EPT1) While it may not be possible to truly remove all bias when commenting on an opposing team or its player(s), I don't feel that my stance here has been motivated by any pro-EG sentiment. This is an objective commentary from someone with as much eSports-related business experience as anyone in the industry, and someone who's both personally and professionally invested in the long-term success of eSports.
2) IdrA did not receive NaNiwa's Code S spot. IdrA was offered his Code S spot weeks ago, in a decision that was completely unrelated to NaNiwa.
3) This commentary will focus more on NaNiWa's actions themselves than GOM's subsequent decision to punish him by removing him from Code S. The relatively small amount of attention paid to GOM's decision is intentional; I want to discuss the NaNiwa/NesTea incident itself, without being distracted by separate (albeit related) events.
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Okay, here goes
By now, we're all aware of what happened between NaNiWa and NesTea in the GOM.TV Blizzard Cup. At the time of their match, both players were 0-3 in their group, both were eliminated from further contention, and as such, the result of the match itself had no tangible effect on the rest of the tournament. NaNi then probe rushed NesTea, and the eSports world exploded.
After reviewing many, many discussion threads on TL and Reddit, as well as other community commentaries, the public sentiment seems to be somewhere between 65/35 and 70/30 in disapproval of NaNiwa's actions. Those against his decision to probe rush usually cite reasons related to sportsmanship, honor, and respect for the game. Those sympathizing with NaNi (including, understandably, many pro players) tend to place the blame on GOM for utilizing a tournament format which allows for meaningless matches. I'm sure this summary is a bit of an oversimplification, but it seems to be the general spectrum of public opinion.
I myself find NaNi's actions completely unacceptable, but for a very different reason than I believe has been popularly expressed. I also find GOM's decision to punish NaNi to be completely reasonable (although I acknowledge that there were other, less extreme, options for how to do so). In any case, as mentioned above, I don't really have a firm opinion on the punishment itself - other than the fact that I believe the situation did warrant some kind of punishment - nor do I wish to spend any more time addressing that subject here. What I'd like to do in this blog is plead my case for why NaNi's actions were completely unacceptable, not only to the 30-35% of the community blaming GOM for the incident, but also to the other 60-65% of the community who agree that NaNi's actions were unacceptable, but for reasons different from mine.
Let me preface my further comments by saying that this is not a personal attack (or, really, an attack of any kind) on NaNiWa, Quantic, or its CEO, Mark Ferraz. I've met both NaNi and Mark in person many times, and I've only experienced the utmost professionalism from them in all of our face-to-face interactions. Actually, this commentary isn't really about NaNiwa, or Quantic, or Mark, at all. It's about a player making a particular decision, and why that decision is not acceptable.
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As most of you know, IdrA is one of my team's most high-profile players. He's also been involved in some of the more controversial moments in SC2 history (most notably, his early GG's against MMA and HuK). Now, as of late, these kinds of occurrences are much less frequent for Greg - to his credit, he has improved that aspect of his play tremendously. But, back when leaving the game too early was a both common and serious problem for IdrA, people (both fans and community pillars alike) would often ask, "What, exactly, is EG's stance on this? Are they trying to prevent it from happening? Are they talking to IdrA about it? If not, when are they going to step in and do something about it?" The reality is that we really didn't want to intervene, for the most part. Even after the storied games against HuK and MMA, we really didn't say much, other than to be supportive of Greg and let him know that we were there for him. We approached the situation this way for a very long time because we felt that it was Greg's problem to solve (and, to his credit, he eventually did for the most part solve it). However, after taking a passive approach for almost a year, something happened that we felt required our direct intervention.
Last September, in TL Open #22, IdrA faced Nerchio in the bo3 Semifinals. After dropping the first map to some surprise baneling pressure from Nerchio, Greg's frustration boiled over, and he forfeited the second game of the bo3, giving Nerchio the free win and a spot in the finals. This was, frankly, completely unacceptable. And I expressed this point to Greg without any sugar-coating. Out of the many early GG- and bad manner-related IdrA moments that have taken place during his tenure on EG, this was the first time I felt that I needed to step in and say something. And as of now, it's still the only time I've tapped Greg on the shoulder.
