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Some Thoughts on NA Region-Locking
Blizzard very recently announced some changes to the WCS system for 2015. It effectively region locks each WCS system with a few exceptions(Australia, China, etc. can compete in NA). There's been a fairly mixed response on the announced changes from a variety of different people. A TL thread showed many NA and "NA/EU resident" Koreans to be very supportive of the changes. Others, like TotalBiscuit, expressed concerns with the impact it would have on the Korean scene. Though polls such as the one in a thread on TeamLiquid has indicated that a majority are in favor of the change, a large number of people have been asking a very good question.
Why does NA need to be babysat when there are clearly more "talented" Koreans?
Of course this is neglecting EU but it seems to be a consensus that this won't affect EU that much. Rather, NA was a mosh-pit of Koreans beating up "less talented" foreigners.
You're honestly a bit of a fool if you say that the average NA player is on par with the average Korean player right now. The reality of the situation is, this is babying North American players. Call it babying, charity, whatever you would like, but I have a theory of why this change is so damn important to the future of eSports in North America.
An ode to Staircases
Let's start with an analogy. I'm going to give you a goal. There's a wall in front of you that's 40 feet tall. We'll call where you're standing North America, and the top Korea. This is to represent the skill gap.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kmE2k76.png) I'm GM in MS-Paint
That's a pretty hard request right? For you metric-users that's roughly 12.1 meters. There's no real easy way to go about this. Unless you're quite literally Spiderman(or Hyun), this is not a feat for a mere mortal. But let's be more reasonable. Let's give you some steps.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RDJkdx6.png) That stick figure is so cute
Ok...looking better. With 4 steps each being 10 feet tall, each step is still nearly double your own height. Most people will still struggle a lot to make it over each step. Only a few will be able to make it up more than one by jumping with all their might. It's now "achievable" by a few, but still, the steps have been a minor assistance to most without someone who has jumping in their blood.
In this metaphor, a step is basically representative of a way you can train at a certain level of play. Similar to how we all(I say as an ignorant american so forgive me if this is false) learn in school as we go up each step(1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, etc.) to the top.
This is Starcraft not a Staircase JaKaTaK
Right now, I feel this is an accurate representation of the current state of NA Starcraft. We have a group of NA players who have made it up these steps like Scarlett, Major, Huk, etc. as miraculous "jumpers." The majority have made it up one or two steps and are struggling to climb the next 10 foot step in front of them that could more accurately be described as a wall.
Steps allow you to reach a progress point and proceed to the "next step." Here's some examples of what these steps could represent. I'll note they're just things I'm throwing out as an idea of how I see things.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/FBpMDmW.png) If it's called NA ladder, why don't I get a ladder for this?
Different skill levels are able to test and practice for different things going on at different skill levels. Players can get ladder up until they're playing at an NA Grandmaster level for practice. After they've started hitting the top of that, the next step is trying to play in WCS qualifiers and other NA/South American region locked events to try and beat the other top "local" players there. Then there's a nice jump between players who can do well in the qualifiers and actually competing in WCS challenger league because of the introduction of an entirely different level of play: mid tier Koreans.
While the image shows each step as an equal jump, it of course is not that simple. In my mind the step from the WCS qualifiers to actually competing in Challenger is much larger. It's the reason why we see so few players make it over the wall to Premier league, and those that do are spartan kicked back down to Challenger by Koreans like Jaedong.
You Must be Bored if you read this far
But what we've learned is steps are helpful. Having smaller steps allows more players to reach higher steps. It's not just a matter of saying "the talent isn't there." We need to cultivate a system where the talent develop. If you want to see more foreigners who can compete with Koreans-
No. If you want to see an overall rise in the skill level of all of Starcraft, adding steps is important. You can say you only enjoy watching the best play, but as the saying goes: "competition drives innovation." If more players are able to make it to that top level because it's more accessible, we have a LOT more competition, and a lot more innovation coming out of it as well.
How do we do this? We make more steps.
