EPTTournaments have to be realistic. Ultimately they know that less people are going to watch if from the Ro16 on, all players are Korean. Tournament systems have to be designed in a way to stop that from happening since it's still ultimately a business, a business of passion, but a business nonetheless. In fact, tournaments in general are 'anti competitive' and are designed to not allow the best player to win. We all know that the best way to find out the best player is a round robin tournament. But ultimately, the more reliable a system is, the less weight is put on single matches, that's the thing with finding the best overall player, you don't want someone's tournament life to decide on single matches in that case. But that makes for lousy viewership, viewers want to feel that matches are important, that high stakes are on the line; consequently the single elimination format is quite possible. It's patently unfair with bracket seeding but every match matters, loose a series and you are out. It's the tension and dramatic build up people ultimately want.
Okay, so enter WCS, to region lock, or not to region lock? I'll leave me own moral qualms to the simple statement that I'm against it because I don't really give a fuck about Korean vs Foreigner and just enjoy the game and that's it, I won't go into that any further. Blizzard however has more pressing concerns than petty morality, they have a company to run, a game to sell, and a tournament to design to attact viewers. Ultimately, they face a couple of problems don't the road:
There are only three major regions, you could maybe squeeze in a fourth but that really doesn't cover anything. A hard region lock is therefore completely infeasible because it leaves out people from Australia, Africa and what not who don't live in any of the official regions. Furthermore, I don't think a hard region lock also helps spectatorship. I'm pretty sure that people ultimately care more about top Korean vs top Korean than mediocre foreigner vs mediocre foreigner. What they ultimately want to see is top Korean vs top foreigner at the end stages of the bracket. That foreign hope to root for, that person that might take a tournament from the Koreans after so long yet again. That HuK, that ThorZaIN, that Stephano. They don't want to see foreigners play, they want to see foreiners beat Koreans.
Xenocider said something interesting along the line:
"I want the Koreans to have to move here and practice in NA and help the region grow rather than coming here only on certain weekends and taking our jobs.
"Help the NA scene grow? How exactly does moving to NA help the NA scene grow? It's an internet-based sport, if they moved to NA they'd still be playing on the KR server, the lag is manageable enough for tournaments to be played that way. Hell if NA wants to grow they can practice on the KR server. Moving to NA does not help the NA scene grow whatsoever in a sport that is played behind a computer over the internet, one's physical location isn't relevant with the exception of EU <-> KR lag which can be quite terrible. The only way they help the NA scene grow is by putting the NA scene on the map by coming to your tournaments and taking your prize money because no one is watching your tournaments otherwise. Also, does the 'taking our jobs' line does not read a little bit like a Xenophobic paradigm? I've always said 'If foreigners come here to take our jobs, that means they are willing to do the same work better for less pay and work harder.' It's a capitalist market, I never got that sentiment, if an employer rather wants Polish labourers here in NL because they ask less pay well, then there you have it. Reminds you how spoilt you are in the end.
But no, it's a pretext ultimately, it's not about 'helping the NA scene grow', Blizzard has to walk a dangerously fine line with designing whatever 'soft region lock' they want in place. It's a-priori, the rules of the soft lock have to be designed in such a way that enough Koreans can enter so that people are still going to watch, but not too many so we may still have a foreigner or two at the Blizzcon finals. Whatever rules will be in place will be designed towards that end packaged into something reasonable sounding like 'You have to live in that region', or 'You have to be on a team situated in that region.' Ideally they'd just have a lottery and say 'no more than 10 Koreans', but obviously everyone is going to think that is bizarrely arbitrary and no one is going to swallow that, not to mention it might land them in muddy legal waters. But ultimately, whatever rules they design are to function to that end, to ensure about 10 Koreans in WCS AM. The right amount to ensure that Scarlett vs Polt quarter finals from happening that everyone wants to see.
Then there's another point, let's face it. The only reason people care about region lock is because Koreans are flat out simply better. People don't care about the Chinese or the Australians or the Europeans coming to WCS AM. No one gives a damn about Snute participating in WCS AM simply because Norwegians don't own face at StarCraft as a rule. The rule has to be designed to exclude the Koreans, not all the other nations. But you can't just say 'All the other nations can come, but not Koreans', because well, that's again extremely arbitrary. You have to make it appear like a non arbitrary rule but all the while still design it towards that specific goal: limiting the amount of Koreans.
Yeah, it's pretty shady and incincere, I can practically guarantee you that Blizzard is openly brainstorming about 'Guys, how can we implement rules that seem reasonable but are just designed to allow the right amount of Koreans in?', but ultimately I can't blame them. I wouldn't be surprised if 15 000 less people tuned in to the BWC simply because Rivival is there and Naniwa isn't. A long time back there was a Microsoft add that came in two versions, in one version there was a black man and 5 white people in an office, in another version it was six white people. They released the all-white version in several countries as opposed to the original version with the black man. I can't blame Microsoft for making this move, they have a business to run, all that's to blame is the culture of those countries that Microsoft deemed it necessary.
