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Today news broke that WCG is closing up shop after 14 years, a sad day for me even though it's not really that unexpected when you think about it.
Many people who joined TL or started following starcraft after SC2 release really never experienced the glory days of WCG. Probably from about 2009 on WCG was sort of downhill in terms of overall management and exposure in the community (especially WCG USA). Viewer numbers were way lower than most other big tournaments for sc2 like MLG etc. But in the big foreigner days of broodwar, WCG was everything. WCG was what made broodwar so fun for me. I still remember when I first found about WCG in 2005 or 2006 I believe, I didn't get good enough at broodwar to actually make it past the first round of qualifiers till a couple years later and even though I was always kinda shitty and never qualified for a finals, playing in the qualifiers was the most fun I've ever had playing any video game I've ever played and I have WCG to thank for that.
I still remember specific qualifier games from WCG USA broodwar as if they happened yesterday. I still remember the long grinding practice sessions, running all the WCG USA qualifier threads and all the glorious drama and fun. I remember basically shitting myself after taking a single game off Day9 with a ridiculous proxy factory into a 2port wraith build on blue storm. I'm sure he doesn't remember the game, but it was the shining moment for me as a player who went from C- to B- on iccup after basically a year of playing almost every day. I got crushed in the other 2 games but that one game was enough to keep hope alive that I was actually starting to break through. Looking back now it seems so stupid, winning a single game with a crazy cheese meaning so much...but at the time it was everything to me lol.
Eventually I only ever started losing to players who went on to qualify, which was both fun and annoying at the same time. All the good players knew who I was, but I never quite made it over the hump. My TvP did get good enough that G5 started practicing with me though which was a highlight in itself for me at the time...I'll always remember these WCG times. Some of the qualifier memories for me are still better than the MLG trips I took for SC2 in 2011/2012. My first ever esports trip of any kind was to NYC for WCG USA finals in 2009 with StorrZerg and Xeris...when I met Artosis for the first time and he actually knew me from my rage blogging on TL at the time which I thought was so amazing "Holy shit Artosis knows me? Fuck yes!" -blogs like this (which for some reason was recently bumped last week? wtf?) Something about WCG was just so freaking epic for me and I'm really glad I was able to experience it for the years I did. The 2009 grand finals in China when there were literally 20,000 people crammed into a convention center to watch jaedong/stork finals was probably one of the most ridiculous and amazing things I'll ever remember in the years of watching broodwar. Only OSL/MSL finals crowds beat that, but those were korean events, WCG was something foreigners had a shot in (until they played the Koreans LOL)
I tried so hard to get into management with WCG USA but they had next to no money, even though I was basically begging to just volunteer for free they only seemed to want 1-2 people to do everything, which confused me. Slog had an in with reffing the grand finals (he would send me pics of him chilling next to Flash and Jaedong, which at the time was the most amazing shit ever since meeting anyone at any live events was really rare since there was no MLG etc) but he didn't really have a close relationship with anyone on the USA side so I wasn't really able to get hooked up where I wanted to in any way. So I had to settle with just running qualifier threads on TL and helping people out from the community side of things.
Over time people started thinking I was actually associated with WCG, because I was always managing threads and posting WCG USA news. I would get PM's from random people about which channel to go to and times for everything. In 2010 when sc2 was included in WCG I remember everything got much bigger, but was more disorganized from WCG's side than ever which was really annoying and frustrating. There was so much potential for WCG to be so good but it was just failing so hard. So many people had questions and there was no staff anywhere to answer anything. I remember I started getting PM's from Nazgul and Bumblebee to sort out Huk's dual citizenship issue/eligibility in USA qualifiers...here I am, some random community figure/player talking to team managers and site owners about their players citizenship issues and qualifier details. rofl, but I loved that shit, it was like a tiny niche I could fill, and give back a little to a community that I loved and loved being a part of.
I remember I also formed a cool relationship with an owner of a LAN center in SoCal as well through WCG qualifiers. Sean Shim of the Greenforest Cafe and LAN center. Sean wanted to get into the starcraft scene in 2009/2010, he was having his regular customers all play in WCG qualifiers. He would sign up like 6 players for all the qualifiers and all their ID's were "greenforest1-6" They were all terrible D- players but I loved them all and Sean was amazing (most LAN center owners that I know are really cool people). He reached out to me after I destroyed one of his players in a qualifier. I ended up giving him tons of advice for putting together one of the biggest early SC2 LAN's that ended up happening. After I helped him out as much as I could I pointed him in Xeris' direction, since I was east coast and greenforest was in socal. Eventually a great LAN ended up happening, thanks in part through this WCG connection...without WCG who knows if a guy like Sean ever would have found this community. Little behind the scenes connections like that go beyond the game (bad pun) are things that made WCG even more worthwhile for me. I still remember that greenforest LAN even though I couldn't go, (I was in school and broke and it would have been cross country travel) Painuser won that LAN and they even had booths and did the finals outdoors I believe, one of the few LAN's for starcraft 2 that happened outside!
Anyway hearing the news of WCG shutting down prompted me to share a few of my old stories, there are so many more but time is short.
I'll miss you WCG, thanks for the memories over the years.
 
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Canada18410 Posts
Wow, I actually didn't notice the community news about this at all, just discovered WCG had shut down from your post here. I didn't have the pleasure of attending or participating in any WCG events, but there was always still a sense of nostalgia from even reading about it.
It's a shame that I'll never be able to experience WCG first hand myself.
Hopefully more of these stories manage to pop up though.
R.I.P WCG
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I don't follow any of their games since they stopped including BW but sad news.