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There are (for the most part) three kinds of situations in which players usually throw matches, or don't put forth maximum effort. There's Scenario A, in which throwing the match would be in the player's own best interests (example: Stephano vs. BratOK at Assembly Summer 2011, in which both players did their best to the lose the match because they each wanted to avoid facing Sen in bracket play). There's Scenario B, in which the match is meaningless for the player himself, but has meaning for his opponent and/or a third-party (example: IdrA vs. White-Ra at the IPL3 Finals, in which IdrA forfeited because he had already qualified for bracket play - which was seeded randomly - and wanted to get some rest). And then, there's Scenario C, in which the match is truly meaningless, and throwing it would be due purely to the fact that the player (for whatever reason) doesn't put forth the time and effort required to play for real (example: NaNi's probe rush vs. NesTea, which sparked all of the recent community discussion and commentary, including this blog).
Scenarios A, B, and C all happen, regularly, in professional sports. At the end of almost every regular season in leagues like the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball, there are teams that have the opportunity to determine their first-round playoff opponent, or to prevent a certain team from qualifying for the playoffs, by tanking a couple of games (Scenario A). And, during absolutely every regular season in such leagues, there are teams who are eliminated from playoff contention well before the season is over, but still have to play out their schedules in full - including games against other teams who are still in the playoff hunt (Scenario B). And, lastly, also every regular season in such leagues, there are games late in the schedule between teams who have both already been eliminated from playoff contention (Scenario C).
Now, to be fair, there's a difference between throwing a match, and not putting forth maximum effort, and just not playing well - and that difference is subject to a massive gray area. Professional sports teams often bench their best players in the final game of the regular season, if they've already made the playoffs and their playoff opponent has already been determined. Does that mean that they're throwing the game? Most would say, no. But, what about a sports team that does have something to gain by losing its last game of the season, and starts its best players, but they all happen to have off days? Did the team throw the match? Did the players not try as hard as they could've? Or did the the team try hard, but just not play well? That's a much more complex question, with no uniform answer.
Additionally, while most would agree that flat out throwing a match isn't a good thing, things get much murkier when the subject shifts to effort and passion. Is it necessarily unacceptable, dishonorable or disrespectful to the sport for a team or player to not put forth maximum effort, every game or match? Again, that's a complicated question, and it has no blanket answer. For a highly-paid player or team that's phoning it in on a regular basis, many would say the answer is yes. But, if two last-place MLB teams are facing off on the last day of the regular season, should both sides really be expected to play their hearts out? Many would say, no.
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The bottom line is that players and teams - in all professional sports - regularly find themselves in Scenarios A, B, and C. And they correspondingly - in all professional sports - throw matches; don't try their hardest on every occasion; and play poorly at convenient times. Furthermore, in most of these situations, it's not even possible to discern which of those three (or what combination thereof) is truly the case - let alone to try and determine, with any level of certainty, whether or not what's happened is unacceptable, or dishonorable, or disrespectful to the sport and its community. Essentially, for the vast majority of situations like these, there are two massive layers of subjectivity standing in the way of any objective conclusion or analysis. That's why you very rarely see league officials involve themselves in such matters.
But if that's the case, then what's the point of this very, very long - sorry... it's just my style
- write-up? I stated at the beginning of this blog that NaNiwa's decision to probe rush NesTea was absolutely unacceptable; that I believe everyone in our community should view it as unacceptable; and that I support GOM's decision to levy punishment on NaNi (the severity of the punishment is a different subject altogether). Yet, I've basically used the past five paragraphs to make the argument that... well... that it's not really possible to put together a definitive argument about situations like this one; that they're all just part of professional sports.So, what's my point?
My point is that in all of the scenarios, examples, and hypotheticals I've outlined above, the player or team - at the very least - still did its job, put on a show for the spectators, and delivered a quality product to its respective league. All of them, of course, except for the one we're all so feverishly discussing.
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Direct, community-to-industry revenue is the single, most important aspect of both the short- and long-term stability and growth of eSports. The StarCraft 2 community's willingness and enthusiasm to support its teams, players, and tournaments - by watching ads on their streams, buying their merchandise, and purchasing their subscriptions and season passes - has contributed, more than any other factor, to the amazing growth we've seen over the past year and a half. The term "ecosystem" is a buzzword as of late for those of us on the business side of the industry, because we all recognize the fact that in order for eSports to keep growing and find stability, the industry needs to become more self-sustaining, and less reliant on outside income, like corporate sponsorships.
