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I dedicate this blog entry to Tusbert, who is awesome.
Well, actually, maybe no. This blog is going to contain some HARDCORE DRAMA, and general negativity. But seriously - if you take nothing else away from this blog, just remember that Tusbert is awesome, okay?
First, CRTL:
What a mess. After week 2 (which I didn't have time to blog about), about 50% of the players decided to go off somewhere, leading to massive walkovers. Week 2 was also upsetting for me personally, because our team lost 2-3, and so winning my match would have been really nice. I was facing Ninjoob, a Terran player on the map Jade. Everything was going according to plan, until I OMGWTFFUCKED UP. If you've ever listened to a word Day[9] has ever said about StarCraft: BroodWar or StarCraft 2, you'd get it. Day[9]'s podcast "Winning with an advantage" greatly influenced the way I thought about playing StarCraft, and the principles he laid out work, which is why I incorporated them into my own personal mantra.
I have a personal rule when playing Zerg vs Terran: Never ever push into the Terran base without defilers. Now, when you decide to delay Hive play in favor of a lurker/hydralisk army, you obviously won't have defilers for awhile, so you have to focus heavily on building a HUGE army, rather than a small defiler/lurker army that uses a few expensive units to hold off the Terran's force. The problem was, I ignored pretty much everything I knew about ZvT, and attacked into Ninjoob's natural, and lo and behold, my army exploded in one second. After that, his first big attack killed me off before I could regenerate my army. I don't know why I did that. It was like there was a little voice in the back of my head that was saying "JUST GO FOR IT! YOU'VE GOT THIS IN THE BAG!" and I should've kicked that little voice in the groin-region.
Week 3 brought me a win against PopularityofPie. He opened with wraiths, but they didn't do much damage, so I was able to field a pretty strong army and win. It was a fairly crappy game for me though, (not to say that Pie is bad. He's awesome!) and it felt like I should not have won because of how poorly I played. This match came on the heels of losing 0-3 to my friend Shaise, and later, 0-3 to Seriosity during practice games.
My self-confidence was dragged through broken glass and after that, I fell into a bad slump where I could barely win any games. I'm still technically in the slump, but taking a short break to think and take a deep breath. I love playing StarCraft, but it's not fun when I make myself feel stupid.
Noise Amateur Starleague:
When I started the ASL, I wanted to do well. I did not do well. I got off to a good start, but as the day went on, it quickly descended into Hell. After my short break, I'll start the ladder over and do better. I thought I would write more for this section, but I guess not. (ha ha)
Orb:
I have absolutely nothing against SC2. I'm sure on some dark corner of some forum, someone posted "You know what's fun? Going into BroodWar streams, then telling them SC2 is better and watching them foam at the mouth with rage! LOL!" and yeah, you got me. That's annoying. But still SC2 is cool, and so is BroodWar. Video games aren't like romantic relationships where you can ONLY PICK ONE.
With that aside, I don't follow SC2 very much, but the Orb controversy was stupid enough to draw my attention. The thing that made it stupid was a statement by Alex 'ottersrneat' Garfield, the grand poobah of Team Evil Geniuses. His claim that his decision had nothing to do with sponsors is complete bullshit. Instead, he went on to say that because of his college background, he somehow was more or less justified in his decision to fire Orb. His argument for doing so was beyond fucking weird; he didn't think Orb was a racist at all, but he just disliked the word 'nigger' so much that he decided that he would fire Orb for merely saying it at one point BEFORE Orb's contract with EG. Garfield goes onto say that 'nigger' is the most offensive word in the English language, ignoring a myriad of other, far more offensive words.
So then, we have this whole stupid debate on whether saying 'nigger' hurts ESPORTS. Well, first off, when I started playing StarCraft, I wasn't comfortable with using the word 'rape'. Now I say 'rape' all the time while playing. The same goes with other words that I wouldn't have used before. It's part of the culture. Not just gaming culture, but the culture of the entire internet medium. This poorly-conceived notion that ESPORTS culture has to conform to mainstream television culture, with all it's ridiculous censorship, pointless rules, and general silliness, is, with all due respect, retarded. The internet is the future of media, and will eventually replace the classical idea of television programming. This is not to say that North American and European culture is going to morph into some extremely vulgar dystopian future, where business meetings are conducted like this:
Boss: Welcome to this fucking presentation on our sales model, and other shit.
