Thank you Incontrol for writing this. I was rereading your 'A Decent Proposal' blog from last year, and reading it brought tears to my eyes. It brought tears to my eyes because reading it got me to remember what it was like to be standing in the huge crowd at mlg anaheim 2011 and feeling my heart beat from not knowing if whether boxer or rain would win the series and feeling the roar of the roar of the crowd as Boxer won the series. It brought tears to my eyes because I remember the passion I felt from hearing Clutch announce each of the kespa players 'as we made eSports history' and hearing the names of bisu, jaedong, and flash go through the crowd and panning around and seeing everyone standing going crazy. It also brought tears to my eyes because I remember seeing Taeja's all kill at IPL team arena challenge 3 in san francisco and feeling the nervousness go through me on his game on antiga as he did the most ridiculous micro I have ever seen with a small marine marauder force against a zealot archon stalker force that was significantly bigger than his and somehow win the engagement and win the game when he was clearly dead, and I remember jumping out of my seat at home and shouting at my computer screen, which was then followed by my mom looking into my room wondering if I have still kept my sanity. Just last week I was at a birthday dinner with a childhood friend and his father asked me why I never played video games with them (LoL) and I told him because I spend all of my time studying, watching, and playing sc2 and I was explaining to him the whole concept of esports and that starcraft is the hardest game to ever be made and why I see it as an art. I am also sad to not see the ridiculous growth that starcraft was getting in 2011. But I believe that 2013 is our chance to make things right, especially with the release of heart of the swarm right around the corner. Until then, my goal is to tell everyone I can why starcraft is the best, and in my eyes only esport and why it is so much more beautiful and complex than any other competitive game out there. I hope I always keep this passion for starcraft. good luck Incontrol with the goals you have set for yourself in 2013, and I will be a supporter of them. good luck and happy new years

Skipton

United States707 Posts

January 01 2013 07:07 GMT

#22

Starcraft Reddit vs Dota Reddit. There certainly is a difference in maturity level.

Proxee

63 Posts

January 01 2013 07:31 GMT

#23

Good luck iNcontrol

can't wait for all this stuff you have planned! Would be awesome to see you sponsor a player and see them make it on a pro team!~

Ero-Sennin

United States756 Posts

January 01 2013 07:34 GMT

#24

Well worth the read

TheEmulator

28087 Posts

January 01 2013 07:35 GMT

#25

Happy New years Incontrol. This blog was amazing and it truly showed how great of a person you are

Ichabod

United States1659 Posts

January 01 2013 07:51 GMT

#26

Thanks for the optimism, the candor and the maturity. I look forward to your future projects and respect your introspection.

Happy 2013

corpuscle

United States1967 Posts

January 01 2013 07:58 GMT

#27

I liked all the points you made, this is pretty much exactly what I expect from an iNcontroL rambly blog. I think a lot of people who are genuinely concerned about where SC2 is going as an e-sport especially needed to hear the part about how sponsors see viewer numbers and fan interaction and stuff; there's a lot of raw data (twitter/fb followers, forum popularity, viewer counts, etc.) to be parsed, and it's good to have someone from the industry lay the facts out clearly for people who are worried.

also just because I have to be a dick: for an english major, you take a very... lax approach to grammatical rules

Holdenintherye

Canada1441 Posts

January 01 2013 08:05 GMT

#28

Good stuff, you're even motivating me to examine my own life.
Good luck in everything you do and happy new year!

SnowfaLL

Canada730 Posts

January 01 2013 09:33 GMT

#29

Totally agree; we shouldnt feel threatened by people "leaving to LoL or DOTA" but encouraged; that is firmly placing SC2 in the upper echelon of gaming. Different, but in a way people look at SC2 as the top refined game in esports. Its where the most money is (sponsorships and everything outside of that one yearly DOTA tournament) and SC2 isn't going to die anytime soon. Just because stream numbers and moral is down since last year, thats more to do with it being the lul before HotS, and I must admit we really needed Proleague/KESPA to come and make new maps/introduce new players/evolve this game. Afterall, they have 14 years of BW to see how to continue popularity year after year. Its already been more exciting with Proleague in the past few months than I have been in over a year, and thats not even just seeing Flash/Jaedong playing either.