In line with this, selling subscriptions and season passes is, obviously, crucially important to GOM.TV's business model. And ultimately, the quality of their product is defined by the entertainment value of their matches. So, when one of the world's most famous players, in an exciting grudge match (regardless of the players' records in their group), decides to probe rush in front of thousands upon thousands of spectators, many of whom are paying subscribers, he's single-handedly denying GOM a quality product to deliver to its consumer base. That is, simply, unacceptable. It is, objectively, bad for everyone who cares about eSports.
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Now, I actually find nothing wrong with the fact that NaNi didn't want (or didn't have the mental energy, depending on what you believe) to put forth his best effort against NesTea in the Blizzard Cup. Given some of the names on EG's roster, I'd be a pretty massive hypocrite if I criticized NaNiwa's actions on that basis. With EG's players, I'm actually very understanding of the fact that they have a limited amount of mental energy, and that they're constantly working to improve their own mental toughness. However, no matter how tired or frustrated you are, there's absolutely no excuse for not giving the spectators and fans what they showed up for. This is why, of all the controversial situations that IdrA's been involved in, the only time I felt the need to intervene was when he forfeited a match that was being streamed live to thousands of spectators.*
We don't know whether NaNi was exhausted, or frustrated, or unmotivated, or just didn't care about winning the game (for whatever reason). But, frankly, we don't need to; his actions were absolutely unacceptable, regardless of their reasoning. If he wasn't feeling up to putting forth maximum effort (again, for whatever reason), he could've just done a two-base all-in, or four-gated, or executed one of many other strategies that would've almost certainly ended the game in ten minutes or less.
I'm actually surprised that I haven't read more angry posts from disgruntled GOM customers. What NaNiwa did was basically akin to a last-place MLB team, during its final game of the season, intentionally striking out in every at bat. Just imagine what would happen in that situation: fans would ask for their money back; advertising contracts would be violated; and the league would certainly take action against the team and its players - just like GOM did with NaNi - in order to protect its product.
For those of you who, after reading this, agree that NaNi's actions were unacceptable, but still blame GOM for utilizing a format which allows for inconsequential matches, I would ask you to consider holding players to higher standards of professionalism; and to also consider the fact that it's not GOM's responsibility to cater their format solely to suit players. GOM's job (as is the case with any professional sports league) is to provide a quality product to its viewers, while providing its competitors with fair, reasonable playing conditions, and the Blizzard Cup's format balanced these factors acceptably. Additionally, I would also point out the fact that, as illustrated above, every major professional sports league utilizes a format in which there are meaningless games. By your logic, All-Star games shouldn't even exist.
Ultimately, in order for eSports to be successful, whether short-term or long-term, players, teams, and tournaments must each pull their weight appropriately. Without all parties contributing, the industry cannot produce a quality product for our fans and community. And without a quality product being produced, there's no community-to-industry revenue, and there's no self-sustaining ecosystem.
Some of you may see my comments as an overreaction, or as blowing things out of proportion - does one probe rush really warrant all of this text? I think so, and I believe that my comments hold an appropriate amount of concern. NaNiwa is one of the most famous players in all of StarCraft 2. He receives a significant salary from his professional team. The tournament in which he was competing was run by the world's most prestigious StarCraft 2 league, whose audience contains a greater percentage of paying subscribers than any other league. But, even with everyone around him meeting their respective obligations - with his team supporting him; with the league providing his playing field and broadcasting his match; and with the community watching advertisements and purchasing subscriptions - the system won't work unless NaNi also meets his obligations.
Against NesTea, NaNiwa didn't do his part. That's why I find his actions to be unacceptable. And that's why you should, too.
NaNi, you're an incredible player, with thousands upon thousands of fans who just want to see you play. Next time, play.
Alex Garfield
CEO, Evil Geniuses
@ottersareneat on Twitter
*For those of you eager to pull out the pitchforks, the IPL3/White-Ra situation is quite different; at the time of IdrA's match against White-Ra, IPL3 was already behind schedule, and didn't even have time to broadcast all of its remaining group play matches.