Employee: lol, this meeting was mandatory, you fucker xD
Boss: rofl stfu scott, you're a fag. This business model is going to fucking rape our competition in the ass, so listen up, kids.
That would get old quickly. I would probably have to shoot myself in the head after 15 minutes. But I'm not saying that's going to be the case when internet culture becomes more "mainstream". I'm saying that people will understand, like I do, that cultural terms are contextual. Even though I can accept talking about 'rape' while playing video games, I don't really carry that out of video games, because THAT MAKES NO GODDAMN SENSE. I don't walk into a shoe store, see some cute shoes and go "Those shoes fucking rape noobs!" because I save the raping for video games.
But let's jump back to the present, where people watch TV still. ESPORTS, in all caps, technically, does exist in Korea. It's organized, professional, and there is no on-air vulgarity. So what? Almost every kid in Korea has played StarCraft, and THAT is what made ESPORTS happen over there. It wasn't forced. StarCraft fever just spread like wildfire. That level of enthusiasm that existed in Korea for StarCraft in the 2000s to make a game into an industry doesn't exist in North America or Europe for SC2. Trying to evangelize SC2 to NA isn't going to work unless people can be honest with themselves about how the gaming culture is at this time. It's gritty, bitterly competitive, and unforgiving. R-words, N-words, C-words, F-words are all thrown around liberally as the players butt heads against each other. So, there it is - take it or leave it.
For an RTS to 'make it' in NA is unprecedented. So, do yourselves a favor, and just have as much fun as you can with it while it lasts.
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If that was how business meetings were conducted I would gladly join a business, if only to yell at people.
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"R-words, N-words, C-words, F-words are all thrown around liberally as the players butt heads against each other. So, there it is - take it or leave it."
That's exactly what Alex chose to do in this case.
People say these words. I do not. I do not like it. He did not like it. He fired an employee who chose to use them.
And basically, I'd give you a big middle finger for saying something is okay because it's the way it is. That's terrible logic. Why don't you try to contribute and not bm people or use offensive words? It's not needed and does not improve anyone's gaming experience.
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i completely agree with your take on the orb situation. :D
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On April 09 2012 05:52 JonnyLaw wrote: "R-words, N-words, C-words, F-words are all thrown around liberally as the players butt heads against each other. So, there it is - take it or leave it."
That's exactly what Alex chose to do in this case.
People say these words. I do not. I do not like it. He did not like it. He fired an employee who chose to use them.
And basically, I'd give you a big middle finger for saying something is okay because it's the way it is. That's terrible logic. Why don't you try to contribute and not bm people or use offensive words? It's not needed and does not improve anyone's gaming experience.
Thanks for the middle finger. You've completely negated your point.
I'll give you a much more detailed response when I get home from dinner.
round of 32!
So guess what? The Yellow StarLeague round of 32 has finally arrived (in force) and promises to blow your socks off with a level of C-level that will send shivers up your spine and blow your mind. I know that sounds like I'm hyping it up A LOT. And I am. But this doesn't mean we're not going to have a lot of fun playing StarCraft. On the contrary - with BWalma (as Pucca) and iFU.BMW jumping on to cast the nail-biting and nerve-racking round of 32, and a prize pool of 250 dollars on the line, we will almost certainly have a memorable weekend of epicness and hilarity, which you are cordially invited to tune into and enjoy on Monday, September 3rd at 12:00 PM EST!
Important informations
Location: iCCup / Op YSL Date/Times: Sunday, September 2nd / 03:00 GMT (+00:00) Replay deadline: 05:00 GMT (+00:00) Monday Format: Best of 3, first to 2 wins advances, loser picks next map! First map is Jade Cast: Pucca & BMW
1. Don't cheat. 2. Post your off-race match-ups in the thread For example, if Fold plays Protoss, but goes ZvP, he would say "I'm playing ZvP against x" 3. You must save all of your replays have submit them to me before Monday, or you may be penalized. 4. Do not use bad manners in the lobby, channel or in-game.