HotS is looking amazing for the future. Im excited to see vipers, mines, and the oracle in the hands of a well-practiced korean after a few months.

Adersick

United States216 Posts

January 01 2013 09:35 GMT

#30

Hell yea, love to read what Geoff has in store for 2013. I'm ready for a few hits and misses in the new year, but there's no better group of people I'd rather go through it with, especially you, iNcontroL! All of this stuff seems very ambitious, let alone the idea of sponsoring a player- but if you're gonna take aim may as well aim high, good luck man!

Oh, and happy new year! If there's anything you need or wanna draw attention to in the future, know that we're here for ya.

CloudMage

Canada221 Posts

January 01 2013 09:42 GMT

#31

glad i read this, gl to you in 2013 Geoff, I will put an effort to support my favorite pros this year

doner0

United States233 Posts

January 01 2013 09:47 GMT

#32

happy new year sir, and well said on some points. especially the lol/dota 2 part because it had to be said

Emzeeshady

Canada4203 Posts

January 01 2013 10:02 GMT

#33

--- Nuked ---

werynais

Germany1780 Posts

January 01 2013 10:11 GMT

#34

On January 01 2013 16:07 Skipton wrote:
Starcraft Reddit vs Dota Reddit. There certainly is a difference in maturity level.

Please dont tell me you think the sc reddit is more "mature" than the dota reddit? Because that would be hilarious and very far from the truth.

BeastMacoy

Denmark40 Posts

January 01 2013 10:38 GMT

#35

That was the longest PS. i have EVER red, but one of the best as well. Thank you for making this universe grow Incontrol. Thank you for being consitent with the scene and thank for for reading all of our crappy spelled comments. Happy new year to you and Anna.
PS. glhf with all the good hard work you have ahead.

Mackem

United Kingdom470 Posts

January 01 2013 11:04 GMT

#36

Great blog and Happy New Year Geoff, it's been an honor

Beelzy

United States20 Posts

January 01 2013 12:05 GMT

#37

Well done Geoff. Enjoyed reading this. Thank you, and looking forward to a great year.

Yurie

11814 Posts

January 01 2013 12:19 GMT

#38

On January 01 2013 18:33 Kaden wrote:
Totally agree; we shouldnt feel threatened by people "leaving to LoL or DOTA" but encouraged; that is firmly placing SC2 in the upper echelon of gaming. Different, but in a way people look at SC2 as the top refined game in esports. Its where the most money is (sponsorships and everything outside of that one yearly DOTA tournament) and SC2 isn't going to die anytime soon. Just because stream numbers and moral is down since last year, thats more to do with it being the lul before HotS, and I must admit we really needed Proleague/KESPA to come and make new maps/introduce new players/evolve this game. Afterall, they have 14 years of BW to see how to continue popularity year after year. Its already been more exciting with Proleague in the past few months than I have been in over a year, and thats not even just seeing Flash/Jaedong playing either.

I think LoL has more money than SC2 or Dota 2. I don't like the game, yet that doesn't change that they pump a lot of money into their tournaments.

As for the topic itself. I can agree with the monetizing point, it is much easier to monetize SC2 fans than the fans of most other e-sport games.

As for players shifting games SC2 lack freshness or fun for me, so I stopped watching/playing it. I watch more BW than SC2 now a days and only really play Dota 2.

sabas123

Netherlands3122 Posts

January 01 2013 12:24 GMT

#39

Happy new year geoff

that was a really nice blog!!!!<3

Warchariot

United Kingdom42 Posts

January 01 2013 12:41 GMT

#40

Thank you for writing this Geoff, I always feel so bad what with all this bad press surrounding you and a very vocal minority expressing their opinions but i'm sure i'm not alone in saying I think you are a great personality and caster.

Getting more content out there is always good, I run a you tube site myself and the problem is getting consistent good content and this may become a problem with so many other commitments. More EG house stuff is always gonna get views dude.

Thanks for writing this, happy new year take care