I've really been enjoying the gom classic tourney recently. Not only are the games with English commentary fun but it's a chance for Starcraft and E-gaming in general to break out of it's niche in S.Korea. One thing that has been bothering me though is Susan asking the pro gamers to make sounds during interviews. I think it's important to keep a pro gamer's status a professional one.
Compare them to Football players here in America, Football fans consider their players as people to be looked up to, not people there to entertain them for a few hours. Imagine a sports correspondent for NBC telling Peyton Manning to make sounds for the audience at the end of an interview. He would look like an idiot. When Susan tells savior to make the sounds an overlord makes I think it undermines the idea that these guys are professionals and doing us (the foreign community) a favor by doing interviews.
I don't want to sound too whiny because I do appreciate what Tasteless, Susan, and Gom are doing for the foreign community but I wanted to get that off my chest.
That's cool dude - everyone's entitled to his/her own opinion. I'm just sick of "I'll try harder next time and show you a good performance. I will train harder. Thank you for your support" But I guess you like the generic answers.
If ONLY someone would ask Peyton to make noises. I bet he would. "I think we played well, my team played well, next week we'll have to push harder and overcome the obstacles that come to us". Bleh.
You have a valid point, but i think susie makes the interviews a bit more interesting, considering most of the people watching foodball are hyper children, highschool jocks, and middle aged men. With starcraft, it's mostly young men with a good sense of a humor.
So, good point? yes, realisitic? not in my opinion.
I completely disagree. I think a part of the popular appeal of Starcraft is that these guys aren't just machines, but people who are willing to be goofy for the camera.
It's good to lighten up the atmosphere, just so long as the player's don't think they are being made fun of , or mocked or anything like that. Someone puts in 100hours of practice for a match, and dedicates everything he has to win, would probably feel disheartened if his victory interview had him making starcraft sounds. Just my opinion though.
Just to be clear the only thing I don't like is the requests to make Starcraft sounds. It's true that the audience is young, so a light hearted interview fits pretty well.
So when they ask the winner of Super Bowl where they are going afterwards is that professional?
(Hint: They always replay DISNEYLAND!)
Its nice that you have your own opinion of what professionalism is in a world youve never experienced, never worked in and only know about what people like Susie tell you. Its also nice that you didnt seem to care about whether these types of questions are considered standard in Korea or in Pro gaming, but hell lets just jump in head first.
Where did you obtain your set of standards from? This is the first thing you need to establish since professionalism in your country/profession may not transfer into Korea/Pro gaming. Here is where I think you make your first mistake, assuming that what Susie did was unprofessional. You should check these types of things out before forming an opinion such as yours.
I personally think that this was not across the board professional but there are other things which are more un-professional which do not affect GOM or Susies stature. (i.e.- The panda shirt). Either way I think they are doing a great job and criticism such as this is needed, I just wish you would maybe check around before making accusations aye?
On October 22 2008 11:32 GeneralStan wrote: I completely disagree. I think a part of the popular appeal of Starcraft is that these guys aren't just machines, but people who are willing to be goofy for the camera.
Agreed especially because most of the pros themselves are barely even out of middle school less alone high school. Baby is like a 7th grader, flash is a 10 grader. Theres a lot of pros who are born in 91 and 92.
On October 22 2008 11:26 lilsusie wrote: That's cool dude - everyone's entitled to his/her own opinion. I'm just sick of "I'll try harder next time and show you a good performance. I will train harder. Thank you for your support" But I guess you like the generic answers.
While what you said it true, I think its clear that a balance needs to be struck. Obviously the generic answers are boring. The bigger problem is that when you ask things like "can you make a unit sound?" they all refuse, and then give you that look that says they're trying to figure out if you're an idiot or not (which is just as boring). Even on TLA, Xiaozi was the only one who even responded to it and everyone there is asked to make sounds.
Getting them to show personality looks like it can be tricky, so maybe it just requires a different angle or a more gradual progression.
Where did you obtain your set of standards from? This is the first thing you need to establish since professionalism in your country/profession may not transfer into Korea/Pro gaming. Here is where I think you make your first mistake, assuming that what Susie did was unprofessional. You should check these types of things out before forming an opinion such as yours.
Considering that the work Susie is doing is in English, I think its safe to assume that the viewers will be judging professionalism from a western perspective and not a Korean one. I'm not sure why this would make you so angry.
Sp1ral you make some good points. I can't say what professionalism is in this context. It is especially difficult because one event is being broadcast to multiple communities with different values and different expectations of the event. I really enjoy watching Suzie and Tasteless cast games, they really enjoy themselves. It's like I'm watching two of my buddies cast which gives the game a happy go lucky charm.
My gripe on the matter is how I feel this should grow. If we treat the pro gamers as people with high social value their transition into other communities as professionals will be easier. I'm all for interesting and light hearted interviews but I just want them to be shown a little more respect, this is where opinion comes into play. When I laugh during an interview I want to be laughing with the interviewee, not at them.
try to get them speak more English imo, it's awesome. Or ask them about what they know about the foreign scene, and if they want to participate in the TL Attack
These kinds of things are awesome. These players aren't heroes you should aspire to be like. They're excellent players at an exciting game, but it's ridiculous to think she's ruining their "integrity." The only problem with it so far is that I haven't seen any of them willing to do it.
Also consider that Korean culture also has some dictation here.
For example: Construction warning signs in Korea have this really cartoony man who's literally drawn like a character you'd see in anime giving you a friendly smile warning you that its a hard hat area.
In the States, you never see that shit. The only image is men using jackhammers or cranes to huge skyscraprers or bulldozers.
EPT
