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I know you guys are tired of these threads already, but after watching desrow's show, I thought it was worth trying to explain to some of the pro scene why the community is reacting the way they did. These are largely EXTERNAL to the issues surrounding the LOTV BETA and specifically to Lilbow, and focus instead on why the community is reacting negatively to Lilbow's actions.
1) It's the biggest tournament of the year - Blizzcon is one of those events that brings back people who only casually follow the game, or perhaps new viewers from other games. It is an opportunity to create new fans which help to keep the scene healthy. When Lilbow admits in his pregame interview he didn't prepare for this seriously, many new viewers would react with "wow, I guess if people aren't trying, then this IS NOT the biggest tournament of the year, and therefore not worth my attention" (I got basically this reaction from a friend who used to follow the scene and I got hyped for Blizzcon). Even if he says he tried his hardest and gets 3-0'd, perhaps the new viewer reacts with "lol foreigners" or "wow, this Life guy stomped the BEST foreigner, he must be REALLY good, I will follow his progress through this tournament." Either of those would be better for the scene then what has happened. Instead, we are left with the impression that this tournament doesn't matter, since not all the players who qualified believe that it's important to perform well. Which kills hype.
2) The storyline - 2013 Blizzcon, $o$ wins his second 100k tournament, and Jaedong finishes second AGAIN (for the umpteenth time that year). 2014, MMA (huge fan favourite) goes on an unexpected run, but ultimately is rolled by Life who looks like he's the best player in the world again. 2015 - Lilbow. Even if $o$ wins another huge tournament, or Innovation or herO claims their spot as the perhaps the best HOTS player, how will anything top Lilbow? Some of the fault of jumping on drama lies on the community, but we don't create these storylines, they are there for us and we remember what we remember, good or bad. The biggest storylines should be created by the best games of the tournament, but instead I think it will end up being out-of-game-antics that steal the show. We want people to be excited for and remember the GAMES (and the personalities that play them), rather than external drama. Which kills hype.
3) How Blizzard will React, and WCS Going Forward - I personally enjoy watching Korean events as much as WCS, but there is an undeniably HUGE number of people who do not feel that way, and will only get invested in foreign players. Because of this fact, I WANT foreigners to EARN spots at Blizzcon, to help hype it up and create excitement amongst the most fans possible. However, how is Blizzard supposed to react to Lilbow doing what he did? He has undeniably hurt the image of this event. Will they think "hey we should make WCS points more obtainable for foreigners so we can have one or two make it to Blizzcon?" I know they are smart enough people to realize this was a one time thing, but this will likely influence their plans for WCS in 2016. People have said that it isn't fair to say that Lilbow represents all foreigners, and that's true, but when you have only ONE foreigner make Blizzcon, and he admits practicing for this event was not worth his time, then perhaps they will fear a repeat in the future. Who's to say that another foreigner at another Blizzcon wouldn't look at the bracket and say "I'm not winning that" and deciding getting wrist surgery is more important, or going on vacation so they can come back fully energized for the next "winnable" event. Lack of foreigners who have earned a spot kills hype.
I understand that there were reasons, perhaps even "good" reasons for Lilbow to have acted the way he did. But his behaviour has hurt (to some degree, large or small) this Blizzcon, and therefore the Starcraft 2 scene. People are angry because they feel let down by someone they counted on to continue doing great things for the foreign scene.
TL;DR - People are mad at Lilbow because he hurt the integrity of Blizzcon, which is supposed to be a huge celebration and the biggest event of the year, by killing the hype surrounding it (and him). He also hurt the integrity of foreigners when it comes to competing against Koreans at future Blizzcons.
 
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Agreed. Well written 
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Blizzcon 13 was sOs' first 100k Katowice was March 14
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In my opinion the community response is way out of proportion, Lilbow does not owe us anything. He plays for himself and his team, the "integrity of foreigners" is BS. Lilbow made what he felt was the best decision for himself, and its not like Lilbow was the only player to show up underprepared. Maru's performance was if anything far more underwhelming, Zest also played very poorly. I would not be surprised if those player also decided to focus on LotV, they just decided not to say so openly.
Also, if you guys are worried about Blizz making poor WCS decisions based off of this than well, its your own fault for making it such a huge deal.
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On November 05 2015 02:22 SlammerIV wrote:
In my opinion the community response is way out of proportion, Lilbow does not owe us anything. He plays for himself and his team, the "integrity of foreigners" is BS. Lilbow made what he felt was the best decision for himself, and its not like Lilbow was the only player to show up underprepared. Maru's performance was if anything far more underwhelming, Zest also played very poorly. I would not be surprised if those player also decided to focus on LotV, they just decided not to say so openly.
