Let me first say, I love most players. I have met very few players that haven't been pretty awesome when I interact with them. Many players do not at all fit the description I'm about to paint. I also don't blame the players that do for most of what I'm about to say, This is more just me venting about a frustration about the circumstances of the situation. It's something I've been thinking about for a while and writing about something usually makes me feel better.
But there are seriously some big annoyances I have with how players behave.
I don't mean in the sense that they're rude either. Something that most people know about Starcraft is it is a very emotional game for many of us. When you invest so much into it, you can't help but feel your emotional state is on the line with every game. If you're losing it can send you in a downward spiral that causes you to tilt more and more. Oddly enough, if you're winning you can also get overconfident and start making mistakes as well. Being emotionally invested also means you're more sensitive to a lot of other things like what the casters or viewers are saying about your play, expectations that you feel were set if you think you should be favored, and increased overall pressure from all these thoughts racing through your head.
I think it's for this reason that we see so many players try to maintain a sort of "zen" state of low emotional investment. If you can make yourself less emotionally invested, you're less likely to suffer to many of these problems. Honestly, I think this has a lot to do with the reason why often we'll see two players after a match and we can't even tell who won because they both look equally deadpan.
And as a commentator this infuriates me.
Don't get me wrong. I think it's smart. It makes a lot of sense from a tactical perspective. But I want to see players get excited. More than half the time I think I seem more excited about a player's win than the player themselves and that seems ridiculous to me.
To make matters worse, I think this whole situation promotes even an even weirder behavior that I think many viewers aren't event aware of. A lot of players actually undersell how much they practice. They will lie and say things like "oh I haven't played in a few weeks" or "I'm probably going to lose." The pull down their own image in an attempt to diffuse hype and expectations around themselves because it alleviates the pressure they feel.
Do you know how frustrating it is as a commentator or interviewer to work hard to build or hype up a match or a player and to have them just say I haven't really been practicing. I just hope I show good games. Meanwhile there's 30 pro-gamers that are laughing and telling their friends, "that's not true, I know his other barcode account has hundreds of games this season." It sucks. I can't blame the players for doing it because it's actually pretty effective from what I've seen, but it really sucks for the broadcast.
Another aspect of it that I dislike is that many players are compulsively look up what people are saying about them. They'll search their name on the live report threads, they'll go back and rewatch the games, they'll scan through twitch chat, and many of their first instincts after winning or losing a game is to go to reddit/twitter to see what people are saying. For players that want to maintain a more zen state that doesn't increase pressure, it's almost self destructive. But it often times also leads to their anger being casted toward the community or even the commentators for saying certain things. I can absolutely understand the desire to see what people are saying about you because it's an addictive feeling, but surely it's a desire you can satisfy after you've had some time to relax yourself a bit.
I'll take a moment to say not every player does all of this. There are a lot of players out there that try to help build up the hype and engage in the fun trash talk like Harstem or HuK. There are others who legitimately call it exactly like they see it, good or bad like Neeb. There are those who show tons of emotion after their wins or losses like PiG or Pengwin. But I feel like a culture has been built where many players feel more comfortable when they can reduce expectations and pressure, often times at the cost of the excitement of many others. It's no surprise when people make jokes about the work ethic of foreigners when so many of them are trying to paint a picture that they're not trying that hard.
I'm not suggesting every player meets the description I'm painting. I'm not trying to imply that players are in the wrong for doing any of this because their job is to win. Heck, maybe I'll have a bunch of players tell me how wrong I am about all of this and how most I've been lied to by players I talk with. I am just expressing a frustration that this is the state of affairs as I see them.
I guess it just means I've got to do my job better in trying to build up the hype when I can with the context players aren't providing.
As a commentator you have the power to call it bs when they say they didn't practice. At worst case you piss off the player for calling him a lier and bam! there you have a reaction
As a spectator its annoying to watch caster artificially hyping things up. Please stop trying so hard when 95% of the audience is aware of the situation (e.g. many of the DH games). Even tho my game knowledge is pretty limited i feel genuinely offended when caster hype things up when there is no hype.
