I am ESV.Diamond, this is my AMA. Ask me stuff!

On January 01 2012 05:57 Haemonculus wrote:
How disappointing was last night's UFC main event?

On January 01 2012 06:00 SenorChang wrote:
How long has it been since you began trying to work in eSports? How did you first make your start, were you running small tournaments, or working under someone else?

Does ESV gain enough popularity to sustain itself or even reap any financial benefit that is enough to sustain yourself as well as a living or do you simply do it because of passion?

On January 01 2012 06:00 Adebisi wrote:
How active has ESV been in lobbying MLG/IPL/Dreamhack/etc to use your maps? What exactly did it take to get Testbug into the MLG pool? Do you think 2012 will be better in terms of the map pool?

Also do you think it would be better for there to be a universally used map pool, or should NASL/IPL/MLG all act unilaterally in deciding their maps and take a more laissez faire approach?

On January 01 2012 06:01 darthcaesar wrote:
I asked this in the hijacked AMA, but I'll repeat it so that all the questions are here -

How good are you at SC2, and how important is actual competency at the game for managers and/or journalists?
(A particular example is Slasher, who has said that he played about 1-2 actual games of SC2 but often likes to make GSL predictions and talks about the game a lot)

On January 01 2012 06:06 SenorChang wrote:
One more question before I head off!

Since you run the Korean Weekly you would have seen some less known players that don't really get the attention they deserve, who is a player that you feel is very talented but has yet to make their mark yet?

On January 01 2012 06:07 Renner wrote:
What do you think about the state of Esports? Do you think it will ever become as big as "real sports"?

On January 01 2012 06:08 angrystoma wrote:
For someone who hasn't been closely following the ESV weekly, what are some must-see matches and where can I view them?

On January 01 2012 06:09 MountainGoat wrote:
Since you decided that you were going to just post a Reddit AMA and not answer anything or post a link to the TL thread here is the question I posted on the Reddit thread.

Where is your base of operations? Also, do you believe there is room in this world for a starcraft/marijuana enthusiast group? Maybe some sort of event like a barcraft but you get stoned instead of drunk?

Also, sorry to have so many questions packed into one but how did you develop so many contacts in the Korean and formerly the Chinese scene (before the controversy involving that).

On January 01 2012 06:09 RusHXceL wrote:
Do you play xbox or ps3 ?

Do you like anime?

On January 01 2012 06:13 Calgore wrote:
How happy were you to hear that Cloud Kingdom made it into the GSL AoL map pool? Do you think that this could be the end of Korean Map Maker Dominance within the GSL? Have you talked to, or are planning on talking to GOM to try and get some of the other ESV maps in the regular GSL seasons?
Also, do you plan on asking foreigners staying in Korea to participate in the weekly?

On January 01 2012 06:14 Mattchew wrote:
can you please get me nshs seal replays?

On January 01 2012 06:15 NB wrote:
Is there open positions in ESV? :D even volunteer?

On January 01 2012 06:17 RusHXceL wrote:
How do you feel that NBA is back ?

Do you have a fav nba team ?

On January 01 2012 06:18 Geordie wrote:
What is your opinion on Greg "IdrA" fields?

On January 01 2012 06:19 Liquid`Sheth wrote:
What would you like to see happen the most in 2012 ?

On January 01 2012 06:24 hyptonic wrote:
what are your thoughts on the coca incident? anything you'd have done differently today?

On January 01 2012 06:25 Duravi wrote:
Do you think tournaments like NASL, MLG, and ESL will turn a profit in 2012?

On January 01 2012 06:25 Haydin wrote:
What are your thoughts on how the ESV weekly is doing? Better or worse than you expected?

Any plans to cover/host other tournaments in 2012?

And most important, should I prepare fancier bingo cards?

On January 01 2012 06:26 Primadog wrote:
Do you buy into the eSports bubble argument?

On January 01 2012 06:32 Ruscour wrote:
Mods should add a filter so that anyone who mentions feet gets instabanned, though I don't think they'll try the same crap on TL.

Anyways, I have two questions:

If you could make Blizzard do one thing for SC2, what would it be?

and how about those ESV maps on SEA?

On January 01 2012 06:37 TheCtd400 wrote:
Which foreigner do you think would benefit the most with some time in Korea?

EDIT: And what do you think about this?

On January 01 2012 06:38 BasilForSkin wrote:
What are your thoughts on the sudden influx of Korean streamers?