Definition of "bm":
+ Show Spoiler +
What will be considered bm:
- Saying "Fuck you" - Saying "You are shit." - Racism, "French people are bad.", "Koreans are rude", "Chinese people lag", etc. - Homophobic remarks, "That was gay", "What a fag", "Faggot", etc. - Offensive sexual dialogue, "Suck/lick my dick/cock/penis/balls" or "You are a pussy", "You're a twat" - Telling people to "Go to hell" - Saying "Fuck off" - Disparaging another players' skill, "You suck", "Learn to play", "gtfo", "lol ur bad", "noob", "lamer", "sad cheeser", "lucky", etc - Putting in your profile any of this. - Telling people to "Shut up" - Insulting another player, "Idiot", "Dumbass", "Get a life", "You have no life" - Saying "lol", "lmao", "rofl", "ez", "trololol", "leave please", "You have no chance", "xaxaxa", "hahahah", "jajaja" to insult your opponent. You can say "lol I'm bad", but do not direct your laughter towards your opponent. - Telling your opponent your position in-game - Switching races before the game starts - Refusing to play on a certain map - Telling your opponent to exit the match at any point during the game, or preemptively saying "gg". You may only say "gg" when YOU are leaving the match. - Spamming text on the screen or excessive chatter. - Unpausing the game before your opponent says "go" - Pausing the game without saying "pp" or "pause" or "sec" - Pausing the game then leaving. - Pausing the game, then taking like 4 hours to come back. - Changing the latency of the game over and over and over repeatedly. - Telling people to "learn english" - Trying to colorfully talk in a dignified and pseudo-polite manner to try and circumvent the rules, "I made beautiful love to your mother in the evening prior to this, and while I disagree with some of your methods concerning strategy, particularly how early you decided to engage me in aggression, but I commend you on your victory, but sincerely hope that I will prevail against tactics of such simplicity in the following match, my good fellow!" Because... just no. - Drawing a text-penis or boobs.
What is NOT bm:
- Saying "good game" instead of "gg" - Cheese - Building a proxy nexus, cc, or any type of building - Any legal StarCraft function, including building pylons all over the map, or lifting all your buildings and stalling after you've lost. - Making fun of your own skill, as long as you're not spamming text. More along the lines of "lol I suck at this build." then shutting up from that point on. - Saying "omg", or "wtf", as long as you're not spamming them. - Scouting a 6-fact push as Protoss and saying "Shit just got real"
As a rule of thumb, be respectful, be courteous, and be nice. It's okay to have emotions and it's okay to get angry, especially when you fail at something you wanted to win, but don't take it out on the people in the tournament. Try not to stress out over little things, and stay focused on having fun and improving.
5. When you have lost your game, say "gg" and immediately leave. 6. If there is excessive lag (like it's unplayable even on Extra High Latency because the movement becomes choppy), immediately leave the game before the 2-minute mark. If you stay in the game past 2 minutes, you must play the entire game. 7. All matches that are unplayable due to lag will be decided at the tournament staff's discretion. 8. Standard iCCup rules for matches apply. 9. All players will be required to play on the ID they registered to play on. 10. All games must be played on iCCup Launcher, with LAN LAT: ON. 11. Any third-party programs that alter gameplay in any manner are strictly prohibited with the exception of iCCup Launcher. Hacking is prohibited and will result in a ban from ALL future tournaments. 12. All complaints in-channel must come with a screen capture with the /time command. Failure to do so could potentially result in your complaint being denied, although certain exceptions may be made if there is an individual exhibiting a repeated antagonist behavior. 13. The rules can change at any time, for any reason, sometimes randomly, and for no apparent reason, because there is no justice in this world. 14. If it is discovered that you are above the maximum points for qualification in this tournament, you will be disqualified. 15. If you cannot play your match at the appropriate time on Sunday, contact your opponent, and set up a new time with them. It must be before Monday. You must both agree on the time for it to be valid. If you attempt to abuse this rule to dodge your opponent and get a walkover against them, you will be disqualified at the tournament staff's discretion. 16. You may not play your matches using your toes unless you are missing both arms. 17. Spoiling your games could cause you to be penalized. 18. No one but yourself can play on your account. You will be banned from all future events if you do this. Do not do this.
