EPTWe all know forward planning is key to victory in Starcraft 2 - but how far does it get you when being a community member?
To be honest I haven't been the longest-serving member of the Starcraft community - but I have been around since the Brood War days, and at that time I was merely a casual member of the 'team' - watching some Korean matches from time to time, seeing Kingdom(s)* rise and fall, and then moving in to the more "modern" era of Starcraft 2, and the birth of modern Esports. It has been incredibly exciting, and although I have only been a small component of Esports as of late - it is still exciting, and great fun to be involved with a fantastic community. Each one of you are great in your own right - even the ragers, qq'ers and so on - we're all part of the rabble that makes things tick.
With that said, despite the fact that I have done a lot of casting, I have decided to kick it up a notch further, and I really want to help give back in a way. How to do that you say? Well I figure given my small-but-growing reach on Twitter, this blog, and of course my Youtube casts - I'd like to help bring the spotlight to the "lesser known" players.
Who?
Exactly! Who? But to be more specific, I'd like to start casting games, doing some small interviews even doing shoutouts at times on my Twitter for players that are high-level - but unrecognised players. How many of you when reading this article on Team Liquid and got down to the bottom of the post and said "Who the hell are Titan, Snute and Apocalypse?" - no doubt at least one of them was a mystery to you? I'd like to make that a little less of an occurance.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RLJ8T.jpg)
Sickness, up and coming Protoss Power!
I have no doubt there are a flood of players at the high-masters and GM level that many people won't know about that are great players, and some do get some spotlight, many of you will know about my favourite Korean Protoss dtgSickness (formerly of NEX) - but you know him because I've ranted on about him a lot, we have seen casts of him on Youtube and he has been in a few tournaments. Hopefully with some assistance from you guys in the community, you can help me identify more players of this great skill calibre (and possibly people who exhibit excciting and off-beat strategies!) so that I can help them get some more attention.
I was recently speaking to a brilliant Australian Terran player Rossi (seen in the APL, and the PPSL) - and my passion for pursing this goal is largely due to what he said, after mentioning how I'll post his Twitter in a cast of him... "Please do, it is really hard to get recognised as a player, especially compared to casters!
". It did get me thinking, after about a year and a half of doing casting, I have a nice little subscription/follower base for providing you guys with great content - what better way to help then to help out the people who have made it possible?I know that last comment would spark the old argument of "do casters make a game exciting?" but that's a thought for another day.
Look out for your mates
Speaking of Rossi, I'm going to try and get a bit more "in touch" with the SEA scene over the next few months where I can, it seems as though I have really fallen apart when it comes to knowledge of the folks here. It came to me during APL casting when I had to ask some folks for info about some of the players - I kind of felt really bad. But to be fair - I've done most of my work/content in the Korean scene, so it can't be that bad right? Someone has to look after those guys too! There are some other great casters who do content from the SEA scene, but I myself would like to help get some more knowledge out there about my local area. It seems there is a bit of a stigma when it comes to SEA - foreign players don't know about how we play, how many good players really are here, and not to mention some of the great tournaments that are run here.
I would think that a lot of this has to do with the PPSL debacle, foreigners from the US, EU saw how bad that tournament turned out (despite fantastic showmanship from some of the players, and great casting and hosting) and have a slight... turn off when it comes to looking at the SEA scene. Be honest with yourself - how many Australian/New Zealand/South East Asian players can you name off the top of your head?
It was Moonglade wasn't it. Some of you got Tgun too, congrats!
Who thought of Rossi, PiG, JazBas, Mafia, YoonYJ, enderr, iaguz? I would say very few, unless you're from the SEA scene already, in which case you don't count, get off my lawn. My point is though - these guys are great players in their own right, and need to be recognised in the scene more than they are currently. I'm hoping that I can help with that a bit over the coming few months.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/83pZo.png)
Name this SEA player and you get a cookie
Call to arms
I'm actually hoping that a lot of you guys can help me out with this! Tweet, email, post on this blog - who you know as a great high level Masters/GM player who very very little people know about. That in mind - I'm also interested in people who try fun things - a great example being dtgSickness, someone being innovative with their play and bringing something fun to the table. Why aren't I doing all the work? Well, unfortunately I'm not that awesome
I'm just a lowly Australian with crappy internet but a huge interest in the "underground" players of the SC2 community. I know a lot of you will have a player in the back of your mind - please let me know who it is, if you can give me a Twitter, email, website for them that will help too! I'm hoping to really get into the thick of this project over the next few weeks once I have some names, replays and whatnot.Don't forget Koreans! Language is no barrier, I have asked that the amazingly awesome @SC2Trans help out when time permits, if I need to do interviews with Korean players or something like that, it will certainly be possible to do. So if you have Korean's you've seen streaming/playing/in replays that you think deserve some love, please don't hesitate to let me know about them!
And what about me personally?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/HYkBq.jpg)
How I play 4v4s. Macro Nexus, into Mothership
I've been really busy with work recently, but now that time has passed and I've got a bit more free time, I'm going to be getting as many casts going as possible, and I have decided to stream my matches a lot more. Not just my hialriously-stupid 4v4 games, but also my 1v1s. I've been reluctant to do it previously because I'm quite bad mechanically, but I do like analysing my own replays after a game, so I figure it'd be fun to have a look and let you guys help me out too! Think of it like Artosis' stream, but not as wise.
Not to mention I have a bad internet connection so my quality isn't that good. But if you can handle that, I'd be very appreciative if you could watch!You'll be able to see me streaming soon on twitch.tv/duckvillelol
Besides that, I'm looking very seriously at heading over to the US to go to an MLG, or possibly Korea to see some GSL action (and depending on when I go, who knows some BW too!). While I am "looking seriously" - I'm still not totally sure, as I need some cash, along with annual leave time from work so I can get away. Until I have further info though that'll just be a pipe dream for now : )
I hope everyone had a great Holiday Season and a fun New Years Eve (I just watched Star Wars and then went to bed early because I was ridiculously tired
), and I hope you all have a great 2012 in the world of Starcraft 2!PS: Check out the following streams when you have time:
twitch.tv/helloflo - Upcoming Quantic Terran Recruit
twitch.tv/xeriamafia - Amazing Australian Zerg
twitch.tv/axslav - One of the best Protoss commentary-streamers
DUCKVILLE
*I wonder how many of you got that reference