Do you have any comments about how many of them get very few viewers? Do you think it says something about the community when really bad, popular foreigners get thousands of viewers whereas someone amazing like TSL.Revival peaks at 200?

On January 01 2012 06:42 LittLeD wrote:
Do you think the frequency of tournaments and such will increase with the release of HoTS?

On January 01 2012 06:43 FinalFlight wrote:
Nice to see you still going strong Diamond, I miss the old iCCup days. Look forward to watching content you provide in the future =)

-FinalFlight

On January 01 2012 06:45 ragnorr wrote:
What are the upcoming plans for the coming year regarding the korean weekly(I dont read twitter so i missed that you could answer this now!)

On January 01 2012 06:58 EtherealDeath wrote:
If you had to choose between larvae slowly growing into baneling in your stomach torture vs zealot blade up the rear torture, which would you choose?

On January 01 2012 07:14 Hueey wrote:
How do you get a job in the business if your not a writer or a professional gamer? What kind of entry level jobs exist?

On January 01 2012 08:24 Legio wrote:
If MLG isn't making money, who is? Dreamhacks model with so many participants seems to be a working model?

MLG recently cut staff, is that a sign of the bubble?

What is the perception of the foreign players in Korea? Why does DRG and Nestea not join QxG?

How important are the casters to your production and to Esports in general? Why are the top casters making more money than the players?

Are you planning to learn korean?

Give us the inside scoop on the BW pros. When will we see Flash in Code A?

Do you have any dreams of going pro?

Why does America have only one top player who can take games off koreans while Sweden has 10?

You said Korean streamers are first generation streams, how come they all still get featured on TL, while western players beside the known ones, have to languish in non featured land?

What will your production look like in 6 months from now?

On January 01 2012 08:26 Calasmere wrote:
You should do your next AMA on an alternative Starcraft community site such as Reddit! We would love to see such a dedicated eSports personality on our humble little website! Thanks!

On January 01 2012 08:43 PoopLord wrote:
Will you compete in more MLGs?

On January 01 2012 09:28 azzu wrote:
Why are you doing this on new years eve/afternoon, literally the worst time possible?

But on a more serious note, what are your thoughts on JYP joining EG or more generally, Koreans joining foreign teams?

Also, (I hope this hasn't been asked before) any new year resolutions? :D

On January 01 2012 09:35 rapidtransit247 wrote:
How many eSports $$$ are you going to donate to Child's Play for TL's 24 Hour Charity Stream?

Could it possibly be ALL THE $$$???

On January 01 2012 06:02 Diamond wrote:


I have been VERY active and probably most tourney admins hated me for awhile with how active I was.

On January 01 2012 10:08 sashamunguia wrote:
If you could repeat and be present in any big SC2 tournament (all MLGs, GSLs...) from last year, which one would you chose??


oh btw, thanks for the link to "the impossible win"

On January 01 2012 10:22 Eee wrote:
Have you considered running reruns or broadcasting a bit earlier for European viewers?
(I know I can watch vods but I always forget).

On January 01 2012 11:32 Eee wrote:
What was your favourite tournament this year?

On January 01 2012 11:34 Eee wrote:
Are you in contact with any of the Chinese leagues about maps (gleague) for example, since a lot of the players state that the Chinese tournaments consist of ladder maps.

On January 01 2012 11:38 Diamond wrote:


Not really. I don't know anyone in G-League and refuse to work with the previous group I was working with. As I mentioned before (maybe it was on Reddit) the Chinese scene needs to stop secluding itself to grow.

On January 01 2012 11:43 Eee wrote:

if I remember correctly the latest weekly had Chinese participants (if not earlier ones had to), did they sign up like anyone else or do they have some contact with you?

(you mentioned in the esv 2012 monthly thread about trying to get seeds for foreign events, it would be really interesting to see some Chinese players at foreigner events).

On January 01 2012 13:15 Kibibit wrote:
I've got 2 questions (with subquestions): What exactly was your relationship with Iccup when you were doing Iccup.TV? How did you get involved with ICCup? Were you ever involved with their ladder and antihack operations, or were you solely there for iccup TV?

The second one is, Have you ever done Mafia at a major Starcraft event? If not, how willing would you be to play?

On January 02 2012 02:41 Superouman wrote:
Diamond, will you marry me? You did so much for me