they made money in prizes from their sport, compared to amateurs who did not receive prize money. So prize money was the very reason for becoming a professional in sports.
Entertainment and popularity is all secondary.
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On December 15 2011 01:38 Keyboard Warrior wrote:
Its a Job. So like other real jobs, there are responsibilities.
It seems easy enough to understand right?
Naniwa does not get paid to play good games, he gets paid to win things. Throwing a game when he is already unable to win is not neglecting to do his job. He is a competitor, not an entertainer
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On December 15 2011 01:41 Full.tilt wrote:
Rubbish, going pro is because you are at the highest tier of skill in SC2. Comparisons to other sports are awful and you are not pro because of popularity. The original definition of a professional in sports is because they made money in prizes from their sport, compared to amateurs who did not receive prize money. So prize money was the very reason for becoming a professional in sports.
Entertainment and popularity is all secondary.
And where do you think the prize money comes from?
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It is simply ridiculous to think you deserve to get paid to play a game that serves no interest to social development. People are naive to think that a sport that provides no entertainment value can actually succeed in being a sport. Why would do you pay a player to win? Because winners gets more fans and sponsors.
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United States21994 Posts
I'm a little disappointed that this isn't a blog about your efforts to rise from bronze to grandmasters and then win a GSL, because I really wanted to plug my blog.
What has this naniwa drama done to me, that I'd prefer to see "going pro" blogs rather than rehashes of arguments for and against Naniwa?!?!
*shakes fist at the sky*
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On December 15 2011 02:22 GMarshal wrote:
I'm a little disappointed that this isn't a blog about your efforts to rise from bronze to grandmasters and then win a GSL, because I really wanted to plug my blog.
What has this naniwa drama done to me, that I'd prefer to see "going pro" blogs rather than rehashes of arguments for and against Naniwa?!?!
*shakes fist at the sky*
Hah I was hoping if you'd read this. Totally worth the misleading title.
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A pro in SC2 is a competitor, not an entertainer. They entertain as a by-product of them competing in the game.
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On December 15 2011 03:03 Jedclark wrote:
A pro in SC2 is a competitor, not an entertainer. They entertain as a by-product of them competing in the game.
The by-product is what pays for the job. People don't seem to understand the difference between a career and a hobby. There is a huge difference between competing in a small tournament online on your own and having sponsors paying you a fixed salary on top of the potential prize pool for winning the matches. Your salary is paid by the sponsors, who ultimately generate their revenues from the fans watching the sport, how can you possibly claim entertainment is not part of the job? If you don't want to play for the fans, then you shouldn't get paid by them. No salary = not pro as the definition suggests that you do this for a living.
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I think the general consensus for every programer in the foreign side of things is that they are a competitor first, and an entertainer second. And thats how it should be. I want to see competitors compete, not entertainers entertain.
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On December 15 2011 03:03 Jedclark wrote:
A pro in SC2 is a competitor, not an entertainer. They entertain as a by-product of them competing in the game.
Where do you think his paycheck comes from? He gets paid by sponsors because sponsors want fans to see their ads, which are on players' tags, jerseys, etc. Pro doesn't just mean being a competitor in tournaments. You basically need to make it your full-time job and earning a living off of it as well. It's not just someone who is really good at the game as maybe it once was.
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Fans watch because they enjoy watching starcraft played at the highest level presently known. Fans may also like the personality of a particular player. But that's always secondary, there are tons of nice personalities but a top level sc2 player is very rare.
Sponsors pay players because they think they will profit from sponsoring them. It's possible that a pro-gamer may make more money than he otherwise would by acting in the nice, responsible, community oriented ways you seem to suggest. But it's also possible a pro-gamer might get fans // sponsors by acting like a total dick and making it very clear that what he cares about is being the best sc2 player alive and he doesn't care two shits for his fans or his sponsors.
The type of pro-gamers that emerge will tell us what the market, which includes the players, the sponsors and the fance, prefers.
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On December 15 2011 03:22 lOvOlUNiMEDiA wrote:
Fans watch because they enjoy watching starcraft played at the highest level presently known. Fans may also like the personality of a particular player. But that's always secondary, there are tons of nice personalities but a top level sc2 player is very rare.
Sponsors pay players because they think they will profit from sponsoring them. It's possible that a pro-gamer may make more money than he otherwise would by acting in the nice, responsible, community oriented ways you seem to suggest. But it's also possible a pro-gamer might get fans // sponsors by acting like a total dick and making it very clear that what he cares about is being the best sc2 player alive and he doesn't care two shits for his fans or his sponsors.
The type of pro-gamers that emerge will tell us what the market, which includes the players, the sponsors and the fance, prefers.
Agreed. You gotta admit though sc2, like any other physical sports, is only best when played at the highest level with the best players. Competing at the highest level comes hand in hand with entertainment, because the audience know they are watching the best.
There is a reason sports and entertainment are often grouped together by media. Sports differ from entertainment in such non of the actions are staged and yet everything needs to happen according to a pre-defined set of rules. This allows the audience to be more analytically engaged rather than emotionally engaged. But at the end of the day, it is still a form of entertainment nontheless.
Entertainment comes from competing really hard, but sometimes this goes over a player's head and he thinks winning is all that matters, which inevitably results in all these drama.
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You have to admit that he entertains you with this threw off game. He created a situation where everyone will talk about him. His decision to throw the game since he had nothing to win from him was the best in all aspect since you will talk about his sponsor,
Talk it bad or good, but talk about it.
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On December 15 2011 04:00 osoup wrote:
You have to admit that he entertains you with this threw off game. He created a situation where everyone will talk about him. His decision to throw the game since he had nothing to win from him was the best in all aspect since you will talk about his sponsor,
Talk it bad or good, but talk about it.
You are right, this could all be a huge PR stunt lol. Although losing Code S spot is a hefty price to pay...
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On December 15 2011 01:41 CharlieBrownsc wrote:Show nested quote +On December 15 2011 01:38 Keyboard Warrior wrote:
Its a Job. So like other real jobs, there are responsibilities.
It seems easy enough to understand right? Naniwa does not get paid to play good games, he gets paid to win things. Throwing a game when he is already unable to win is not neglecting to do his job. He is a competitor, not an entertainer
No actually he gets paid to represent himself and the starcraft community and esports scene as a professional. he ALSO gets a bonus when he wins more. Thats what you and a lot of other people fail to see.
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On December 15 2011 01:41 Full.tilt wrote:
So prize money was the very reason for becoming a professional in sports.
I am so not okay with this.
You don't go pro to make money: you make money so you can live from your passion.
If you became a pro player, a movie star or a singer just to make money, you're doing it wrong.
if you became one of these because that's your passion, you deserve the money you earn because you fucking stand for what you believe in. period.
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EPT