I think the first tournament I watched live all the way through was WCG 2006, Tasteless + djWheat casting was pretty cool.
A lot of good memories. Foreigner upsets over the koreans were always crazy, Draco, Testie, PJ, etc. Was awesome to see foreigners could take games off the best of the best sometimes.
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Ah Greenforest. That was a fun LAN.
WCG was the highlight of my gaming/casting career as well. It shall be missed.
<3 LF
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Wow. I'm sad to see it go. Sometimes I wish I had been around before SC2 was announced; maybe then I would have had a shot at going to one of these big events and maybe meeting some progamers. SC2 was how I found TL, but I've always been here for BW.
Even with Sonic reviving Brood War in Korea, it really feels like those old times are over now that WCG is closing shop. I don't have that kind of money to go to Korea just yet, or I would definitely go see some live brood war events. Maybe I should have gone to a couple MLGs, I probably would have had an opportunity to meet people there. I guess there is still a chance of that happening.
How often do you get to meet celebrities, or even just see them in passing? The times, they are a'changing, and it sucks.
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Yeah, recently noone cared about the WCG but back then everything in western world was about WCG and country/clan wars. Oohh nostalgia. Recent WCG were shitty but i am still kind sad seeing them go.
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Katowice25012 Posts
It sounds like everyone who participated in WCG before about 2008 had a really great time and has incredibly strong memories from it. It's too bad that the organization went to total shit and became a huge joke in the later years, they had a neat thing going.
The idea of representing your country is a cool angle we don't see enough in these games.
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It's just so sad to see WCG go, even though the events since 2011 really sucked in my opinion.
WCG Cologne in 2008 was the first e-sports event I ever watched. After I heard that there were players in Korea playing BW for a living, I was just curious to watch a game and it absolutely got me hooked. If I remember correctly it was Jaedong vs Stork in the RO8, just an absolutely great series. The WCG events of the following years were my favorite events, I even enjoyed them more than MSL/OSL.
Unfortunately I never had a chance to attend an event. And it looks like I'll never get another one.
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Very sad, Wcg gave me some of my greatest Starcraft memories.
That being said, they've been + Show Spoiler +dead
for some years now (lol mobile games).
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I on the other hand won't miss the organization at all. I say good riddance after all the administrative woes. It was one of the only LANs foreigners had to look forward to when it came to BW other than DH but come on. Samsung did say they wanted to focus more on their mobile apps and tech which is smart because there's a lot of money in that.
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sniff~
thank you for the memories...
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they managed it poorly over the years, it was supposed to be the olympics of video games, and it became some kind of Games Expo.
i will never forget the great games that wcg gave us.. like Fisheye vs Ogogo, Mondi vs sAviOr, Draco vs iloveoov, Boxer lossing vs JoSeZ... wcg used to be great.
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I remember watching Boxer win his first WCG way back when I was a child. I was so sad when WCG stopped hosting 1v1 fps games such as Unreal Tournament. While my interest in WCG greatly declined over recent years, I will miss the good memories.
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ElkY vs Boxer will never be forgotten 
When they stopped doing BW i was only happy that Boxer's titile of 2WCG in a row will never be broken.
But i thought that there was a misunderstanding about it and the weren't really closing shop
EDIT : ok apprently it's not likely that another WCG will ever takes place  that's sad. I thought i misunderstood but no
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intrigue
Washington, D.C9934 Posts
RIP. miss wcg usa qualifiers, the accompanying drama was always amazing. well, that's that
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On February 07 2014 00:31 GoShox wrote:+ Show Spoiler +http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0fV5KADifY RIP WCG
This video truly captures something that I feel like this generation of eSports followers would never understand and will never experience. Just absolutely true passion for an amazing game and a small tight-knit community. Every time I come back to watch it tears well up in my eyes. Like absolute mastery of a documentary and it's only a short 15 minute video. Everything about it just demonstrates what WCG and BW meant to everyone back then - the focused looks on everyone's faces as they're watching, as they're playing. The crushing feeling after losing. The concept of WCG itself as an opportunity to represent your country..it's truly such a huge disappointment how far WCG has fallen over the past year. I'm glad that they're finally stopping the poorly run event under their own hands, but I would much prefer that someone, any major organization picks up the reins and operates WCG the way that it deserves to be run. If we could just take back the organization and have everything run smoothly again I feel like the world/community will fall in love with it all again. Show the new generation of gamers (SC2/LoL/DotA2/CS:GO etc.) what it was like back then.
Thanks for the great writing LuckyFool, you're one of the people that just..gets it. That actual caring for the game and such..something a lot of people for some reason can't seem to understand.
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United States12238 Posts
WCG really was everything at the start. I attended every WCG regional qualifier until about 2005 or 2006 and always met some cool people. I met mnm and collegeBored from TL and kept in touch ever since. My friend and I would study the maps, train on them, practice them, then drive out to the qualifier together to try our luck. In WCG...2004? the grand finals were held in San Francisco, close to me, so I took public transit out there and had a blast. I met Testie, Artosis, shook hands with Nazgul, it was so much fun.
Despite that, though, there was always a creeping feeling that the event itself didn't make enough to be financially stable. There were increasingly desperate attempts at sponsorship and cross-promotion and cross-marketing, and once they got into the mobile space I knew it was only a matter of time for them.
I really hope someone is out there who is capable of turning this into a successful tournament model, because for a while it showed great promise.
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1584 Posts
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wcg 2004, never forget. the best western rts-esport legends ever did a great job. grubby won gold, tod was bronze.
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EPT