Organization: NinaZerg Sponsor: A couple of really cool people. Counter-Abuse Team: You can't know who they are, because everyone wants to be a shadow government. Live Cast: Pucca & BMW
How to contact me:
Teamliquid: NinaZerg email: ysleague@yahoo.com <- Send your replays to here!!! skype: ninazerg
GL HF! ^_^
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Try selling the current gaming culture to corporate sponsors. Go ahead. Korean Starcraft was successful because it appealed to kids, adults, women, grandparents, male, female, fat, skinny, etc etc. You cannot put something on TV that only appeals to one particular demographic. Even the UFC had to branch out and embrace less violent rules, better storyline, etc to gain a foothold in the US. It took UFC more than 10 years to establish itself as intelligent and legitimate, and not just for broz. Starcraft faces the same challenge and every audience you turn away with the N-word or F-word, it's a loss.
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nice write up on the orb situation imo, although its kind of a bit late
Also I agree with your assessment on esports + internet behavior
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On April 09 2012 05:29 ninazerg wrote: Well, first off, when I started playing StarCraft, I wasn't comfortable with using the word 'rape'. Now I say 'rape' all the time while playing. The same goes with other words that I wouldn't have used before. It's part of the culture. Not just gaming culture, but the culture of the entire internet medium.
What, so because other people are doing this you've decided to deliberately turn off the little voice of conscience in your head that says "this is wrong?" I mean, seriously, who lives like that?
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It is easy to get into the particulars about why "rape" is less offensive than some other words. The fact that it is a verb, and not a derogatory adjective or name that is directed at a particular person. Words only have meanings and power that have been assigned to them, but the thing is no one person gets to decide what the meaning or strength of a particular word is. The "Destiny" argument being that "when I say 'nigger' I don't mean it in a negative way", but language is a shared understanding between the speaker and the listener, and you can't impose your meaning of a word on a listener, never mind the world at large.
Orb was obviously not oblivious to the strength of the words he was using. He was using the most powerfully negative words he could think of in order to provoke a reaction from his online opponent. The guy has apologized, and he has been punished, so I think it would be better if this drama would be gotten over as soon as possible. I actually think that if he cleans up his act he will be successful in the future, because he seems like he has a decent personality.
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On April 09 2012 06:28 denzelz wrote: Try selling the current gaming culture to corporate sponsors. Go ahead. Korean Starcraft was successful because it appealed to kids, adults, women, grandparents, male, female, fat, skinny, etc etc. You cannot put something on TV that only appeals to one particular demographic. Even the UFC had to branch out and embrace less violent rules, better storyline, etc to gain a foothold in the US. It took UFC more than 10 years to establish itself as intelligent and legitimate, and not just for broz. Starcraft faces the same challenge and every audience you turn away with the N-word or F-word, it's a loss.
Really, really bad analogy, considering how bm Dana White is.
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On April 09 2012 06:49 Lysenko wrote:Show nested quote +On April 09 2012 05:29 ninazerg wrote: Well, first off, when I started playing StarCraft, I wasn't comfortable with using the word 'rape'. Now I say 'rape' all the time while playing. The same goes with other words that I wouldn't have used before. It's part of the culture. Not just gaming culture, but the culture of the entire internet medium. What, so because other people are doing this you've decided to deliberately turn off the little voice of conscience in your head that says "this is wrong?" I mean, seriously, who lives like that?
Oh golly. If you read my blog just a tiny bit more thoroughly, you'd realize that I'm talking about context. Whenever a word develops a particular connotation with an individual, it is done so through pattern of experiences. This connotation does not have to be the sole contextual limitation of the forementioned word, because, through a pattern of further experiences, the word can develop other connotations - thereby giving the word different meanings in different contexts or mediums.
I never came to the conclusion that rape was okay. I came to the conclusion that it was okay to use the word 'rape' as part of a video-game vernacular.
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On April 09 2012 07:28 Gecko[Xp] wrote: ... pristine.