Also, if you guys are worried about Blizz making poor WCS decisions based off of this than well, its your own fault for making it such a huge deal.
the mantle of being the foreign hope was thrusted unto him... i guess another way to put it is that you can blame the foreigner scene for not being hardworking enough and only lilbow getting into wcs finals
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On November 05 2015 02:22 SlammerIV wrote:
In my opinion the community response is way out of proportion, Lilbow does not owe us anything. He plays for himself and his team, the "integrity of foreigners" is BS. Lilbow made what he felt was the best decision for himself, and its not like Lilbow was the only player to show up underprepared. Maru's performance was if anything far more underwhelming, Zest also played very poorly. I would not be surprised if those player also decided to focus on LotV, they just decided not to say so openly.
Also, if you guys are worried about Blizz making poor WCS decisions based off of this than well, its your own fault for making it such a huge deal.
well yes and no. dont forget that without us, there would not be any wcs. i suggest read the boxer book, this is attitude of professional player I would like to see, not the pure selfish one
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It's sad you think Lilbow hurts the integrity. Pre game interviews are meant to be filled with banter. Life said he didn't know Lilbow before the games, after he says he did and planned everything ahead. Little white lies are part of the game. If the other armchair coaches and foreign pros don't like it, well maybe they practice more and have a chance to show us all how to beat up Life in a huge tournament setting, since it's so easy apparently.
Also, this notion that Lilbow could have practiced more with foreign pro's seems really disingenuous. No offense, but maybe he didn't think the available players were good enough to prepare him for Life, who is by all accounts a unique and fantastic zerg player.
I think this whole thing is blown out of proportion and in this day and age of social media, people are allowed to vent and bash and the guy can't do anything but take it on the chin. I wish people could put themselves in Lilbows position, as a young man, perhaps saying those words as a defense mechanism and not fully understanding the impact. I think we should move on, because in the end, he won a WCS season, which is nothing to scoff at.
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On November 05 2015 06:21 Kingsky wrote:Show nested quote +On November 05 2015 02:22 SlammerIV wrote:
In my opinion the community response is way out of proportion, Lilbow does not owe us anything. He plays for himself and his team, the "integrity of foreigners" is BS. Lilbow made what he felt was the best decision for himself, and its not like Lilbow was the only player to show up underprepared. Maru's performance was if anything far more underwhelming, Zest also played very poorly. I would not be surprised if those player also decided to focus on LotV, they just decided not to say so openly.
Also, if you guys are worried about Blizz making poor WCS decisions based off of this than well, its your own fault for making it such a huge deal. the mantle of being the foreign hope was thrusted unto him... i guess another way to put it is that you can blame the foreigner scene for not being hardworking enough and only lilbow getting into wcs finals
this, not too long ago Bunny had quite a bit of a chance to be in Blizzcon, He should have beaten Starbuck and done well in S3, or ForGG should have won Premier etc. etc.
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On November 06 2015 00:18 Ctone23 wrote:
... Life said he didn't know Lilbow before the games, after he says he did and planned everything ahead....
link? not that I'm doubting you I just really want to hear how Life actually said it.
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On November 06 2015 00:50 DinosaurPoop wrote:Show nested quote +On November 06 2015 00:18 Ctone23 wrote:
... Life said he didn't know Lilbow before the games, after he says he did and planned everything ahead.... link? not that I'm doubting you I just really want to hear how Life actually said it.
You can check the vod yourself. He was nonchalant and essentially said, 'he is a foreigner so I go to round of 8 automatically'
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On November 06 2015 00:55 Ctone23 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 06 2015 00:50 DinosaurPoop wrote:On November 06 2015 00:18 Ctone23 wrote:
... Life said he didn't know Lilbow before the games, after he says he did and planned everything ahead.... link? not that I'm doubting you I just really want to hear how Life actually said it. You can check the vod yourself. He was nonchalant and essentially said, 'he is a foreigner so I go to round of 8 automatically'
he actually used the '' walk in the park '' formula
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On November 06 2015 06:19 Kevin_Sorbo wrote:Show nested quote +On November 06 2015 00:55 Ctone23 wrote:On November 06 2015 00:50 DinosaurPoop wrote:On November 06 2015 00:18 Ctone23 wrote:
... Life said he didn't know Lilbow before the games, after he says he did and planned everything ahead.... link? not that I'm doubting you I just really want to hear how Life actually said it. You can check the vod yourself. He was nonchalant and essentially said, 'he is a foreigner so I go to round of 8 automatically' he actually used the '' walk in the park '' formula
Which is kind of the same thing I said? I'm over this whole situation..
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EPT