Let's go back to our metaphor for a second. What would an ideal system look like?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/b2szBXF.png) Now my wrists AND my knees will need surgery
I don't see this happening in 2015. I don't see this happening in 2016, 2017, or even 2018. This is what I would almost call a fantasy of mine that I strive to develop. A system of improvement where there's a clear view of how to progress and improve. Improvement is faster and you're not facing walls anymore. You're facing actual steps.
Imagine that. Steps that aren't 10 feet tall. Steps that you can actually..."step over".
But while that is a far off fantasy, the WCS region locking is a step in this direction. It's adding more steps to the system, and reducing the height between steps. Premier league will now be a part of the step ladder for North America again and that frees up space in Challenger league and the qualifiers so more people can utilize these steps. You're not going from "facing that top 16 gm player in a qualifier" to "facing Polt/Jaedong/etc." You're going from facing top ladder players to semi-pro's to top NA pro's. It's a much more comfortable and natural progression.
TotalBiscuit clearly outlined a lot of the problems that this new change would cause. I have an insane amount of respect for TotalBiscuit, but I think there's a very very valuable advantage to the new WCS system proposed for 2015. I agree that the "ousted" Koreans do need more things that they can also compete in. This is why I think stuff like the OlimoLeague is so damn important. So don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is a clear black and white issue. It's not. There's going to be some terrible repercussions for this change.
Closing Thoughts
The reason I wrote this blog was because I wanted to defend the North American, South American, Chinese, Taiwanese, and heck even Europeans in the world that are working hard and constantly getting shit on by a large group of people who say, "they're not good enough so why should we give them charity?" It's the long con. I love Starcraft and I love seeing it develop. You want high level of play? THIS is how we get higher levels of play in the long term. Not by creating this system for one group of people to stay at the top. It's by creating competitors and a system for those competitors to actually REACH the top to compete. To bring new ideas and strategies into the system.
That to me, is one damn good reason for some region locked tournaments. I'm not hoping to change minds with this blog. I'm just hoping to make you think about it.
Thanks for reading. <3
 
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The thing is, when you describe it as a bunch of small steps in order to overcome a big one, you're presenting it as if everyone's goal was to get to the top of the step. That's not the case. You can decide to stop at whichever step you like, if you feel like you're rewarded enough by what you achieved. The system before made it so that the people who weren't willing to keep climbing higher would not be rewarded. Perhaps it was too harsh, perhaps 40ft is too much. But you still need a climb.
I've seen Nathanias talk about people who stopped playing and wanted to come back to it now that koreans are gone. Realistically, there's no reason to expect that these people will show anything impressive in the future. They will probably commit themselves in a reasonable fashion, make reasonable results, and be content with the step they're sitting on at this reasonable point. Unless there's a pull to improve, there's no reason for people to keep climbing the steps; the people who will do it regardless, are the people who weren't going to mind the strength of the opposition anyway.
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To post above me;
Every person that actively plays to compete and succeed in a WCS competition will try and improve their play based on the competition. You still wouldn't get into premier if you didn't try to improve. Just because you're not competing for the sake of trying to beat KR pros, doesn't mean you're not improving the scene. By ramping up competition by number of active players, you'll still inadvertently improve quality of play of people who are competitive enough to win the big bucks. And if you drive the person below you on the ladder to kick your ass, you'll never stay on a particular step unless you actively try to keep up with the competiton that's trying to get more wins/money/points/fame.
I haven't read FearDragons entire post just yet, but the steps and threshhold pictures are pretty accurate and indicative of not just esports/sc2, but human nature in general.
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you really believe in that step(s) analogy :D http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/451919-a-look-at-north-american-starcraft#2
The thing is I don't think there's any way for WCS to fill in all the gaps. The old system seemed to help fill in gaps near the top (at least that's how it feels with the EU scene - perhaps the "smaller steps" that were created were still too high up in NA?).
I think the new system could help the NA scene with smaller steps in the middle. However, it may also result in the steps between WCS:NA and Blizzcon being far larger/harder.
My personal opinion is that I'd rather have WCS trying to fill in gaps near the top and more tournaments filling in the bottom/middle gaps. I'm not saying the change will be bad... I'm just not convinced it's good either.