That's all I really wanted to hear. ;-;
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On April 09 2012 07:26 ninazerg wrote:Show nested quote +On April 09 2012 06:49 Lysenko wrote:On April 09 2012 05:29 ninazerg wrote: Well, first off, when I started playing StarCraft, I wasn't comfortable with using the word 'rape'. Now I say 'rape' all the time while playing. The same goes with other words that I wouldn't have used before. It's part of the culture. Not just gaming culture, but the culture of the entire internet medium. What, so because other people are doing this you've decided to deliberately turn off the little voice of conscience in your head that says "this is wrong?" I mean, seriously, who lives like that? Oh golly. If you read my blog just a tiny bit more thoroughly, you'd realize that I'm talking about context. Whenever a word develops a particular connotation with an individual, it is done so through pattern of experiences. This connotation does not have to be the sole contextual limitation of the forementioned word, because, through a pattern of further experiences, the word can develop other connotations - thereby giving the word different meanings in different contexts or mediums. I never came to the conclusion that rape was okay. I came to the conclusion that it was okay to use the word 'rape' as part of a video-game vernacular.
What makes your context trump everyone else's? Sure, you might not be offended by that usage of rape-- and that's fine, I think most people in this community don't mind it either. Same with orb's slurs-- they weren't a problem to him at the time, and they probably didn't bug his opponent too much either-- but as a representative of EG, they had to consider how his word choice would be seen from a more public perspective.
I don't buy that sponsors didn't factor into EG's decision either, but I think it's ridiculous to say that EG shouldn't have made the decision to let Orb go to make some point about contextualized word usage and gaming culture and blah blah blah. They were worried about their public image if they chose to associate themselves Orb onboard, and that's fine.
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On April 09 2012 07:39 Eiii wrote:Show nested quote +On April 09 2012 07:26 ninazerg wrote:On April 09 2012 06:49 Lysenko wrote:On April 09 2012 05:29 ninazerg wrote: Well, first off, when I started playing StarCraft, I wasn't comfortable with using the word 'rape'. Now I say 'rape' all the time while playing. The same goes with other words that I wouldn't have used before. It's part of the culture. Not just gaming culture, but the culture of the entire internet medium. What, so because other people are doing this you've decided to deliberately turn off the little voice of conscience in your head that says "this is wrong?" I mean, seriously, who lives like that? Oh golly. If you read my blog just a tiny bit more thoroughly, you'd realize that I'm talking about context. Whenever a word develops a particular connotation with an individual, it is done so through pattern of experiences. This connotation does not have to be the sole contextual limitation of the forementioned word, because, through a pattern of further experiences, the word can develop other connotations - thereby giving the word different meanings in different contexts or mediums. I never came to the conclusion that rape was okay. I came to the conclusion that it was okay to use the word 'rape' as part of a video-game vernacular. What makes your context trump everyone else's? Sure, you might not be offended by that usage of rape-- and that's fine, I think most people in this community don't mind it either. Same with orb's slurs-- they weren't a problem to him at the time, and they probably didn't bug his opponent too much either-- but as a representative of EG, they had to consider how his word choice would be seen from a more public perspective. I don't buy that sponsors didn't factor into EG's decision either, but I think it's ridiculous to say that EG shouldn't have made the decision to let Orb go to make some point about contextualized word usage and gaming culture and blah blah blah. They were worried about their public image if they chose to associate themselves Orb onboard, and that's fine.
"What makes your context trump everyone else's?" This question is nonsensical for so many different reasons, but here are a few:
- I never made an argument that my context trumps anyone else's - *I* don't have a context, contexts are circumstantial - I don't pick the circumstances in which context becomes relevant
Furthermore, if EG was worried about racism, they would let IdrA go. IdrA actually is a racist, saying things like "French-Canadians are idiots.", etc. If Mr. Garfield had simply said "I let Orb go because he lied about the issue when it was raised." then there would be no problem, but instead, had to go on some verbose rampage about the n-word.
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On April 09 2012 07:17 ninazerg wrote:Show nested quote +On April 09 2012 06:28 denzelz wrote: Try selling the current gaming culture to corporate sponsors. Go ahead. Korean Starcraft was successful because it appealed to kids, adults, women, grandparents, male, female, fat, skinny, etc etc. You cannot put something on TV that only appeals to one particular demographic. Even the UFC had to branch out and embrace less violent rules, better storyline, etc to gain a foothold in the US. It took UFC more than 10 years to establish itself as intelligent and legitimate, and not just for broz. Starcraft faces the same challenge and every audience you turn away with the N-word or F-word, it's a loss. Really, really bad analogy, considering how bm Dana White is.
So you disregard my entire point because of my analogy? Also, Dana White might be "bm" but I bet you he has never called anyone the N-word.