Feel for both sides. As a spectator it's pretty unexciting to go into a game hearing that one guy wasn't practicing. I generally don't even watch if that's the case.
On the other side, I've played poker for 10 years and doing that successfully is largely about divorcing your daily results from your actual ability. I'd have thrown myself out a window 6-7 years ago if I let myself be more emotionally invested in playing poker.
I think a big part of the problem lies in how the casters (and producers) are trying to make it all shiny with glitter and "hype" and how fake showbusiness is being built around the game. I would much prefer if the atmosphere went back to "fun and games" instead of "great production value". Instead of big talk and awkward interviews, I would much rather watch players being comfortable and just saying what's really on their minds. I am really not surprised that the players act like they do with all the unnecessary pressure and discomfort thrown on them by the system.
I too admit I am guilty of getting seduced by the "big stage" feel. However, as I grew out of it, I suddenly started enjoying HSCs much more than anything else. Yeah, I will still watch GSL/SSL/PL because of the games and wanting ot see the very best and there is no other way to do that. But for foreigner games to have an appeal, it really helps if the out-of-the-game stuff is not just a stiff handshake.
Really, it's all about protecting that ego. Saying you didn't practice and then losing is making a preemptive excuse, winning is exceeding expectations. Acting nonchalant is the "cool" thing to do, like none of the stuff around you bothers you. If you show you care too much you draw attention to yourself, like when players cry. If you show you are sad when you lose, it shows you care too much. If you show you are happy that you won, that makes it seem like you didn't expect to win. I don't think some progamers are cut out for the spotlight - it's one of those pursuits that gets recognition and exposure without preparing you for it. In fact, depending on how young you start and how strict your practice regimen, it could be detrimental.
I guess it just means I've got to do my job better in trying to build up the hype.
we see through fake hype
I think there's a big difference between fake hype and finding the exciting storylines that make a match hype. Obviously not every match is actually going to be hype, but I think context is highly capable of building it in a very legitimate way. All I'm saying is that I should do a better job finding the context in situations where players don't seem to be providing it.
I guess it just means I've got to do my job better in trying to build up the hype.
we see through fake hype
I think there's a big difference between fake hype and finding the exciting storylines that make a match hype. Obviously not every match is actually going to be hype, but I think context is highly capable of building it in a very legitimate way. All I'm saying is that I should do a better job finding the context in situations where players don't seem to be providing it.
possibly, I think that commentators need to be honest though. Sometimes a game is just a game rather than "omfg match of the year" and most viewers can see through any attempt to make the contest something it isn't
I guess it just means I've got to do my job better in trying to build up the hype.
we see through fake hype
I think there's a big difference between fake hype and finding the exciting storylines that make a match hype. Obviously not every match is actually going to be hype, but I think context is highly capable of building it in a very legitimate way. All I'm saying is that I should do a better job finding the context in situations where players don't seem to be providing it.
possibly, I think that commentators need to be honest though. Sometimes a game is just a game rather than "omfg match of the year" and most viewers can see through any attempt to make the contest something it isn't
I'm not disagreeing. I'm not saying lie or make things seem closer/more exciting than they are. But there are lots of games that are boring out of context but have something exciting about them in context.
A series where someone gets 4-0'd cleanly can be a boring series. But if the person who got destroyed was considered the best in their region or miles above the rest? Now there's a story and reason for some excitement, even though the games may have been straighforward. Was the former champion tilted or falling from grace? Is the up & comer just that good? Was there something about what they did that was unusual in either the meta or specifically out of character for that player? Does the player have some particularly interesting backstory like MC, Fruitdealer or Kelazhur and trying to support his family?
I don't think getting excited about any of this is lying to the audience or being dishonest. It's being a good commentator.
Hyping up things way too much? If you watch enough of GSL or Proleague, tastosis and wolf/valdes are always proclaiming that this is the best game/series ever.
That is 1 too many best if you ask me and it becomes laughable everytime i hear it now. Especially when that game turns out to be pretty normal or even boring.
So much so that, in my eyes, tastosis are not the best casting archon anymore. Never liked Wolf/valdes to begin with so the fake hype makes it worse.
EPT
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