EPTWhy I did so less interviews here and
why eSports is still so small in Europe
Well, already both group stages are finished already and as expected all the players which are live neither in China nor in Korea are out already. I mean everyone who thinks straight was able to predict this before. All the the former non Korean top players are more or less inactive or found a new hobby, mostlikely it is Poker, since you can earn a lot more money there. They lost their passion for StarCraft and don't care if they win or loose here. It is more like a free trip to China for them, holidays, fun! Same feeling I got when I have been on the WCG! Only three players I noticed were special: White-Ra, Draco and Dreiven. They realy cared about their loses.
But let's continue with IEST: That is proofed by the fact that some of them got drunk not only once. And it is also proofed by the fact that some of them refuse to give interviews. And - I quote now - "why do you want to take a picture of me? I don't want to see my face in the public so often." No more explanations!
I mean when you are supposed to be a "progamer" in some way, you also agree that you are a public person. Everyone who refuses to give Videointerviews or photos, didn't understood the business of eSports. I mean why are the Korean players so famous and so big? Why are they advertising icons? Why do sponsors invest money in them and place their names on their shirts? Because those players could be seen everywhere! In the TV, in magazines, on webpages and they promote products. You may say now, wtf Crow, we are not Korea, we are just the small ordinary Europe. But hey, do we want to linger in that situation? Of course not!
We want to contribute to push eSports to a next, further and more professional level. We want to see bigger events, we want to see thousands of people cheering and observing games - via broadcasting and also in offline events. But how can we reach this goals? Only when we make eSports attractive for a load of people, when we show them something special. Only with money, money that sponsors pay. And for that, we need stars, stars like Savior, Boxer and Moon. Guys that give as much interviews as they can, and guys that try to get their face on as many pictures as possible. Because only then the sponsors will also notice, oh wow, that guy is always with a photo on any page, this guy is always up for an interview and cares about his fans - and it doesn't matter if you win every tournament. Only then you create fans, only then fans will stick with you and support you. And yes, only then fans will see what build orders you use and copy them - further they will check with which mouse you play and they gonna buy the same sooner or later.
Well you realised what my conclusion is: Only then sponsors will invest in you and will pay you money, and only then great teams will invite you.
And I repeat it again: This is our chance to push eSports, when we create stars and idols that appear everywhere. They need their fans to cheer them, they need the support. And yes, they need the money!
Well, and I give your even one more example that just happened while I was writing this. I am sitting here in the press room. Two computers away from me Moon, who is watching replays. I wanted him to sign a flag that I will give later away here on MYM for free. No discussions, he just did it. Then the Korean guys came in, Calm and SheIs. They speak no English, but I give them just the pen and they sign it. Just when they were finished a European WC3 player - one of the most famous ones - comes into the room and takes a look at the Koreans. I ask him to sign the flag. And he says "why? no one is interested in me, who cares about this flag?". I try to explain that there are fans that might be interested in seeing also his name on the flag, next to the Korean progamers. After a 10 minutes talk he agrees. Finally! Well, this is the difference! And I am still sure that we reach maybe not the Korean eSports level but at least we can reach a lot more.
This is also the reason why you see less Videointerviews here from me. I interviewed everyone who agreed and speeks English. Two guys, how sad! And yes, I feel bad cause i failed and did a bad job here.
By the way: Right now there is sitting this crazy Korean pro gamer next to me and watching his pictures on FighterForum.com And he is wearing his STX cloths. His last game was hours ago. Think about it...!
It feels good.
More about the event and China during the upcoming days.
For now I only know that Hwasin will win the final tomorrow, all the games I saw from him here were just insane. Same about Moon.
Hf gl and discuss my words in the comments please. Need your feedback guys! Pic where the Kors sittin next to me while I write this