Also, please try to run a company with your employees calling everyone niggers. See how far that gets you.
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On April 09 2012 07:50 ninazerg wrote:Show nested quote +On April 09 2012 07:39 Eiii wrote:On April 09 2012 07:26 ninazerg wrote:On April 09 2012 06:49 Lysenko wrote:On April 09 2012 05:29 ninazerg wrote: Well, first off, when I started playing StarCraft, I wasn't comfortable with using the word 'rape'. Now I say 'rape' all the time while playing. The same goes with other words that I wouldn't have used before. It's part of the culture. Not just gaming culture, but the culture of the entire internet medium. What, so because other people are doing this you've decided to deliberately turn off the little voice of conscience in your head that says "this is wrong?" I mean, seriously, who lives like that? Oh golly. If you read my blog just a tiny bit more thoroughly, you'd realize that I'm talking about context. Whenever a word develops a particular connotation with an individual, it is done so through pattern of experiences. This connotation does not have to be the sole contextual limitation of the forementioned word, because, through a pattern of further experiences, the word can develop other connotations - thereby giving the word different meanings in different contexts or mediums. I never came to the conclusion that rape was okay. I came to the conclusion that it was okay to use the word 'rape' as part of a video-game vernacular. What makes your context trump everyone else's? Sure, you might not be offended by that usage of rape-- and that's fine, I think most people in this community don't mind it either. Same with orb's slurs-- they weren't a problem to him at the time, and they probably didn't bug his opponent too much either-- but as a representative of EG, they had to consider how his word choice would be seen from a more public perspective. I don't buy that sponsors didn't factor into EG's decision either, but I think it's ridiculous to say that EG shouldn't have made the decision to let Orb go to make some point about contextualized word usage and gaming culture and blah blah blah. They were worried about their public image if they chose to associate themselves Orb onboard, and that's fine. " What makes your context trump everyone else's?" This question is nonsensical for so many different reasons, but here are a few: - I never made an argument that my context trumps anyone else's - *I* don't have a context, contexts are circumstantial - I don't pick the circumstances in which context becomes relevant
No, but you have a different take on certain situations than everyone else would. I should have phrased that as 'What makes your *perspective* trump everyone else's?'-- either way, just because using those words is alright with you in that context doesn't mean everyone would be alright with that. And EG has to consider how associating themselves with Orb would affect their public image, which means they have to consider how *everyone* would feel.
On April 09 2012 07:50 ninazerg wrote: Furthermore, if EG was worried about racism, they would let IdrA go. IdrA actually is a racist, saying things like "French-Canadians are idiots.", etc. If Mr. Garfield had simply said "I let Orb go because he lied about the issue when it was raised." then there would be no problem, but instead, had to go on some verbose rampage about the n-word.
Having Idra on EG is hugely beneficial to them-- the tradeoff of potentially hurting their reputation by associating themselves with Idra hurts them less than the massive exposure Idra gives to EG and their sponsors helps them. Alex said that they told Idra in no uncertain terms that he had to stop being offensive and abrasive-- because since Idra is such a high-value player that it's worth it to try to 'rehabilitate' him rather than just dropping him to protect the organization's image. Orb was just a caster to them-- he wasn't going to bring any significant value that someone else couldn't. For someone who goes on so much about context, you seem to have completely forgotten to consider it in this case.
Looking past that, though, I completely agree that Alex's apology post seemed disingenuous-- but that's a completely separate issue than the one you mentioned in your first post! I read it as complaining that dropping Orb because he frequently used context-appropriate but potentially-offensive language could suffocate the starcraft community and diminish the game's appeal, slowing it's growth. EG's PR reaction to the situation wasn't good, yeah-- but that doesn't change the fact that they had legitimate and understandable reasons to kick Orb in the first place.
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I agree with what you said on Orb, but I am a bit loss on everything else.
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You're seriously trying to justify using the n-word? There is no context that's appropriate. The fact that "everyone does it" just means that's it's not appropriate, and people like doing things that aren't appropriate.
Actually, it makes so little sense that I won't go into it. Orb said bad things and got shitcanned. Gaming culture is pretty disgusting in itself, so I can't blame sponsors for wanting to steer clear of Orb.
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