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Region locking abruptly is a bit much imo, I say this because I think it detracts from the over all drawing power of the tournament. People will still watch, but preventing top talent from playing out right is a bit much. I think a more moderate, allotment of places for players outside of the region is a much better way to go. (like what most assume we'll see for China, Australia, etc). Retain some of those big names, but allow for some exposure. Would be interesting if there were also a way to offer some incentive to play and reside in NA, wherever that may be, scholarships maybe, but that is off the cuff.
I think viewer numbers will suffer just a bit from this, and as TB pointed out other Korean teams/teamless Koreans, will continue to struggle.
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@Nebuchad: I think there's still the "stress" of competition with others to stay in Challenger/Premier league. You still need to strive to improve as partouf mentioned in his post. The part of the metaphor that isn't mentioned is that only a certain number of people can fit on each step so whenever you manage to move up to the next step, someone else is either going up or down. This has already been true with the system so I didn't talk about it much.
@y0su: You caught me! It's something I've had in my head for a while (Surprised anyone saw that). And I agree, in a sense this does create a gap in the WCS system betweeen premier league and the grand finals at blizzcon. I think having Polt, Violet, etc. and the few koreans in Premier league will help a little, but the main help will come from other tournaments. Dreamhacks, Red Bulls, IEMs, etc. where players who are at the right level can play against those Koreans to test their stuff. It's not an ideal situation because they're actually not often enough to get "practice" from, so I agree with you. But I think at the same time it's important to build from the ground up. Start with the base problem and then start to address the next one.
@Thomas: It was pretty abrupt. As I mentioned, it's going to be pretty devastating in terms of it's impact on the Korean scene for many players. Viewership numbers for WCS America are going to be very difficult to predict I think. There's a good chance they may drop a little with a larger number of "lesser known" players making it further, but I think it will stabilize at a good point over time.
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I like your approach to the problem. it's a nuanced, analytical approach that counters the absolutists who argue that they only want to see the best. I teach a lot, and people often ask why we should dedicate more resources to poor communities -- ie, it's unfair, they're misused, it's charity, people are lazy, etc. But that's what you have to do to raise all ships -- not just give resources to those at the very top. Hopefully region locking will lead to that.
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This is going to sound mean, but walls are there to keep people out.
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On September 10 2014 01:32 feardragon wrote:
@y0su: You caught me! It's something I've had in my head for a while (Surprised anyone saw that). And I agree, in a sense this does create a gap in the WCS system betweeen premier league and the grand finals at blizzcon. I think having Polt, Violet, etc. and the few koreans in Premier league will help a little, but the main help will come from other tournaments. Dreamhacks, Red Bulls, IEMs, etc. where players who are at the right level can play against those Koreans to test their stuff. It's not an ideal situation because they're actually not often enough to get "practice" from, so I agree with you. But I think at the same time it's important to build from the ground up. Start with the base problem and then start to address the next one.
True. I've had the mindset that WCS should/would be THE top tier (or steps in the ladder analogy). However, that really doesn't need to be the case. Worst case for the change is that we'll have "an undeserved" player from NA at Blizzcon... Best case, we have a consistent tournament at the upper/mid level where players can compete (and improve). Bigger tournaments will continue to occupy the upper level where the best NA players can still continue to push for better results. + Show Spoiler +What really got me to change my mindset was $. Not the money being paid out for winning, but the cost to compete. WCS is (as I understand it) significantly cheaper to compete in than a weekend premier tournaments. Therefore premier tournaments should be the highest level of competition (outside of GSL).
edit: I'm almost exclusively thinking about the NA region. EU and KR have very different "steps" and very little should change.
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I am curious how much sponsors sell in each region. I mean, do Koreans buy a ton of mechanical keyboards and high-end mice and such, or do they buy the same number per-capita as North Americans and Europeans do, in which case, Korea gets way too much attention, even if they are the best players. It makes sense that the guys who pay for this want to be able to keep paying for it.
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EPT
