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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/IfRzn.jpg)
Take a look at the image above. We have four ongoing streams this evening. A recap of IEM's great moments, a rebroadcast of a PPV event with top tier koreans playing, an amateur tournament's finals, and a cannon rushing stream.
If I had asked you to take those four events and rank them in how you'd think they'd have viewers, I doubt that many people would say that a cannon rusher should have more viewers than a tournament, albeit a rebroadcast, of some of the best players in the world. But the truth is that not only is that true, there are FOUR TIMES as many people watching a cannon rusher than there are watching the best players in the world play for money, with a paid crew in a studio casting.
The biggest issue with Starcraft as a specator e-sport is not the balance of the game or the need for LAN or anything like that. It's that nobody has any idea what they are watching. The average Starcraft 2 viewer either cannot tell the difference between high level play and simple master league play, or is more amused by a victory screen appearing more often than not.
In fact, not only is the stream that is currently beating out DRG, Flash, Leenock and Life featuring someone that intentionally attempts to misguide people into thinking that he is GM on NA (he received GM on SEA, once. In fact, the image he posted as his thumbnail for his stream isn't even him). It's a person that doesn't understand Starcraft past a low masters level. This can't be said to even be an issue where the broadcaster is entertaining, like MaximusBlack or some other kind of personality, no. This guy's interaction with the stream is minimal. His webcam is of bad quality, he hardly talks, and he mumbles constantly. So why do people watch? Why are people watching this guy over Flash and DRG?
Because people have NO idea what they are watching. The types of low level cannon rushes that Weedamins executes could never put him past the first round of an MLG. His followups are painfully slow and have no intent. But the spectator has no idea! They see him cannon rush the anonymous opponent and win, again and again and again (because the opponent is anywhere from bronze to low masters, and has no idea how to react to a cannon rush) and they assume that he is a good player! A person watching Weedamins stream is almost always a single click from watching beautiful play from a stream on the sidebar, but they choose to stay.
Starcraft 2 is, by far, the most problematic game as an esport just for this reason. The general spectator takes a player that has a master league icon, victory text and the caster's favor as the only reasons to decide that a player is good. Nobody is able to judge the play. League of Legends can train idiots to understand what is actually occurring in the game with gold counters, tower counters and CS counters. Simply by nature, the game is far more easy to understand as a spectator than Starcraft 2, despite (in my opinion) being far less enjoyable and deep to both watch and play.
I write this not because I want to crucify the community for watching someone as terrible as Weedamins, but instead as a plea to educate your Starcraft watching friends. No, the guy that has more minerals banked is not always losing. No, just because he lost does not mean he is worse. No, just because that guy won does not make him a good player.
read: when I say nobody, I mean an insignificant number of people from an advertising perspective
  
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I watch Starcraft for entertainment. A guy cannon rushing is much more entertaining than some boring casters I don't like casting games I've already seen.
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Yeah everyone, stop liking things I don't like!!!
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I rarely watch any tournament streams because I don't enjoy them. Mostly I prefer to watch a lower level player who I can talk to in the chat at the same time. Watching a particular stream doesn't mean you have decided that they are "good", it just means you like watching the stream for whatever reason. People prefer different things. The only problem here is expecting others to like what you think they should like.
As another example, I like watching amateur car racing. Do I not know what I am watching simply because I'm not watching the fastest drivers in the most ridiculously expensive cars? Of course not. It's just my preference.
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You picked an extreme case of an off night of starcraft streaming. There is ONE featured, professional sc2 streamer at the moment and it's Cella. Perhaps because half of the most popular streamers are drunk/asleep at homestory cup? Friday night? etc etc etc.
I'll make up a number. Let's say...20k average sc2 viewers on a regular ass day. From what you've shown, about 5%, when given no other options (proleague had not started at the time of your screenshot), divided themselves among the leftovers of the streaming community. What percent of that 5% actually chose to watch those things? Or were they just there because they had no other choices? So, that's all I'm seeing from this analysis.
I know some people who stream games are youtube people and most of their viewers come from there. They might not know a damn thing about sc2 but one of their favourite youtube personalities are streaming themselves cannon rushing (random example), so...they tune in.
If none of the big dogs are streaming in League of Legends, I'll settle for a rerun because I like to listen to someone talk while I go to sleep or someone playing a guy I like. I don't care if he's a level 5 or 2k ELO. Some people like other things than loud noises made by bad casters, which most big sc2 tournaments have. Not to mention how stale the gameplay has been for like a year.
If you want to examine truly unfortunate streaming trend, take a look at the d3 streams on twitch. Every single one of them are doing item giveaways, stream marathons for....?, raffles, free this, free that for their beloved viewer counts...even more for their subscribers. Granted, the game is not competitive scene friendly until pvp comes out. And who knows, maybe not even then.
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So I'm guessing the much larger viewer counts for the IPTL rebroadcast, the HSC rebroadcast, the SPL, don't count?
Then again people should be watching Cella's stream anyways.
I think you're trying to quantify taste, though. People like a wide variety of things, and honestly if you can find any average spectator of most sports that can truly express a deep understanding of the intricacies of play and rule set, I'll be surprised. By your criteria, the WNBA should be far more popular than the NBA, because of very solid fundamental play.
Not that I can appreciate the real depth of pro play anyways - I enjoy watching players, and have some grasp on how the game is played, but I'd be lying if I said I could understand why the pro players are doing what they do in a meaningful way.
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I wouldn't watch any of the above, but if I was going to I'd probably go with the cannon rusher. Some amateur clan war and rebroadcasts aren't really must-watch starcraft.
The vast majority are watching SPL/Blizzard Cup anyway as they should be.
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I seriously doubt that most of the people watching the cannon-rushing stream think they are watching a really good player. So your example doesn't demonstrate that SC2 spectators can't tell good players from bad.
(The whole point of watching a cannon-rushing stream is simply for the vicarious enjoyment of watching someone lose to a cannon rush. It's fun at any level.)
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The moment you attempt to force people to watch what you like, while you do not know them nor have any reason to, is the moment you should be sent to an mental institute. Worthless thread.
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nobody has any idea what they are watching. The average Starcraft 2 viewer either cannot tell the difference between high level play and simple master league play, or is more amused by a victory screen appearing more often than not.
Two problems:
- There is no "right" way of watching SC2, and you are not to decide what other people watch.
- Does it even matter??
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United States5162 Posts
I think there are three main reasons why more people would choose the cannon rusher over the others.
1. People generally don't like to watch events on rebroadcast.
2. People generally don't care about amateur events.
3. SC2 events are over-saturated as fuck.
I think three is the biggest reason, as people wouldn't care about the first two if they couldn't be so choosy. There's so many different tournaments and such going on ALL THE TIME that it doesn't matter if you miss them or not. On the other hand, watching someone cannon rush newbs is a bit of a novelty and it's almost always entertaining to watch people rage.
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EPT
